Tuesday... Here is a great way to respond.

I love the Bible. It is so practical.

This is election day and after it is over there will be so much talk. Thanksgiving is coming and those relatives who were on the other side of it all will be across the table. So how will we respond to them, to those we disagree with?

David gives us a great way to respond. In Psalm 38:14 (NLT) he says, "I choose to hear nothing and I make no reply." Now that is a great response if you want to have peace with others. But we are so quick to give our thoughts, our opinions and here comes an argument. "I choose to hear nothing and I make no reply."

Verses 13 & 14 in The MESSAGE says, "But I'm deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don't hear a word they say, don't speak a word in response."

Now if we look at people that we disagree with through the eyes of love and strive to understand why they feel the way they do it will make such a difference in our relationship with them. Maybe striving to understand why they feel the way they do will go a long way in showing them love which we all need. And confrontation blocks the way to our showing we care about them. We don't have to agree with them, just love them.

Through what we have gone through this past year this way of responding would go a long way in bringing peace and love to our world. We Christians are to be a different breed and our response to others shows how Christ has made a difference in us and through us.

The Amplified Bible says, "Yes, I am like a man who does not hear, in whose mouth are no arguments." Thanks so much God for your Word and for showing us a way to respond that shows the difference you have made in our lives. 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.

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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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