Thursday... He really knows us and he won't.

I love the Psalms and their honesty. The writer of the longest Psalm, Psalm 119 at the end of the first section says something that I know we all feel at some time in our life. Verse 8 (NLT) says, "I will obey your degrees. Please don't give up on me."

At 76 years of age I still need to pray that prayer. "Please don't give up on me." I love the honesty of the Psalms.

It is so easy for us to give up on people, isn't it? They maybe don't live up to our standards but God gives us grace and help and so should we.

Verses 4-8 says, "You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your degrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! I will obey your degrees. Please don't give up on me!"

That is so good. That shows our desire and our commitment to live as he wants us to live but it also shows our need for his grace and his help. Now if we aren't trying, then that is something different.

How gracious are we with our family, with our friends, with our church? We have not arrived and neither have they. And maybe our prayer could be, Please let us not give up on them.

The Message puts it this way, "I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me." We need him, we do. We can't do it alone. And they need us and him too!

The Amplified Bible says it this way, "I shall keep Your statutes; Do not utterly abandon me [when I fail]." We really do need him. We think we have what it takes in ourselves but the truth is we need his grace and we need his help, don't we? Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Monday... He did it by Himself

Isaiah 44:24b (AMP), "I am the Lord, Maker of all things. Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself." Monday... He did it by Himself. Many have a tendency to think very highly of themselves and what they can do. Oh we do have great ability but we are not the source. Yes it is important to have self-confidence but we are limited. The prophet Isaiah in 44:9-10 (NLT) says, "How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don't know this, so they are all put to shame. Who but a fool would make his own god - an idol that cannot help him one bit?" Now later in verse 24 (AMP) he writes, "For the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says, 'I am the Lord, Maker of all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself.'" I love that. "By Myself." Now we do need confidence but we are foolish to ma...

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 ...

Todays Beginning

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