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

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

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 ...

Thursday... Yet, now this is true.

Colossians 1:22a (NLT), "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body." Thursday... Yet, now this is true. Now Paul a prisoner in Rome is writing a letter to a church in Colossae. And in Colossians 1:21 (MSG) he says, "Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds" The NLT says "This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated by your evil thoughts and actions." And that is where so many in this world live today. They are blowing it and they don't know what to do. Yes, they are hostile in their minds and they are engaging in evil deeds but there is Good News. Now Paul in verses 19-20 sets the stage for an answer to those who don't want to live that way. He says, "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth b...

Today's Beginning

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