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 found that for me to be healthy meant that I had to control my longing for donuts. People ask, "What do you want to eat?" and I say, "I can't have what I want to eat. I want donuts."

What is happened is that I have a deeper longing for being healthy and living a long life than I do donuts. I have let another longing control my first one.

Now David says in verse 11, "Why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart sad?" Somehow he was longing for something that he couldn't get and he was discouraged and sad. We do that, don't we? But then he said, "I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again - my Savior and my God!" He reevaluated his longing and his hope and put them in God.

So are you discouraged, are you sad? Maybe we need to reevaluate our longings on a regular basis, especially when we are always discouraged and sad.

Verse 11 in The Message paraphrase says, "Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God - soon I'll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He's my God." Now that is a longing that is a very, very good thing. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless.

Wednesday... Our unless can turn into useless. It really can. I have found that unless I give the correct email of my wife then I can't get what I wanted. I put an extra i in her email and I have been working for 5 days to get it changed. Unless has been useless. The writer of Psalm 94 uses this word and shows how important it is. Verses 17-19 (NLT) says, "Unless the Lord had helped me, I would have soon settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I'm slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." "Unless the Lord had helped me." So many people go on and on and on striving to live their life on their own but they keep slipping and doubting and living without hope and cheer. Yes the Lord has such unfailing love for us, he really does but unless we have a relationship with him and we turn to him and ask him for help then the unless turns in to useless because h...

Todays Beginning

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