Monday... I love the smells of Christmas, don't you?

Monday... I love the smells of Christmas, don't you? All of the aromas that are floating around are so great.

But there are some that aren't so great.

Proverbs 6 (NLT) lists seven things that God detests and the last one is found in verse 19b. And it is "a person who sows discord in a family." I'll be honest, I'm getting a little tired of the mask, no mask and the vaccine or no vaccine but there will be someone during this season that must give their opinion. Now how does God views it? Oh, yes it says, He detests it.

So here is what we do. Ephesians 5:1&2 (NLT) says, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us" and I love this phrase, "a pleasing aroma to God." Again, "A pleasing aroma to God." That's what I want to be. I don't want to be a person who sows discord in a family, I want to be a pleasing aroma to God." Don't you?

The MESSAGE puts these two verses here in Ephesians this way. It says, "Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that."

Let's do that. Let's love like that. Let's be a pleasing aroma to God and to those around us, even our family and that person who sows discord. I think God would love that. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... We have this hope of expectancy.

Psalm 5:3 (NLT), "Listen to my voice in the morning Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly." Friday... We have this hope of expectancy. Now David found a great way to start his day. He says in Psalm 5:1-3 (NLT), "O LORD, hear me as I pray." And that is a great place to start. It really is. Morning sunrise He goes on, "Listen to my cry for help, my King, my God, for I pray to no one but you." And that is so important. We don't try to pump ourselves up by ourself. No, we pray to no one but you, God, my LORD, my King. Now this relationship with God is so, so very important. And then David says, "Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you" And that is so great. And then he says, "and wait expectantly." Yes, we have this hope of expectancy. We are experienced. That is what a relationship with God and a moment by moment connection does. It makes a difference in our daily wa...

Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true.

Psalm 12:6 (NLT), "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true. Maybe this is what you want to say in this day in which we live. Psalm 12:1-2 (MSG) says, "Quick, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, all the friends I depend on gone. Everyone talks in lie language; lies slide off their oily lips. They doubletalk with forked tongues." Do you ever feel that way?" Have you found that to be true? Well David the writer of this Psalm continues and says in verse 6 something to encourage us, to lift us up, to give us hope. Psalm 12:6 (NLT) says, "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." The Message Paraphrase says verses 6-8 this way, "God's words are pure words, pure silver words refined seven times in the fires of his word-kiln, pure on earth as well as in heaven, God, keep ...

Wednesday... It is amazing what we can see.

Psalm 3:3a (NLT), "But you, O LORD, are a shield around me." Wednesday... It is amazing what we can see. And what we see does make such a difference in our day. Now David, he writer of Psalm 3 starts this Psalm this way. He says in verse 1 (NLT), "O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me." Yes, he is saying this to the LORD, the one he serves. Verse 2 says, "So many are saying, 'God will never rescue him!'" And that is so true with that outlook. So many of us get out of bed with that outlook every morning. It is amazing what we can see. Now I woke up this morning and eventually found myself outside on my couch with my Bible and I read this outlook in verses 1-2 from David. But I didn't stop there and neither did David. But that is an easy place to stop, isn't it? And it is true. Yes, David didn't stop there. Verses 3-4 says, "But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I...

Today's Beginning

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