Monday... Now this is a great way to start a Monday morning.

Psalm 128:1-2 (AMP), "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. For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you."

Psalm 128:1-2 (AMP) 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. For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you."

Yes, that is a great way to start a Monday morning.

Look at these words, blessed, happy, sheltered by God's favor, eat the fruit of the labor of your hands, and it will be well with you. And all you need to do is worship God, be obedient, walk in His way and live according to His commandments and it will be well with you.

Now verse 2 is also important for us to see. If you do verse 1 then verse 2 says, "For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you."

The Message Paraphrase says, "All you who fear God, how blessed you are! how happily you walk on his smooth straight road!" Now that is what we want from God but maybe we are not sure about verse 2. I mean if I fear God I will be blessed and I will happily walk on his smooth straight road but then comes verse 2, "You worked hard and deserve all you've got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Soak in the goodness!"

Wait a minute, I have to work hard? Yes. Now even in Genesis Adam before the Fall was given by God a job. He had to name all of the animals. Do you realised how many animals God created and what a job it was to name them all? Again verse 2 says, "You worked hard and deserve all you've got coming. So, enjoy the blessing! Soak in the goodness!"

Again verse 2 in the Amplified Bible, "For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you."

The New Living Translation says, "You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be."

New International Reader's Version, "Your work will give you what you need. Blessings and good things will come to you."

Now I have carried that over into my retirement. I get up every morning at 5:50 am and spend up to 3 hours and write an encouragement from God's Word for you and I definitely find, blessings and good things. God gave me this job and he has a job for each one of us.

Now God has a plan for each of our lives. I had as a church planter people who would call me and tell me that God woke them up to pray for me and they wondered what I was going through. "You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be." Yes, God has plan and a purpose in each of our days.

Verses 9-10a in Exodus 20 (NLT says. "You have six days each week for your ordinary work but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God."

Yes, ordinary work is in God's plan. Again claim this verse, "For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you."

Now that is a great thought at the beginning of a new week, a new day, a new hour. 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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