made new

 Friday, May 7, 2021 (7:04 a.m.)

Blessed God,

Thank You.

(7:24 a.m.)

Keep my focus on You please.

I tend to get scattered.

(7:41 a.m.)

And when I turn it all over to You? I am bound. Unbroken. Complete. Intact. Made new.

Mm, yes Dear Lord. You make all things new. Me, my thoughts, my hopes, my dreams are made new in You.

I confess to complicating my own thoughts. When I turn them over to You? Truth! Your blessed, life giving Truth.

Thank You God. Praise You Lord.

Following the hymn ♪Bind Us Together♪ into Your Word (Colossians 3:14) my heart quickens at Your Truth.

Even here Father, I ask for Your guidance. Which translation? Starting at what verse? There is so much Truth to absorb. So many aspects to learn. You take such tender care of our every need.

Lord God, Your Word of Truth trumps all fear and distraction. Looking at The Passion Translation footnote for the word “guided” in Colossians 3:15 I learn “The Greek literally means ‘let peace be the umpire of your minds.’” What an incredible concept! Peace as an umpire. Praise You Father.

You truly do make all things new. Isaiah 43:18, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Revelation 21:5.

♪You Make Me Brave♪ just started singing to me. It’s true! Leaning into and trusting You to do all You must in each of us absolutely makes us brave. And new. Holy God, I ask You to use Your promises in making me new.

Coming back to my first stop this morning. “Since God chose you to be the holy people whom He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful” (Colossians 3:12-15).

It seems like such a tall order Lord. And then I’m reminded that “the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty” (Philippians 4:13 The Passion Translation).

Yes! Your strength. Your power. Breathed into us by Your Holy Spirit. Do all You must in, with, by, through and for me this day that I will love and represent You well.

Praise You. Thank You. I love You. Amen.

(441 words ~ 8:48 a.m.)

Your grace

 Thursday, May 6, 2021 (6:35 a.m.)

Blessed, Holy God,

Thank You for so many things. Your goodness. And grace. Your love. And faithfulness. Your Truth. And kindness. The list keeps growing.

Praise and thank You Lord for who You are and all You do. Thank You for the opportunity of learning more about You and Your Word.

(9:06 a.m.)

Right here, I just want to say, “WOW!” And thank You. And praise You Father. There is SO very much more for us to learn. And here You are. Willing to keep teaching.

Reading a webpage entitled, “Loving Goodness of God’s Grace” has me so excited. Eager. Agog. All things seem possible. Just as Your Word teaches (Philippians 4:13). Through Christ who gives us the strength we need.

Thank and praise You Lord. I’m asking You Dearest Dad to use me this day exactly as You alone know is best (Isaiah 40:13, 1 Corinthians 2:10-16). Continue making me aware of just how sufficient Your grace truly is (2 Corinthians 12:9).

I love You. I need You. I want to live today in the strength of Your mighty power (Ephesians 6:10). I ask You to do all You must to Your good and glorious end. Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(213 words ~ 9:25 a.m.)

cherished and valued

 Wednesday, May 5, 2021 (7:34 a.m.)

Blessed, Holy God,

Thank You that we get to come before You, exactly as we are.

(7:50 a.m.)

How perfect are You Dearest God? I start out in one direction [coming before You] and end up in an entirely different one.

♪Just As I Am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!♪ started singing to me immediately.

Following this Truth into Your Word I turned to the referenced Bible verse. John 6:37. Looking first in Illustrated Bible Handbook, I read Chapter 6. Jesus’ Discourse on the Bread of Life. Right under that section? A Theology in Brief titled, Life.

Lord God, how I love the way You get our awareness back on You. Our thoughts may easily wander then abruptly snap back to attention. This morning it was the words “cherished and valued” that stopped me.

“… every human being has received his gift of life from God, and so each human being is to be cherished and valued.” What if we were to actually do that Lord? Truly cherish and value one another like You designed. Work in me to this end, Dear God! 

Just as I was reading in International Children’s Bible of Jesus promising to always accept [“never, never reject” The Living Bible] every one of the people You give to Him, I switch to the word picture in The Message. Here I am heartened all the more. “Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.”

I confess right here Lord, I usually consider me clinging to You, not the other way around. Thank You for the ways You continue teaching us new approaches of thinking.

I ask You to empower and enable me in cherishing and valuing others as You would have me. I love and want to share You freely. Do all You must in changing me Dearest God.

Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(358 words ~ 9:19 a.m.)

Truth

 Tuesday, May 4, 2021 (6:20 a.m.)

Holy God,

I love You. Thank You. Speak Truth to me I pray.

I woke up excited. Eager to talk with You. And again got side tracked. Set up the coffee. Listened to a phone message. Checked things on the internet. And now? Locked out of the resources I normally use.

“Flying blind” is an over statement. “Inconvenienced” is even a bit much. “Mistake” keeps coming to mind.

Mistake. Yes.

(7:29 a.m.)

All this time later, I’m still looking to You Dearest Dad. Following the wisdom of a seven year old, I shut down the computer and started over. One problem solved. Thank You very much.

Now I have so very many directions I can take in Your Word. Do I stick with “mistake” as I was thinking? Or go back to the first word of this morning? “Jointed.”

Father, just one word. Another turn of Your pages. And the whole world seems to open wide. So many mistakenly held beliefs are revealed.

Lord, I ask You to guide me to the “Aha!” verse You have for me right now. And here they are…

John 17:17

Romans 1:21-22

Blessed God, there is so much to learn. Experience. Enjoy. Hope. Every attempt to take it all in falls short. My heart and mind want every bit You have to offer!

Jesus’ words to his disciples. Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. Your Truth expressed in so many ways.

Back and forth I go. Looking here. Reading there. Verses. Footnotes. Comments. Wanting so much to grasp what I’m missing.

Oh and Lord, You know how much I miss! Hence the mistake mentioned above.

I long to live Your Truth this day. Turning to the PURPOSE of John the apostle’s letter to “All people everywhere” (The Life Recovery Bible) I smile all the more.

“To reveal Jesus as the Son of God and show that by faith in Him we can experience true love, forgiveness, and recovery.” Mm, yes Father.

Jesus prayed to You on Your disciples behalves. “Make them pure and holy by teaching them Your words of truth” (John 17:17). Yes, please God. Include me in His prayer.

Father, I love You. I confess to the imperfections with which I approach You.

And right here I laugh out loud. Romans 1:18-20. Contemporary English Version. “Everyone Is Guilty From heaven God shows how angry He is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the Truth. They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all He has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse.”

I fight fit this description so often, Lord. Forgive my smugness. The struck out word just now is so appropriate. How very often do I fight Your Truth?

I love You Lord. Thank You for this extended time together. Use me in sharing Your Truth with others this day. Mistakes and all. Praise You, Father God. Amen.

(530 words ~ 9:06 a.m.)

God is so good

 Monday, May 3, 2021 (6:24 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You! You are so good.

How incredibly blessed are we? I start with one Truth. "You are so good." And the floodgates of thanks and praise open all over the place.

First with a song. ♪God Is So Good… He’s so good to me.♪ Then a Psalm. 25. Verse 8. Now a smile. And another song.

♪Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul… Oh my God, I trust in Thee, Let me not be ashamed, Let not mine enemies triumph over me♪ (Psalm 25:1-2). Blessed God, how good and glorious You are!

Thank and praise You Lord. Thank You for all You do. Praise You for all You are.

As I begin again at the top of the Psalm the smile keeps getting bigger. It’s Your Truth that guides us. Speaking loudly of Your unfailing love for each and every single one of us.

Blessed Father, I didn’t have a clue of what we would speak this morning. Starting with a search of Your goodness, what a treasure I found in just this one psalm.

Because David was honest in sharing himself with You, we get to benefit from his example. Truthful in his need of forgiveness and guidance, he trusted and hoped in You. Thank You Lord.

The Life Recovery Bible comments for verses 1-10 speak of putting our faith in You. Trusting You to care for “and help us overcome the things in our life that would destroy us.” We’re to ask You to show us how to live according to Your Truth.

While we’re reminded of Your great love, compassion and forgiveness, the importance of forgiving others who have harmed us is also stressed. “As we forgive others, we can release our anger and focus on our own recovery.”

Holy, holy God. I love the ready access we have to Your Truth. Thank You for all You are and do.

“We need to let God change us, yet we cannot expect Him to work His transformation in our life if we are still proud and unwilling to admit that we are helpless apart from Him.” Thank You God that we are able to come to You in our brokenness, humbly admitting our powerlessness and experience Your healing work in our life.

Yes Lord! Do all You must in, with, by, through and for me this day. I want to love, honor, worship and adore You as You so rightly deserve. Thank You. Praise You. I love You. Amen.

(427 words ~ 8:33 a.m.)

confident obedience

 Sunday, May 2, 2021 (5:56 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank and praise You Lord. You saved my demeanor yesterday. Truly, thank and praise You Father!

(6:40 a.m.)

So here I have a wonder for You…

Because You are absolutely the reason my thinking changed last night, was I being “confidently obedient” or “obediently confident”? The phrases stem from a discussion note in Illustrated Bible Handbook regarding Your promised rest for Your people.

Blessed God, I turned to Genesis to learn more about The Personal Origins of Sin. Yep. Getting right back to basics. “What’s the lie?” And right here, again, I thank and praise You.

Your Word is Truth. It is hope on which we can truly stake our lives. You are so incredibly good. And I am absolutely grateful.

I love when I read Your Word and my face smiles. With no particular effort on my part. I just notice and savor the peace it brings to my heart. You are such a good, good Father. Thank and praise You Lord.

(7:54 a.m.)

Learning to ask, “What’s the lie?” is game changing for me Lord. The serpent lied to Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:4-5) and she believed it (v. 6). Sin quickly grew from there.

We are so blessed to have ready access to Your Word of Truth. Tears keep forming. The more I read, the stronger the conviction.

Beginning with Your creation (Genesis 1) I read on to Your seventh day (2:2-3). From here I move over to Hebrews 4. Promised Rest for God’s People. Learning more of Your complete plan.

Thank You. Praise You, Lord. I keep coming back to the gratitude You would have us express to You. For You.

Returning to Illustrated Bible Handbook (Genesis Chapter 1 note). “God cannot be surprised by an event. When we trust God, and respond with obedient confidence that He is in control, we experience His rest.”

Mm, Your rest. What’s the lie I so often believe? That I must work hard to earn it.

Father, thank You for all You do to right my thinking. Responding with obedient confidence. [Or is it confident obedience?] It’s all accomplished in, with, by, through and for You. And asking simply, “What’s the lie?”

I thank and praise You, Lord. I love You. I need You. I want You. And I ask You to use me exactly as You alone know is best. Do all You must to Your good and to Your glory. Hallelujah! Amen.

(418 words ~ 9:34 a.m.)

God is good

Saturday, May 1, 2021 (4:57 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You that You are good.

(5:21 a.m.)

Thank You that I get to search, read and learn more of what this very simple statement actually means. Circumstances change. You don’t. Thank You.

Thank You for the glorious colors observed in Your early morning sky just now. Yet another example of Your awe and wonder.

Lord God, I love You. Thank You that I get to know You as good. Great. Glorious. Gracious. Kind. Loving.

Thank You for this opportunity to sit with You. Aware that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17; New International Version).

You provide us opportunity to work. To share. To love. To truly “be still and know” that You alone are God (Psalm 46:10).

Lord I have tears that only You can understand. In my heart and soul, as well as my eyes. Tears representing the joy that only comes from knowing I am loved by You. Thank and praise You Lord!

The Passion Translation tells us, “Everyone look! Come and see the breathtaking wonders of our God. For He brings both ruin and revival. He’s the one who makes conflicts end throughout the earth, breaking and burning every weapon of war. Surrender your anxiety” (Psalm 46:8-10a).

You offer us Your peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:9). Free for the taking. How deeply I thank You Lord!

Father God, I ask You to use me this day in genuinely sharing Your goodness with others. You know Your plans for each of us. “Plans for good and not for evil. Plans to give [us] a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

I ask You, Lord, to embolden and empower me in every single step I take today. Depending on Your goodness and grace in glorifying and enjoying You.

I love You, God. I thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(340 words ~ 6:20 a.m.)