Wednesday... Yes, we also need it today!

Ephesians 1:2 (NLT), "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace."

Wednesday... Yes, we also need it today!

The Apostle Paul is sitting in prison and he is writing this letter "to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus". Now in the 2nd verse of the first chapter of this letter to the Ephesians he writes, "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace." Now we need someone to pray this prayer for us today, don't we? We need to pray this prayer for us as individuals. Yes, we too need grace and peace and to give it to others.

Our homes need grace and peace. Did you know that your spouse is not perfect and they need grace and peace from you. We have no control over them but we do over us. I don't know what is happening in your home but I pray for grace and peace for you. The home is being attacked outside and inside. Yes we need more peace in our homes and for sure we need grace.

Our work needs some grace and peace. There is a whole lot of imperfect people there and a lot of them are not followers of Christ. They don't have him in their lives but as Christ followers, we do. So we need tto give grace and peace at work.

Our churches needs more grace and peace. A lot of faithful church goes are on Facebook. Do you ever read Facebook and see what we as professed faithful followers of Christ say? There is not a lot of grace and peace there. It seems like we need a revival of grace and peace. We really do need to be instruments of grace and peace. Yes, grace and peace really does show the world that we are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

Yes, Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter. And I'm sure he prayed that prayer for himself. Here he had these guards and he wanted to show them how God makes such a difference no matter what we are going through.

There is not a lot of grace and peace in our country. Yes we need to give grace and peace between our political parties for sure if we are faithful followers of Christ.

The Message says verse 2 this way. It says "I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ." Yes, God wants to pour grace and peace into our lives.

And then the Amplified Bible translates it this way, "Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being ] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

And then verses 3, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." By the way, Paul was in prison. And then verse 6, "So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us, and it gave him great pleasure."

Verse 4 says, "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." And that is definitely grace. Yes, we are to give grace which leads to peace because of what He has done for us. God's grace means His unearned, undeserved favor, kindness, and love toward us.

So let's give others what He has given to us. 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. ...

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 ...

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