Saturday... It is a safeguard. It really is.

Philippians 3:1 (NLT) says, "Whatever happens." Now, there are so many things that come into our life to bring us down, to discourage us or to lift us up and strengthen us. They come into our lives with many things in mind. It all depends where they are coming from.

Has something happened in your day today that is bringing you down and everybody around you? You are so ready to climb back into bed and never get up? What is it that has headed you in the wrong direction? Now the evil one knows your buttons. Your family also knows. My dad used to say, "I'm tired of walking on eggs with you." He had so many good phrases.

Now Paul doesn't stop here. He has a solution. He says, "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord." Not just the good stuff but whatever happens. Remember Paul is writing this while he is in chains. That whatever did not bring him down.

He goes on, "I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith." And do we ever need safeguards because we really do need faith. How we handle whatever happens can either destroy our faith or strengthen it.

And here is why it is so important to safeguard your faith. In 9b he says, "I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith." Faith is so very important.

In verses 13-14 (NIV) Paul says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind" The whatevers that have happened. "and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." We need to rejoice in whatever happens in order to protect our faith to become what God wants us to to be in order for us to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus."

So, remember, rejoicing in our whatever happens is a safeguard for our faith. And we really do need faith. 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...

Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but... We each one have our own way of explaining what we are going through, don't we? Some of us are maximisers, other are minimizers and neither one is better. We each one are different and we see what we are facing differently but no matter what it is and how you see it and describe it, God can handle it! Now the writer of Psalm 46 shows the extremes. In verse 1 he states the basic reality and then he moves on into our fears and he maximizes them to make sure we really understand. Here is what Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" So what do you fear? The Amplified Bible says verse 1 this way, "God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very presen...

Todays Beginning

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