Monday... He knows what we can do.

Have you ever thought that God knows what we can do because he's given us power but he knows that we don't really believe what we can do so he gives us some difficult even impossible situations to let us see the possibilities we can do but with him?

Now Luke 9 in verses 1-2 (NLT) says, "One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick." And then verse 10a says, "When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done." And I sure they were really excited. And he could have stopped there but he didn't. He knew he had given them power to do more.

Jesus tried to get away by himself but a large crowd found him and verse 12 says, "Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, 'Send the crowd away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place." They saw a problem and they had a solution but it wasn't Jesus' solution. Verse 13 says, "But Jesus said, 'You feed them.'"

Now I wonder if they had come back from their experience thinking they had the power to do anything. They were on a mountain but Jesus needed to show them that yes, he had given them power but they still needed him. Maybe that is what our Mondays are all about. The difficulties of our Mondays are there to show us that we really do need God.

They must have been looking for an answer before they came to Jesus. They had been searching and they had found five loaves and two fish but they realized that wasn't enough to feed over 5,000 people on their own so they came to Jesus with a human solution to send them away but he threw it back at them.

Yes, God has given us the power to do unbelievable things but he also knows what we can do when we depend on him and we need to do what verse 10b (NIV) says, "Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves." He knew what was ahead.

Now verses 14-16 (NLT) says, "For there were about 5,000 men there. Jesus relied, 'Tell them to sit down in groups of fifty each.' So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them. Then breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people."

He took what they had found and used it and multiplied it. And he will do the same for us. They had found the loaves and fish and they knew it wasn't enough but Jesus took what they had found and blessed and used it. They came up with a solution and told him what he should do but he turned it back on them and used what they had done.

God has a place for us in handling the impossible situations in our life and he will take what we have done and use it. So we need to do what we can do and then give it to God to bless and use it. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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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