Monday... Intentions do not always turn out the way that they are intended.

Everything that the evil one throws at us to hurt us must first go through God's love for us and God changes the purpose from bad to a purpose of good. There are so many benefits of being a follower of God and this is one of them.

As you remember the story of Joseph, his brothers hated him and when he was young they tried to hurt him by selling him into slavery. Eventually they found that he had become the key leader in Egypt during a time of famine and they with their families and their father came to Egypt to live because God was using Jospeh to take care of the problems of the famine. But after the death of their father they were afraid that Joseph would repay them for what they had done to him.

Genesis 50:18 (MSG) says, "Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, 'We'll be your slaves.'"

Verses 19-20 (NLT) continues, "Joseph replied, 'Don't be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.'" The MESSAGE paraphrase says it this way, "Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used the same plans for my good."

Now we don't know the purpose behind the pandemic that we are going through but before it happened the purpose for it went through God's love and he changed the purpose from bad to good for his followers. Now it hasn't been easy to go through, but the purpose was changed for good in our lives.

The end is not over yet. Even though the great famine was happening back in Joseph's time he was put into place to bring good out of it for his family. And we don't know the full good that will come from this pandemic but God has a plan and his intended purpose for good will come to pass. That is the way he works! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless. It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...

Todays Beginning

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