Todays Beginning

Psalm 30:1 (NLT), "I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me." Wednesday... Yes, he did and yes I will! There is a part in our lives that God plays and there is a part that we play. We get into trouble. We maybe lose our job and we turn to God out of desperation because he has rescued us before and we believe that he will again. But what have we done? David wrote Psalm 30 for the dedication of the Temple. Verse 1 (NLT) says, "I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me." David starts with his part. He says, "I will exalt you, Lord." And that is so important for us to do. We so many times exalt the trouble we are going through. It are so heavy, it puts us in so much despair and discouragement. Yes, we exalt our problems. But David exalted the Lord.  Too many times our problems get us down when God wants us to look up, to exalt him.  Now why does he exalt the Lord? ...

Proverbs 29:23 (AMP), "A man's pride and sense of self-importance will bring him down, but he who has a humble spirit will obtain honor."  Tuesday... It can really bring us down. Solomon writes some practical truth that we need to live by. In Proverbs 29:23 in the Amplified Bible translation he says, "A man's pride and sense of self-importance will bring him down, but he who has a humble spirit will obtain honor."  And that is so true. Oh it may bring us up in our own eyes but in others it definitely will bring us down. I have found this to be so true in my own life.  Now, we do need confidence and lacking self-confidence doesn't mean we are humble. True confidence can come about in us if we are humble, if we have a dependence upon God. Taking the credit is where the problem comes out. Believing that our success comes from us not from God. Proverbs 15:33 in The Message says, "Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living - first you learn humility, then...

Luke 13:8 (NLT), "Then Jesus told this story: 'A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he always was disappointed.'" Thursday... Sometimes it seems that we are a disappointment. Do you ever feel that you are a disappointment and you feel so worthless?  Luke 13:8 (NLT) says, "Then Jesus told this story: 'A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he always was disappointed.'" Now he doesn't stop there but that is where so many stop. They find that they are a disappointment and they just stop. And that is true of the other side, the one who is disappointed. They too just stop and live with it. Jesus continues his story. In verse 7 he says, "Finally, he said to his gardner, 'I've waited three years, and there hasn't been a single fig! Cut it down. It's just taking up space in the garden." And that i...

Psalm 23:4a (MSG), "Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid." Wednesday... Yes, we must be prepared to not be afraid. I live in the middle of a desert and i have found there are benefits to living in a desert but there are also dangers. I live close to a place called Death Valley and that can be very true in a desert. When it is in the 100's + in temperature we must be prepared because there can be death valleys in our lives so it is very important to be prepared. People who don't live in a desert can be afraid. Yes, it needs to be respected.  But fear can rob you of so many adventures in life. Now David writes in Psalm 23:4 (MSG), "Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid." I have driven through Death Valley, California many times. It is a great way to go to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and eventually  to Yosemite which is one of the most beautiful National Parks in the United States. Yes, fear could take you aw...

Psalms 22:26 (NLT), "The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy." Tuesday... They show us how to handle our difficult times. We with our different personalities start our days differently. But the Psalms show us that we don't have to stay where we start our days.  Some have difficulty starting their days with any hope. Despair is the way they start. David in Psalm 22:1-2 starts this Psalm by saying, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief." Maybe that is how you start your day. I love the honesty of the Psalms. Down in verses 16-18 we read, "My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garmen...

Luke 10:40 (NLT), "But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, 'Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." Monday... Yes it is, so how do we handle it? Yes, life can be unfair.  Over in Luke 10:38-40 (NLT) it says, "As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, 'Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me."  Now in reality, Martha was doing what I'm sure she had been taught. When you have a special guest over to your house you must have a big dinner. And it does seem unfair that her sister wa...

Psalms 18:46 (NLT), "The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!" Friday... There must be some resolve within us. Yes, when we are going through difficult times there must be something within us that keeps us going. That why I love reading the Psalms. David was going through some tough times when he wrote Psalms 18. Verse 46 is a resolve that kept him going. He writes, "The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!" And in our difficult times that fact is also a great resolve and we need to stop and meditate on that fact. Now Luke wrote something Jesus said to his twelve disciples that if they had just listened to part of it they would have been shaken. And we do that so many times. Somebody says something that catches us by surprise and we only listen to a part of it. not the whole thing. Here is what Jesus said to his twelve friends. Luke 9:21-22 says, "Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone w...

Psalms 17:6 (NLT), "I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray." Thursday... Yes, it does make a difference. Have you found that prayer makes a difference? Well, it depends upon who you are praying to. Psalms 17:6 (NLT) says, "I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray." David goes on and says in verses 7-8 (AMP), "Wondrously show Your [marvelous and amazing] lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand from those who rise up against them . Keep me [in Your affectionate care, protect me] as the apple of Your eyes; hide me in the [protective] shadow of Your wings." The NLT says, "Guard me as you would guard your own eyes."  Do you need to pray a prayer like that today? Are you in the middle of a storm? Again, have you found that prayer makes a difference? Over in Luke 8 there were these guys who were in a boat and Jesus, God's ...

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Proverbs 15;2 (NLT), "The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness." Tuesday... So, what do we listen to? There is so much out there that we can and do listen to. Solomon in Proverbs 15:2 (NLT) says, "The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness." Yes, we have a choice here.  Over in Luke 6:6-8a (NLT) it says, "On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching." Now this was a tremendous opportunity, wasn't it? The wisest of all men was teaching. But "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man's hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath." Such a wasted time, such a foolishness, And then verse 8a says, "But Jesus knew their thoughts." We too many times listen to the fools belching out foolishness, leading us ...

Proverbs 14:12 (NIV), "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." Monday... It started great. It really did! Now yesterday, Palm Sunday was a great day in the life of Jesus and the week really did start great. He came into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people were shouting their praises. If we were looking at it from its beginning we would have thought that he was headed into a great week. It was unbelievable what he did while he was here on earth but this week didn't end the way it started for him. On Friday he was killed. Solomon writes in Proverbs 14:12 (NIV), "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." Now if we were writing the story of the last week we would have written it differently, wouldn't we? But in reality is ended on an unbelievable day. Yes, he was killed on Friday but resurrected on Sunday.  Easter is such a celebration for us! Proverbs 14:12 in the Amplified Bible says it thi...

Luke 4:13 (NLT), "When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity." Friday... He will return. Over in Luke 4 he says in verse 1 (NLT), "Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry." And when he was hungry was a great time for the devil to tempt Jesus.  My Temptation Now as you would suppose, Jesus handled the temptation. Yes he was filled with the Holy Spirit but he also was hungry, so the devil wasn't successful at this time. But verse 13 says, "When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came." In other words, he will return. Yes, it always feels so good when we handle a temptation moment but this is important for us to see, he will return at an opportune moment. If you read on you will read about the night...

Proverbs 10:25 (NLT), "When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation." Thursday... Let's win! This is a reality. Proverbs 10:25 (NLT) says, "When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation." It says when not if. The storms of life do come. Now here in the desert we are going through some good times. I sat outside this morning looking up at the mountain behind our house and had my coffee and water and i read my three chapters in the Bible and connected with God through prayer. No physical storm but we are having some personal ones. No relationship storms but some life changing ones. Yes, storms are a when not an if. Verse 25 starts in the New Living Translation with a when. "When the storms of life come," But it doesn't stop there. it shows two different ways to handle them. First of all this Proverb says, ''the wicked are whirled away,...

Luke 2:43 (NLT), "After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn't miss him at first." Wednesday... They didn't miss him at first. Now at the age of twelve, Jesus and his family went from their home in Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. They all went on a trip. It wasn't the norm, it was a celebration. Luke 2:43 (NLT) says, "After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn't miss him at first." It seems that they assumed that he was among the other travelers but when he didn't show up they started looking for him among their relatives and their friends. We can have so many distractions in our lives and we can assume that Jesus is with us but somehow we have left him behind until. And an until can be so important in our lives because it causes us to stop and look for where Jesus is. I don't k...

Psalm 8:5 (NLT), "Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor." Tuesday... We are really important. We so many times think that is true and stop right there. Yes we think that we really are important but we must not stop stop there. We are really important to God. Psalm 8:5 (NLT) says, "Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor." Here is what verses 3-4 says, "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care about them." Now that is the truth. We are mere mortals. The NIRV says, "What are human beings that you think about them." I mean, who do we think we are?  I don't know what you are facing this morning. You may be looking at yourself and thinking that you are a mere mortal. I'm worthless. I don't mean an...

Mark 15:5 (NLT), "But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate's surprise." Friday... But we need to be in control. At least, we think that is best. In difficult situations we want to have control, don't we? That is the best thing, isn't it? I am reading in the gospel of Mark of Peter's perspective of Jesus' life. Now Peter was one who wanted to be in control and usually he had something to say so this was an interesting view of how Jesus handled a very difficult situation. Yes, Jesus had spent time in prayer before he was arrested. Through prayer he had given control over to God and that is always a wise thing for us to do. We don't always need to be in control. Now the Jewish religious leaders who had major conflict with Jesus and what he taught had arrested him and now they had sent Jesus to Pilate the Roman governor who was in control and it seemed that this was a great time for Jesus to plead his case. But Mark 15:5 (NLT) says, "But Jesus said noth...

Proverbs 3:5 (AMP), "Trust and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding." Thursday... Yes, let's rely confidently! Yes, there is power in positive thinking. I have made it a challenge in my life to do that. But it really does make a difference on whom we rely. Now Proverbs 3:5 is a great place to go for insight on reliance. It shows both sides. The Amplified Bible says "Trust and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding." Of course it can be so easy to rely on ourselves and our experiences and our own insight and understanding, can't it? Now those last two words, insight and understanding are interesting. But can we rely confidently with all our heart on our own insight and understanding? Another good question.  Look at verse 11. It says, "Do not reject or take lightly the discipline of the Lord [learn from your mistakes and the test...

Psalms 2:12b (MSG), "But if you make a run for God - you won't regret it!" Wednesday... We will not regret it! Now Psalms 2:12b in The Message Paraphrase says, "But if you make a run for God - you won't regret it!" The New Living Translation says, "But what joy for all who take refuge in him!" And the Amplified Bible says, "How blessed [fortunate. prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him." Now there are so many people who do not know this to be true.  In the beginning three verses of this Psalm (NLT) it says, "Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. 'Let us break their chains,' they cry, 'and free ourselves from slavery to God.'" That is how so many people who have never had a relationship with God feel. They want to free us from God. ...

Psalms 1:1a (AMP), "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked." Tuesday... So, this is the way it starts. I love reading the book of Psalms which is in the Old Testament of the Bible. I have systematically read it everyday for 40+ years. There are 150 Psalms and they can be read one at a time in five months. I just finished Psalms 150 on March 30 and have on April 1 just read in 6 different translations Psalms 1. Now April 1 is April Fools Day. It is a fun day but Psalm 1 is the truth and this is how it starts in the NIV. Verse 1a says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked." The Amplified Bible says it this way, "Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example]. And then the whole verse in The Message says, "How well God must like you - you don't walk in the ruts of those blind-as-pats, you don't stand with t...