Wednesday... A word of encouragement stepped out from my reading this morning...

Wednesday... In reading the Bible this morning in Isaiah in the OT, this word of encouragement for you and me stepped out to me. Isaiah 3:10 (NIV), "Tell the righteous" He qualifies first of all who this is too. Is that you? Have you given your life over to God? Are you living for him? Is he giving you the desire and the will to live a righteous life? So this is for you.

He says, "Tell the righteous it will be well for them." Now that is good news. That is encouraging. The New Living Translation says, "Tell the godly that all will be well for them." The MESSAGE paraphrase says, "Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off."

Are you about to quit? Is this pandemic getting your down? Well, be reassured that your good living is going to pay off. The NIV says "for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds." The NLT, "They will enjoy the rich rewards they have earned."

He goes on, verse 11 (NLT), "But the wicked will get exactly what they deserve."

Now the encouragement is also that we have a choice. We have a choice in the way we live and who we will serve and then we get the reward or the consequences of that choice. And that is so important for us to see and know and do.

So what about you? I choose the righteous life, the godly life. I like the rewards! 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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