Psalm 37 is noted as a “Psalm of David.”  King David, formerly a shepherd and a musician for his predecessor King Saul, wrote many of the 150 Psalms we have in the Bible.  His words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, show us some good and practical ways to live for the Lord each day.  Take for example Psalm 37:2 which says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Two key words we see are “trust” and “take.”  These words serve as a roadmap for how we can live each day.  First, we learn to trust in the Lord.  To trust in the Lord means to live not by sight but by faith.  We live not based on what we think about something or wish we could do.  Rather, we trust ourselves to God and what He has chosen for us.  To trust God means we entrust everything to Him—things we understand and do not understand, the losses and the gains of life.  To trust God means we also have the joy of casting all of our cares upon Him.  It can be easy to say we trust God but often difficult to live that way and to demonstrate it. 
            One way to increase your trust in God is to commit something to Him today and let go of it.  Just say, “Lord, I give this to you.  I trust you.”  You may not immediately see His response but He will keep the trust you place in Him.  Remember the words of the Bible about trusting God, “because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).  God is able to keep every trust we place in Him.  Take a moment each day to commit something to Him—a battle, a victory, a defeat, a worry or a confusing situation where you lack answers.  We grow in our trust of God by trusting things to Him and then letting go.  Just as an athlete gets better by practicing his or her sport, we trust God better by starting to trust Him. Insisting on having our way is, frankly, a sin.  It is an insistence and even a demand that we know better.  But our ways and thoughts are NOT His ways and thoughts.
            Second, in Psalm 37, we learn to “take delight in the Lord.”  To take delight means we enjoy Him.  God is the fountain of all joy and peace.  The world will not give us joy and peace.  These gifts are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  He produces these gifts within us. We will never find lasting peace and joy in external things or the things we do.  The world cannot give to us what it does not know.  Deep-seated delight in the Lord comes from a dynamic growing relationship with Him fueled by reading His Word, prayer, worship with other believers and participating in a small group of believers like a Sunday School class or a discipleship group where everyone is seeking the Lord together.  Isolation can often rob us of the ability to take our delight in and from the Lord.  We begin to see and think only of ourselves.  That is unhealthy.
            Psalm 37:2 promises that when we take delight in the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart.  Do not read that to mean God will give you anything you want or allow you to do anything you wish.  Such a conclusion is a misreading and a misinterpretation of Scripture.  God does not serve us.  He does not grant a few wishes here and there.  He does not endorse every whim or wish we may entertain.  The idea is our desires are transformed and changed.  We begin to desire what God desires.  We turn from selfishness and disobedience and begin to desire what God wishes to bring into our lives.  We repent from the old ways of living and embrace the new that God has for us.  We have a godly sorrow over our sinfulness, stubbornness and selfishness and begin to delight in what God ordains and brings into our lives. 
            Trusting God and taking delight in Him are like having a new windshield in life.  We can clearly see where we are and where we are going.  Just like an old windshield can have dents, cracks, dirt and wear and tear, we can gather a lot of things that keep us from seeing as clearly and as well as we should.  Learning to trust God and taking delight in Him change our outlook and vision.  We learn not to insist upon our way but to enjoy and embrace the greater way that He has for us.  Grow your delight in the Lord today.  Take a step toward reading His Word more faithfully, praying more earnestly, gathering with brothers and sisters who can help you grow in Christ and hold you accountable for what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  Life is not about you or me.  It is not about getting attention, validation or approval from others by any means we can imagine.  Today, we can easily make our life about gathering online clicks and likes.  If we live for these things, we may discover we are not trusting God and taking delight in Him.  Have a great Thursday!      
 

           The greatness of God is well beyond the human ability to declare, describe or define. He is surpassingly great—infinitely great.  Now words would ever be adequate to describe Him. Indeed, Paul said that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  His power exceeds our highest imaginations. The opening four words of the Bible attest to the greatness of God: “in the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1).  The prophet Isaiah spoke of God’s greatness in a memorable and clever way. He wrote, “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear (Isaiah 59:1).  Isaiah emphasized the power of God’s strength and the depth of His comprehension.  Simply put, God can do all things and understand all things.  He has never learned anything.  Nothing ever scared or surprised God.  Nothing has ever occurred to God.
            His arm “is not too short to save.”  God can redeem those who are lost in sin.  God can rescue those who are drowning in temptation and testing.  God can save people from prisons of their own making.  God can course correct people who have gone off-road into pride and conceit.  We remember that the Lord Jesus calmed storms, healed the sick and gave sight to those who were blind.  His arm was not too short.  God’s power and sovereignty are not limited by anything.  Our expectations of God can often be too small and too inconsequential.  We fight the temptation to reduce God to something closer to what we can understand and maybe even control.  A number of years ago, J.B. Phillips wrote a book by the title Your God Is Too Small. Often today, our vision of God is too frail, too meager and too paltry.  But Scripture corrects those fallacies by pointing us to the Lord God who created everything there is—even placing stars, galaxies and constellations in the sky.  God’s arm is not too short to do anything.  He is able to accomplish anything that He chooses to do.
            God’s ear is not “too dull to hear.”  He hears His people.  He receives our heartfelt praise.  In Genesis, God heard the cries of a struggling mother named Hagar.  He heard the cries of a childless Hannah.  He heard the request of King Solomon who asked for wisdom to lead God’s people.  Jesus heard the cries of a blind man named Bartimaeus above the sounds of a crowd trying to silence him.  He felt the touch of a woman suffering from a bleeding problem.  He hears.  He knows.  Jesus told us in Matthew 6 not to worry—and in moments of worry or anxiousness to consider the birds of the air and the way the Father provides for them.  How much more does He hear and provide for us today! 
            Yet, Isaiah shows us what separates us from the God whose arm is not too short and whose ear is not too dull.  In the next verse, Isaiah 59:2, the prophet wrote, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”  Sin does separate us from Him.  Our defiance and disobedience do divide us from Him.  Isaiah 59:10 shows us the power of sin over us, “Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.”  Our greatest need for the arm of God and the ear of God is for our forgiveness from sin and our salvation to a new life in and with Christ.  We can often grow indifferent toward sin—even calloused and blinded to it.  We can find ourselves excusing it, minimizing it or even trying to explain it away in a convincing fashion.  
            But God calls us to come to Him in humility, contrition and sorrow—recognizing what we have done and how He alone can set us free from this scourge and stain.  There is freedom to be found in dealing honestly and confessionally with God.  Sin cost Jesus His life.  It hangs over us like a cloud that we cannot possibly move.  No need to make light of sin or look for others to blame.  Isaiah offers some hope for those stumbling under the burden of sin, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations” (Isaih 65:2).  God first held out His hands to a wayward Israel.  And now God holds out His hands to wayward men and women in 2026—hands that are not too short to save and ears that are not too dull to hear.  Have a good Monday!    
 

           Psalm 150 is the last chapter of the Bible’s longest book—the book of Psalms.  Fittingly, this last chapter ends with an invitation to “praise the LORD.”  Both the first and last verse of this Psalm bid us to “praise the LORD.”  Thirteen times total, Psalm 150 commands us to praise the LORD.  For the Lord God is great and worthy of praise.  We can praise Him verbally—but more importantly we can praise Him by how we live.  Psalm 150 says, “Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens” (150:1b).  The word “sanctuary” can refer to God’s dwelling place.  We can think of God sitting on the throne of the universe.  We can think of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside all believers.  Ancient Israel would have recognized God’s sanctuary as being, first, in the tabernacle and, second, in the temple in Jerusalem.  The tabernacle and temple symbolized God’s presence with His people—a reality later most fully realized in the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Today, God dwells not in buildings made by human hands but in hearts and lives redeemed, reshaped and remade by the blood of Christ. 
            Psalm 150:2-6 teach us a variety of reasons, ways and methods whereby God can be praised by His people. We praise God for who He is.  God is incomparable and beyond our full comprehension.  God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in creation, His Word and most fully in Jesus His Son.  God has a heart for rescuing and redeeming the lost.  We praise Him for His grace that rescues and redeems us from the penalty of sin and the eternal consequences for our sins.  When we are rescued from sin by the Father in Christ, He then brings us under His marvelous, gracious and everlasting reign.  His “power” and “surpassing greatness” rescue us.  We are not capable of saving ourselves.  But, with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). 
            Psalm 150 notes a series of instruments with which we can praise the Lord.  This diversity of instruments helps us to understand the many ways and reasons we can praise the Lord.  We will never fully exhaust the list of ways and reasons we can praise God.  He is infinite and eternal—we will run out of life before we run out of occasions for praising our Maker and Redeemer.  We cannot keep silent about praising God.  Jesus said that if God’s people are silent then the creation itself will respond with unceasing praise. The Lord said, “When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!  I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’” (Luke 19:37-40). 
            Take time today (and every day) to build moments of praise into your walk with the Lord.  Taking time to praise Him will lead to increased moments of thankfulness for His blessings and gifts.  Psalm 150:6 commands, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).  God’s people, the Church, are the visible and audible expressions of God’s rescuing, redeeming, restoring and revitalizing power.  We are the people whom He is shaping for His glory and to live with Him eternally.  Take one step today to praise God. Make a single commitment to praise God daily and see how your life begins to deepen and be reshaped By His power.  When we praise God daily, we will likely see where we need to take a step of obedience to Him under the Lordship of Jesus.  Where can you begin to live obediently today?  When we belong to God and His family, the Church, we live obediently and put aside our desires and wishes in favor of His plans.  How can you begin to honor Christ as King in your life—an area that has previously been reigned over by sin and selfish desires?  Praise God with raised voices but praise Him also with a surrendered life!  Have a great Thursday!    

         Our church memory verse for June has been Psalm 119:73 which says, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.” This verse comes from the longest chapter in the Bible—176 verses in total.  Every one of these verses, with the exception of two, says something about the importance, value and truth of God’s Word.  Before we leave June, it might be helpful to take a closer look at this verse and what it says to us.  There are some rich truths worth mining in this verse.  First, we recognize that we are made by God.  “Your hands have made me.”  We did not make ourselves.  We did not stumble into existence by accident or random chance.  We were made—in God’s image and by His gracious and creative hands.  We can remind ourselves of another verse about our creation by a loving and gracious God.  That verse says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).  We speak about God “making” us not in a prideful way but to call attention to the One whose fingerprints are all over us.  He made us and loves us and calls us to know Him and to rejoice in Him.
            Second, we learn that God creates with design, purpose and precision.  He “made” us and “formed” us.  That word form means that God acted with intelligence, purpose and imagination.  He made us unique—not all eight billion people on the planet are exactly the same and programmed as robots.  Like a master artisan or craftsman, God wove us together and made us in His image.  As the creation story testifies, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  We bear the image of God.  That image is scarred and marked by sin in all of us—you, me and everyone.  Yet, in Christ, that marred and badly fallen image is redeemed and remade in His image as we grow in faith and grace. 
            Third, God has given His Word to us.  His written Word sets out His will and His expected response from us to that will.  God shows us who He is, what He values, what He calls us to be and how He has made it possible for us to come back to Him even when we have wandered and strayed from Him because of our sins.  God’s “commands” are for our good and righteousness.  His “commands” are the boundaries and guardrails that make life better for all who seek to know and live out His Word and ways.  Too many times, you and I have roamed away from the Lord and sought to please ourselves and to pursue things that are neither good nor true.  But the good news is, His Word faithfully beckons us back to Him and shows us how we can be forgiven, redeemed and saved in Jesus alone by the cross alone. 
            Finally, God has promised to grant us understanding so we might comprehend His Word and live it out.  He gave Solomon wisdom to reign over His people.  He gave Paul the words to write much of the New Testament.  He gave the apostles words to preach and the gospel to declare.  God can grant us understanding each day to read and know His Word and to apply it to the circumstances that we encounter.  Faith does come from hearing God’s Word.  But once we have heard the Word, we are to live it out and become doers of the Word.  Before you begin to read a passage, pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, ears, heart and mind.  If you struggle to make sense of a verse, read it several times and ask God to grant you discernment.  You may even need to come back to a verse later in the day or week and see if you have a better understanding after some time has passed.  Often, we can better understand the Bible if we write out a verse that is confusing, convicting or even comforting.  Writing and saying the words of a verse simultaneously can often improve our understanding.
            We can give thanks today that God made us—with loving hands, divine design and in His image.  We can be grateful that God has entrusted us with His Word to help us live in His ways as His people.  We can rejoice that God promises to us the wisdom and understanding we need to know His Word and to put it into faithful practice.  Just before Psalm 119:73, we find the value of God’s Word placed in terms we can easily understand. Psalm 119:72 says, “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”  Have a great Monday!    
 

            Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21 all share something in common.  In each chapter, Jesus addressed the issue of the end times and His coming again.  Serious matters to be sure.  There are a couple of important warnings that Jesus issued that we want to note. First, He warned against being deceived.  The Lord said, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Mark 13:5).  He issued the same warning in Matthew and Luke as well.  If Jesus warned us not to be deceived, there is at least the risk or possibility that some people will be deceived about the end times—almost a certainty.  What kind of deception could Jesus be warning against?
            Some could believe in a false messiah.  Some could fall away from the teachings of the Bible.  Some could come to believe that multiple religions offer multiple pathways to the same place—heaven and everlasting life.  In our world today, deception is often just a few keystrokes away.  The rise of AI can generate authentically looking and sounding images, clips and presentations.  Social media can blast ideas and opinions, masquerading as truth, throughout the world in a matter of seconds.  The rapid rise in communications has also rapidly shortened the time it takes to reach much of the connected world with simultaneous messaging.  I read recently that many people mistakenly think Jesus said or did things that the gospels bear no record of Him ever actually saying or doing. Unfortunately, godly discernment does not travel as quickly as deception when it circles the world.   
            People with only a peripheral knowledge of Scripture and only passively engaged in a healthy and gospel-grounded church are prime targets for deception.  Online videos and “teachers” often gather large audiences and millions of clicks in exchange for biblically suspect messages that bear little resemblance to the Bible itself.  Deception is not a new thing.  We find evidence of people being deceived in New Testament times.  Paul often had to correct misinformation and bad theology that threatened the fellowship of churches.  We need the accountability that we find in the Bible, the fellowship of a healthy church and the company of other believers.  These guardrails help us not to fall prey to deception.
            The second warning Jesus issued concerned His return itself.  Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).  Let that sink into your mind.  Jesus Himself said that only the Father knows the day of His return.  Not the angels.  Not Jesus.  And certainly not the guy online making videos trying to scare everyone who watches.  Do not set dates or times for the Lord’s return.  You will ALWAYS be wrong.  Always!  We cannot claim to know that which the Bible says we do not and will not know.  The end of the world is planned and carried out by the Father at a time of His will and providence.  Not yours or mine.  If you encounter anyone who thinks he or she has figured out the date of the Lord’s return, run away!  You are being deceived and tricked.  And, in many cases, such a charlatan will probably have something to sell to you.   
            Rather than trying to unlock the mystery of the end of time, Jesus warns us to be ready, to keep watch and to live as if we could be face to face with Him at any moment in time.  And we could.  The Lord could come again for His people or we could find ourselves in His presence if we were to die before His coming.  Leave no unsettled accounts or business with the Lord.  Trust Him alone and the power of the cross alone for your salvation.  Love and serve Him.  Use the blessings and gifts He has provided to bless and serve others in His Name.  Love your neighbors around you and be a blessing to them through your life.  There is no need to waste time trying to figure out the end of time.  Jesus could not have made this truth any plainer or clearer—nobody currently knows or will know when He comes again.  He was content to leave that to the Father.  We must do likewise.  Let God be God.  Live each day as if it could be the day that you will meet the Lord—either in the air or in the twinkling of an eye after you have taken your final breath.  Have a great Thursday!

        We believe that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.  This book is one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament.  Reading Ecclesiastes alongside Proverbs will give you a tremendous education in biblical wisdom that you can apply to a host of situations.  King Solomon noted that our highest ambition is “to fear God and keep His commandments” (12:13).  Simply put, the most important thing we can do in life is know the Lord and walk by faith in His ways and with Him.  A good life always begins with God and holds on to God. The king reminded us that we are quickly forgotten and the things we often accumulate and live for are quickly forgotten too.  Nothing that we gather lasts forever.  Ecclesiastes says, “for the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten.  Like the fool, the wise too must die” (2:16).  It can be humbling to confront the truth that one day we will be forgotten.  Such a faith and reality are true for the rich and poor, the great and the least and the powerful and the weak.  It has been said that cemeteries are filled with the graves of those no one visits or even remembers as time quickly passes.
         Often, in Ecclesiastes, we come across the word “meaningless.”  Indeed, Solomon used that word four times in the opening two verses.  He wants us to know that we humans are often quite skilled at pursuing things that are meaningless and that amount to little at the end of life.  Solomon was the wisest and wealthiest king to have ever lived.  But as he reflected on his life, he found much that was meaningless.  He called it a “chasing after the wind” (2:17).  Think about the things that consume your days.  Have you ever felt like you were chasing after the wind?  Just as the wind is elusive so too are many of the things we clamor after and chase with our time.  God calls us to build a life with Him.  He calls us to invest in His Word, to meet with Him in prayer, to worship with other believers and to serve Him generously and faithfully.  These activities produce a life of meaning and purpose. These activities also open our minds and hearts to see good things and pursuits that we might have missed otherwise.
         Ecclesiastes 3 opens with the famous refrain that there is a time for everything.  Time is a creation of God’s.  He has graciously given us time—a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens (3:1).  How do you use your time?  Time can be invested or squandered but once it is gone, then it is gone.  We cannot reclaim it.  Most of us would probably like to leave behind a legacy for those we love—families, friends and fellow believers.  A lasting legacy is usually characterized by a life that was well-lived, grounded in God’s Word and committed to making the gospel known by words and deeds that reflect Jesus.  A lasting legacy does not chase after the wind in pursuit of things that will one day wither away, wind down and withdraw from memory.  Western North Carolina is filled with homes and people who watched a lifetime of pursuits and accomplishments wash away when an historic hurricane made landfall.  May we learn from Solomon to fear the Lord and keep His commands—to make pleasing Him and exalting Him our life’s passion and pursuit.  True wisdom begins with God and always seeks to bring God into any conversation or consideration.  It simply makes sense to begin everything with God because only God was in the beginning.  Have a great Monday!

          Proverbs 22:28 has a simple command that says, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.”  What does this mean?  A little more detail and understanding can be found in Proverbs 23:10 which says, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.”  The message is to live honorably and honestly and not to take advantage of the blessings and belongings of others.  In Bible times, an ancient boundary stone fixed property lines and ownership limits on land.  By subtly moving these boundary stones, one could gain more land (and wealth) at the expense of one’s neighbor.  The subtle and slow movement of stones would dramatically, over time, expand one person’s land while shrinking the land of a neighbor.  So, the mandate was not to move these boundary stones.  It would be like stealing a few dollars a day from a friend for decades.  Slowly, that theft adds up.  In a word—be honest in one’s business dealings.
            Today, land ownership is tracked in different ways by surveys, titles and legal processes.  But there is a lesson that remains for us from this ancient mandate.  We are called to live honorably and honestly in our business and material dealings each day.  For us, that could mean paying taxes that are owed (see Romans 13:7), paying off debts that have been accrued and not misrepresenting something that you are trying to sell. We are to respect and honor contracts and agreements that we have made with others.  We are not to take advantage of weaker or less fortunate people.  God has promised to be their defender against anyone who would seek to take advantage of them.  Widows and orphans held a special place in God’s heart in Bible times (and very much still today).  He was passionate and zealous in their defense.  No one should seek to take advantage of the weak, hurting or struggling just because it might be easy to do so.
            One of Satan’s strategies today is to move the boundary stones of right and wrong, good and bad.  You may recall in the Garden that the serpent began his temptation by asking, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1b).  That single question was an attempt by Satan to move a boundary stone of obedience—to goad Adam and Eve into dismissing the authority of God.  Someone has said that Satan is the original boundary changer.  Still today, Satan appeals to what we want, the things that catch our eye and the natural longings that we want fulfilled.  The Bible warns us, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16).
            We often move the boundary stones today when we attempt to explain away our sins and behavior or to justify actions we know to be wrong.  We move stones when we compare ourselves to others and console ourselves into thinking we are not as bad as “some people.”  We move boundaries when pride and bitterness begin to take over how we think about and see other people.  Envy and jealousy can often move boundary stones as we encroach upon the lives of other people.  We can behave badly when we elevate petty things and preferences to lofty positions where they do not belong.  We can see moving boundary stones as an insistence upon having things our way rather than God’s way.  Jesus said in Luke 6:27-28, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”  We are to be careful not to move the boundary stones of those we might consider enemies or even wicked themselves.  We trust them to God just as we trust ourselves to God.
            This ancient boundary stone principle remains compelling today.  It convicts us in those occasions where we might be tempted to compromise a little here or there or minimize what we are plotting to do.  We can easily move boundaries when we write off our motivations or actions as being trivial or minor things.  God calls us to see and to serve Him in all circumstances of life—not just the things we might think are big and important.  We want to see and to serve God every day and in every way we encounter.  We serve God best when we do life God’s way and live within the boundary stones that He has set in place.  Have a great Thursday!

            Most of us have made what we would consider to be an important decision.  Most of us would admit to making more than one important decision over our years of life.  Buying a home, changing jobs, coming to faith in Jesus and choosing how to treat a disease are major issues.  Proverbs is a book of wisdom—wisdom for many of the big decisions that we face in life.  Proverbs teaches us the importance of acquiring wisdom when we have a big decision to make.  Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”  The Bible encourages us not to go it alone with big decisions. Rather, we are encouraged to seek the input of “many advisers.”  What does that look like? How are we to seek that input from other people, places and sources?
            Well, first, we want to read whatever insight the Bible might have.  If we are struggling with forgiveness or how to be a good parent, we might want to see what the Bible teaches us.  Not every possible decision is specifically addressed in the Bible but God’s Word does give us some broad principles and truths that we can apply to any number of dilemmas or decisions.  Scripture passages about patience, trusting God, grace and humility can speak to a lot of situations.  And certainly, if the Bible does specifically address a decision that you are facing, then take God’s counsel to heart and act upon it. No one ever regrets following the teachings of the Bible about big decisions.
            Second, take time to pray.  Don’t be quick to set a time limit or an alarm on your praying.  Pray carefully and patiently.  Ask God to open your eyes and ears to things that are important about the decision you are facing.  If we pray too quickly, we may mistakenly think that God sees everything the way we do.  Give God some time to work.  He may reveal something to you in His Word or through the advice of a friend.  He may act to close or open doors according to what is best for you.  Remember, God loves you and will always act in ways that are true, good and loving.
            Third, trust others to pray for you.  Lean on a good friend or friends who will pray for you in the decision you are facing.  Have a “go to” friend or friends whom you can text or call in a crunch and know they will be there for you.  Listen to what God might be saying through them to you.  It is a great comfort to know that a brother or sister will pray for you and take you into the presence of God and before His throne.  The prayers of others may help you find some clarity and answers that you would not discover or experience if you prayed alone.  God blesses us quite often through the prayers and actions of others. Remember how many times in the New Testament that Paul requested prayer.  He was by no means bashful in asking others to pray for him.
            Fourth, patiently look to see if God is moving or working in some way.  We learn through the study Experiencing God that He is always at work.  We just have to look and assess where He is and what He is doing.  It could be that God grants you the wisdom to see where His hand and will are stirring and moving.  Ask yourself what you see God doing. Do you have any past experiences where God has made something clear to you?  Can you draw from that past experience?  God is not reckless and aimless.  He works with purpose and precision—consider the intricacies of the creation itself of where God has been at work.
            And fifth, surround yourself with some good “counselors” or “advisors.”  Lean on the expertise of others who may know more than yourself.  Lean on those who have a good sense of discernment.   You probably know those solid, healthy Christian people who are just good to lean on when you find yourselves at a crossroads trying to make a decision or gain some certainty about a difficult matter.  The book of Proverbs does not counsel us to go as lone rangers when we are facing a mountain to climb or a valley to struggle through. But we are told to avail ourselves of the counsel and wisdom of many.
            A good practical approach for gaining God’s wisdom is simply to read the book of Proverbs.  All thirty-one chapters feature a high-level education by immersion into God’s wisdom.  A chapter per day with Proverbs is a good start in gaining God’s take on a host of practical matters—such as parenting, jobs, humility, business dealings and investing. Indeed Proverbs 16:4 gives us this truth we can always hold on to, “The LORD works out everything to its proper end.”  Have a great Monday!

           Proverbs is a book of wisdom—great wisdom that comes from the mind of God.  The Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to write this treasure book of wisdom many years ago.  It remains an incredible education in wisdom still today.  The opening five verses of Proverbs 2 speak to the way we acquire God’s wisdom and the benefits of gaining that wisdom.  We read, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1-5).  We find in these verses some important truths about God’s wisdom for our lives here and now.
            First, we cannot assume that we automatically possess the wisdom of God.  We are not born with wisdom, insight and discernment from the Lord.  Three times in these five verses Solomon used the word “if.”  “If” is a small word but it implies a certain contingency. God’s wisdom is contingent upon our seeking it, accepting it, calling for it and looking for it. We are to establish some practices for acquiring God’s Wisdom.  The chief practice is spending time in God’s Word and supplementing that time with a good devotional read each day.  A thousand Bibles in your home that are never opened or studied do no good whatsoever for your heart and mind.  We have to take the initiative to open God’s Word. Acquiring God’s wisdom is like the woman in Luke 15 who searched diligently and exhaustively to find her one lost coin.
            Second, seek the wisdom of God as passionately as you might seek the material things of life.  Solomon said we are to seek wisdom as we would search for silver.  Many people seek job promotions, pay increases, bigger homes, recognition or attention.  Take the energy and passion that you would devote to these earthly and temporary things and deploy the same dedication in pursuit of what God has for you.  Seek His wisdom with intensity and commitment.  Do not assume that the treasures you seek are replacements for God’s wisdom or even substitutes that will help to produce a good and upright life. Solomon said to “apply your heart to wisdom.”  He means to be focused and dedicated to what God has for you to know and to import into your life.  Zero in like a radar on these good things that God has for you.
            Third, Solomon wrote that we are to “accept” God’s Words and “store up” His commands.  Those directions are for us.  We are to be more than hearers of the words and wisdom of God.  We are to do these things and put them into practice.  In the New Testament, James wrote, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:22-24).  When we eagerly and joyfully put into practice the truth that God teaches us, we are guaranteed a much better life.  God’s truth has an accumulative impact upon us—the more we store up and live out what we find, the more we become like what God is making us to be. 
            Finally, Proverbs is very clear, more than once, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Simply, we are to realize there is one true God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we are not Him.  We are to embrace His Word and ways quickly and not depart from them.  Proverbs 1:7 opens with these words, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  May we love the wisdom and instruction of the Lord—everlasting words that are always good for us.  May our pursuit of God’s Word be paramount each day.  Have a great Thursday!
 

          Genesis opens with the creation story.  We learn that God was in the beginning and that He made all that has been made.  Genesis 1:3 opens with these words, “And God said.” That is a powerful statement.  The means of creation was God’s spoken word.  That is to say God spoke everything that presently exists into existence.  Once there was nothing. Zero!  Before God spoke there was nothing.  But when God spoke, everything changed and the creation began to take shape and form.  That’s a staggering thought!  For those who might advocate for a “big bang” origin of the universe, these three words, “And God said,” counter that theory.  Creation did not emerge from nothing.  Indeed, God was and is, if you will, “the big bang.”  He, and He alone, is the agent behind creation and the existence of earth, life on earth and all that stars and planets that we can see and even beyond what we can see.  Again, that is a staggering thought.
            When you read Genesis 1, you find the same refrain echoing through this chapter, “And God said.”  God commanded the creation to come into existence.  God did not say “bang” and then allow everything to rush forward like a runaway train.  God created carefully by design, with purpose and for His glory.  We learn that God carefully created human life in His own image.  Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  Long before this earth and life on this earth came into existence, the eternal and infinite God we worship was there.  He was present—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  But God did not remain silent.  He spoke.  He commanded that the creation He designed come into being simply by the declaration of His Word.
            We give thanks today that God continued to speak long past the initial moments of creation where things began to take shape.  Today, we possess God’s Word.  His Word shows us His ways and His standards for how we are to live.  God is the creator: He alone was present in the beginning.  So, this truth teaches us that God decides what is good or bad and right or wrong.  We take our values not from culture, influencers, trends or whatever we may wish was true.  We take our values from God—what He has deemed to be good or bad.  Vance Havner, the late Baptist preacher, once humorously but wisely said that we may have our own ideas how the universe ought to be run.  But the problem is we do not have our own universe to run.  We live in the universe made by the Lord who made us.  God owns the universe—not us.  And His ownership gives Him the fiat right to declare how it should exist.
            When you read the Bible, take some time to consider all the occasions where the Bible says that “God said” or “the LORD said.”  He has not left us adrift and aimless about how to live in this world.  Do we routinely listen to what God has said in His Word or do we try to apply our wisdom to situations that we face?  Does Scripture shape the way we think and live?  Is Scripture simply an afterthought—or something we deploy as a way of backing up what we have already chosen to believe?  Good theology and lasting values always begin with God.  Why?  Because only God was in the beginning.  Just as His spoken Word produced the creation out of nothing, He continues to form, shape and direct His people by His Word today—the Word that we know as Scripture.  As you read the Bible, breathe into your mind and heart what God has said.  God’s written Word remains timeless for us as the lasting authority for all that we believe and cherish.  We hear God in His Word today—clearly, graciously and providentially.  Give thanks today that God has spoken.  And live out of your life what He has said and declared to be right, true and good.  Have a great Monday!

           We can use the word “build” in a variety of ways.  It can mean construction of a home or business.  Build can refer to developing physical perseverance or endurance through exercise.  We can speak of building our faith as well.  Psalm 127:1a says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”  This verse is often seen as a backdrop for Solomon’s work to build the first temple for the Lord.  And rightly so.  You may recall that David wanted to build the temple but God chose Solomon to build it instead of David.  I have seen this verse quoted a number of times at disaster rebuilding projects and places. This verse is often written on studs, beams and drywall as new homes take shape.  And certainly, we want our homes to be places where the Lord is honored and exalted.  It makes sense to attach God’s Word to our homes as a way of remembering His goodness and many provisions and our weakness apart from Him.
            We can also think of the Lord building a temple of faith within us.  Those who have come to faith and trust in Jesus are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit—not buildings and palaces.  The Bible says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19).  The Holy Spirit is the Lord living in us and with us.  That’s pretty amazing isn’t it? What is the Holy Spirit building in believers where He dwells?  There are at least a few things we can name.
            First, the Holy Spirit is building our faith in Jesus.  He is developing a bedrock, unshakable, everlasting faith in the sufficiency of Jesus and His death and resurrection.  He is at work to help us walk with Christ more faithfully each day and to cast our cares upon Him. He is good and sufficient always and at all times.  The Spirit helps to cast out our doubts and worries as we see the goodness and holiness of God more and more.  The Spirit continues to remind us of the power of the gospel and the sufficiency of the gospel to save and keep us.    
            Second, the Holy Spirit is producing His fruit in us—fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23).  The fruit that He produces in us is to be lived out by us.  This fruit is to season our relationships with others and our service to Him.  These fruits cannot be produced by us—no matter how hard we may try.  There is no vitamin to take or class to take.  Only the Lord can make and produce this fruit—if we try in our strength, we simply labor in vain.
            Third, the Holy Spirit gives us His gifts for serving the Lord and building up the Church of Jesus Christ.  Spiritual gifts are not talents.  They are special gifts or endowments that the Spirit chooses to place within us so we can serve the cause of the gospel with our lives.  Every believer has a gift (or possibly gifts) to use.  The only question is whether we will take time to discover those gifts and then put them into practice.  The Holy Spirit has not left us alone to figure out ways to serve Christ.  He has equipped us with what we need to bless others and to serve Him.  The Lord does not limit His call and ministry to those who have it all together.  He equips and qualifies those whom He chooses to call. 
            Fourth, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand Scripture.  He builds within us a knowledge of God’s Word and a love for that Word.  He helps us to understand the Bible and to live out God’s ways.  The Spirit helps us to pray.  The Bible says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).  When we struggle with even how to pray for something, the Spirit goes to work to translate our groans into petitions to the Father. 
            When we think about the message of Psalm 127:1a, we see the totality of what God has done for us.  He has saved us through His Son’s death and resurrection.  He equips and provides for us each day through the presence of His Holy Spirit.  He never abandons us or forsakes us.  He has written a beautiful story for His people that brings glory to Him as we live by faith and trust in Him.  Consider today what the Lord might wish to build in you. See where the Lord might be stirring a need in you to trust Him and to lean into Him.  Trust the Lord to build an enduring house of faith in your life—a house that lives as a legacy for your family, friends and future generations to see.  Have a great Thursday!

           At creation, God declared everything that He had made to be good. Not okay. Not acceptable. But good. Soon, everything would change. Adam and Eve would be tempted by the serpent and disobey God. Sadly, they trusted their eyes and ears more than they trusted God. Genesis 3:6-7 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” This disobedience by Adam and Eve permanently changed the once good and perfect creation made by God. Sin would quickly take hold and even lead to the great flood as an act of God’s judgment upon the world and its sinfulness. Sin and the scourge of sin remain in our world today.
         Still today, we feel the lingering effects of the fall and the disobedience of Adam and Eve. But God has promised a new day. And we know by faith and the authority of the Bible that a new creation is coming. But for now, we live in a world that is fallen and is fading away. The Bible says, “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31b). That sentence reads as a conclusion. There is not much room for debate or interpretation. We believe God’s Word is true so we also believe this conclusion is true. However, there are some life lessons for us to be found in this verse. These life lessons teach us how to live in a world that is fading while we anticipate a world that is soon coming.
         First, this world belongs to God. He made it. This world is His to do with as He pleases. The great preacher Vance Havner once noted that we might think we have good ideas about how to run the universe. But the problem is we do not have our own universe. We do not have our own world to manage either. God is free to do as He chooses with this world. He will usher in the end of time in a way and time of His choosing. Second, we are not to become too attached to this world or the things of this world. Nothing we possess will last forever (short of God’s Word and the soul He made within us). We are to set our hearts and minds on the things above (Colossians 3:1-2). We are to know the Lord and walk with Him in dependence and obedience each day. Our mission in life is not to accumulate all we can as quickly as we can. Our mission is to live for Him. Each day and breath bring us closer to seeing and knowing Him face to face.
        Third, a new world is coming. This new world will not be marred by sin, sickness, death and a slow, decaying demise. God will make a new world where He will forever dwell with His people. And we will dwell with Him free from the burdens and brokenness of this life. Jesus encouraged His disciples with this good news just hours before going to the cross. Jesus said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:1-3). We live in anticipation of this day and this coming new place. For those who belong to Christ, we have no reason to fear death or the passing away of this world. There is a better one on the way that will last forever.
         Fourth, we trust the details of this new world to the Lord. It will be far, far better than anything we could design or even imagine. The Bible says that no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no human mind has ever conceived of the things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Take your best thoughts and highest hopes and multiply them by a billion and you will still not be able to imagine what God will prepare for the world and life to come. If we are discouraged by many daily events, we need to lift our eyes and hearts to what is coming. Speak of your faith and the new world to come to those you know who need to know the Lord and need a church home. Have a great Thursday!

           Racing is a popular sport.  When we hear the word racing, we think of cars, athletes, horses, cycling, marathons, sprints and sailing boats.  Racing is also an illustration of the Christian life and walk.  Paul wrote about “finishing the race” of faith that had been entrusted to Him or to us.  Hebrews 12:1 says, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).  That one passage in Hebrews has some important lessons for how we live out our faith today. 
            First, the Bible says, “us” as in “let us run.”  The Christian life is designed to be lived out in community with other believers.  We are not really called to live as solo followers of Jesus.  Simply put, we need other believers—brothers and sisters in Christ who can stand with us and beside us in times of celebration and sorrow.  And even stand beside us in those times where we are just pushing through the ordinary challenges of life.  We can pray for each other and even disciple each other.  The Christian life can be challenging to live even with a community of believers standing with us and cheering us on.  It can be doubly hard if we are trying to navigate our way through life alone.
            Second, the Bible uses the word “run.”  We are moving as followers of Jesus.  Indeed, to be a follower of Jesus suggests movement.  We are walking with and behind Him.  We often sing the hymn “Footsteps of Jesus.”  To be a Christian today means we are in consistent movement for the gospel and to serve the Lord wherever He might direct us to go.  We have not been saved by Christ and saved from sin simply to sit down and stay stationary.  We have been saved to serve the Lord.  And if we serve the Lord well, we will be moving.  We will run with great joy and excitement for His glory.    
            Third, we run with perseverance.  Another word for perseverance can be endurance.  To persevere means we do not give up at the first sign of trouble or failure.  We make a commitment to run for the long haul.  The Christian life is more precisely described as a marathon as opposed to a sprint.  We are to run for distance more than speed.  To run with perseverance means we have to develop some thick skin—some armor that protects us from the enemy and His attacks and ways.  The enemy does not play fairly.  Satan is a liar, a thief, a murderer and a destroyer.  We have to know that he will do any number of things to frustrate us in our daily race.  But God has graciously given us the armor of God to wear as we run the race of a follower of Jesus.  The armor is named for us in Ephesians 6:13-18.
            Fourth, we are to run the race marked out for us.  We are not in a competition with other believers or other churches.  God has a distinct and determined race that He wants us to run for His glory.  The expression “stay in your lane” is appropriate in this context.  We do not all run the same race.  For example, a single mom committed to Christ might be running a very different race than an empty-nest couple with no children at home.  A recent retiree might be facing a very different race than a college freshman is called by God to run. God, in His providence and wisdom, has marked out a race for us to run as we glorify Him with the life and breath entrusted to us.  Hebrews 12:2 tells us to set or fix “our eyes on Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith.”  Seeing Jesus each day inspires us to run, with passion and urgency, the race that He has marked out for us. We run with the confidence that one day we will wake up in His arms and spend forever with Him.  Like the first disciples, we drop our nets and follow Him.    
            Hebrews 11 is often called “the hall of faith.”  That title is a play on words with the many halls of fame that we have represented around us for different sports or vocations. Hebrews 11 contains the names of many inspirational biblical figures who all shared at least one important trait—they possessed great faith in God to sustain them and to provide for them in whatever circumstances they found themselves.  By faith, we look to the Lord to provide the grace we need to run any race, to serve any place and to become anything He calls us to be.  Run well today with faith in the author of your race—the very One who has laid out the course and who accompanies you on each step you take.  Have a great Monday!          
   

           We often think of Romans as a book that is heavy on theology and doctrine.  And rightfully so.  It does address important matters like salvation, justification, sin, repentance, the role of Israel (past and future) and the sovereignty of God.  But Romans is also a book that gives us plenty of good practical guidance and direction.  For example, Romans 12:9 says, “hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”  Only nine words long but this command sets the tone for a good life. These nine words deserve our reflection and time.  We are to hate and reject anything that is evil and wicked.  We are to renounce it and discard it from our lives.  Plain enough for all to understand.  Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 that we do not fight against flesh and blood.  Rather, our battle is spiritual in nature against the enemy himself.  We fight the enemy by wearing the armor of God and standing firm in God’s ways, Word and truth.  If we are going to hate evil, we must be fully prepared to do that—using what God has already provided.  
            Jesus reminded us that we cannot serve two masters.  The Lord said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).   We cannot serve God and anything else—whether money, power, fame or evil.  God does not share His glory with anyone.  He does call us to make Him one more thing in our lives. He is our life!  To serve and love God means we make no place for evil and do not even entertain evil in our lives.  We follow the command of Romans 12 and decide to hate evil. We consciously choose to turn away from all evil.
            The other side of the Romans 12:9 command is to cling to what is good.  How do we understand good?  Well, goodness begins with God.  Indeed, Jesus said, “’Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone’” (Mark 10:18).  God is good.  So, we cling to God.  We cling to God in our battles against temptation and sin.  We cling to God when the enemy assaults us or deceives us.  The Bible consistently teaches us that God, and Him alone, is our rock, fortress and refuge.  Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  God always acts in ways that are good and good for us—both now and with eternity in mind. 
            We also understand “good” or “goodness” to be a fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23 for a full accounting of all nine fruits of the Spirit).  When described as a fruit of the Spirit, goodness is something we want our lives to bear and produce.  We are not able to do this by ourselves or in our strength.  But the Holy Spirit can produce goodness in and through lives that are submitted to Him.  He can help us decide what is the good path to follow in any situation.  He can empower us to yield the fruit of goodness when we may be tempted to settle for something far less. 
            To “cling” to what is good means we hang on as tightly as possible.  The image might be hanging on to a limb or rock to protect ourselves from going over a cliff or ledge. The Bible is commanding us to cling to what is good because Satan can so easily deceive us into something that slips and slides into evil.  Remember how Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the middle of a paradise called the Garden of Eden.  Sadly, it can be easy for us to turn our eyes and hearts away from what is good and toward what is evil.        David was deceived by his eyes in his ordeal with Bathsheba.  Lot was deceived by his eyes when he chose to move to the land of Sodom.  When standing face to face with Jesus, the rich young ruler could not get past all that he had and the riches he possessed so he could faithfully follow Jesus.  He saw his wealth more than he saw Jesus and what Jesus offered to him.  We are not to make light of evil or the enemy because he can deceptively turn our attention away from what is good and toward what is evil.  Cling to God.  Cling to His Word. Cling to prayer.  Cling to a few good brothers or sisters who are always in your corner and lifting you up with friendship, prayer and encouragement.  Have a great Thursday!
   

            Psalm 75 is a song.  We usually read it today but it could just as well be sung by Christians and churches everywhere.  Indeed, it was sung by ancient Israel as a worship song to the Lord centuries ago.  This psalm is only ten verses long but there is a curious word that we find in it more than once.  That word is “horns.”  We might think of an animal with horns or a car horn.  Neither one of those interpretations is right in this part of the Bible.  In Psalm 75, “horns” meant strength—specifically human strength.  In verses 4-5 we read, “To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.  Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’”  The message is do not flaunt your strength before the Lord in pride or arrogance.  We are not to make more of ourselves than we should.  We are not to think we are bigger and stronger than we really are.  When compared to the Lord, the One who created all things and parted the Red Sea, we are incredibly weak and frail.  We are to lean into humility and meekness—not pride, arrogance or our own strength.  We are to lean into the strength of the Lord as we seek to serve and honor Him. 
            Unfortunately, sin has been a reality in the world since the days of Adam and Eve and the early pages of the Bible.  We are sinners—you and me—and we need a Savior.  Our sinful state is one reason we are not to lift up our horns against heaven.  We come before the Lord in humility and repentance—seeking to be remade, redeemed and made new.  The Lord gave a final warning in the last verse of Psalm 75, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up” (verse 10).  The strength (horns) and deeds of the righteous will be lifted up and will endure.  This verse seems to be saying that God will multiply the strength of the humble.  He will amplify the strength of those who come to Him in contrition and gentleness. 
            Psalm 75 seems to present us with a choice.  We can be strong in our own eyes or we can be strong in the Lord’s eyes.  We can brag about our power and might or we can lean into God’s ways.  It can be hard to sing praises to God or to give thanks to God if we are consumed with elevating ourselves or pleading our case.  We often miss God if we are focused too narrowly or too tightly upon ourselves.  Only God belongs on the throne of the universe or the throne of your heart or mine. 
            You may remember that Satan’s fall from heaven originated in his pride and his selfish ambition to rise above the throne of God.  The prophet Isaiah recorded Satan’s fall in these words, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’  But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:13-15). 
            God does not delight in the proud or puffed up.  But He does delight in those who exalt Him and make much of His glory and ways.  Rather than showing off our horns, or strength, may we come before the Lord with empty hands and an empty heart to receive from the rich, bottomless well of His strength.  May we see ourselves as sheep in need of the Good Shepherd, as orphans in need of the loving Father and as sinners in need of the Savior. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  May we daily go to the Lord to draw from His strength and boundless might.  May we pray and live by the words of Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  To those who seek Him and His ways, the Lord makes this promise, “May the Lord give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4).  We enjoy this success when we allow our desires and plans to take second place to what the Lord has for us.  May our desires and plans increasingly give way to what He has for us.  Have a great Monday!  
 

           Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.  Almost in the middle of this model prayer, Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).  If you have ever thought about memorizing Scripture, this simple verse is a good place to start. While only seven words long, this verse teaches us some important lessons about the faithfulness of God and our need to lean into His faithfulness every day.  At first glance and reading, we might conclude that this verse is a prayer for food—our daily bread.  We might think it is a prayer whereby we ask God to give us the food we need to do the work of the day and to complete the tasks of the day.  Such an initial conclusion or interpretation is not wrong.  Not at all.  But it might be incomplete.  And it might be at risk of selling this verse a little short or underestimating all that this verse has to say to us.  It may be good to zoom out to take a broader look at the truth that Jesus was trying to teach us in these seven words.
            First, this verse reminds us that God is more than able to meet ALL needs—not just the need for food each day.  Every need can be met by the Lord.  Nothing is too great for Him to do.  This verse teaches us the truth that Peter wrote later in the New Testament.  We are to cast all our cares (hunger and all others) on the Lord because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).  Our God is able.  His grace is sufficient for us.  This verse is the voice of our Creator and Savior speaking to us and calling us to call upon His name for the daily bread and daily blessings that we need.
            Second, this verse teaches us to trust whatever God grants and supplies to us.  We can note that Jesus’ teaching did not give us a specific kind of bread, or a specific quantity of bread or the times when we would like the bread to be delivered.  Jesus did not get bogged down in the details because there was no need to do so.  Too many details lead to the risk of missing what Jesus was trying to teach us.  God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could ever ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20).  God does not have to ration bread or just provide a small bite here and there.  His warehouse of daily blessings is infinitely full—much bigger than all the world’s bakeries and bread houses combined.  Even more than all the Amazons of the world.  The Lord even knows what we need before we ask Him to supply that need (Matthew 6:8). 
            Third, we do not have to sweat the deadlines or trials that we face.  God has what we need when we need it.  He is not too late or too early in sending the daily gifts of bread, grace, strength or forgiveness.  Our view of God is often too small.  Our brains can easily lock into one way of seeing God but it never does justice to His power and might.  God spoke the vast universe into existence.  God has ordered and planned history in a way that brings glory to Him.  Surely our daily needs are not too big for Him to satisfy.
            Fourth, this verse from Jesus teaches us to approach the Lord daily—not on occasion or a whim.  Daily.  We may have to wait on an appointment with a doctor or for
a haircut but we never have to wait in line to talk with God or be received by Him.  We can always go boldly and immediately to His throne of grace (see Hebrews 4:16).  You can also return to the Lord’s throne as many times as you like on any day.  God’s throne is more like a buffet than a drive through.  We can delight in His goodness and grace throughout the day.  Some may never pray or even approach God apart from Sundays.  But God is no less accessible the other six days of the week either.  God taught Israel to seek Him daily through the gift of manna.  Manna was not to be gathered in advance (with the exception of the Sabbath) or stored up for future use.  By inviting people to gather their manna, their daily bread, each day at a time, the Lord was teaching Israel a lesson about His goodness and faithfulness.  Memorize the seven words that make up Matthew 6:11. Let these seven simple words capture your mind and heart to see and know God in greater ways!  Have a great Thursday!

          Forgetfulness can be a problem.  Some forms of forgetfulness are little more than an aggravation.  Other forms can be costly or consequential.  In Psalm 106:13, the Bible says, “but soon they forgot what He had done.”  The word “they” speaks of Israel.  The pronoun “He” speaks of the Lord.  Putting these words together, this verse is telling us that Israel forgot the Lord.  And this verse tells us Israel forgot the Lord “soon.”  They had a short memory of the how God had delivered them from slavery and captivity in Egypt and opened the waters of the Red Sea so they could safely pass on dry ground to the other side—safely ahead of the onrushing Egyptian army.
         We would think that such a thing would be remembered forever!  How could anyone forget God parting the waters of the Red Sea or subsequently closing the same water on top of the Egyptians in pursuit?  Yet, Israel did forget.  In this context, we could speak of forgetfulness as living as though God did not exist.  We might call this functional atheism—though professing a belief in God, one can often live as if God did not exist.  Deuteronomy 6:12 issued a warning, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord.”  If you are reading these words, then it is probably fair to say that you do not want to forget the Lord.  But are good intentions enough?  We need to take some actions to ensure that we do not forget the Lord in our days.
         First, be mindful of your blessings.  Intentionally look at all the ways God has blessed you and what specifically He has done for you.   Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  When we look for blessings, we are more inclined to remember the Lord who is the maker and giver of all blessings.  When we remember God’s blessings, we remember Him.  Second, speak with God.  It is not easy to forget those we speak with every day.  If too much time passes in your conversations with the Lord, your heart can easily grow cold and your mind forgetful toward Him.  Pray as often as you can. Talking with the Lord keeps you connected to and walking with Him.
         Third, keep some favorite Bible verses handy so you can remember the Lord.  You might post these on your refrigerator or the screen of your phone.  You might choose to post these on your social media accounts so you are reminded of the Lord when you read these words. Write them on a calendar or put them on a desk.  Keeping God’s Word visible and before you will help you to remember the God of the Word.  Fourth, be quick to seek God’s forgiveness.  Perhaps nothing leads us to forget about the Lord more than disobedience to Him.  We can get consumed by sin and disobedience to the point that we think little of God anymore if at all.  Israel often had moments in time where the nation slipped into idolatry and false religion.  They forgot about God and chose their ways above His.
         Finally, Psalm 63:6 says, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”  If you find yourself struggling to fall asleep or even waking frequently through the night, use those occasions to think about the Lord.  Redeem that time.  Do not just roll restlessly in your bed, think about the Lord.  Talk with Him.  God works the night shift. There is never a time when God will push us away if we call upon His Name and choose to remember His many acts of goodness toward us.  A man or woman who remembers the Lord is usually a thankful person.  A grateful heart can remind us of the gift we have in knowing and walking with the Lord at all times and in all ways. Psalm 107:9 promises that God can satisfy the thirsty and fill the hungry with good things.  May we remember Him and return quickly when we have forgotten Him.  Have a great Monday!

            Most of us would agree that exercise is a good idea and a healthy habit to practice.  There are plenty of ways you can exercise and develop a healthy lifestyle.  The Bible speaks about training—but a different kind of training than physical exercise.  Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:7 to “train yourself to be godly.”  Paul was writing to a young man named Timothy—a man who was much like a son to Paul and a man whom Paul was mentoring and discipling in the faith.  The message is to take intentional and regular action to get more of Christ in your mind and life.  Paul wrote in Romans 15:18, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.”  Paul was committed to developing His faith by saturating His heart and mind with Christ.
            David Mathis, in his book Habits of Grace, writes that there are three principles we must remember and practice if we are to train ourselves for godliness.  Those three principles concern hearing God’s voice (the Bible), having God’s ear (praying) and belonging to His body (worshipping and growing with other believers).  These principles do not happen automatically or by accident.  We choose to bring these spiritual disciplines into our lives.  And when we introduce these practices into our lives, we begin to see the good results.  We begin to grow in godliness and soon our walk with Christ produces good and abundant fruit (think of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23).
            We lean on God’s grace to develop these disciplines.  The Lord is the God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10).  It is by His grace, that He shows us how to live and how to train ourselves for godliness.  By coming to saving faith in Jesus, Christians believe that the ways of Christ are superior to the ways of the world.  Christ can transform any heart or mind that is open to Him and drawn to Him by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  In John 4, Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that anyone who drinks the water He offers will never thirst again.  Christ, and Christ alone, can satisfy our deepest hunger, thirst and needs.
            Develop a lifestyle of reading the Bible.  Let God’s voice speak to you through His written Word.  God will always speak to us in ways that conform to His Word.  When we read the Bible, we can be confident that we are ingesting the wisdom and truth of God alone.  Cultivate a life of prayer.  Your prayer life may look like a time where you formally talk with God about your life and the lives of others—times where you praise Him and ask Him to be at work in you, in others or in situations.  But we are also reminded to pray without ceasing and to pray continuously (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  We can pray throughout the day and maintain a dialogue with God like you might maintain with a family member or a close friend.  When we belong to the body of Christ, the church, we have opportunities to worship and grow with other believers who desire the same things.  Scripture teaches us to come together to worship, to study, to serve and to share life with other Christians.  We are not to neglect these paramount things.
            God can supply the grace we need to read His Word regularly, to pray frequently
and to gather with other believers devotedly.  His grace is able to supply all of our needs and that includes training for godliness and living a life that is pleasing to Him.   God can grant to us a passion for His Word, time in prayer and growing alongside other believers who prioritize their spiritual health.  In a world that is increasingly confusing and chaotic, we can thrive when we are pursuing godliness and living for Christ.  John Piper suggests that we should preach the gospel to ourselves every day.  May we always remember what Christ won for us at the cross so we can live boldly and unashamedly for Him each day! Have a great Thursday!

           Psalm 78 is a little past halfway through Psalms. We believe it was written as a musical offering of praise to the Lord.  It reads as a chapter that could have easily been sung in worship to the Lord.  When we read this Psalm, we learn some important lessons about God’s compassion and forgiveness. For example, Psalm 78:38-39 says, “Yet He was merciful; He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time He restrained his anger and did not stir up His full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.” It is comforting to know that God is gracious, kind and forgiving when we come to Him in contrition and humility.  A few important truths stand out in these two verses for us to see.
            First, we read the word “yet.” God sees and knows our sins, yet He offers us forgiveness when we turn to Him. Our sins do not have the last word. We do not have to remain saddled with the guilt and shame of our sins. God has a solution. God has a
perfect “yet” or way to respond to anything we confess. God is not surprised by our sins. He already knows what we have done. We are already guilty. Yet, the cross has the power to cancel and cover our sins—and not just for a moment but for eternity.  Second, we read “He was merciful” and “He forgave.” Only God has the ability and right to forgive sins. We cannot forgive ourselves. No church can forgive us. We cannot offset our sins
with a pile of good deeds. God is gracious in that he gives us what we have not deserved.  And He is merciful in that He has withheld what we do deserve.  When God forgives, He scatters our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The Bible says that “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us for our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). If you are guilty or ashamed today, bow your head before the Lord now, confess your sins and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. He will hear you and pardon your sins!
            Third, God restrains His anger today. He would be perfectly justified in condemning us and destroying us here and now for how we have lived. We have chosen our ways above His ways and loved ourselves much more than we have loved Him. But now is the time of God’s grace and favor. Now is the time when the Lord beckons us to come to Him and accept His free grace.  God unleashed His wrath and anger at the cross—Christ took that penalty in our place and for us. He gave His life so we might be free from the penalty and burden of sin now and, more importantly, for eternity.
            Fourth, God remembers that we are “but flesh.” He knows our weaknesses and limitations. He knows our failures and frailties. He remembers we are flesh and that our flesh is weak. Jesus said to His disciples, when they fell asleep in the Garden of
Gethsemane, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Psalm 103:14 says, “for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” God sees us as we are—sinful, failures and brokenness. Yet, He does love us and has done everything necessary and imaginable to redeem us from sin and set us free. When others frustrate us, we should remember that they are “but flesh,” just as we are “but flesh” too. One day this flesh will give way to spirit and God will make all things new. But for now, He remembers we are “but flesh.” We can be thankful that God’s love for us is never conditional upon anything we have done or not done or anything we may be or fail to be. God’s love is anchored in His unchanging character and grace.  And for that, we rejoice.  Have a great Monday—and spend some time in the encouraging words of Psalm 78!

           Isaiah is one of the major prophets.  His words spread over sixty-six chapters.  He is the prophet who foretells us of Jesus’ birth through a virgin, the names of Jesus that we remember and honor at Christmas and Jesus’ suffering at the cross for our forgiveness and redemption.  Isaiah gives us many promises about God and His ways that we can cherish today.  One such promise is Isaiah 12:2 which says, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”  A few important truths stand out about God for us to apply to our lives today.
            First, Isaiah used the word “behold.”  That’s a powerful word that serves as a revelation.  It grabs our attention.  Isaiah seemed to convey a sense of urgency that he wants his hearers and readers to take note of what is about to follow.  Any time we find the word “behold” in the Bible we need to pay attention to what follows.  It is a powerful introduction.  In Isaiah 12, “behold” serves to grab our attention and to sit us down so we can take in what is going to come next. 
            Second, Isaiah wrote, “God is.”  That is a present tense declaration.  God is.  God’s existence, power and influence do not run out or wane.  We could insert a number of words or phrases after the declaration “God is.”  You may remember at the burning bush that God revealed His name to be “I AM.”  God is Lord over all time and existence.  We can trust anything and everything to Him.  In John’s gospel, Jesus invoked the name “I AM” seven different times in declaring His identity (for example...I AM...the light of the world, the bread of life, the good shepherd).  It is a joy to wake up each morning and simply declare that God is.
            Third, Isaiah continued by saying “God is my salvation.”  The prophet personalized salvation by using the personal pronoun “my.”  God is the one who saves.  He saves us from sin, death and an eternity apart from Him.  God is the answer to my (or your) questions.  God is the one who delivers us from situations and moments that overwhelm or frighten us.  God does for us what we are powerless to do ourselves.  God does what human institutions cannot accomplish.  He alone is “my salvation.”
            Fourth, Isaiah follows up this declaration by stating two outcomes.  Isaiah said, “I will trust.” We can trust God.  We can trust our future to Him.  We can trust every heartbeat to Him.  In those times where we cannot see ahead or around the corner, we can confidently say “I will trust.”  Much of the Christian life is about trusting God and entrusting ourselves to Him.  Jesus bids us to lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).  The gift of “trust” is a treasure.  We may not have many people or things where we can place full trust but we have the Lord.  The second outcome is we will “not be afraid.”  We do not fear the things that might ordinarily cause us fear.  We do not have to fear death or disease—they will not ultimately claim us.  We do not have to fear the words or innuendoes of others—God is our shield and defender.  Isaiah’s statement “not be afraid” is broad and inclusive of almost anything we might imagine or experience that would create fear within us.  It has been said that we “faith” our fears.  That sentence sounds awkward and might not well pass a grammar test or screening but it is really good theology.  We can “faith” our fears because the Lord invites us not to be afraid.  God reminded Israel at the shoreline of the Red Sea just to stand still; they did not have to do anything because the Lord would fight for them and deliver them.  We can rest and remain in Him today—and throughout our lives.  He is good.  All fears are defeated by His power and promises.  Peter (1 Peter 5:7) invites us to cast all our cares upon Him—and that includes the fears we might face or harbor. 
            The simple verses in the Bible pack great power for our faith.  The message of Isaiah 12:2, though written centuries ago in a place far, far away, is a bedrock promise for us today.  We can return to it daily (or even hourly) as needed.  We can recite and remember these promises that are for our good.  Perhaps you could commit this verse to memory and say it to yourself when you are in need of peace and God’s many assurances.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  Let yourself hear these words from Isaiah.  Have a great Monday!

         David is thought to be the author of Psalm 27. Some suggest that he might have written this Psalm when he was on the run from Saul and trying to escape Saul’s threats and violent anger. He began Psalm 27 with a declaration of fearlessness. He wrote, “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” David was not fearless because of his power or cleverness. He was fearless because of the Lord and his solemn trust in the Lord. In a word, David knew the Lord. Often in the Psalms, David wrote of God being his refuge and strength (see Psalm 7:1 and 7:10). Turning to the Lord is the right choice when we find ourselves in a struggle or facing a situation that could easily overwhelm us.
          In many situations in life, we can live in fear or confidence. We can fear others. We can fear what we cannot control. We can fear situations. We can fear the unknown. But in all four of these examples, the Lord is still greater than any of them. The Lord is without equal or counterpart. We would do well to remember that the Lord is the LORD in anything we might face or encounter. David had this confidence when he wrote, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me” (Psalm 27:10). Imagine that confidence—though even my own flesh and blood turn from me, the LORD will still receive me and keep watch over me.
         Our highest confidence is never in ourselves, others or situations. Any one of these can fail or change rapidly. Our confidence is always in the Lord. He does not change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). This high degree of confidence allows us to do what David wrote at the end of Psalm 27. “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). Our waiting on the Lord is not in vain or a waste of time. God will provide and grant answers in His perfect timing and ways.
         How do we build confidence in the Lord? First, we trust Him with our lives. We trust Him as our Savior and Lord—the One who has done everything necessary for us to be forgiven and made right in our relationship with Him. Coming to know the Lord personally is a crucial first step. Second, we read His Word. We make Bible reading a daily part of our lives. We discover promises we can commit to memory. We see ways that God has performed in the past. We find His ways and answers to a host of situations we may well face in life. Third, we remember where God has worked in the past. We remember His blessings. We remember what He has done for us. The Lord’s faithfulness in the past is a wonderful prologue to His faithfulness in the present and the future.
         Fourth, we cast our cares upon the Lord. We routinely cast on Him, as we are invited to do, the cares that weigh us down and burden us. We hand these things to Him to manage and direct. God invites us to come boldly before His throne because our access to Him has been won and secured for us through His Son Jesus. Listen to the stories of Christians whom you admire and trust—stories of how and when they have cast their cares and burdens on the Lord.
          In life, we really have three strategies we can employ. The first strategy is we can live a pessimistic and defeated life where we live indifferently and apathetically about most things. We can resign ourselves to just floating along with whatever comes our way. The second strategy is that we can live with self-confidence. We can pride ourselves on being self-made and self-sufficient. We can convince ourselves that we can handle anything that happens. That works until it doesn’t. Inevitably, we learn just how limited we are and that the lies we have told ourselves do not work. Life can be a cruel teacher. The third strategy, and the best strategy, is to be confident in Christ. He is our victor and Savior. Confidence in Christ is never misplaced. We remain convinced that He is able and that He will get us to where He wants us to be. We learn to be confident in Christ when we can say that this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Have a great Thursday!

          In the Bible, David is famous for many moments and achievements.  One of his most memorable moments came before he was king over Israel.  That moment was his battle with Goliath the Philistine giant.  Goliath was nine feet and nine inches tall—almost the size of a basketball goal.  Can you imagine how much money he would make playing basketball today!  No one in Israel wanted to fight this giant.  1 Samuel 17:11 says that “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”  The Bible says that for forty days, morning and evening, Goliath came to the frontlines to taunt Saul and Israel and to take an imposing stand of defiance.  No one rose up to fight him—probably because no one had a death wish.  But also, there is no mention of Israel ever praying to the LORD about Goliath and what to do.  In human strength alone, a lot of giants and enemies look imposing and threatening.
            But then David chose to fight Goliath.  He said, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (1 Samuel 17:32).  So, David approached Goliath with only a sling and five smooth stones chosen from a stream bed.  When Saul tried to talk David out of fighting this battle, he responded with a powerful statement of faith.  He said, “The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:37).  This faith statement offers some important truths that might speak to us when we face life’s battles and giants today. 
            First, David spoke of the LORD.  No battle can be faithfully fought and righteously won apart from the Lord’s help.  Simply, we need the Lord.  Left to ourselves, we will probably choose the wrong ways and things.  We may still fight battles, but we may likely fight them in ways that are earthly, sinful and carnal.  Winning at all costs or any cost is not a strategy that honors God or brings good things to us.  We first begin by inviting the Lord to be Lord over the battles and giants that we face.  Commit the battle to the Lord.  David said, “for the battle is the LORD’s” (1 Samuel 17:47b). 
            Second, David remembered God’s faithfulness in past times.  He could recall times when God had rescued him from lions and bears and other ordeals.  When we face battles today, we want to remember the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God in the past.  Our memories serve as good prologues and encouragements for today’s battles.  The memories of where and how God has worked can calm our raging pulse, soothe our rapid breathing and steady a racing mind.  Take a deep breath and remember who God is and what He has done for you.
            Third, David was confident in the Lord in the present.  He declared that God “will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”  He did not waver.  He did not worry.  We can be confident that God works all things together for our good and His glory (consider Romans 8:28).  God is our rock and refuge.  A quick look at many of the Psalms remind us of God’s majesty and might.  There are no battles or giants too great for the Lord to defeat and prevail over. 
            And finally, David was forward looking.  He eagerly anticipated this battle and how God would work through it to deliver both him and Israel.  He did not postpone it or try to talk Goliath into some alternative to settle things.  We can always look forward to what God has in store for us.  We can always anticipate blessings and God-sightings of where our Lord has faithfully provided and been at work.  We can wake up in the midst of battles and trials and gladly look to where God might be at work and what He is doing next.  We can also stay dedicated to whatever work that God has given us to do.  We can do what God has called us to do and be what God has called us to be while we look forward to what He does next.  Have a great Monday!    

             I’m currently reading in 1 Samuel each day.  There is a tragic story found in I Samuel 4.  To summarize the setting, Israel is defeated in battle by the Philistines.  And subsequently, the Philistines capture the Ark of God.  Eli, the high priest at the time, and his sons, Hophni and Phineas (also priests) die in the aftermath of this military defeat.  In 1 Samuel 4:22 the Bible says, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.”  Such a sobering summary and painful verdict to hear.  Now, the Ark was not Noah’s Ark.  This Ark represented the presence of God with Israel.  It had been taken into battle by Israel and treated as a sort of “good luck charm.”  It was misused and dishonored by what Israel did.  Though the Ark symbolized God’s presence, it did not guarantee that His favor would rest upon Israel at any time and anywhere and for any reason.  And God permitted Israel to suffer a devastating battlefield defeat.  It was a costly and painful lesson. 
            The expression “the glory of the Lord has departed” is haunting.  We live for the glory of God.  Indeed, the chief goal of humanity is to know the Lord and to bring Him glory forever.  But, let’s be honest, there are times when we fail to glorify God.  There are times when His glory is far from our minds and hearts.  We fail to bring glory to God when we sin and choose our ways above His ways.  We need a Savior, Jesus, because we have sinned and made light of God’s ways and Word.  We have disobeyed Him.  We fail to bring glory to God when we are indifferent toward His Word—by failing to read His Word and being hearers only rather than hearers and doers of His Word. 
            We rob God of His glory when we fail to worship Him.  We can easily find ourselves awash in a host of other things that compete for our time and attention, so we aren’t worshipping God weekly with other believers and individually each day.  We can put distance between the Lord and ourselves.  One of Satan’s most effective tactics is to keep us busy and tied down with many things—and they may be good things.  But these things just enable us to slip away from the Lord slowly and gradually.  We can rob God of His glory when we fail to express our thanksgiving and gratitude to Him.  Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.”  Psalm 100:4a says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”  God delights in hearing our thankfulness and gratitude expressed to Him.  We can be grateful for the host of simple things we enjoy every day—sleep, rest, water, friends, family, food and freedom to worship.
            We can rob God of His glory when we live impulsively and selfishly.  We can live in jealousy.  We can speak badly of others behind their backs.  We can peddle and pass along half-truths, rumors and resentment.  We can easily turn our whims and wishes into what we think is God’s ways and will.  God is not glorified by any of this.  His glory quickly departs from such places and times.  If we find ourselves having robbed God of His glory, it is time to repent and to do so immediately.  We should confess our wickedness to God and ask for His grace.  We should pray that His Holy Spirit would guide us not to do such things again and that we would possess the wisdom to hear and understand that guidance. 
            Sadly, much of the Old Testament is the story of Israel stubbornly and consistently defying and disobeying God.  And Israel failed to learn from their defeats and losses.  Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  We must realize that life is brief—like a vapor or a morning fog.  And the days graciously given to us are to be lived for HIS glory.  May we make it our ambition to bring glory to Him and to live in conscious awareness of what our words, motivations and actions are doing.  Are we bringing glory to Him or to ourselves?  Repent from the times where you have robbed God of His glory.  Remember what it means to live for Him and His glory.  And return quickly to those times.  Have a great Thursday!

           In Luke 22, Jesus gathered His disciples for the Passover meal—what Christians would come to know as the Last Supper.  We know that Peter denied Jesus three times after the meal and before the cross.  Jesus warned His fisherman-turned-disciple that he was vulnerable to Satan’s tactics and temptations.  The Bible says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).  Peter responded to Jesus by insisting that he was ready and willing for anything—come what may—including even prison and death.  Yet, just hours later, Peter folded under pressure and denied even knowing Jesus.  Our mouths often write checks that our actions cannot cash. 
            But before the denials, Jesus issued two more warnings to Peter (and the other disciples).  Jesus said, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation” (Luke 22:40b).  And again, “’Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’” (Luke 22:46).  We learn some important lessons about faith and times of testing from Peter and his Maundy Thursday experiences.  First, we should always assume that Satan is working against us.  He is the enemy of God and God’s people in Christ.  The Bible warns, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  He prowls, roars and seeks to devour.  Vivid language that shows us just how stark, severe and sustained the enemy’s attacks can be.  Each day, we should be mindful of Satan’s schemes and ways.  We do not live in fear of Satan because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).  But we want to be on watch, on sentry duty, for Satan’s attacks and schemes that are launched against us.  May we be forewarned so we are forearmed for these attacks by the evil one.
            Second, we need to expect times of testing.  NO one has a perfect and battle-free life.  No one!  So, we need to expect times of adversity and testing to come.  We can commit those times to the Lord and trust Him to provide.  We can intensify our prayers and invite others to pray for us too.  We can dig deeper into the Bible for truths and promises to sustain us.  Twice, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray through this time of great testing for Him and them.  If Jesus prayed in His Garden of Gethsemane, then how much more do we need to pray too.  We cannot predict the exact moment when a temptation may come but can be confident that such times will come.
            Third, stay humble during times of temptation.  Do not rely on your strength or wits to sustain you.  Lean into the Lord.  Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”  The armor of God works best when it is put on in totality.  Each day as you wake up you can mentally put the armor of God on your life—from your head to your feet.  Paul emphasized humility in the face of temptation, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).  We are not to think that we are invulnerable and untouchable enough that we can stand alone.  We need the Lord and the power He has provided to us.
            And fourth, pray diligently and daily in advance.  We can often find ourselves praying only when times of testing have come upon us.  A better strategy is to pray consistently so we are prepared when those times come.  We are smarter and better if we build our faith daily and steadily rather than trying to scramble when a crisis hits.  A doctor studies and prepares to practice medicine rather than running to Google or WebMD for answers when a patient is in crisis.  Likewise, we are to build our faith daily so that we are prepared for temptations, tests and trials when they inevitably come.  Jesus compared this daily faith building to two builders in Matthew 7.  One builder was haphazard and lazy and built his house on the wrong foundation only to see it collapse when the storms came.  But the second builder was much wiser.  Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25). 
            On this Maundy Thursday, remember and meditate on the events that are coming into full focus—the Last Supper, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas, the arrest of Jesus and Peter’s denials.  The weight of a sin-stained and sin-weary world rested on Jesus.  May we remember the burden Jesus bore for us.  Have a thoughtful and reflective Thursday!  The cross is coming!

             Palm Sunday is a significant day in the life of Christians.  This day is the beginning of Holy Week—a walk through the last days of Jesus’ life before the cross on Good Friday.  Of course, Good Friday is preceded by Maundy Thursday.  The names of these three days are important and teach us some important truths about these days.  The names of these can be faith-building opportunities in us.  For example, Palm Sunday reminds us that many people in the crowd that welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem placed branches on the road upon which Jesus traveled.  These branches were a way of honoring Jesus.  This practice was often performed to honor dignitaries or royalty as they entered a city.  The crowd that lined the street into Jerusalem wisely and properly honored Jesus as King.  Christ is the King of kings.  Their actions teach us today the importance of declaring Christ as our King—today and always. 
            Jesus is the only one worthy to sit on the throne of the universe and the only one who should sit upon the throne of your heart or mine.  Reading the story of Jesus’ Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem should cause us to examine our hearts to see if the throne belongs to Christ or something lesser than him.  We can easily enthrone our feelings, opinions, ideas and biases while thinking we have put Christ on the throne.  It can be easy to confuse our thoughts and ways with His.  But His thoughts and ways are not yours or mine by nature.  Coming to Christ, when we are drawn by the Holy Spirit, means we are trading our ways for His.
            Maundy Thursday reminds us of a great mandate or dictum.  We are commanded or mandated by Christ to remember the cross and His death.  We often use the Lord’s Supper as a way to do this.  The bread and cup remind us of Jesus’ body and blood—broken and shed for us.  In addition, we remember the cross when we read the Bible or pray.  Worship takes us to the cross to remember the tremendous price that was paid for our salvation. Maundy Thursday also shows us that we need a Savior to die for us and to give us His righteousness.  Apart from this gracious gift, we are hopelessly lost and dead in our sins.
            Good Friday may seem like a misnomer given what happened on that day.  Let’s be clear and honest, WE are responsible for the death of Jesus.  Our sins led to His cross.  We can blame the Romans or the religious leaders of Israel but the suspects most responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross are the people we see in the mirror—YOU and ME.  That’s had to believe and accept.  It hurts.  But the good we received on that Friday came from Jesus doing everything He needed to do to save us and set us right with the Father.  Jesus died the death we should have died and paid a debt we should have paid.  We received forgiveness and new life and a new heart while He gave His life on the cross.  It is GOOD that Jesus did this for us. 
            As you work your way through the days of Holy Week, let the names themselves remind you of what they mean and the blessings we receive from these days.  Isaiah the prophet wrote hundreds of years before Jesus died, “Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).  May the Lord give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to receive what He has done.  Have a good Monday!