Today's Daily Word

Friday, June 7 2013

Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you.

~~ Matthew 7:7

Ask, look ,knock. These actions sound so harmless and so easy.BUt behind these words is the intent of Jesus: "Be persistent! Keep asking! Continue looking! Don't quit searching!" This is not a cookbook prescription. Oh, no. It is the target attitude that we should all have in our prayers and in our daily lives. We must be persistent and faithful. Hold it a second. Before you go ahead and place a strong foothold in the direction your persistence would be in, we nee to remember Jesus' example. 

We need to focus on God's will, on His kingdom, His glory. To focus on all these for our simple daily needs: daily bread, and overcoming sin through forgiveness and deliverance. Jesus reminds us that if we stay after all our needs, not only will we receive what we ask for, but also be changes in the process to be better followers of God. 

Referring to www.heartlight.org's prayer based on this verse:

Holy and righteous Father, thank you so much for the many prayers you have answered. Thank you, dear Father, for answering my prayers to be more like Jesus. I confess I am still so very far from his perfection, but when I look at the distance you have brought me in the past, I can view the future only with excitement knowing that you will lead me on to become more like him in the future. In Jesus' name, I thank you and ask for your continued grace. Amen. 

May you be blessed as you find your way through life with God.

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Today's Daily Word

Thursday, June 6 2013

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

~~ Joshua 1:9 

I remember one time when I was playing in a seven a side soccer match, representing my school. We were losing 1 - 0 and just received another goal against us. I'll get them, I'll get them next; and when I do, I'll tackle them and... That's how I would usually talk to myself in my head. I can't remember whether I finally managed to do what my mind was telling me to do, but we eventually lost 4 - 0. 

Pep talks. We give that to ourselves all the time, and they fall into two categories: positive or negative. When we continually see to fail over and over again, our demeanor seems to fall and we result to negative pep talks or even giving up completely. With God, we don't need to give up, ever. 

Moses had spent 40 years leading the Israelites through the wilderness. He was the only man to ever talk face to face with God, He led the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt; he was a great leader to all the Israelites and a man of God. When it came time for Joshua to take over Moses's job, he must have been thinking, 'oh no no, I'll never be as good. This will never work out. Pick someone else!' God took over all Joshua's worries with that simple pep talk in Joshua 1:9. 

God's simple pep talk reminded Joshua of all the strength he had and he never looked back. Pep talks, no matter how useless they seem, do work. However, in order to receive a great, strong pep talk that will totally change your views upside down, you need to focus on what God wants you to do, and be prepared for the pep talk from your Holy Spirit to do His work, and do His will. 

Will you continue sulking when you're faced with a difficult task or placed on the losing team? No. Pep talks!

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Today's Daily Word...

Wednesday, June 5 2013

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and deprived generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.

~~Philippians 2:14-15

When we go on with our days, it's safe to say that not everything will go the way we plan it to be. It might be more difficult, troublesome, time consuming and you will end up more than annoyed. In those times, we just want to act like a child a whine and grumble and make a fuss out of the whole situation. It is just so easy to complain when circumstances don't g our way. Or we even might find it easy to feel justified in being upset. 

No. This ain't the way. We need to get back from our self-pitying pit and up to our feet. When we are tempted to give in to feelings of bitterness and self pity, we've got 3 things >> Family, Friends and most of all, God. 

In these verses there are clear directives not to grumble or complain. We do need to remember of all that He has done for us and we should be grateful for that. We don't even need to look at the bigger picture to know that grumbling does no one good, including yourselves. It wastes time, adds to depression, pulls everyone's moods down, demotivates yourself and the list goes on.

We shouldn't stop at not complaining, no, God wants us to take that one step further. We should in truly "consider it joy" when trials come our way and block our paths. This attitude may seem unrealistic and idiocy,but it takes into account God's goodness, faithfulness and overall character, demonstrated over and over again in our lives and the lives around us. If the fact that God helps us up of our deepest pits of despair doesn't put a smile upon your face, then I do not know what else truly will. 

Try it out for the day: Do not utter a single complaint or a moan or grumble for the entire day. If you do then, well, you've got plenty of days to try and try again. But seriously, try it. I challenge you. Give thanks. 

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