Promise for Today - Invested

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. 

Philippians 3:10 (NLT)

Happiness is found in getting to know God more every day.

Another translation says that Paul became “thoroughly acquainted” (AMP) with God because he had a relationship with him and took the time to get to know him. He understood the difference between knowing ABOUT someone and actually knowing someone—and Paul wanted to really know Christ.

You don’t become thoroughly acquainted with God by accident. You don’t just wake up and accidentally fall into a relationship with Jesus. Paul says it’s a determined purpose. It’s something you have to do something about. You have to invest your time in it. You have to invest your heart in it. You have to invest your resources and your energy. Getting to know God requires the best of everything you have!

One trap that can keep you from getting to know God better is busyness. Just like busyness can destroy your relationships, it can also destroy your relationship with God.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (NIV).

To grow in your relationship with God, you need to make time for him and be still. Just a few minutes of focused time every day can make all the difference in the world. I’m not saying you have to spend an hour in prayer every day. You can start with 10 or 15 minutes each morning, reading the Bible and talking with God.

The most important thing is to make it a habit and commit to getting to know God. Only then will you, like Paul, begin understanding the wonders of God with greater clarity.

Make this your daily prayer: “Lord, if I don’t do anything else today, I want to get to know you a little bit better and I want to love you a little bit more.” As you pray and live this out, you’ll begin to experience greater happiness in your life.

Talk It Over

What are some things you do every day for at least 15 minutes? Do you do them because they’re essential or just because they’ve become habitual?

What distractions can keep you too busy to spend time with God?

How will you adjust your schedule so that you can spend more time with God?
- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father,

         Thank You for loving us every moment of every day since before we were born. Help us to keep our focus on what is the most important part of our lives - to love You back. To spend time with You. To learn Your ways and to know You more. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Promise for Today - The Way to Your Happy Place

My child, do not forget what I teach you. Always think carefully about my commands. If you obey them, you will live a long life. You will have peace in your mind. And you will enjoy your life.
Keep hold of faithful love. That will be like a beautiful necklace that you always wear. Think about what it means to love other people. If you do that, you will make God happy. People will also be pleased and they will respect you.

Proverbs 3:1-4 EASY

Trust in the Lord completely. Do not think that you understand things well enough for yourself. Whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord is with you. Then he will show you the right way to go.

Do not think that you are already wise enough. Obey the Lord and refuse to do evil things. If you do that, it will make you healthy and strong.

Show that you respect the Lord in the way that you use your money. Offer the first part of the harvest from your farm to him. If you do that, you will store more food than you need for yourself. You will have more wine than you can drink.

My child, if the Lord warns you that you have done something wrong, accept it. Do not be upset if he warns you. He is doing it because he loves you. When a father loves his son very much, he warns him when he does something wrong.

Anyone who finds wisdom is in a happy place! So is the person who has learned to understand things.

Wisdom helps people better than silver or gold will ever help them.

Wisdom is more valuable than the most expensive jewels. Nothing that you might want for yourself is as good as wisdom.

Wisdom is ready to give you a long life. She will also give you riches and honour.

Wisdom will be your guide through a happy life. She will lead you in ways that keep you safe. Wisdom is like a tree with fruits that give life to the people who pick them. The Lord blesses everyone who keeps hold of wisdom.

The Lord used wisdom to create the earth. He understood the right way to create the heavens. He used his knowledge to pour water from under the earth into the rivers and seas. He caused the clouds to send down rain.

My child, always keep hold of wisdom and a good mind. Make sure that you keep them safe. They will give you strength in life. You will enjoy life, like a beautiful necklace that you wear.

You will be safe as you travel through life. There will be no danger to make you fall down. When you lie down to sleep, you will not be afraid. You will sleep well with peace in your mind. You will not be frightened of any trouble that might surprise you. Trouble may destroy wicked people, but you will know that you are safe. The Lord is the one who will take care of you. He will protect you, so that no danger can hurt you. 

Do not refuse to help those people who need help. If you are able to help them, do it! If you can give your neighbour the help that he needs, do not say to him, ‘Go away! Come back tomorrow, and then I will help you.’

Do not think of ways to hurt your neighbour. You should help him to trust you.

Do not quarrel with other people if they have done nothing to hurt you. You have no reason to accuse them of anything wrong.

Do not be jealous of cruel people. Do not try to copy the things that they do. The Lord hates wicked people. But he makes righteous people his friends.

The Lord curses the homes of wicked people, but he blesses the homes of righteous people. The Lord laughs at proud people who laugh at other people. But he is kind to humble people.

Wise people will receive honour. But fools will only have shame.  

Verses 5-35

Prayer:

Father, 

         Help us to keep our eyes open and focused on You. To walk only where You lead us. To bless and help those who need help. Keep our hearts softened to Your will and way. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

Reminder to Walk Worthy

"We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory."

1st Thessalonians 2:12 NLT

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called..."
Ephesians 4:1

What does it mean to walk worthy? Is it something we do or say that can make us worthy? One teacher describes it this way,

A clue is found in Colossians 1:10 which says, "Walk worthy of the Lord, to please him." But Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him." So the call to walk "worthy of the Lord" is at least a call to walk by faith.

Paul lays it out for us in Colossians 1:9-14, praying for us as we should pray for others... thereby walking worthy. "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that

• you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
• that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
• fully pleasing Him,
• being fruitful in every good work
• and increasing in the knowledge of God;
• strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,
• for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
• giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
• He has delivered us from the power of darkness
• and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
• in whom we have redemption through His blood,
• the forgiveness of sins."

Prayer:

Father,
           May all the spiritual wisdom and strengths that Paul prayed for the church in Colosse come to fruition in our lives today. We want to please You, Father. Help us to walk worthy of You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Choose Wisely

To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends,

‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance,
so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t mourn.’

For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ 

But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.

Matthew 11:16-19 NLT

From our mother's womb, we are learning, gaining knowledge of the world around us. If we have/had a Godly mother, she included scriptural knowledge as the basis for all we've learned. If we didn't, we make the choice at some point whether or not to accept Christ as our Savior and follow His Word. Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is quite another. Wisdom is the ability to apply the knowledge we've learned. Wisdom comes from God.

It's not enough to just accumulate knowledge. There are too many assumptions to be made and many of them are in error. John the Baptist wore clothes woven from camel hair, and he ate locust and wild honey. Our text for today says the people thought he was possessed. Jesus came preaching the same message and they said He was a glutton and a drunkard and kept bad company. They were all looking for the promised Messiah, but He didn't look like they thought He would. He didn't enter the way kings enter. His emissary was not what you'd picture the King's representative to look like. Assumptions based on knowledge alone...

Proverbs 7:4 NKJV tells us, Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Wisdom is the primary goal... Wisdom enables us to rightly use the knowledge we've gained. There is no true wisdom without God. 

Our Promise is found in verse 19, But wisdom is shown to be right by its results - which means that our ability to apply spiritual truth [wisdom] will be demonstrated by what we do based on the choices before us. Choose wisely.

Prayer:

Father, 

           Open our eyes of understanding to recognize You in all that comes our way. Give us wisdom and a discerning heart to help those around us. Your wisdom, Father, Your strength. Light our path with Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

With Understanding

Ears to hear and eyes to see - both are gifts from the Lord.
Proverbs 20:12 NLT

Eyes and ears are key in gaining knowledge and processing input from the data around us. For those of us with eyes and ears that work properly, we tend to take them for granted. However, there is much more to them than just the initial sight or sound, there are multiple levels of both and I am not referring only to lumens or decibels. 

Have you ever heard someone say, "That really opened my eyes..."?  We know that actually means they were able to understand more fully.  It's the same principle when having a discussion with someone about actions that need to change and they reply, "I hear you..." You know they heard your voice before, but now they acknowledge they are listening more intently and with more understanding toward obedience. 

These are gifts from God. Seek them out and be grateful. 

Prayer:

Father,

           We pray that You will continue to open our spiritual eyes and ears so that we can understand You more clearly and walk in obedience to Your will for our lives. Please give us the knowledge and wisdom that comes with these gifts so that we can serve others for You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Friends' Favorites - Regarding Faith

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

1st Corinthians 2:4-5 NKJV

It's an incredible time to be alive! There is SO much knowledge available at our fingertips through the Internet! I'm not sure that's always good; however, there are times it is absolutely wonderful! 

There are how-to videos and instruction for just about everything. I once tore apart a washing machine down to its frame and transmission - and at the time, I didn't even know a washing machine had a transmission! That was before smartphones, so I had to keep going back and forth to the computer for instruction because the printer was out of ink! Oh, the irony... And yes, I was able to put it all back together and it worked. I felt like Superwoman!

In that same quest for knowledge, three years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, I researched everything! I thought knowledge was power, and I still believe that to a certain extent. But there came a time in the treatment process where all the knowledge I had was not enough to bring me peace or to make me feel powerful. In fact, quite the opposite. And there were extremely knowledgeable physicians and specialists on my team - some of the best in the field - but their knowledge was not enough to bring me peace, either. 

It was when I stopped searching for knowledge and turned to the ONLY ONE who actually had the answers - when I stopped Googling and got back to Bible-ing - when my faith in the power of God instead of the wisdom of men became my mainstay that the insurmountable peace I'd had at the beginning of the journey returned to me - mind, body, soul, and spirit. 

Knowledge is good. Wisdom is better. Faith in the Almighty God is best.

Prayer:

Father,

          Many a long night in the course of our lives - as the old song says, You give us peace in the midst of our storm-tossed lives. You are the Anchor. You are the Rock to build our faith upon. You and You alone are ever faithful and faithful forevermore! Keep us ever mindful of Your greatness, O God! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Know It All

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
1st Corinthians 13:12b NLT

God's Word tells us in Proverbs 4:7 NKJV, Wisdom is the principal thing;  Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

You've heard it said, "What you don't know won't hurt you." Do you believe that? Is it a trustworthy statement? How much of what we don't know can hurt us in some way? And yet, try as we might, we can't possibly know it all... All that we know is partial and incomplete.

Here's the good news. There's only one thing we have to know. We have to know God. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. All-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)
He knows it all. 

And if we will spend our time knowing Him, then one day soon, He will welcome us with "Well done, good and faithful servant..." THEN we will know everything - completely.

Prayer:

Father, 
          Keep us ever mindful that You are God and we are not. That You know everything and we don't. We want to know You more. Teach us, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

* Regarding Faith

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

1st Corinthians 2:4-5 NKJV

It's an incredible time to be alive! There is SO much knowledge available at our fingertips through the Internet! I'm not sure that's always good; however, there are times it is absolutely wonderful! 

There are how-to videos and instruction for just about everything. I once tore apart a washing machine down to its frame and transmission - and at the time, I didn't even know washing machines had transmissions! That was before smart phones, so I had to keep going back and forth to the computer for instruction because the printer was out of ink! Oh, the irony... And yes, I was able to put it all back together and it worked. I felt like Superwoman!

In that same quest for knowledge, when I was diagnosed with cancer, I researched everything! I thought knowledge was power, and I still believe that to a certain extent. But there came a time in the treatment process where all the knowledge I had was not enough to bring me peace or to make me feel powerful. In fact, quite the opposite. And there were extremely knowledgeable physicians and specialists on my team - some of the best in the field - but their knowledge was not enough to bring me peace, either. 

It was when I stopped searching for knowledge and turned to the ONLY ONE who actually had the answers - when I stopped Googling and got back to Bible-ing - when my faith in the power of God instead of the wisdom of men became my mainstay that the insurmountable peace I'd had at the beginning of the journey returned to me - mind, body, soul, and spirit. 

Knowledge is good. Wisdom is better. Faith in the Almighty God is best.

Prayer:

Father,

          Many a long night in the course of our lives - as the old song says, You give us peace in the midst of our storm-tossed lives. You are the Anchor. You are the Rock to build our faith upon. You and You alone are ever faithful and faithful forevermore! Keep us ever mindful of Your greatness, O God! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

What We Believe +

For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

1st Corinthians 4:20 NLT

A question has been raised concerning living what we believe vs. living what we've learned. Are they the same? If not, does it matter which one we live? Good questions...

I've pondered on it now for awhile and here's what I think. I think we live our lives based on what we believe - about ourselves, about others, and about God, (no matter what it is)... For instance, if we believe we CAN do something - we're right, we can! By the same token, if we believe we CAN'T do something - we're right again, we can't...

However, we do learn a lot of things. You can teach a child that hot will burn. But generally, they will still reach for the hot. It is imperative that we are careful about what we learn and how we learn it, because we must be on guard about what we come to believe. 

You see, if we truly believe the Word of God, we will act accordingly. If we don't believe the Word of God, we will act accordingly.

Let's not just talk it. Let's walk it, and live what we believe, and believe so we may live - truly live.

Prayer:

Father,

         Quicken Your Word in our hearts and minds. It is living and powerful and rightly divides between soul and spirit. Father, give us wisdom to know what to believe, preferably without getting burned. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHiTVuGaKM

Taking Into Consideration +

Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Deuteronomy 4:39 NKJV

How many times have we come through a tough time and at the end of it made the remark, "Well, all things considered, I think we came out ahead of the situation." Sometimes we're "ahead" just by being alive. But I have been wondering lately about all the things that we take into consideration and whether or not we take into consideration MORE than what needs to be considered.

Generally, people try to gather the facts regarding a situation before making a decision about it, no matter if it’s a simple purchase or a life-changing event. Just think about how many search engines you can name. However, as I’m fond of pointing out, facts and Truth are not the same and because of that principle, there is a HUGE difference between knowledge and wisdom. For those who may not have considered the difference, let me give you my spin on it. Knowledge would be equivalent to the facts of a situation. Wisdom is the Truth about it.  

I remember the story of Baby Ashley who was born in 2009. An ultrasound before Ashley’s birth confirmed that she had NO kidneys. The hospital prepared the family for the worst – and the compassionate ministry of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep was called in to take special photographs for the family to have after she was gone. Those are the facts – the knowledge of the situation. 

When Ashley was born, she was immediately hooked up to life support, etc, to give the family a "little" time. But Joanne (the photographer) had the wisdom to call for prayer. The request went out world-wide through prayer chains. The hospital scheduled the day that they would disconnect life support…then one of the NICU nurses caring for Ashley, in the course of keeping the baby clean, noticed the diaper was wet. Well, basic anatomy will tell you that a baby can’t produce what will wet the diaper without a kidney. They did another ultrasound and found a kidney…

Instead of disconnecting life support for the end of Ashley’s life, it was disconnected so she could go home and grow up with her parents. All of our advanced medical and technical knowledge told them, “No, I'm sorry. Your baby will die.” Wisdom chose Truth. A God who is our Healer. God, our Creator. Maker of Heaven and Earth. Psalm 8: 3-4, When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

When you face seemingly impossible odds – when all the facts point to bad – what does Wisdom founded in Scripture tell you? I’m not talking about name it-claim it, confess it-possess it, blab it-grab it. I’m asking directly - What does Wisdom founded in Scripture dictate?  

1^st Samuel 24:12 reads, Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

Abraham had a promise of a son. But he understood the knowledge about being 100 years old – his wife was 90. And how that even in her so-called best years, she could not conceive… but Scripture tells us in Romans 4:19-21, And not being weak in faith, he [Abraham] did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Some things should not be taken into consideration. When all things are considered, what will you include?

Prayer:

Father,

According to Your Word, the wisdom of Your Truth that we find in Hebrews 10:23-25, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for You who promised are faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as we see the Day approaching. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen