Todays Beginning

Saturday... He will let me gloat. Have you ever done something that was better than someone else and you want to gloat but you have been told that it is not good to gloat? But you really want to. I love reading the Bible in a systematic way, and you see something new everyday. Look at this in Psalm 59. David wrote this Psalm when King Saul had sent men to watch over David in order to kill him. That is the setting and this is what he wrote in verses 9 & 10 (NIV), "You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely. God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me." I love that. "God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me." If you have an up-to-date relationship with him, he will let you gloat over those who slander you. I love that. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Friday... So, how does today look to you?  Good question. From what perspective do you see today? John 9 starts by giving us two perspectives to the same situation. Verses 1 - 3 (NLT) says, "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 'Rabbi,' his disciples asked him, 'why was this man born blind? Was it because of his sins or his parent's sins?' 'It was not because of his sins or his parent's sins,' Jesus answered. 'This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.'" The disciples saw through the eyes of condemnation and excuse, Jesus saw an opportunity. Now the disciples had probably been trained that way as so many of us are. You can't do anything because you're not smart enough, you're too short, you're the wrong sex or you're the wrong color or whatever you have been told. But that is not the way Jesus wants us to see. Yes, he sees that you are blind but he came so you can reall...

Thursday... When the trouble is over, then what? Trouble it seems is a time that we turn to God, isn't it? David says in Psalm 57:1 (NIV), "Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster is over." Then in verse 7 (NLT) he says, "My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises." When we don't have what it takes to handle a situation, we have found that we can turn to God. That is so great to know. And it gives us confidence that we can handle a new day. But then Proverbs 27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." And then verse 12 says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." But look at what Jesus did. Over in John 7 we read of the battles that Jesus faced and then in the last verse, verse 53 (NIV), it says, "Then they...

Tuesday... It can be so unreasonable. It really can. What makes you angry? Not the righteous anger but the self-centered anger. John over in chapter 7 of his book tells of these religious leaders who were angry with Jesus. Jesus said in verse 23 (NLT), "So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath?" They were so angry at him that they wanted to kill him. They were very, very unreasonable. We have a lot of anger in our world today and much of it is so unreasonable. Even in the church there is such anger. Yes there is righteous anger but most of it is self-seeking, self-righteous anger. In verse 24 Jesus said, "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly." And that is what we need to do. Where is the anger coming from? Over in Psalm 55:1-3 (NLT) David writes, "Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help! Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles. My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked thr...

Monday... Give us eyes to see even if it is little. John tells this occurrence over in chapter 6 of his gospel. There was this huge crowd that was coming out to where Jesus was. It was not close to a town so that was a problem. Verse 5 (NLT) says, "Jesus soon saw a huge crowd coming to look for him. Turning to Philip he asked, 'Where can we buy bread to feed all these people.'" That was a big problem and verse 6 says, "He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do." What problem are we facing today? Is it way bigger than we can handle? Maybe He is testing us and he already knows what he is going to do. But he is letting it happen because he wants to see what we see no matter how small it is  Verse 7, "Philip replied, 'Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!'" And that was true, very true if you are looking at the problem from your ability to handle it. Remember, he was testing Phili...

Saturday... We each one have a need. We really do. Everyone of us have a need. Over in John 5:2-4 (NLT), it says, "Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people - blind, lame, or paralyzed - lay on the porches." And that is where Jesus went.  John continues in verse 5. It says, "One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years." Thirty-eight years he had been sick. What about our need? How long have we had it? Have we gotten to the place that we have gotten used to it? Oh, we act like we want to do something about it but we have just gotten used to it and that can be one way of handling it. Verse 6, "When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, 'Would you like to get well?'" And He still is asking that same question today. He is asking you through me today? And your answer may be the same as this man who had been sick for thirty-eight yea...

Friday... Life is not easy, but it can be simple. We are the ones who complicate it. Yes, we do. Look at this, Proverbs 21:21 (NLT) says, "Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness and honor." The Message says, "Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind finds life itself - glorious life." But we complicate it by pursuing so many other things that don't really show us a real life worth living. Proverbs 21:13 says, "Your addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied." But that is what so many live for. Verse 7 says, "The wicked get buried alive by their loot because they refuse to use it to help others." My wife and I found this week how giving what God has given us can bring about life changing direction in another person's life. It is awesome. And verse 8 (NLT) says, "The quilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road." How is that ...

Thursday... Now this really, really matters. I know it does to me. I love being a grandpa. I really do. I love to make my family happy but there is one thing that really matters to me. I really do love to give them what they want and need and help them when they are in trouble but there is one thing that I want in return and the same is true of my Heavenly Father. Over in Psalm 50 we see how much it matters to Him. Now as a grandpa, I'm not going to go this far but it will make me contemplate what I am going to do for them. Verse 22 (GNT) says, "Listen to this, you that ignore me, or I will destroy you, and there will be no one to save you." I think He is really serious. The Message says, "Time's up playing fast and loose with me. I'm ready to pass sentence, and there is no help in sight." He is really serious. It is really important for us to understand that.  And then He says in verse 23 (NLT), "But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors m...

Wednesday... But we thought they had arrived. We look up to those who have it made, who are rich and think they have arrived. We are so impressed with them. The Psalmist writes in chapter 49:16-19 (MSG), "So don't be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can't take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they've arrived and folks praise them because they've made good, they enter the family burial plot where they'll never see sunshine again." There was a man over in the gospel of John who thought he had arrived. He was to be married and he had everything he needed to made this day a success. All these people had come and he had the best wine that money could buy. He had arrived that is until he ran out of wine.  The writer of Proverbs 19:2 (MSG) says, "People ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God get the blame." So many in those times when the wine runs out blame Go...

Tuesday... It is best to be a real one. What kind of friend are we? Proverbs 18:24a (NLT) says, "There are "friends" who destroy each other." Notice the word friends is in quotes. Some may say they are friends but are they really? Verses 7 & 8 (AMP) says, "A fools mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a (whisperer) gossip are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten]; They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon]." The Message says, "Listening to gossip is like cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?" Is that the kind of friend you are? You hear something and you're ready to share it. Oh, I'm just sharing so people will pray for them? Are you sure that is why you are sharing? That's not a real friend. Here is another one. Verses 1 - 2 (AMP) says, "He who [willfully] separates himself [from God and man] seeks his own desire, he qu...

Monday... This is a profitable way to start a new week. Too many times we are offended and we carry it over to a new day or a new week. But the writer of Proverbs 17:9 (AMP) gives some very good advice. He says, "He who covers and forgives an offence seeks love, but he who repeats or gossips about a matter separates intimate friends." So did something happen over the weekend or even last week that you are still carrying around with you? There is a choice in there that can really make a difference. The choice could either be love or sympathy.  I had felt convicted yesterday over something that I said, an attitude that I had and I felt prompted to ask for forgiveness in how I handled the offense so I asked for forgiveness. Now they had the right to be hurt by me but they chose to forgive me. Our pride too many times gets in the way of our love, doesn't it?  Now the other person had a choice. They deserved to be hurt by what I said, but they forgave me, they didn't carry...

Saturday... It is not a bad thing. It is very good. Proverbs 15:24 (NLT) says, "The path of life leads upward for the wise; they leave the grave behind." It is a very wise thing to prepare for our future. Yes, we know that death is ahead for all of us but for the wise it is a very good thing. It really is. If we really catch ahold of this then fear has a way of losing control of our life. Yes, the unknown has a way of gripping us with anxiety but with wisdom we see it differently. It is not a downward path but an upward opportunity that is not to be feared. If we see that it is not a bad thing but a very good thing then it takes away so much negativity of life.  The Amplified Bible says it this way, "The [chosen] path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may keep away from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) below." The Message says, "Life ascends to the heights for the thoughtful - it's an about-face from descent into hell." And that...

Friday... It is so easy, it really is. In whatever we do, we accomplish, it is so easy to take credit.  Here I am, ready to write some words of encouragement and when it is done it so easy for me to take credit. I mean, I have so much ability and I can read the Bible and I can come up with what I write. It is is all done because of me and my abilities. Now that is what we do too much of the time. It is so easy to do, but is it true? In Psalm 44:3 (NLT) David writes, "They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them the victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them." And then he says in verses 4-8, "You are my King and my God. You command victories for Israel. Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me. You are the one." Let me say tha...

Thursday... But it is from a different perspective. We see things from a different perspective than God does. Let's say you are sitting looking out on the ocean and you are texting with someone in the desert. What you are seeing is the ocean and the one you are texting doesn't understand what you are describing when they are sitting looking out on a desert. That is sometimes what happens when we are reading the Bible. It seems like the writer is wrong in what they are saying. We are confused. Look at what Luke in chapter 21 verse 18 shares of what Jesus said. Jesus said, "But not a hair of your head will perish." Now in reading the Bible we read that at some point in their lives, all of the Apostles died. See, I told you that the Bible isn't consistent. You can't believe what it says. But it's just like the person describing the ocean and you are in the desert. You say, they don't know what they are talking about. They are wrong. Buit here is the point...

Wednesday... What we long for can be a good thing. But it can also be something that can hurt us. I'm sitting in my Starbucks writing this and a guy asked me if the Honda motorcycle out front was mine and I said it wasn't. And he then said that he was just getting back to work after an accident on his motorcycle that he had totaled but he was longing for his next one. There can be something that we long for that can be dangerous but it is still what we want. Now I'm not saying that motorcycles are bad but they can be dangerous. So what are you longing for? David in Psalm 42:1 (NLT) says, "As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for God." Now a deer needs water to survive. That is a longing that is of great benefit to the deer and the same is true of our longing for God. He then says in verse 2a, "I thirst for God, the living God." Now what we long for has a way of controlling us. It is where our battles for control come in. I love donuts but I ...

Tuesday... It bothered him. There are many different things that bother us. David in Psalm 41:9 (NLT) says, "Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely. the one who shared my food, had turned against me." That can really hurt, can't it? I'm sure Jesus, even though He was God's Son had to feel something when He saw Judas, one of the twelve that He had chosen, betray Him. In His humanness it had to hurt. People do matter to us, especially our friends. We really care for them. Over in Luke 19:41-42 we see how much we mattered to Jesus. It says, "But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 'How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.'" Yes, we really matter to Him. Back to Psalm 41. After David had felt this rejection he said in verse 10 (MSG), "God, give grace, get me up on my feet. I'll show them a thing or two...

Monday... It good to remember our befores and afters. Birthdays are a good time to think of that. Our son Brett who is our first child had a birthday over the weekend. It is a good thing to remember what it was like before he came into our life and the positive changes after. Even going back to when Margaret and I got married. That is a great before and after. Our moving to Vegas the first time and then this time was a tremendous before and after. David in Psalm 40 has a tremendous before and after. In verses 1-3 (NLT) he writes, "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the  mud and the mire." That was his before. Maybe the same is or was true of you before you turned to the Lord. And we need to remember what it was like before God was in our life.  He goes on to his after. "He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." We need to stop and remember what it w...

Friday... They go together.  Have you ever thought, without Good Friday there is no Easter? They go together. Discouragement and God go together. Too many times good times do not turn us to God. It's the difficult ones, it's the troubling times, the pandemics, the inflation going wild, gas prices going up. That is when it seems we turn to God and that makes whatever we are going through a good thing. I was reading this morning in Psalm 37 and seeing how David was doing. He is always an encouragement.  Verses 3 & 4 (NLT) says, "Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire." Now that's an encouragement. Verse 5, "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him and he will help you." Did you need that thought today? Verse 7, "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret abo...

Thursday... There are realities that we don't really take hold of. One of them is found in Psalm 36:12 (NLT). It says, "Look! Those who do evil have fallen! They are thrown down, never to rise again." So many just keep at it, not realizing what is ahead.  In verses 1 & 2 David writes, "Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are."  But David also shares another reality that we don't really take hold of enough. In verses 5-9 he says, "Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond clouds. Your righteousness is like mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike." I like how The Message puts it, "Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost, not a man, not a mouse slips through the cracks." I love that. David goes on (NLT), "How precious in you...

Wednesday... Oh to have someone who is with me, not against me. Look at what David says in Psalm 35:1 (NLT), "O Lord, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me." It seems like everyone is ready for a fight. They seem to be opposed to what we feel and what we believe in. And it seems that David had the same problem and he knew where to turn. He turned to God. And God knows all about opposition and He knows how to handle it. Easter is proof of that. David turned to Him. And that is why we need to turn to Him. David says in verses 6-8, "Make their path dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. I did them no wrong, but they laid a trap for me. I did them no wrong, but they dug a pit to catch me. So let sudden ruin come upon them! Let them be caught in the trap they set for me! Let them be destroyed in the pit they dug for me." We sometimes turn to God in deep desperation knowing that He is for us, that He is not against us and that ...

Tuesday... We can forget what it was like. We live in the dessert and we forget what it was like in other places where we have lived but it still is easy to gripe. I was talking with a friend this morning about another 30 degree morning in the dessert and of how we are looking forward to the warmth of summer. We can gripe but we don't have blizzards or tornados or hurricanes. We forget what it was like and don't appreciate what we have. David in Psalm 34 shares some comparisons which we need to see and we need to remember. In verse 21 (NLT) he says, "Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punish." Yes, we do have problems and difficulties and calamity but it isn't the same. Verse 22 says, "But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be destroyed." Yes, we may have it bad but not as bad as the wicked or those who hate. They for sure will have it bad. We have someone who takes...

Monday... Today can be just another chance. There are so many of us that need just another chance and today can be that. Have you ever thought that this new day is just another chance? Maybe that is what we need or maybe it is what we need to give. Over in Luke 13:6-8 (NLT) Jesus tells this story. He says, "A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally" And that is a word that we really don't want to hear if we keep putting off changes that we know we need to make in our lives.  He continues, "Finally, he said to his gardner, 'I've waited three years, and there hasn't been a single fig! Cut it down. It's just taking up space in the garden.'" So many of us deserve that type of action in our lives or we also have the right to say to that spouse, that friend, that child, that person we have been patient with, "I'm done, I'm done". But...

Saturday... So this is that day. Today is April Fools' Day. This is the day that someone says to you something like, "Your shoe is untied" and we look and they say "April Fool" Or, "Your mom doesn't love you" and then, "April Fool".  Now this is not the only day that some do that. There is so much unreasonable stuff being said and people believe it, even living by it. Everyday is April Fools' Day to some. Now David wrote something in Psalm 31 that some would say is an April Fools' joke. Verse 14 (NLT) says, "But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying 'You are my God!'" And to many they would say that is a joke. But not to me. I have found that to be the true way to live. In verse 18 David says, "Silence their lying lips - those proud and arrogant lips that accuse the godly." He goes on in verses 19-20, "How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who come to you for protection, blessing them ...