Wednesday... Have you ever tried praise? It will make a difference!

Now we have tried the opposite, haven't we? We've tried gripping and put downs and belittling. And that too can make a difference but it is a negative difference. But have you tried praise?

Psalm 113:1-3 (MSG) says, "Hallelujah! You who serve God, praise God! Just to speak his name is praise! Just to remember God is a blessing - now and tomorrow and always. From east to west, frown dawn to dusk, keep lifting all your praises to God!"

Focus on this, verses 5 & 6 says, "God is higher than anything and anyone, outshining everything you can see in the skies. Who can compare with God our God, so majestically enthroned, surveying his magnificent heavens and earth?"

So what if in the middle of our work, in the middle of our monotonous, mundane day we would stop for a moment and just think about God. Instead of looking down and all around at our difficulties we would look up at God who is majestically enthroned looking down on all of his magnificent work and a part of this is you and me? Then we could head back into doing what we are doing but with a fresh awareness of God's presence, of God's attention on us. What a difference that could make on our day.

The Psalmist goes on to say in verses 7-9 (NIRV), "He raises poor people up from the trash pile. He lifts needy people out of the ashes. He causes them to sit with princes. He causes them to sit with the princes of his people. He gives children to the woman who doesn't have any children. He makes her a happy mother in her own home. Praise the Lord."

Praising Him can and will make all the difference in our day, it really will. 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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