Today's Beginning

Psalm 56:8 (NLT), "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." Wednesday... There are so many annoyances in life. Now King David wrote Psalm 56 and he knows all about annoyances and even more. In verses 5 & 6 (AMP) he writes, "All day long they twist my words and say hurtful things; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they hide and lurk, they watch my steps, as they have [expectantly] waited to take my life." Now this is King David. We as ordinary people probably don't have people out to get us but we all do have annoyances in our life. For sure, I would never want to be the President but it is so good to have David tell us what he goes through and how he handles it. I'm sure we do have people who seem to twist our words and that definitely is an annoyance so what do we do? Well, David in verse 8 (NLT) gives some encouraging words. He says, in talking abo...

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 ...

Psalm 54:4 (NIRV), "But I know that God helps me. The Lord is the one who keeps me going." Monday... He is the one who keeps me going. And that is definitely the truth. Now David wrote Psalm 54. And it was during a very tough time. It seems there were these men from Ziph who went to King Saul and told him that David was hiding from him among them. Saul wanted to kill David because he knew that God has chosen David to be the new King. And these guys told Saul where he was. And David must have know it. So David started this Psalm in verse 1 (NIV) saying, "Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God; listen to my words." Now he could pray this prayer because of verse 4 (NIRV), "But I know that God helps me. The Lord is the one who keeps me going." Yes, that is a great fact to know when we are going through tough times. Do you know that? Is that true of you? Well David knew it was true because the Lord definitely was the one...

Psalm 51:1 (NLT), "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love." Friday... Now this can be ours. Psalm 51 was written by King David when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba which broke his relationship with God. This Psalm shows his guilt but then his returning to joy. Yes, there were consequences because of his disobedience to God. Yes, he did have a choice. The first verse tells of how to start in our getting back to where we can be in our relationship with God if we too have sinned. It says, "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love." And that is a where we start. We need to first realize who God is and what He is like. Yes, He can be merciful and he is unfailing in his love. Now over in Jeremiah 11:1-3 it says, "The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 'Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of my covenant with them.' Say to them, 'This is ...

Jeremiah 20:13 (NLT), "Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I am poor and needy, he rescues me from my oppressors." Thursday... He really had a bad day. So how are we tempted to handle our bad days? Over in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13a the Apostle Paul writes, "If you think you are standing tall, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience." Yes we may think we have what it takes to handle bad days but we need to be careful. We think we have what it takes to handle them but the temptations in our life are no different from what others experience. Now Jeremiah over in the Old Testament was having a very bad day. He was arrested, whipped and put into stocks and he was a prophet of God. Iin verse 7 he writes, "O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs are me." And we too can be tempted to turn ...

Psalm 49:2-3 (NLT), "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Wednesday... This is what I needed. Where do you go when you need answers to your situation? I'm at that point today and after my time of focused prayer I read these verses. Psalm 49:2-3 (NLT) says, "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Have you found that prayer and God's Word really do go together? It is basically a conversation with God. Yes the Lord's Spirit does speak directly to us but He also speaks through His written Word, the Bible. He quickens our heart through His Word. And that is what happened as I read this Psalm. "High and low, rich and poor - listen! For my words are wise and my thoughts are filled with insight." Now the listen part is so important especially when you are reading the Bible. Now I needed what it said, "listen! For my words...

1 Corinthians 8:2-3 (NLT), "Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes." Tuesday... Yes, we think this is so important. We live in a world where knowledge is so important. We want to have all the answers and when something comes up where there is a question we want to be there with the answer or at least our opinion from our knowledge. And this can be a problem the older we get. But Paul in writing 1 Corinthians 8 says in verses 2-3 (NLT), "Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes." Now in verse 1b he says, "But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church." And that is also true in a family or at work or with friends. But it makes us feel so important when we are the answer person. Yes, knowledge with wisdom is important but how we sh...