Today's Beginning

John 16:7a (AMP), "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage." Friday... Yes, there is an advantage. It can be very difficult for us to really see an advantage when to us it is a disadvantage. Now here in John 16, Jesus is telling his twelve disciples that he was going to be leaving them and they were having real problems about it. I mean, they have been with him for three years. And he has been and was making such a difference in their lives but he was going to leave them. For some of you, your child has grown up. They have been with you all of these years but here they have just graduated from high school and they are going to be leaving you and you are not sure they can handle it without you and for sure you know that you can't make it. And at least 11 of these disciples were having problems with Jesus leaving. But Jesus said here in John 16;7a (AMP), "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage." But how can that be true? Again these guys had b...

Isaiah 28:12a (NLT), "God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.'" Thursday... There is so much, if we would just listen. There really is. But we think we are so smart and we know what is best. The Prophet Isaiah over in 28:12a (NLT) says something important that we need to stop and listen to. He says, "God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.'" But he goes on. He says all of that and then at the end of this verse he says, "But they would not listen." Right before this Isaiah writes in verses 9-10, "'Who does the LORD think we are?' they ask. 'Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over - one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little here and a little there!'" Again 12b, "But they would n...

Psalm 117:2 (AMP), "For His loving kindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him], and the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)" Wednesday... Yes, we really will overcome. When we have someone who loves us, really loves us, it seems that we can handle anything. Here in Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible, the writer in verse 2 (AMP) says, "For His loving kindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him], and the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)" But what if something changes? Now, God the Father showed how much He loved us by sending His Son to earth. He came to be the sacrifice for all who were lost, who had turned their backs on Him and of course it started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed Him and that changed every plan that God had for us so He had to do something about it because of His love for us. Over in John 14 the disciples were ha...

Psalm 116:5 (NLT), "How kind the LORD is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!" Tuesday... It is so amazing! Now we each came into this world with unique personalities. There is no one else who is like us and therein are some problems. There are some with certain personalities that we just do not like but Psalm 116:5 (NLT) says, "How kind the LORD is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!" Yes, that is so amazing! Now verse 2 (NIRV) says, "Because he paid attention to me, I will call out to him as long as I live." And then verse 4, "Then I called out to the LORD. I cried out, LORD save me!" Yes, each one of us are unique but if we call out to him he will save us. That also is amazing. Now Jesus had a unique personality among his twelve disciples. And I'm sure he annoyed a lot of people but God saw something special in him when he called him into his circle. Here is an example. In John 13 Jesus wanted to give his disciples a...

Psalm 115:3 (AMP), "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." Monday... He is, so He can! And it is so important for us to see that we can't because we aren't. Psalm 115:3 (AMP) reinforces that fact. It says, "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." We are not God! And we really do need to realize that especially in our homes and in our relationships. Yes, Psalm 115:3 (AMP) reinforces that fact. "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." Now the Psalmist starts this Psalm in verse 1 (NLT) by saying, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness." And there is where we need Him. He has unfailing love and He is faithful and that isn't true of us, if we don't have Him in our life, living through us the way He would live and expects us to live through His help and His example. Have you found that it is so easy to become so petty? T...

Psalm 112:4a (NLT), "Light shines in the darkness for the godly." Friday... We each have our own perspective. We really do. David starts Psalm 102 by saying in verse 1 (NLT), "Praise the Lord." and no matter what we are facing today that is a great place to start. And then he says in verse 4a, "Light shines in the darkness for the godly." I read this morning in Facebook of the death of one of our friends. It was sudden and I am so sorry to those of her family. That is definitely a dark place. And again, I am so sorry. Now death may not be a part of your situation that you are facing today. Yes, we each one have our situation and for many they are dark. But David says "Light shines in the darkness for the godly." And that probably is hard for us to see as we face our dark situation. I also in my reading this morning read in John 11 of some bad news that one of Jesus' good friends was very sick and about to die and his sister had sent a message...

John 10:10 (AMP), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly [to the full, till it overflows]." Thursday... So, lets be on the watch? We live in a community where we have no real fences and we do all we can to protect us. There was a gang of thieves who broke into homes even in the middle of the day. They were caught but changes happened to make our homes more secure. We have a dog that we really love and he is a great protector for us but we also must protect him. There are coyotes that wander through our community so we do all we can to protect him from them.  Now Jesus here in John 10 is talking about his sheep and of how he has them in a place that the only way in is through a door. Now some can climb over the stone walls but if they do it is for no good. Yes, inside that wall is safety and an abundant life in other words a more and better life. Jesus says in John 10:10 (AMP), "The thief comes ...

Psalm 110:7 (AMP), "He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head [triumphantly]." Wednesday... Such great pictures! David in Psalm 110 gives us two pictures that helps in times of difficult battles, and David it seems was always in a battle. Now, much of them came from his time of disobedience. Yes, our battles sometimes come as consequences of our disobedience but if we repent God also gives us encouragement, strength and victory. In verse 1 (AMP) David writes, "The LORD (Father) says to my Lord (the Messiah, His Son), 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet [subjugating them into complete submission].'" Yes, God is on His throne looking down. But then at the end of this short Psalm David writes in verse 7, "He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head [triumphantly]." And both of them are great pictures that maybe we need to stop and picture an...

Psalm 109:4 (NLT), "I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations even as I am praying for them." Tuesday... So, how is it going? David writes in Psalm 109:4 (NLT), "I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations even as I am praying for them." So, how is your life going? Is something like that happening to you? Yes, life can be tough. People around you may be constantly trying to bring you down. And it is important for us to see that we are not alone. Now I love the Bible, the honesty of God's Word. Here in Psalm 109 David was having some problems with people. They were people he loved but they were putting him down, they were accusing him. Verse 3 says, "They surround me with hateful words and fight me for no reason." Maybe that is what you are going through. Well you are not alone. And maybe that is important for you to really understand today. The Amplified Bible says in verses 2b-5, "They have spoken against me with a lyi...

Psalm 108:12-13 (AMP), "Give us help against our adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain [a worthless hope]. With God we will do valiantly, for it is He who will trample down our enemies." Monday... So, is it all up to us? Good question. Some say, yes, some say they are not sure and others say Psalm 108:12-13 (AMP) "Give us help against our adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain [a worthless hope]. With God we will do valiantly, for it is He who will trample down our enemies." Now David starts this Psalm by saying in verse 1a, "O God, my heart is steadfast [with confident faith.]" So from David's standpoint the answer is no. But in this day in which we live many answer, yes it is up to me and others. And therein lies so much frustration. I am so glad that I believe that it is not all on me and on others. We have had so many come knocking on our door striving to get us to vote for them. Now it is a good thing to have people voting from our vi...

John 6:9 (NLT), "There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd." Friday... Let's not minimize what can be done through us. It is so easy in life to minimize what we do. It really is. Now there was this woman who got up early on this particular morning and probably every morning. She knew that her son had a great adventure planned for his day but she also knew that he had to eat so she went into her kitchen and got a few loaves of bread and some fish for her son to take on his adventure. Listen, don't ever minimize what you do. She did it because she knew her son would need it. Do you wake up each morning and minimize what you do? Well, it is so easy to do, isn't it? So, this young man headed out. He was going to see Jesus but when he got there, there was a huge crowd. John 6:10a says "The men alone numbered about 5,000." And of course there were way more than that. But this young man had som...

John 5:6 (NLT), "When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, 'Would you like to get well?'" Thursday... Would you like to get well? Now I can ask you that question. I can, but my asking it is totally different from Jesus asking it because he can do something about what is wrong with you. Now friends are great to have, they really are. There is so much they can do for us. The same is true of our family. They can in so many ways make such a difference in our lives and it is so great to have them but Jesus can do so much more and this man here in John 6 had been lying there sick for thirty-eight years. And the fact that Jesus knew that shows how different he is from us. We celebrated last night my daughter's birthday. Now Margaret, my wife and I were the only ones around that table who were at her birth. We did all we could to make sure she wasn't born on Friday the thirteenth and we made it. She was born in the first hour of Saturd...

John 4:50b (NLT), "And the man believed what Jesus said and started home." Wednesday... What if we did what this man did? There was this government official from Capernaum who had a son who was very sick and he heard that Jesus had come to Galilee from Judea so he went and begged Jesus to come over to Capernaum to heal his son. The Amplified Bible says, that he was at the point of death. This man was desperate. The Sea of Galilee Now too many times we have certain specific thoughts in our mind of how Jesus is going to speak to us and take care of what we need him to do. Yes it seemed to be a good idea for Jesus to come to his home and heal him, But that wasn't what Jesus said. Verse 48 (MSG) says that "Jesus put him off: 'Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.'" Is that possible with us? That maybe we too need to be dazzled in order to believe. But this man wasn't put off by Jesus. He wanted his son to be healed. He was de...

Psalm 102:2b (NLT), "And answer me quickly when I call to you." Tuesday... It really does get in the way. I arrived at my coffee shop, Aspire, a little earlier today. I got my normal table but I had to wait in line to get my coffee and I'll be honest, I can have a problem at waiting. When I finally got my coffee and sat down I started thinking about my response inside that I had to wait and it came to me how much pride I have and of how it gets in the way. Yes, pride gets in the way of our enjoying life. I got my coffee and then started reading Psalm 102:1-2. Here is what it says, "LORD, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea!" Notice that both sentences end with exclamation marks. Verse 2 goes on, "Don't turn away from me in my time of distress. Bend down to listen, and answer me quickly when I call to you." Notice in these 2 verses there are 3 my's, two me's and one I. I was thinking back to yesterday morning. Down at the corner before my coff...

Psalm 101:2b (Msg), "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts." Monday... He gets to the point. David knows what is best. In Psalm 101:2b (Msg) he says, "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts." Now in the first part of the verse he says, "I'm finding my way down the road of right living, but how long before you show up." Yes, we really do need God's help especially at home. Someone has said that the weakest link in our Christian life is at home. And in reality, it is the most important. Now David starts in verse 1 by saying, "My theme song is God's love and justice, and I'm singing it right to you, God." And David knows that we need to sing and live that song especially at home. Yes that needs to be our prayer to live and sing that song. Verses 1-2 in the Amplified Bible says, "I will sing of [steadfast] lovingkindness and justice; to You, O LORD, I will...

Isaiah 8:11a (NLT), "The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else." Friday... It depends on our focus. There is so much in the Bible for our daily walk and attitude and we need to spend time of focus and obeying it. Isaiah, one of the major prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible writes in 8:11a (NLT), "The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else." Isaiah was in a very difficult time and we are too. There was and is so much to cause us to think like everyone else. Now Isaiah said in verse 12, "Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them." Verse 13 (AMP), "It is the LORD of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome. He shall be your [source of] fear, He shall be your [source of] dread [not man]." And if we do that, verse 14 says, "Then He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred, indestructible shelter for those who fear and trust...

Luke 24:6 (NLT), "He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee" Tuesday... There is so much frustration. And so many times that is so true of us. The last chapter of Luke starts on Sunday morning with some women coming to the tomb where they thought Jesus was buried after his crucifixion on Friday. Saturday was the Sabbath and because of their Jewish belief they couldn't come but here on Sunday they came with spices they had prepared. In other words they came to show how much they loved Jesus but they found the tomb empty and they were so frustrated and discouraged and terrified. And so many times in our life we have deep emotions because life isn't going the way we planned. It is so easy for us to have problems with God because of our life not turning out the way we thought it should. Many times we too are frustrated, discouraged and even terrified. We wonder why God isn't taking care of us the way we think he should. He...

Luke 23:49 (NLT), "But Jesus friends, including the woman who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching." Wednesday... Have you ever felt this way? You feel like your world is falling apart. So what did you do? Luke 23:49 (NLT) says, "But Jesus friends, including the woman who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching." Now verse 47, right before this verse says, "And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow." They were there to see if this man, Jesus was who he said he was and it seemed that they hadn't really put their lives, their trust in this man so they went home with disappointment. But the ones in verse 48 were different. They believed with all their heart that Jesus was the one and the fact that he died shook them but they didn't run. Their world it seemed died and they didn't really understand what was happening but they still held on a...

Psalm 95:7b (MSG), "Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks." Tuesday... Let's do it. There is so much that goes through our mind and it isn't all for our good. Now God's voice is not always the loudest. So what do we do to hear him because what he says is so. so important? Psalm 95:7b (MSG) says, "Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks." Yes, the drop everything is so important. There is so much that goes through our mind and as I said, it isn't all for our good. So this is a great piece of advice. "Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks." Now this statement is at the end of two important verses. Verses 6 -7b in the New Living Translation says, "Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only we would listen to his voice today." Yes, there are so many voices striving to get our attention and...

Psalm 94:13a (AMP), "That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find peace in the days of adversity." Monday... So where do we turn in times of adversity? Where do we get our power to handle it? It is so easy for us to believe that we have what it takes in times of trouble. Some think it is us. They think they can handle whatever comes their way. Well the writer of Psalm 94 says in verse 8 (NLT), "Think again, you fools! When will we finally catch on?" He gets right to the point. He goes on in verses 9-10, "Is he deaf - the one who made your ears? Is he blind - the one who formed your eyes? He punished the nations - won't he punish you? He knows everything - doesn't he know what you are doing?  And then verse 11 (AMP), "The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are mere breath (vain, empty, futile)." Yes, the Psalmist gets right to the point.  Then verses 12-13a says, "Blessed [with wisdom and prosperity] is the man whom You di...

Psalm 91:9-10  (NLT), "If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home." Friday... If we do then He will do. There is an if attached to so many of our potentials. The if is so important. A shelter Psalm 91:9-10 (NLT) says, "If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home." There is a silent then in there. Yes, if, then "no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home." Verses 14-16, "The LORD says, 'I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward then with a long life and give them my salvation." If we do it is amazing what God then will do. But the if is in there. There is a part for us to do. There is. This Psalm star...