Today's Beginning

Psalm 43:3 (MSG), "Send out your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to the place where You dwell." Thursday... Yes, let them lead me. It is so important for us to at different times quit hiding our feelings and to be introspective and honest and ask the right questions and from that change our focus. Now the writer of Psalm 43 asks himself some very good questions. Maybe you too need to ask these questions today. In verse 5a (NIV) he asks, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?" And good questions are so important to ask but who we are asking the questions to is also important. Now the answer is so important and we need to be honest. So, why are we downcast and why are we so disturbed. Good questions Now verse 3 says what we need before we ask these questions. The Message Paraphrase says, "Send out your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to th...

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NLT), "For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power." Wednesday... So where does it come from? Earlier in this chapter Paul says in verse 3, "As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don't even trust my own judgement on this point." So where are we evaluated? So where does it come from? We, a few years back were going to buy a travel trailer and of course we needed a vehicle that could pull it. Now it is easy to evaluate the right pickup on level ground but real power is needed going up a mountain. That is where we needed the power. So that is where it must be and is evaluated. Have you thought that where most people evaluate their relationship with God is through the good times? But verse 20 says, "For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power." Those mountains you are facing is where your living by God...

Psalm 41:11 (NIV), "I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me." Tuesday... That is a different slant. I love the honesty of David. He writes in Psalm 41:11 (NIV), "I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me." Now it is important for us to see there will be enemies in our life. There will be people who will strive to bring us down because of our belief and also just because of who we are. We may have a wrong thought that because we serve a God who is all powerful that we will have no problems, no enemies. That if God loves us then he will take care of all the bad around us and that is how he shows he is pleased with us. Yes, David gives us a different slant. Again he says, "I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me." And that means there is someone out there who is striving to bring us down. And that is true during this time in which we are living. Now, there i...

Jeremiah 10:6 (NLT), "LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power." Monday... Yes, He is and yes they are. I love reading the Bible. I love to read many of the books in the Bible and many Versions. Right now, I am reading three books, the Psalms, Jeremiah and 1 Corinthians. And I usually start my morning reading in the New International Version and then on to the New Living Translation.   Now here is what I found today in Jeremiah 10 in the New Living Translation. Verse 6 says, "LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power." And yes He is, but verse 8 says, "People who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood." And yes they are. Now have we stopped and thought about what we may worship? They may not be made just of wood but they are made many times by us, by other people but for sure they aren't the real God. Jeremiah says in verses 3-5, ...

Psalm 37:1-2 (MSG), "Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants." Friday... But it may be a waste of time. Now there is a lot around us that can grab our focus, get our attention, that is really a waste of time. David says in Psalm 37:1-2 (MSG), "Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants." When we are on the Beltway, who gets our attention? It is the wild driver. Now we need to be careful but our focus must be on our driving, and our confidence that God is with us in the passenger seat and he is there to protect us. But it is so easy for the wild ones to get our total attention and also in life the evil that is around us.  Now the Amplified Bible says in verses 1-5, "Do not worry because of evildoers, nor be envious toward wrongdoers; For they will wither quickly like grass, and fade lik...

Romans 16:17 (MSG), "Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teachings you have learned." Thursday... There is so much confusion. There really is. So much of what is believed today comes from places other than God's Word and it can be contrary to the teachings we have learned. But that was also true during the time of Paul and in his writings. In his letter to the church in Rome in the last chapter of Romans, in chapter 16 and verse 17 (MSG) he writes, "Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teachings you have learned." He then says in verse 18, "For such people are not serving our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." And it is so easy for us to believe from our wants instead of from God's Word and his wisdom. Now in verse 19b (NLT) Paul s...