Today's Beginning

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...

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, ...