Today's Beginning

Proverbs 27:2 (NLT) says, "Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth - a stranger, not your own lips." Tuesday... Low self-esteem has some real benefits. I heard Jay Leno say in an interview that he had low self-esteem. He said that as a comedian it is a good thing. How a crowd responses to him doesn't make a difference. It doesn't get him down. And that made sense to me. We constantly are told that we need high self-esteem and for people without Christ I can see how that can help them in handling life but we have Christ, we have God. He is our source. He is who we depend upon. And in anything we do He is to get the credit. He is to get the praise. Now Proverbs 27:2 (NLT) says, "Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth - a stranger, not your own lips." But it is so easy for us to always be praising ourselves for what we do. Like it is all because of our talents, our abilities. So where do our abilities, our talents come from? They came from God ...

Psalms 116:2 (NIRV), "Because he paid attention to me, I will call out to him as long as I live." Monday... Do you remember what it was like to be in Middle School? Those were tough days. We were looking for others who would pay attention to us. We just weren't sure who we were. Am I still a kid or am I growing up? Will somebody pay attention to me, affirm me? Now we are not an adolescent any more but that still could be true of us. We still want somebody to pay attention to us, to affirm us. Well, the Psalmist says in Psalm 116:2 (NIRV), "Because he paid attention to me, I will call out to him as long as I live." Now that is such good news. Back when we were in Middle School that could be dangerous and the same can be true now so this is a very important verse for today. "Because he paid attention to me, I will call out to him as long as I live." Verses 1 and 2 says, "I love the LORD, because he heard my voice. He heard my cry for help. Because h...

Psalms 113:5-6 (NLT), "Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and earth." Friday... He really does care about what is going on. I know we can get to a place in life where we feel we are a success. And we can get to the place that we feel that we are better than anyone else. We may look down on people. Now Psalms 113:5 (NLT) says, "Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high?" And that is true. None of us can compare to God and he looks down on us. But it is way different than people who think they are better than us, who look down on us. Verse 6 says, "He stoops to look down on heaven and earth." And that is a way different stooping than a lot of people around us who think they are better than us. Without a doubt none of us compare to God. Yes, he definitely is better than us and his stooping means that he really cares about us and what we are doing. The Amplified Bible ...

Psalms 112:1 (NIV), "Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands."  Thursday... Look at this. The Psalmist in 112:1 (NIV) gives some great encouragement to those who fear the LORD and who delight in following what he commands. He writes, "Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands." Now there are two words in there that are important words. One is "Blessed" and the other is "fear". So what do they mean here in the Bible? Now the Amplified Bible translation gives some more details. It says, "Praise the LORD (Hallelujah!) Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who fears the LORD [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with obedience], who delights in His commandments." The New International Version says "who find great delight in his commands." Now step back and ponder what blessed and fear means to th...

Psalms 111:2 (NLT), "How amazing are the deeds of the LORD! All who delight in him should ponder them." Wednesday... This would truly make a daily difference. There really are actions that we could do each day that would make a definite difference in our day. Let me ask you, how do you wake up each morning? Good morning Lord or good Lord it's morning. Same words but put in a different order with a totally different attitude. Now the first thing I do when I wake up and after I clean up and put on my clothes is to get my water and my coffee and my Bible and read a Psalm of the day. Today, I read Psalm 111 and in verse 2 it says, "How amazing are the deeds of the LORD! All who delight in him should ponder them." And the word that jumped out at me was the word ponder. I delight in the LORD because I ponder his amazing deeds.' Now for many the first thing they do is check the internet and all of the negative in the world. That's how they wake up. They ponder ...

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 "...