Wednesday... He wasn't perfect, but.

I have spent a lot of time with King David, the writer of many of the Psalms and he wasn't perfect. I have been reading a Psalm a day for almost 50 years and David has shown his feelings, his failures and his areas that he had problems but I love how he starts Psalm 26.

In verses 1-3 (NLT), he writes, "Declare me innocent, O Lord for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth."

Again, "For I am always aware of your unfailing love." He was not perfect but he knew that God's love was unfailing. Now that is what we each one need, isn't it? But that kind of love only comes from a relationship with God. But how each one of us need that and each one of us needs to live with that. Yes, I am not perfect and I need that kind of love.

Now he had some qualities that made a difference. He had integrity, he trusted in the Lord, he lived with the right motives, his heart was right, he lived according to God's truth and he was aware of God's unfailing love. And that is so important for each one of us.

Verse 3 in the Amplified Bible says, "For your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked [faithfully] in Your truth."

Oh, how we need to see that and live with that. We really do in this world, in our families, need to show kindness and love. We too need lovingkindness.

Now in verse 4 he says something important. He says, "I do not sit with deceitful or unethical or worthless men, nor seek companionship with pretenders (self-righteous hypocrite)." We need to watch out who we spend time with. We really do.

Back in our beginning days of marriage, when Margaret and I were in the learning how to do it stage we tried to not spend a lot of time with couples who were having trouble in their marriage, who were striving to find out what love meant in a marriage. We tried to spend time with mature couples who really loved each other and who had a mature relationship with God. We had a time that we spent a lot of time, too much time with a couple who were having trouble in their marriage and it was not a good time for us in our marriage.

Verses 4-5 (NLT) says, "I do not spend time with liars or go along with hypocrites. I hate the gatherings of those who do evil, and I refuse to join in with the wicked." We may spend too much time watching TV and gossiping on the internet. There is a whole lot of anger on TV and the internet especially right now.

And then verses 6-7, "I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders." Now that is a great way to spend our time.

I have found that spending some time in the Psalms, in Proverbs and in the New Testament is a great way to start my day. We need to reinforce what God's unfailing love for us and through us means in how we live and how we respond to ourself and our imperfections and others. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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 ...

Friday... So what is it that you really fear?

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT), "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Friday... So what is it that you really fear? Yes, fear holds us back. It seems to take hold of us so that we can't even really enjoy living. Now I have found that one of the best ways to handle fear is to solve the problem of what we fear. Let's say that death is what we really fear. Everyday we wake up afraid to get up because we are afraid to do anything because we are afraid to die. And that is so understandable. Now I have found the solution to fearing death. I have through faith taken care of my fear to die. 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT) says, "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 22 (CEV) says, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us." Death was not God's plan. Adam was created for an eternal life but he and his partner, Eve blew it and sin a...

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