Todays Beginning

Psalm 61:2 (AMP), "From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and weak; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help]." Friday... Yes, I just need some help. I live in a desert with mountains around us made from rocks. Now if it rains which it doesn't do too often but when it does it can be dangerous because there can be flash floods. Now we have a whole lot of visitors to our town and some may not understand the dangers of our desert and mountains, when it rains. For example, they could be out hiking by themselves which is very popular and a rainstorm comes up and a river on a dry bed comes rushing toward them and there is a rock of safety but they are alone and can't get to it by themselves. Because they are alone they are overwhelmed. Yes, they just need some help. Now we can in our life have so many situations where we need help but we are alone and overwhelmed. David in Psalm 61:2 (AMP) t...

Psalm 59:16a (NLT), "But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing joy." Thursday... Here are four tremendous words. And they can make such a difference in our lives. Right before these words, David writes in Psalm 59:14-15 (NLT), "My enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets. They scavenge for food but go to sleep unsatisfied." Now that is one type of person. We see a lot of them, don't we? And maybe that is what we do. But David goes on and says in verse 16a four tremendous words. He says, "But as for me." You see, no matter what we are going through, what we are facing, we have a choice. "But as for me." Those four words grabbed my attention. Now David goes on to say, "I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love." Now I am a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are one of two baseball teams who...

1 Timothy 1:19 (AMP), "keeping your faith [leaning completely on God with absolute trust and confidence in His guidance] and having a good conscience; for some [people] have rejected [their moral compass] and have made a shipwreck of their faith." Wednesday... So how is your faith today in God? Now that ios a very good question for each of us. We go through difference seasons in our life and in each of them we need faith. Have you found that to be true. Now Margaret and I are in a different season of our life and faith is so important. Now, of course we're talking about our faith in God. Every once in a while it is easy to put our faith in ourselves and that is needed but it can be scary. I can't see any farther than right now.  Now Paul had this young man that he was developing and he wrote two letters to him to head him in the right direction. Now Margaret and I are not young and this time in our life has some real needs for out faith to be strengthen.  Now I found ...

Psalm 58:11 (NLT), "Then at last everyone will say, 'There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.'" Tuesday... We live with so much injustice but there is a reward if... That seems so true. Of course, it is also dependent upon how we look at it. So many live with the philosophy that life is not fair. Something happens and they say, "That wasn't fair." We can live as victims. I watched a tremendous World Series game last night. The Los Angeles Dodgers which is my baseball team played the Toronto Blue Jays. It started at 5:00 pm and ended at 12 midnight when the Dodgers finally won. I'm sure many Canadians are saying today that life is not fair. Yes there were some blown calls by the umpires that maybe changed the outcome of the game. But that was an unbelievable baseball game that we will talk about the rest of our life. Now there really is so much injustice. David the writer of so many Psa...

Psalm 57:3b (NLT), "My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness." Monday... We heighten our awareness in times of danger. Have you found that we do that. Yes we heighten our awareness of our need for God when we are going through difficult times but there is more to God than just that. Psalm 57:1-3 (NLT) says, "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by." Yes, that is a great time to have a relationship with God. We heighten our awareness of our need for God in times of danger. But David writes that those times of danger will pass by. Yes, God is great in those times but there is more to our relationship with God than times of danger. Verses 2-3a says, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me." And the end of verse 3 says, "My God will se...

  Jonah 2:2 (NLT), "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me." Friday... We can get ourselves in so much trouble but God still cares. It seems that we are in the business of doing life our way and getting into trouble, of making wrong decisions without God but God still is there for us to pray to, to show that he cares and head us in the right direction. Now there was this great city called Nineveh that was a very wicked city but God came to Jonah and said in Jonah 1:1-2 (MSG), "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." Yes, God wanted to tell them the consequences of their evil but he also wanted to give them another chance. That is the kind of God we serve. Yes, Jonah liked the task of telling them they were going to be destroyed in 40 days but he didn't want to tell them tha...

  1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 (NLT), "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." Thursday... So, what is God's will? So many in this world do not believe in God so doing his will doesn't matter to them but it does to me and hopefully to you. So, what is God's will? Well, we must go to His Word, the Bible to find the answer. And that is a great place to start in our day. Now in Paul's letter called 1 Thessalonians in the New Testament of the Bible in chapter 5 and verses 16-18 (NLT) he says this, "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." Now God's will is simple but not easy. Ok, it starts by saying "Always be joyful." If we live from the standpoint that God who is greater in all ways than us and is a part of our life, and who watches over us then joy will ...

1 Thessalonians 4:9 (MSG), "Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don't need me to tell you what to do. You're God -taught in these matters. Just love one another!" Wednesday... This is a great reminder! As I mentioned on Monday, I had Covid. I'm doing great now. Now, we as Christians needed this reminder back during the first Covid. We as Christ followers really did need a reminder back then and we are also having some problems now and we also need this reminder. Now the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica and he also wrote this reminder to us. In 1 Thessalonians 4:9 (MSG) he writes," Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don't need me to tell you what to do. You're God-taught in these matters. Just love one another!" I'm afraid that politics has gotten in our way. If we are Conservative or Liberal it seems it is more important than if we are a Christ follower so we n...

Psalm 51:1 (NLT), "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stains of my sins." Tuesday... We can really mess up, can't we? We can mess up with our families, with our spouses, with our kids, with our friends and for sure with God. King David the writer of this Psalm 51 did. He really messed up but then the prophet Nathan confronted him and after that confrontation, David wrote and prayed to God this Psalm. And he starts it my saying what we need to pray and what he prayed. Verse 1 (NLT) says "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stains of my sins." He goes on in verse 2, "Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night." Is that true of you? Do you have something in your life that haunts you day and night? Well David did too and he did something about it. Yes, God ...

Psalm 50:14-15 (NLT), "Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory." Monday... I had an old friend come and visit me this past week. Now the truth is, it wasn't an old friend. Not at all. Covid came to visit and lived inside of me for about a week. Now it wasn't as bad as the Covid of a few years ago. That Covid was a very destructive occurrence in almost all of our lives. At one point Margaret, my wife had it and she was in the hospital. I had it also but not to the extent she did. I can vividly remember being alone in my bed at home and Margaret in the hospital and being in such emotional pain because I wasn't sure if she ever was going to come home. And many of you had friends and family who did not come home. Now David writes in Psalm 50:14 (NLT), "Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Mo...

Colossians 4:5 (NLT, "Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity." Monday... Let's remember why we are here. Now Paul in writing this letter to the Colossians tells them the reason why we are here. And I think it may be important for we who are followers of Christ today to be reminded of why we are here and what our tasks are. Paul writes in verses 2-4, "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should." Grant it, we are not in prison but we are living in a divisive world and God gives us many opportunities to speak to others and show them about what a difference Christ can make in their lives. Now the next two verses are important. Verses 5-6 says, "Live wisely among those who are not belie...

Psalm 40:1 (NLT), "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry." Friday... Waiting has its place in faith. If everything happened in our time frame then we wouldn't need faith. We would just do it. But that is not the way that life happens. David was a great powerful king and he wrote Psalm 40 and in verse 1 he writes, "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry." Here was this great powerful king who during a difficult time patiently waited for the Lord to help him. And he knew he would. So what about us? We have a tendency to believe that no matter what we are facing, it is up to us and even if we have turned to God then we want it done now. But King David said, "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me." Again, what about us? Have we been facing a situation and we have done all that we can and it still hasn't happened the way we think it needs to happen and then we read...

Colossians 2:6 (MSG), "My council for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given." Thursday... So let's go ahead with what we have been given. We walk around it seems with this look on our face. We want to do something but what do we do? Do you ever feel that way? Well the Apostle Paul gave some good advise to a group of people who seemed to be confused. In Colossians 2:6 (MSG) he says, "My council for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given." And that may be a good council for us. Now simple and straightforward is what Paul says we need. We get trapped up so many times in this looking for something deep and confusing. But he says, "My council for you is simple and straightforward." Now it is important to see that simple does not mean easy.  But Paul doesn't stop here. He goes on and reminds them, "You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him." Right to...

Psalm 38:9 (NLT), "You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh." Wednesday... He really does know. And that is so good to know. There are deep longings inside of all us that we may not have shared with anyone. But David wrote Psalm 38 and in verse 9 he shares something that is important to him and it probably is important to us. He says, "You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh." And that is so personal, so private. David wrote this Psalm asking God to remember him. Now he does remember our sins and it is important for us to know that God through the death of his Son, Jesus did something about that fact. Yes that is something that can be taken care of. And that is a longing inside of us for that needs o be taken care of. We may not know that but it is a longing placed inside of us by God when we were born. In Paul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 1 verses 13-14 he writes, "For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and...

Philippians 4:7 (NIV), "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Tuesday... God's gifts are way beyond measure. Yes they are, they really are.  And here is one of those gifts. Paul in his letter to the Philippians in 4:7 (NIV) says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ." Yes, that is definitely a gift we need from God in this day in which we live. Now. I don't know what you are feeling today but peace inside and all around may not be true for you. This is not a peaceful time to live and especially inside of us. The Evil One is constantly striving to keep us in turmoil. But God has this unbelievable gift for us.  Now the Amplified Bible says verse 7 this way, "And the peace of God, [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your heart...

Philippians 3:1 (NLT), "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I did it to safeguard your faith." Monday... Such a great way to view life! I love this book of Philippians. Paul is writing this letter while he is in prison. Philippians 3:1 (NLT) says, "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I did it to safeguard your faith." Now I listen to what a man says who is in prison even though he doesn't deserve to be there. We yell all the time, "But I have my rights." But what if we are treated unfairly? How do we handle that? People get into dangerous fights over parking spaces, over being cut off on the highway. There is so much anger in this world and I'm sure that some of those are Christians. Paul in prison says, "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord."...

Philippians 2:4 (AMP), "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." Friday... It can change the direction of our day. Have you found that you can go to bed or get up with a plan and then change the direction of your day? That happened to me today as I was reading in Paul's letter to the Philippians. Chapter 2 verse 4 (Amp) was brought to my attention by the Holy Spirit. Yes, He does follow along in our reading, in our paths for each day. Here is what it says, "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." I had made plans to go another direction this morning but God's Spirit in my back yard couch changed my plans. And it has been a very good change. Now it is so easy for us to merely look out for our own personal interests. I am the patriarch of this family. My needs need to be taken care of but that is not what the Spirit through Paul's letter to the Phil...

Psalm 32:10 (NLT), "Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord." Thursday... Each day has its many surprises but trust takes us through. Each day is different. Oh we may have our routines but there are alway surprises. Yes, and we can be ready for them if we have trust. David writes in Psalm 32:10 (NLT), "Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord." Who trust in the Lord! I read three chapters in three different books in the Bible each morning. Now I always start in the Psalms. Reading a Psalm a day has been a part of my spiritual routine for years. That is always where I start but then I also read a chapter in the NT and I am flexible with my third chapter. Routine is not a necessity for some personalities but it is for me especially at my age. It is a great way for me to start my day. Now today I highlighted a verse from Psalm 32 as a start and I then went to Joel 2 and t...

Ephesians 6:22 (MSG), "I've sent him not only to tell you about us but to cheer you on in your faith." Wednesday... Now there are different attitudes in situations. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter in the New Testament to the Ephesians while he was in prison. Paul was in chains. In Ephesians 6 he writes in verses 19-20 (MSG), "And don't forget to pray for me. Pray that I'll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out." I love how The Message puts it, he was a jailbird preacher. Paul didn't let his situation get in the way of living out God's purpose for his life. In fact it seems that his being a jailbird preacher was God's purpose to getting the Message out. He did write a big portion of the NT while in prison. Now lattter in verses 21-22 he writes, "Tychicus, my good friend here, will tell you what I...