Perhaps if many of us are being the instruments of positivity and light in our own small worlds, then the possibility of change in our world is hopeful.
Like the concentric circles of water that move outward from a single pebble being dropped in, imagine many ripples of good moving ever outward from each of our efforts of positive intent.❤️⭐️

God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.

Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."

So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.

And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.

God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So He called his name Israel.

And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you."

Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with Him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.

So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Genesis 35:1-15

Verses 1-5 Beth-el was forgotten. But as many as God loves, he will remind of neglected duties, one way or other, by conscience or by providences. When we have vowed a vow to God, it is best not to defer the payment of it; yet better late than never. Jacob commanded his household to prepare, not only for the journey and removal, but for religious services. Masters of families should use their authority to keep up religion in their families, Jos. 24:15 . They must put away strange gods. In families where there is a face of religion, and an altar to God, yet many times there is much amiss, and more strange gods than one would suppose. They must be clean, and change their garments. These were but outward ceremonies, signifying the purifying and change of the heart. What are clean clothes, and new clothes, without a clean heart, and a new heart? If Jacob had called for these idols sooner, they had parted with them sooner. Sometimes attempts for reformation succeed better than we could have thought. Jacob buried their images. We must be wholly separated from our sins, as we are from those that are dead and buried out of sight. He removed from Shechem to Beth-el. Though the Canaanites were very angry against the sons of Jacob for their barbarous usage of the Shechemites, yet they were so kept back by Divine power, that they could not take the opportunity now offered to avenge them. The way of duty is the way of safety. When we are about God's work, we are under special protection; God is with us, while we are with him; and if He be for us, who can be against us? God governs the world more by secret terrors on men's minds than we are aware of.

Verses 6-15 The comfort the saints have in holy ordinances, is not so much from Beth-el, the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house. The ordinances are empty things, if we do not meet with God in them. There Jacob buried Deborah, Rebekah's nurse. She died much lamented. Old servants in a family, that have in their time been faithful and useful, ought to be respected. God appeared to Jacob. He renewed the covenant with him. I am God Almighty, God all-sufficient, able to make good the promise in due time, and to support thee and provide for thee in the mean time. Two things are promised; that he should be the father of a great nation, and that he should be the master of a good land. These two promises had a spiritual signification, which Jacob had some notion of, though not so clear and distinct as we now have. Christ is the promised Seed, and heaven is the promised land; the former is the foundation, and the latter the top-stone, of all God's favours.

~Matthew Henry

God's Purpose for Jacob and Bethlehem | Desiring God
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/gods-purpose-for-jacob-and-bethlehem

I Just Came To Talk With You Lord - Steven Wood

Scars In The Hands of Jesus
Steven Wood

Unconsciously Useful
By Oswald Chambers

"Look at the birds of the air. . . . See how the flowers of the field grow."
~Jesus Matthew 6:26, 28

Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow. Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon. All these simply are—yet what a powerful sense of God they convey! Now think of yourself. God has designed you to convey his influence. Are you letting him? So often we get in God’s way by making a self-conscious effort to be useful and consistent.
Jesus taught that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentrating on God. “Whoever believes in me, . . . rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38). Jesus is saying that growth in spiritual life doesn’t depend on how much attention we pay to our own progress; spiritual growth depends on how much attention we pay to our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows everything about our individual circumstances. If we keep our concentration on him, we will grow as the flowers of the field grow, without self-consciousness getting in the way.
The people who influence us most aren’t those who corner us and preach at us. It’s those who live like the flowers in the field and the stars in the sky—perfectly, simply, and naturally. Theirs are the lives that shape us. If you want to be useful to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ, and he will make you unconsciously useful every minute you live.

Waiting for God Alone: How Desperation Teaches Us to Trust | Desiring God
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/waiting-for-god-alone

Preach to Yourself | Desiring God
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/preach-to-yourself

Everybody will now be spending their nights outside.🐎🫏✨️🌙

“For millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle.”
— A. W. Tozer.

Theology is not just:
a proposition to be examined
a sterile religious system
an academic subject to debate
a five fold plan
rules and hoops to jump through

Theology is about a living, vital, personal relationship with the Living God through the person of Jesus Christ. We get to know and engage with Him. Cognitive debate alone will not form and nourish the soul.

I'm convinced of the importance of the Spirit and the Word. If you have the Word without the Spirit you will DRY UP. If you have the Spirit without the Word you will BLOW UP. If you have the Word and the Spirit you will GROW UP!

Sound Biblical Theology should not form smug scholars but passionately devoted followers of Jesus - albeit still flawed. Our treasure, the written Word of God, points to our TREASURE, the Living Word of God—-Jesus.

In the first century, many mastered the Pentateuch, memorized the Principles but missed the Person. In John 5:39-40, Jesus says to the religious rulers, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Think about that!! God in the flesh was standing five feet in front of them, but they missed him. In fact, they were conspiring to kill him. Ponder this. Can you imagine your church’s pastoral staff figuring out how to assassinate someone getting in their way?

The sun cannot start a fire unless a lens focuses the rays. Our soul fire comes from a lens focus of life on the Son. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,”This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strengt or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”

Paul came to the point of not basking in his religious resume and accomplishments but considered them garbage — dung actually —Poo-Poo — compared to the excellence of knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8). Jesus is the Treasure. Jesus is the Prize. It isn’t just his gifts we want, but Him. We cannot earn the grace of God.

Do not let anything in this world seduce you from seeing Him as the Treasure. Someone said, “It’s worth it. He is the true Treasure that can make all other treasures look like trash.” He is the Pearl of great price. Blessed be His name.

~Michael William Sprague

Phil Wickham ~ Great Things