Monday... So let's keep at it.

Zechariah 6:15b (NIV), "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."

Monday... So let's keep at it.

We have been following all that has happened in the past few weeks in Los Angeles and the fires that have destroyed whole towns. It has been such a difficult thing to watch. I have lived close to where the fires have destroyed whole towns, Now it is getting close to being taken care of us. But it has been a major diligent effort by firefighters. It has taken real diligence. And it is going to take diligence in building back these cities, these homes, these businesses. It isn't going to just happen.

Now over in the book of Zechariah in the OT of the Bible Zechariah sees a task that needs to be done. Zechariah 6:15b (NIV) says, "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God." The task was the building of the Temple of God. It had been destroyed and the people had agonized over this and they had fasted at certain times of the year. Yes prayer is so important and there has been and will be much prayer over the rebuilding of LA.

Now Zechariah has a message here in his book and he urges people to practice justice and the true form of fasting and to focus on rebuilding. Yes, prayer is so important but as Zechariah says in 6:15, "Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."

So, what does it mean to be diligent? Well, the word diligent comes from the Latin diligere, which means "to value highly, take delight in" but in English it has always meant "careful and hard-working". If you're a diligent worker, you don't just bang away at your job; you earnestly try to do everything right.

The Amplified Bible says, "And those who are far away will come and [help] build the temple of the Lord. Then you shall know [without any doubt] that the Lord of hosts sent me (Zechariah) to you. And it will come about if you will obey the [voice of the ] Lord your God."

Yes, we must pray but yes, we must diligently do and obey what God will tell us to do. The Message paraphrase says verse 15 this way, "People will come from faraway places to pitch in and rebuild the Temple of God. This will confirm that God-of-the-Angel-Armies did, in fact, send me to you. All this follows as you put your minds to a life of responsive obedience to the voice of your God."

Psalm 80:19 (NLT) says, "Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only them will we be saved." There is a diligent part for us to do but there is a definite part that he only he can do but we must turn to him. That is where we start.

Now in verse 12 of Zechariah 6 (AMP) it says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold (look, keep in sight, watch), a Man (Messiah) whose name is Branch, for He shall branch out from His place (Israel, the Davidic line); and He shall build the [ultimate] temple of the Lord." Yes, Zechariah is prophesying Jesus is coming and that we will be the ultimate Temple with Him living in us.

But in the task at hand God will answer their prayers by sending people to help in building but there is also something that they must do.

Yes, "This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God." "And it will come about if you will obey the [voice of the] Lord your God." So let's diligently do our part by obeying the voice of the Lord. Let's keep at it, and do our part and diligently do what he says. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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 ...

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...

Today's Beginning

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