Thursday... Yes, it does make a difference.

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 Son was in the boat with them. Verse 23 says, "As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger."

Now Jesus was in the boat. Yes, he was taking a nap but he was in the boat. This is important for us to see. If we have a relationship with God then he is in our boat. I'm sure there were other boats sailing in this storm but there was only one boat that had Jesus in it. These guys were followers of Jesus, they had a relationship with Jesus but he was taking a nap.

Verse 24a says, "The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, 'Master, Master, we're going to drown." In other words they were in the midst of a storm and they emphatically prayed. Prayer is connecting with God. They woke him up, shouting. And maybe you also feel like shouting. You too are in real danger and you too have a relationship with God then he is in your boat so pray. Because he was in the boat they knew he was going to answer but we also need to realize that he is in our boat, our life. And as David said, "I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray."

Verse 24 goes on. "When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm." And verse 25 says, "Then he asked them, 'Where is your faith?' The disciples were terrified and amazed. 'Who is this man?' they asked each other. 'When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!'"

These guys were at the beginning of their relationship with Jesus. They hadn't seen all that Jesus was going to do. In this chapter, Luke tells of his healing a demon-possessed man, a woman who had suffered constant bleeding for twelve years was healed by her deliberately reaching out and touching the fringe of his robe and then Jesus also raised a twelve year old daughter from the dead because of the faith of her parents. Yes, reaching out and connecting with God through faith will make a difference.

God wants to show through pray his marvelous and amazing lovingkindness, and that we are the apple of his eye. We really matter to him and connecting to him by faith really does make a difference. So as David says, "I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray." And he will if you have him in your boat so just ask him to get in. 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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