Today's Beginning

Thursday... Maybe this could be your prayer today. Praying the Psalms from the Old Testament of the Bible can give us the words we want to pray and that share the desires of our heart that we want to say. And there is power through prayer. There is strength through prayer. There is faith through prayer. And there are answers through prayer. So make it a personal prayer as you are praying it. Maybe this is what you need to pray today. Psalm 90:13-17 (NLT), "O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants! Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!" Is this your desire today? Is that what you want, what you need to say today...

Wednesday... It pleases Him. Yes, it does! I loved it when I did something that pleased my dad. He was my hero, he really was and I loved it when I made him feel good about something I did. Now there were times that I didn't please him. I didn't like those times. Now it is interesting here in Psalm 89 what pleases God. And I think it is relevant to what we are going through right now. It says in verse 17 (NLT), "You are their glorious strength. It pleases you to make us strong." Giving us strength to handle what we are going through pleases Him. He is not annoyed at taking care of us. It pleases Him. I mean, we as human beings please God when we look to Him for strength during our times of trouble and difficulties when we personally don't have the strength to make it through what we are going through. That is great to know. It really is. Starting in verse 13 through 18 it says, "Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glor...

Tuesday... God uses us as individuals. He really does. Think of your family and the individuals in it and the differences, the different ways they handle situations. That is by design. That's how God created us. I finished up the Gospel of John this morning and Jesus' resurrection. Jesus had been crucified and put in a tomb. And look at the different reactions of His close followers.  John 20:1 (MSG), "Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away." She was an early riser. The Scripture doesn't condemn everyone else for not getting up early and going to the tomb. It doesn't say that she was the only one who cared. That was who she was.  Verse 2, "She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, 'They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him." Verses 3-4, "Peter...

Monday... You can count on Him. Yes you can! Is this true of you? Psalm 86:3 (MSG), "I count on you from morning to night." Is that true of you? If it isn't you can, yes you can. You can count on Him. Can you say this? Verse 2 (NLT), "Protect me, for I am devoted to you. You are my God." If that is true you can say as David says, verses 3-7, "Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. O Lord you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen carefully to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I am in trouble, and you will answer me." I love verse 1, "Bend down, O Lord and hear my prayer; answer me for I need your help." You can count on Him. And then verse 10, "For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God." If you believe that, if you have given your life to Him t...

Saturday... He says what we feel. The Psalmist says what we feel. Psalms 85:4-5, (NIRV), "God our Savior, make us new again. Stop being unhappy with us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you be angry for all time?" Do you want to say that to God? Is that how you feel? He wants us to be honest. Here is what we need to ask. Verses 6-7, "Won't you give us new life again?" The NLT says, "Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation." He listens to that kind of honest prayer. The Psalmist continues, verse 8, "I listen carefully to what the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people, but let them not return to their foolish ways. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, so our land will be filled with his glory." And then verse 12, "Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest." Verses...

Friday... Let's impress Him. Proverbs 24:11-14 (MSG) says, "Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, 'Hey, that's none of my business,' will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know - Someone not impressed with weak excuses." So that is not the way to impress Him, is it? But stepping in and helping someone in crisis will impress Him. So how do you rescue people in an epidemic? What weak excuses are we using? Think, really think about that. Look at verses 1-2, "Don't envy bad people; don't even want to be around them. All they think about is disturbance; all they talk about is making trouble." That doesn't impress Him. Verses 5-6 says, "It's better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need good counsel." Who are we listening to? Verse 10, "If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there was...

Thursday... We have trouble with quitting but... Look at this, Proverbs 23:4 (NLT), "Don't wear yourself out trying to be rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit." Sometimes if we let our wisdom guide us then we will quit. Let wisdom be your guide not pride, not displaced determination. Now in some things we don't quit, we keep at it but let wisdom be your guide. Here's why we quit. Verse 5 says, "In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle." He says in verse 9, "Don't waste your breath on fools, for they will despise the wisest advice." Verse 12, "Commit yourself to instruction; listen to words of knowledge." This is good, verses 17- 18, "Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed." This is not where you quite. You keep fearing the Lord and you will be rewarded for this. This is where ...