Friday... Have you found this to be true?...

Friday... Have you found this to be true? You must go through times of trouble to find this to be true.

Psalm 46:1 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." If you know that to be true then you have something to hold on to in these days that we are going through. Just thinking of that fact takes me back to different times that I can remember when I was up against a wall, not knowing what to do, facing situations that I couldn't handle but I knew God was there, I knew he was my strength, that he was my refuge.

The Psamist goes on, verse 2 "So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea." Our world has really been shaken, hasn't it? And here is our confidence, here is our faith, here is where our experiencing other times of trouble comes through, here is where our remembering that God is our refuge, God is our strength brings us through.

He then says in confidence, verse 3, "Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge." We can put our confidence in people, but many times they fail us, we can put our confidence in the government or other institutions, but they don't always come through.

I am a big baseball fan, a Los Angeles Dodgers' fan and they are in the NLCS trying to win 4 games to get to the World Series and they have won only 1 and the Braves have won 3. I want to really believe that they will come back but my confidence is shaken because they have been here before and haven't made it to the WS since in the 80's. I'm not real confident of them because of past failures. They are not my refuge and strength.

But God is. I remember his being always ready to help in other times of trouble and I now believe that he will be ready again. So let the oceans roar, let the mountains tremble, God is on the job. He has been and he will be my refuge and strength. Verse 11 says, "The Lord of Heaven's Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress." Yes, yes #todaysbeginning

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Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Thursday... Yet, now this is true.

Colossians 1:22a (NLT), "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body." Thursday... Yet, now this is true. Now Paul a prisoner in Rome is writing a letter to a church in Colossae. And in Colossians 1:21 (MSG) he says, "Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds" The NLT says "This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated by your evil thoughts and actions." And that is where so many in this world live today. They are blowing it and they don't know what to do. Yes, they are hostile in their minds and they are engaging in evil deeds but there is Good News. Now Paul in verses 19-20 sets the stage for an answer to those who don't want to live that way. He says, "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth b...

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