Today's Beginning

Jeremiah 20:13 (NLT), "Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I am poor and needy, he rescues me from my oppressors." Thursday... He really had a bad day. So how are we tempted to handle our bad days? Over in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13a the Apostle Paul writes, "If you think you are standing tall, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience." Yes we may think we have what it takes to handle bad days but we need to be careful. We think we have what it takes to handle them but the temptations in our life are no different from what others experience. Now Jeremiah over in the Old Testament was having a very bad day. He was arrested, whipped and put into stocks and he was a prophet of God. Iin verse 7 he writes, "O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs are me." And we too can be tempted to turn ...

Psalm 49:2-3 (NLT), "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Wednesday... This is what I needed. Where do you go when you need answers to your situation? I'm at that point today and after my time of focused prayer I read these verses. Psalm 49:2-3 (NLT) says, "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Have you found that prayer and God's Word really do go together? It is basically a conversation with God. Yes the Lord's Spirit does speak directly to us but He also speaks through His written Word, the Bible. He quickens our heart through His Word. And that is what happened as I read this Psalm. "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Now the listen part is so important especially when you are reading the Bible. Now I needed what it said, "listen! For my words...

1 Corinthians 8:2-3 (NLT), "Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes." Tuesday... Yes, we think this is so important. We live in a world where knowledge is so important. We want to have all the answers and when something comes up where there is a question we want to be there with the answer or at least our opinion from our knowledge. And this can be a problem the older we get. But Paul in writing 1 Corinthians 8 says in verses 2-3 (NLT), "Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes." Now in verse 1b he says, "But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church." And that is also true in a family or at work or with friends. But it makes us feel so important when we are the answer person. Yes, knowledge with wisdom is important but how we sh...

Jeremiah 17:7 (AMP), "Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the LORD and whose hope and confident expectation is the LORD." Monday... Yes, we can know. Yes, there is a lot that we do not know. I know there is a heaven but I really don't know a lot about it because God hasn't told us. But there is so much that we do know because God has told us. Now God told the prophet Jeremiah this in Jeremiah 17:7 (AMP), "Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the LORD and whose hope and confident expectation is the LORD." Now do we know exactly what blessed means? Well, do know that if we believe and trust and rely on the LORD and our hope and confident expectation is in the LORD then we will be blessed. Now he gives an example of what it means to be blessed. Verse 8 says, "For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river...

Jeremiah 14:22 (NLT), "Can any of the worthless foreign god's send us rain? Does it fall from the sky by itself? No, you are the one, O LORD our God! Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us." Friday... Yes, he can so let's wait. Yes, waiting is so difficult. Now Jeremiah in chapter 14 asks some questions that I know in our honesty we sometimes have and we maybe have now. In verse 19a he writes, "LORD, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you really hate Jerusalem?" Yes, the words rejection and hate can come up in waiting. It sounds a lot like our kids and also us when we were kids when the parents didn't give them and us what we wanted. Yes waiting can be tough. And here is something else that they come up with and if we are honest, what we have too. Verse 21a says, "For the sake of your reputation, LORD, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own throne." Two words, reputation and disgrace. It is so hard to wait. It ...

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...