Today's Beginning

John 6:9 (NLT), "There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd." Friday... Let's not minimize what can be done through us. It is so easy in life to minimize what we do. It really is. Now there was this woman who got up early on this particular morning and probably every morning. She knew that her son had a great adventure planned for his day but she also knew that he had to eat so she went into her kitchen and got a few loaves of bread and some fish for her son to take on his adventure. Listen, don't ever minimize what you do. She did it because she knew her son would need it. Do you wake up each morning and minimize what you do? Well, it is so easy to do, isn't it? So, this young man headed out. He was going to see Jesus but when he got there, there was a huge crowd. John 6:10a says "The men alone numbered about 5,000." And of course there were way more than that. But this young man had som...

John 5:6 (NLT), "When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, 'Would you like to get well?'" Thursday... Would you like to get well? Now I can ask you that question. I can, but my asking it is totally different from Jesus asking it because he can do something about what is wrong with you. Now friends are great to have, they really are. There is so much they can do for us. The same is true of our family. They can in so many ways make such a difference in our lives and it is so great to have them but Jesus can do so much more and this man here in John 6 had been lying there sick for thirty-eight years. And the fact that Jesus knew that shows how different he is from us. We celebrated last night my daughter's birthday. Now Margaret, my wife and I were the only ones around that table who were at her birth. We did all we could to make sure she wasn't born on Friday the thirteenth and we made it. She was born in the first hour of Saturd...

John 4:50b (NLT), "And the man believed what Jesus said and started home." Wednesday... What if we did what this man did? There was this government official from Capernaum who had a son who was very sick and he heard that Jesus had come to Galilee from Judea so he went and begged Jesus to come over to Capernaum to heal his son. The Amplified Bible says, that he was at the point of death. This man was desperate. The Sea of Galilee Now too many times we have certain specific thoughts in our mind of how Jesus is going to speak to us and take care of what we need him to do. Yes it seemed to be a good idea for Jesus to come to his home and heal him, But that wasn't what Jesus said. Verse 48 (MSG) says that "Jesus put him off: 'Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.'" Is that possible with us? That maybe we too need to be dazzled in order to believe. But this man wasn't put off by Jesus. He wanted his son to be healed. He was de...

Psalm 102:2b (NLT), "And answer me quickly when I call to you." Tuesday... It really does get in the way. I arrived at my coffee shop, Aspire, a little earlier today. I got my normal table but I had to wait in line to get my coffee and I'll be honest, I can have a problem at waiting. When I finally got my coffee and sat down I started thinking about my response inside that I had to wait and it came to me how much pride I have and of how it gets in the way. Yes, pride gets in the way of our enjoying life. I got my coffee and then started reading Psalm 102:1-2. Here is what it says, "LORD, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea!" Notice that both sentences end with exclamation marks. Verse 2 goes on, "Don't turn away from me in my time of distress. Bend down to listen, and answer me quickly when I call to you." Notice in these 2 verses there are 3 my's, two me's and one I. I was thinking back to yesterday morning. Down at the corner before my coff...

Psalm 101:2b (Msg), "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts." Monday... He gets to the point. David knows what is best. In Psalm 101:2b (Msg) he says, "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts." Now in the first part of the verse he says, "I'm finding my way down the road of right living, but how long before you show up." Yes, we really do need God's help especially at home. Someone has said that the weakest link in our Christian life is at home. And in reality, it is the most important. Now David starts in verse 1 by saying, "My theme song is God's love and justice, and I'm singing it right to you, God." And David knows that we need to sing and live that song especially at home. Yes that needs to be our prayer to live and sing that song. Verses 1-2 in the Amplified Bible says, "I will sing of [steadfast] lovingkindness and justice; to You, O LORD, I will...

Isaiah 8:11a (NLT), "The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else." Friday... It depends on our focus. There is so much in the Bible for our daily walk and attitude and we need to spend time of focus and obeying it. Isaiah, one of the major prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible writes in 8:11a (NLT), "The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else." Isaiah was in a very difficult time and we are too. There was and is so much to cause us to think like everyone else. Now Isaiah said in verse 12, "Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them." Verse 13 (AMP), "It is the LORD of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome. He shall be your [source of] fear, He shall be your [source of] dread [not man]." And if we do that, verse 14 says, "Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust...