Monday... I'm back and ready to go.

We have gone from Vegas to Colorado, to Maryland, Florida, Bahamas, Cuba, Mexico and back to Vegas. Well we weren't in Cuba but we cruised close to it. Yes we have been flying and cruising and now we are back home and I'm sitting here in my special coffee shop, Aspire, ready to write a word of encouragement for us.

So how are you doing? What is your Monday like? Are you ready to face another day, another week or are you ready to give up. Yes, yes, life can be difficult. It really can be tough. So how are you handling what you are facing?

There is a phrase in Psalm 119:8b (NLT) that says, "Please don't give up." And that is a very good word of encouragement. But that is not what it says here. Yes, it is so easy sometimes for us to want to give up, to just want to stay in bed and not get up. It does say that in many other Psalms but that is not what is says here in verses 7-8.

Verses 7-8 says, "As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you for living as I should! I will obey your decrees. Please don't give up on me." And that is maybe what we could be saying in the midst of what we are going though. But here is the truth. He will never give up on us, on you and me. He may step back and wait on us to learn and lean on his righteous regulations and to thank him for giving us the desire to obey what he says but he will never give up on us.

So no matter what you are facing today, he has not given up on you.

Over in Exodus 15 the children of Israel were on the other side of the miracle of walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, of escaping their slavery in Egypt but they couldn't find any water and they were complaining. No they weren't thanking, they were complaining. Now they did find some water but it was bitter. Verse 25 says, "So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him."

Verse 26, "He said, 'If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you."

As you continue the story of the children of Israel they didn't follow this but God didn't give up on them and he hasn't give up on us. Now God used a tree to fix the bitterness in that water. And throughout the Bible as we read it we will see that a tree represents the cross of Jesus. The cross provides the main form of healing that we all need most: healing from sin. That tree, the cross, means we get to live and it means that God has not and will not give up on us, on you and me.

So don't give up doing what he says for us to do and remember that he hasn't given up on us.

Verses 5-8 (MSG) says, "You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me."

So, let's do what he wants us to do and believe that he hasn't given up on us. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

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