Focus on His Goodness

SCRIPTURE

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:1-4

OBSERVATION

My mouth reflects the attitudes of my heart. I must and will keep His praise as the focus of my speech. As I keep His praises as my focus, others will hear and join me in the praise of the Lord. As a result of seeking to keep His praise my focus, He will deliver me from ALL my fears.

APPLICATION

I must keep the focus of my conversation the praise of the Lord. As I keep His praises foremost in my mind and heart and word, He inhabits my praise and His Peace is my portion.

PRAYER

Lord, help me keep my heart, mind and words focused on Your goodness. I believe that You are faithful to deliver me from ALL my fears. Amen

His Promises Will Never Fail

SCRIPTURE

Jeremiah 33:25 – 26 This is what the LORD says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.'

OBSERVATION

Jeremiah was in jail and he was listening to God tell him why things were happening around him. Judah and Jerusalem were at war. Everything around him was being destroyed. Yet in all of that God tells Jeremiah what will happen. He asks Jeremiah to not give up and to not give in, but trust him because his promises are true and unfailing.
At the end of the chapter God tells him that he will keep his promises until day and night cease to work in unison. If you think about it, when will night and day cease to stop working. I would think that that wouldn't happen until something catastrophic happens, or until God decides for his creation to stop working. Then and only then will his promises cease to be true.

APPLICATION

When times seem overwhelming, when situations seem unable to be solved, when life is hitting you on the left and right, when divorce is staring you in the face, when you or your children are sick, when friends leave you, when your family disowns you, when you are trying to do all you can but at the end of the day nothing seems to go right, we need to remember that God's promises, for healing, salvation for your family, provision, deliverance, protection, etc., etc., will not cease to be true until the earth ceases to operate the way God designed it. there will always be a way out, always be something taht happens that can only be explained by the hand of God.

PRAYER

God, even though I always try to do everything on my own and it seems that it takes me getting to the point where I can't physically or spiritually do it, I know that you will provide for all that I need, you will answer my prayers for salvation and protection for my family, you will be my God until you send your Son back. Help me to, even thou I am in the middle of the struggle, remember your promises and draw my strength from your strength.

That IS What We Are!!!

SCRIPTURE
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!


OBSERVATION
Again, I love these verses. We have been given a great compliment; a huge favor of the Lord! He calls us "children of God". Does it get any better than that? It speaks to His great love and regard for us. It speaks to His generosity towards us. And then John goes on to declare 'that is what we are'. What's also interesting to me is that these two verses have exclamation marks. They're not used extensively in the Bible so this tells me that John is adament about these two statements.


APPLICATION
My take away is that I am to fully realize that I am a highly regarded child of God. That I am blessed by an Almighty Father. That I am to act like a princess of the Highest King. I should claim my heritage and all the power and love that comes with it. Each day should begin and end with this awareness.

PRAYER
Thank you, Father, for this gift! I want to always remember the love and wonder of my Father. I want to claim all that goes with the title of 'child of God'. Let me live up to that humbling and beautiful title. Amen.

Blessings and Praises

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 67:1-4 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the people praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.


OBSERVATION
The psalmist asks for God's blessings for His people. They pray, in turn, that because of the people's praises to God, the nations see and praise Him as well. They see that God provides for his people and that He is a just and guiding God.


APPLICATION
The blessings of God are many, from material to emotional to spiritual. To me, one of the greatest gifts we have is hope - hope that comes from a loving Father who is with us through good and bad times . . . hope that allows us to endure daily struggles of life and relationships . . . and a hope that we have a perfect eternity ahead of us through the price paid by Jesus. How do people make it through life without hope? I don't want to know.

PRAYER
I pray that people who do not know Jesus will see hope demonstrated in my life. Father, let me model reliance and hope in You to my children, my friends, and all those around me. Amen.

Three Important Reminders

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 105:1-4 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.


OBSERVATION
In just four verses, the psalmist reminds to do so many things regarding our Lord, I feel that I'm falling short. Thank Him. Call on Him. Speak to others about Him. Sing to and praise Him. Tell. Rejoice. Rely on the Lord's strength, seek His face always. Alot of reminders! But if I group them, I come up with 3: PRAISE, RELY UPON and TELL OTHERS. The psalmist gives us several examples of how we can do these three things. But, looking at the three main reminders - it sums it all up for me . . . praise Him, rely upon Him, tell others about Him.


APPLICATION
Am I doing all that I can each day to accomplish these three things? Am I spending enough time each day praising my Lord? Am I relying upon Him with ALL things? Or do I lean on my own strength and understanding? And, finally, am I doing all He has called me to do to tell others about the amazing God I serve? Daily reminders (in His Word) can do alot to keep us on track.

PRAYER
Lord, keep me on track. Keep putting reminders before me that you are a God worthy of praise, omnipotent so as to be relied upon with all things, and certainly worthy of telling others. Thank you for your Word. Amen.

By Believing, Life in His Name

SCRIPTURE
John 20:30-31 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.


OBSERVATION
I love these verses because they tell so much in just two sentences. First, we're told that the book of John tells only some of the miraculous signs are included and that not all are recorded. Verse 31 then tells us that these words are written for us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore have life everlasting.


APPLICATION
This tells me that God included enough, but not everything, in His Word to convince all of us of truth. It also points me toward blind faith - in not only what is written, but in what I know in my heart to be true.

PRAYER
Lord, let me continue to draw and learn from Your Word, but continue to remind me that You have given us Your Holy Spirit to lead us to the truth. Please help me to become less proof-led and more Spirit-led. Amen.

Does God Still Speak Today?

SCRIPTURE
(John 16:13) "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."


OBSERVATION
Jesus spends this discourse telling His disciples that He is about to die. They do not have to fear because the Spirit of God will come and comfort them and lead them by speaking the heart of God to them. God speaks to us today through His Holy Spirit. The question is, do we really want to hear Him?


APPLICATION
Jesus said the Spirit will only say to us what He has heard the Father say. Paul in I Corinthians 6:17 says that when we join ourselves to Jesus we become one spirit with Him. His spirit is united with our spirit and His spirit speaks what God is saying and where He is leading. Are you listening to your spirit?

PRAYER
Lord, I know Your spirit desires to commune with my spirit, but I often restrict the communication by focusing on worldly distractions. Keep my eyes focused on You, so I can hear Your voice.