Wednesday... So what are we hoping for in 2025?

Psalm 62:5 (NLT), "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him."

Wednesday... So what are we hoping for in 2025?

That's a very good question, What do we want in this new year?

There was this brother in the Old Testament who stole his brother's birthright. Jacob was his name and his brother was Esau and their mother heard Esau say to their dad that he was going to kill his brother. And their mom sent Jacob to go and live with her brother. Now after 20 years Jacob decided he wanted to go home and because he always seemed to come out as a winner he started his trip even though he was a little afraid.

Maybe you have some fears as you face what you are hoping for in 2025.

So Jacob sent these messengers ahead to tell his brother Esau that he was coming. He thought he needed to prepare the way for him to see his brother and to see how he might respond to him. So he told them, in Genesis 32:4-6 (NLT), "Give this message to my master Esau: 'Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep, and many servants, both men and woman. I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.' After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, 'We met with your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you - with an army of 400 men!'" Yes, it looked like there could be major problems in getting what he was hoping for and that could be true for you too but he continued because he always had been a winner.

So he set into motion plans to prepare the way for him to get what he hoped for. And they were great plans but after he had set them into motion he found himself alone with a man who happened to be God and a wrestling match between them happened. Jacob wanted God's blessing on his plans but God had another idea. He wanted to change Jacob from the person who wanted what he wanted and who would do whatever he could to get it to happen. But God had another plan that he had set into motion and Jacob had to change.

Sometimes we wrestle with God over what we want and we seem to win. We think we know best but God has another plan and for it to come about we need to change.

Verse 28 says, "'Your name will no longer be Jacob,' the man told him. 'From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.'"

Now earlier in verse 25 it says, "When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wretched it out of its socket." God wanted there to be a reminder that would be with Jacob the rest of his life that God is really the winner and that we need him to really win.

David writes in Psalm 62:5 (NLT), "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him." We may think we are winners but are we really without God? And sometimes we need to be reminded of that fact.

Now there was a good ending to this story because God blessed him. And we need God's blessing on us as we face this new year.

David says in Psalm 62:5, "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him." And we need to be reminded of that fact as we face 2025. We may think we are always winners but are we really?

Verses 30-21 in Genesis 32 says, "Jacob named the place Peniel (which means 'face of God'), for he said, 'I have seen God face to face, yet my life was spared.' The sun was raising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip." "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him." 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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