Today's Beginning

Psalm 119:100 (AMP), "I understand more than the aged [who have not observed Your precepts], because I have observed and kept Your precepts." Wednesday... It isn't always a good thing to compare, but... I really do appreciate the life that God has brought me through. My birthday on Monday says that I have been living a long time. Now it isn't always a good thing to compare but I have really been privileged to have been exposed to God and his Word, the Bible. Now Psalm 119:100 (AMP) caught my attention as I was reading the Bible today. It says, "I understand more than the aged [who have not observed Your precepts], because I have observed and kept Your precepts." And I can say that too! Some are not as old as I am but everyone has the potential to observe God's precepts and live by them and I want to tell you from my experience that it will make all the difference in your life. Look at this, verses 100-101 in the New Living Translation says, "I am wi...

Isaiah 32:19-20a (NLT), "Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, the LORD will bless his people." Tuesday... Even if is not the end. We live in a world where we put our happiness in so many different ideas and voices, and we strive to be positive. We say even if bad happens we will still be happy but when it happens we live with such deep despair. We put our trust in our ability to be happy but then bad happens. Now Isaiah, a prophet in the Old Testament of the Bible lived in very difficult times.  In Isaiah 32:6 (NLT) he writes, "For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the LORD. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty." And that is also true even in the day in which we live. But he goes on. In verses 19-20a he says, "Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, the LORD will bless his people." Somehow we need to really catc...

Psalm 119:65-66 (NLT), "You have done so many good things for me, LORD, just as you promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgement and knowledge." Monday... It is so good to look back and then ahead. It really is. There can be in looking back confidence building for what is ahead. That is what the Psalmist did in Psalm 119:65-66 (NLT). He writes, "You have done so many good things for me, LORD, just as you promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgement and knowledge." Now the Evil One wants us to look back but he wants us to only see the bad. And of course there is some bad. And so many only see the bad and if that is all they see then that is what they will see in their future. Again the Psalmist says in verse 65, "You have done so many good things for me, LORD." And then he says, "just as you promised." Our looking back on the good things brings us to remember what God has promised and that he can be truste...

John 16:7a (AMP), "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage." Friday... Yes, there is an advantage. It can be very difficult for us to really see an advantage when to us it is a disadvantage. Now here in John 16, Jesus is telling his twelve disciples that he was going to be leaving them and they were having real problems about it. I mean, they have been with him for three years. And he has been and was making such a difference in their lives but he was going to leave them. For some of you, your child has grown up. They have been with you all of these years but here they have just graduated from high school and they are going to be leaving you and you are not sure they can handle it without you and for sure you know that you can't make it. And at least 11 of these disciples were having problems with Jesus leaving. But Jesus said here in John 16;7a (AMP), "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage." But how can that be true? Again these guys had b...

Isaiah 28:12a (NLT), "God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.'" Thursday... There is so much, if we would just listen. There really is. But we think we are so smart and we know what is best. The Prophet Isaiah over in 28:12a (NLT) says something important that we need to stop and listen to. He says, "God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.'" But he goes on. He says all of that and then at the end of this verse he says, "But they would not listen." Right before this Isaiah writes in verses 9-10, "'Who does the LORD think we are?' they ask. 'Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over - one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little here and a little there!'" Again 12b, "But they would n...

Psalm 117:2 (AMP), "For His loving kindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him], and the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)" Wednesday... Yes, we really will overcome. When we have someone who loves us, really loves us, it seems that we can handle anything. Here in Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible, the writer in verse 2 (AMP) says, "For His loving kindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him], and the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)" But what if something changes? Now, God the Father showed how much He loved us by sending His Son to earth. He came to be the sacrifice for all who were lost, who had turned their backs on Him and of course it started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed Him and that changed every plan that God had for us so He had to do something about it because of His love for us. Over in John 14 the disciples were ha...