Todays Beginning

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT), "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Friday... So what is it that you really fear? Yes, fear holds us back. It seems to take hold of us so that we can't even really enjoy living. Now I have found that one of the best ways to handle fear is to solve the problem of what we fear. Let's say that death is what we really fear. Everyday we wake up afraid to get up because we are afraid to do anything because we are afraid to die. And that is so understandable. Now I have found the solution to fearing death. I have through faith taken care of my fear to die. 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT) says, "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 22 (CEV) says, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us." Death was not God's plan. Adam was created for an eternal life but he and his partner, Eve blew it and sin a...

Proverbs 28:1 (MSG), "The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one's after them; honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions." Thursday... We live in such an edgy world. Yes we do. We have so many stories about people getting into fights and causing so much harm. We live in an edgy world. Someone cuts another person off in traffic and the stories don't end well. Proverbs 28:1 (MSG) says, "The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one's after them; honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions." Here is another Proverb that could be the problem. Verse 13 (NLT) says, "People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy." The CEV says, "If you don't confess your sins, you will be a failure. But God will be merciful if you confess your sins and give them up." There seems to be a lot of confessing that needs to happe...

Psalm 147:11 (CEV), "The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love." Wednesday... It is so good to know how to please. I love to please, don't you? Especially if it is the Lord. Psalm 147:11 (CEV) says, "The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love." Yes, worship pleases Him. But here it also says that trusting his love also pleases him. Now 1 Corinthians 13 is a great place to go to see what love means. It is known as the love chapter and the last verse of this great chapter says this. Verse 13 in the Amplified Bible says, "And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope, [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God's love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love." Yes, the greatest of these is love. And It seems that trusting God's love has an effect on us. There is an unselfish ...

Psalm 146:5b (MSG), "Put your hope in God and know real blessing!" Tuesday... So I hope so! Now over at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 there are three very important words. Verse 13 (NLT) says, "Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love." Now the focus of chapter 13 is love but those two other words, faith and hope also have great importance in our life. Faith believes God's promises are true. Hope expects their fulfillment. Faith is the foundation (believing God's word now). Hope is the outlook (anticipating what comes because of faith.)" And we need both. David over in Psalm 146:5b (MSG) focuses on hope. He says, "Put your hope in God and know real blessing!" Now we can hope for a lot of things. I hope it rains today and it did. I hope that I will live to be 78 and I have. Now those hopes don't have real power. It didn't rain because I hoped for it to rain and the same with me being 78. B...

  Psalm 145:3 (NLT), "Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness." Monday... We can try! Yes, we can try! We can on a Monday morning try to measure His greatness. Yes , we can try. But Psalm 145:3 (NLT) says "Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness." We can try but we can't do it. We really can't. The Amplified Bible says, "Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is [so vast and profound as to be ] unsearchable." David starts this Psalm in verse 1 (MSG) saying, "I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King." Yes He is God and He is a King and David who wrote this Psalm was also a King but not a King like God. 3b says, "There are no boundaries to his greatness." There are no boundaries. Verse 3 in the NLT says, "Great is the Lord!" And that description means we are to serve Him, we are to surrender to Him and that is so...

Psalm 142:3 (AMP), "When my spirit was overwhelmed and weak within me [wrapped in darkness], You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me." Friday... It really does make so much sense, it really does! I love getting up early every morning and going out on my couch with my Bible and reading it and also praying. I love connecting with God each morning and then, of course throughout my day. Are you overwhelmed over something in your life? Look at Psalm 142:3 (AMP). It really makes sense. "When my spirit was overwhelmed and weak within me [wrapped in darkness], You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me." Again, does that make sense? And then verses 5-7 says. David writes from experience. "I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Give attention to my cry, for I am brought very low; rescue me from my persecutors, for they are stronger that I. Bring my s...

Psalm 141:1 (NLT), "O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help." Thursday... Patience and being anxious can go together. David, the writer of this Psalm must have been in a tight spot. He needed God right now. God knows us and is patient with our anxiety. He knows all about us because He created us.  Here is what David said in Psalm 141:1 (NLT), "O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help." Yes, God knows what we are going through and He knows us and He is patient with our impatience. I love that. But then somehow David stopped and had another thought. He prayed in verse 3, "Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips." Even in our prayers this is also a very good prayer.  Yes, we can go on and on in our desperation and God loves us and He is patient with us but He sees whatever we are going through in a different light. And sometimes we need to stop and see what we are crying fo...

Proverbs 20:24 (NLT), "The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way." Wednesday... Yes, we strive to understand the whys. Is it a good thing to understand the whys along the path we are walking? I wonder why that happened? What could I have done to keep that from happening? Understanding and wisdom are so important but so is obedience, trust and faith. Proverbs 20:24 (NLT) says, "The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way." Understanding is so important but understanding who God is and what He can do and knowing that He knows best and can be trusted is so important. Second guessing God is not the way to live. Now the Amplified Bible says verse 24 this way, "Man's steps are ordered and ordained by the Lord. How then can a man [fully] understand his way?" We don't have the ability to see what is happening out ahead of us and why what is happening right now is happening. We can be i...

Psalm 139:5-6 (NLT), "You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand." Tuesday... There is a prayer that is really to us. Now Psalm 139 is a tremendous place for us to spend some time and if we do, it will make such a difference in how we live each day. It starts in verse 1 (NLT) by saying, "O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me." And we need to realize that, to really know that is a fact. Yes, He knows everything about us but still loves us. He is not discouraged with what He knows. And then it ends with a prayer that has been and is being answered. It is a prayer that is really for us to know is a reality, that it is really happening. Verse 23 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." He does that every moment of every day. That is being answered right know even if we haven't prayed thi...

Psalm 138:6 (NLT), "Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud." Monday... What type of person do we choose to be with? When we go into a room and we have a choice at whom to reach out to, to spend time with, then whom would we reach out to? Yes, there is so much to be learned from successful people but there will be people who really need someone to reach out to them. Now David says in verse 6 of his 138th Psalm, "Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps away from the proud." That is very interesting. Here is the greatest of all who looks for and cares for the humble. Now humble is an interesting word. So why would he do that? Well, what does it mean to be humble? In the Bible humility is really valued but not so much in the world we live in. From a biblical standpoint humility before God means recognizing our dependence on Him and not relying on our own strength or pride. Yes he cares for the ...

Proverbs 15:14 (NLT), "A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash." Friday... So what are we hungry for? I am a person who really loves donuts. I really do hunger for them but I know that they are not a healthy food for me so when someone asks me what I want to eat I say, I can't eat what I want. Yes we have choices. We can eat what isn't good for us. We can feed on trash. Now Proverbs 15:14 (NLT) says, "A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while a fool feeds on trash." Yes, knowledge is so very important. It really is but so is wisdom, being wise. Knowledge is what you know - facts, information, skills and understanding what you've learned. We need knowledge. Knowledge tells me that donuts are not good for me to eat to be healthy, to live a long life. So maybe once or twice a month but not everyday. Yes we need knowledge even at 78 years of age. I still want to know. But being wise is more. You see, wisdom is how you use what...

Proverbs 14:6 (NLT), "A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding." Thursday... Yes, it can come easily. Proverbs 14:6 (NLT) says, "A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding." So it seems that understanding makes a difference. Verse 6 in the Amplified Bible says, "A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none [for his ears are closed to wisdom], but knowledge is easy for one who understands [because he is willing to learn]." And then The Message, "Cynics look high and low for wisdom - and never find it; the open-minded find it right on their doorstep." Now it seems that we need to understand how important wisdom and knowledge is in this life we are living and that they go together. We really need to understand that and that it can come easily to the one who is willing, who wants to learn and who is open-minded. Let's go on. Verse 8 (NLT), ...

Psalm 133:1 (NIV), "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live in unity." Wednesday... There is so much more. There really is! I don't really think we understand how much more there is for us. God wants to do so much more through us. David writes in Psalm 133:1 (NIV), "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live in unity." And that is such a great place to start. The Message says, "How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along." And that is so true. Proverbs 13:3 (AMP) says, "The one who guards his mouth [thinking before he speaks] protects his life; the one who opens his lips wide [and chatters without thinking] comes to ruin." And verse 2 (MSG) says, "The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation; bullies push and shove their way through life." And there are bullies in the church. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church says in 2:1-3 (NLT), "Dear brothers and sisters, w...

1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT), "For 'Who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?' (Isaiah 40:13) But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ." Tuesday... There is this tremendous advantage. Over in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul tells of this tremendous advantage that those who have a relationship with Christ and have his Spirit, his mind within them. Verse 12 says, "And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." He goes in verse 13, "When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths." Verse 14, "But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand wha...

Proverbs 11:8 (MSG), "A good person is saved from much trouble; a bad person runs straight into it." Monday... Oh, the simplicity of life. Here in Proverbs 11:8 (MSG) is a simple, wise thought. It is not a command but a reality, a spark of wisdom and hope. Here is what it says, "A good person is saved from much trouble; a bad person runs straight into it." Oh if we would just see this is a reality. The Amplified Bible says it this way, "The righteous is rescued from trouble, and the wicked takes his place." And the New Living Translation says, "The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead." Now verse 6 says, "The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them." And the simplicity and reality is, we have a choice. Yes, the Psalmist wrote "In sin did my mother conceive me." There was no choice in that fact but it doesn't stop there. God saw the sin problem so h...

Psalm 128:1 (MSG), "All you who fear God, how blessed you are!" Friday... So many blessings! The Message Paraphrase says Psalm 128:1 this way, "All you who fear God, how blessed you are!" Verses 1-2 in the Amplified Bible says, "Blessed [happy and sheltered by God's favor] is everyone who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience], who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments." Look at Psalm 1:1-2. It says, "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], nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers)." Back to Psalm 128:1-2 (NLT). It says, "How joyful are those who fear the Lord - all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!" And then to Proverbs 8:1, "Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding ...

Romans 15:24-25 (NLT), "I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there."  Thursday... We are so good at making plans. But, and that is such an important word. But. Here Paul was writing this letter to the church in Rome. He says in Romans 15:24-25 (NLT), "I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there." He was laying it all out what he was planning on doing but and you must go back to the book of Acts which was written by Luke after this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome. Luke tells that Paul's trip to Jerusalem took him a total different direction. It didn't tak...

Psalm 126:4 (MSG), "And now, God, do it again - bring rains to our drought-stricken lives." Wednesday... Experience with God is such a blessing. Starting new can be so exciting but experience has its rewards, its blessings. Life has its tough days but experience knows about the good ones and it knows what to do to make them happen and to believe that they will come. Here is what the writer of Psalm 126 says in verse 4 (MSG), "And now, God, do it again - bring rains to our drought-stricken lives." Now experience helps us to understand that there are tough days in our lives. Verse 5 says, "So those who planted their crops in despair will shout 'Yes!' at the harvest." An experienced farmer knows that they need to buy seed, then plant the seed, water it, take care of the weeds that come to destroy the seed and then wait for the harvest. There is much hard work, there are tough days and there are days built on faith. That's what experience teaches u...

Psalm 125:1-2 (AMP), "Those who trust and rely on the Lord [with confident expectation] are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but remains forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever" Tuesday... What kind of expectation do we have for today? Now each of us comes from a different place as we face today. We are each individuals, none of us are the same so our expectation of today is different. But there are some pictures that can give us some commonality. The people of Israel for the most part would go to the city of Jerusalem for different kinds of celebration so on their way they had some Psalms that were written to prepare them for what was coming and they are also great Psalms of preparation for us in what we will be facing and Psalm 125 is one of those Psalms of Ascents. Psalm 125 starts by saying in verse 1 (AMP), "Those who trust and rely on the Lord [with confident expectation] are like Mount Z...

  Psalm 124:2-3 (AMP), "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have quickly swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us." Monday...  If has a then. It does. Here is a possibility, a probability for many people who do not have the Lord on their side. They are facing life alone and their if and then is different from those who do have God on their side.  The writer of Psalm 124 brought up this possibility. Verse 2 (AMP) says, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us." That was one possibility. "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side." Now many live that way. They have no idea what would happen if the Lord had been on their side. He is not a reality to many. but there are many others who can say after a difficult situation, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side." because He was  And we really do need to stop and think about b...

Psalm 121:1-2 (NLT), "I look up to the mountains - does my help come from there? My help come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Friday... We sometimes need a recharge. I got up early this morning to recharge my EV car. It was at 20% which is when you need to find a place to give it an electric charge. And I have a place that doesn't cost as much before 8:00 am so I was there early. Now in ourselves, sometimes we need a recharge in our spirits. Things can really drain us, they can get us down. We get to the point that we can't even look up, we have no energy. I have different verses in the Bible that are rechargers for me. One is in Isaiah and it is about an Eagle. That one is so good. The picture of being lifted high and flying above our problems really is a recharger. Then there is another group over in Proverbs that is about trusting and being directed to a straight path. Yes getting off the path can give us trouble and we need some refocus, some recharging...