Monday... How did you sleep last night?

Monday... How did you sleep last night? So much is happening all around us that could keep us awake. So how did you sleep last night?

David lived it seem though difficulty after difficulty. Some were his fault as much of what keeps us awake is our fault. But David would write a Psalm to let us know how God was helping him through a particular difficulty. Psalms 3 is such a Psalm.

It seems he wrote this Psalm about the tine he was fleeing from his son Absalom. You can read the story beginning in 2 Samuel 14.

He starts this Psalm by saying, "O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. So many are saying, 'God will never rescue him!'" Now that would keep me awake.

He goes on, verse 3, "But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high." Now that's a way to counteract the negative thoughts coming into our brain. He the says, "I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain." Another good thing to do is to pray.

He then says, "I lay down and slept, yet I awoke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me." We're not going through this alone. He is watching over us.

He goes on in verse 8 (NIV), "From the Lord comes deliverance." That's the word that caught my attention this morning, the word deliverance. "From the Lord comes deliverance." Not from whomever we will elect tomorrow as President. God may work through them but "From the Lord comes deliverance." The NLT says, "Victory comes from you, O Lord. May you bless your people."

So what is it that is keeping you awake? Now that is a great way to handle our struggles at getting a good night of sleep. 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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