Today's Beginning

1 Thessalonians 5:14b (NLT), "Be patient with everyone." Tuesday... Such good and practical advice. Paul gives such good and practical advice here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 14. Now encouragement has different meanings for different times and different situations. There are encouraging words in the Bible that lift us up when we are going through tough times but it also means to be encouraged to do better, to try a different approach. And this verse is the second encouragement. 1 Thessalonians 5:14b encourages us to "Be patient with everyone." and that is a great encouragement but it is interesting what he says in the beginning of this verse. Now you see after you have read the beginning of this verse why he would say, "Be patient with everyone." Here is what it encourages us to do. He says, "Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak." And then "...

Proverbs 19:11 (NLT), "Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs." Monday... This really makes sense. It is so easy to be out there being angry at all the wrongs around us. But the problem is, we are doing it in other people instead of in ourselves. We get so angry with other people but Proverbs 19:11 (NLT) says, "Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs." And that really does make sense. I am a retired minister and in reality I can be hard to live with. It is so easy for me to constantly be pointing out wrongs in others and getting angry but that doesn't really make sense. It is better to live as an example. Have you noticed that if I point my finger at someone else there are three fingers pointing back at me? Yes, in reality we need to be overlooking wrongs instead of getting angry. Now we are in midterm elections here in the USA and there is a lot of anger going on. "Sensible people...

Psalms 106:2 (N:LT), "Who can list the glorious miracles of the LORD? Who can ever praise him enough?" Friday... So we can try and see what happens. Now there are lists that we are really good at making. I mean, we can really list our needs, can't we? And the LORD wants us to bring them to Him. He says so over and over. But we also need to strive to remember the glorious miracles of the LORD in our life and that will lift us in our hope and our faith in times of difficulty. And Paul needed that. Over in 1 Thessalonians 3 the writer of this letter, Paul was going through troubles himself and he was worried about how the new Christians in Thessalonica were handling the troubles they were going through so he sent Timothy to find out. Now Paul was definitely a man of faith. He could make a list of times that God had brought him through trouble but he was concerned about these new Christians in Thessalonica. And verse 6 says, "But now Timothy has just returned, bringing u...

1 Thessalonians 2:18 (NLT). "We wanted very much to come to you, and I Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us." Thursday... He thinks he is so smart. And we think we know what is best. Now the Apostle Paul had a great desire. In 1 Thessalonians 2:18 (NLT), he writes, "We wanted very much to come to you, and I Paul, tried again and again." We are too many times controlled by our wants and they may be good wants. We think we know best and we come to God with these wants, and we don't hear from him so we think it is Him not letting them happen. Yes, we blame God for a lot of our disappointments. But I really wanted it. Paul really wanted to see his friends in Thessalonica. In verse 2 he says, "You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition." In verse 8 he says, "We loved you s...

Psalms 104:10-11 (NLT), "You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down the mountains. They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst." Wednesday... Does this fact make any difference to you? There is so much in the Bible that really does make a difference but when we don't read it we lose the potential encouragement. That is what I strive to do each morning. I find a verse and share it as an encouragement to people who need it for that day. Now Psalms 104:10-11 (NLT) says, "You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down the mountains. They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst." Does this fact make any difference to you? Now my wife and I and our daughter and her family live in the Mojave Desert. We live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now there are these wild donkeys who live in the desert. We call then burros. They were left here when prospectors quit looking...

Colossians 4:2 (NLT), "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." Tuesday... So what prayer is all about? Yes, the Apostle Paul knows what prayer is all about and here in chains he writes in Colossians 4:2 (NLT), "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart." Yes in prayer we are talking to God so be alert and thankful. Yes, God is who we are talking to when we pray. Now verse 3 is very interesting. He writes, "Pray for us too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ." He starts with, "Pray for us too." So what we would want others to pray for us too? Understand, we are asking them to talk to God. Yes it is important for us to be alert and also to be thankful. We are talking to God. So what did Paul ask them to pray for? Now the whole verse says, "Pray for us too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan...