Wednesday... This is what we really need. It really is.

Psalm 4:1 (AMP), "Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have freed me when I am hemmed in and relieved me when I was in distress; Be gracious to me and hear [and respond to] my prayer."

So what is it?

Psalm 4:1 (AMP) says, "Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have freed me when I am hemmed in and relieved me when I was in distress; Be gracious to me and hear [and respond to] my prayer."

There is a lot of stuff there that we do need, isn't there?

But there is a need in there that is also in the last sentence in the Bible. Revelation 22:21 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus (the Christ, the Messiah) be with all [the saints - all believers, those set apart for God]. Amen." And that is what we need everyday in which we live.

Yes, I need God to answer me when I call. Yes, I need to be freed from being hemmed in and so many times I need to be relieved of my distress and for God to hear and respond to my prayer." Yes, yes, yes, yes, but but there is one more thing that is in both of these verses that we really, really, really need and it is God's grace. Yes, yes, I, we need God to be gracious to us. Yes I need to be gracious and I need the grace of God.

So what is God's grace? Well it is His unearned favor and kindness toward us - love given freely, not because we deserve it, but because of who He is.

Now up to the last sentence of the Bible God has been so gracious to all people. Yes His grace is shone by telling us in the Bible what is going to eventually happen to us if we do or don't believe. You see, God could be up there bringing judgement upon all of us because of what happened in Genesis but He over and over gave us another and another and another chance but here in Revelation He ends it all by saying, "The grace of the Lord Jesus (the Christ, the Messiah) be with all [the saints - all believers, those set apart for God]. Amen." The NIV says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with God's people." Yes God's grace gives everyone a chance but there will be a day that because of God's grace to those who have done what he asked they will be rewarded.

Yes, it is very important for us to realize that we are benefactors of God's grace but we are also to be givers and examples of God's grace to those around us. So what is it? It is His unearned favor and kindness toward us - love given freely, not because we deserve it, but because of who He is and it is to flow out through us as living examples. Yes we are to be gracious to others because He is gracious to us. That is what it means when it says, "believer". And grace is one of the best gifts we can give and it shows that we really are believers.

So, stop and think, am I being gracious to those in my family, those at work, those at church, those who are not of the same political party, those who are not believers of Christ? Good question.

Yes, grace is what we really need but so do those around us. 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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