Daily Meditations
No one ever promised a perfect life. The world is not perfect. Bad things happen. The important thing is that no matter what we can count on God being with us. He will go with us down to the depths of despair and while there he will hand us hope. Hope…the thing that is always there. We only have to reach out and take it.
Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. Democritus
The Bible talks about making idols. Do we realize what those are? They are not statues made of gold but the things we love more than God. Idols can be money, possessions, power….anything that gets in the way of putting God first. Our happiness comes from loving God and knowing that we are loved.
This is one of my favorite quotes. I repeat it over and over when things go wrong. It is good for soothing frustration and tension. Remember, God is with us always….no matter what.
Don’t assume you have to be extraordinary to be used by God. You don’t have to have exceptional gifts, talents, abilities, or connections. God specializes in using ordinary people whose limitations and weaknesses make them ideal showcases for His greatness and glory. –Nancy Leigh DeMoss
All through the Bible God uses the most unlikely people. Most of them complained that they couldn’t do what was asked. God just doesn’t take “no” for an answer. He will use us in ways we never thought possible.
Loving God, you know our abilities and our weaknesses. Help us to answer yes when you call on us. AMEN
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:28
It is so difficult to believe that someone would give his life for me. I don’t feel worthy of such a sacrifice. Think about it. You are standing on a street corner and a car comes up over the curb. The person next to you pushes you out of the way and is killed instead of you. Knowing this I would have to live my life differently.
That is why, knowing Christ’s sacrifice, I need to look carefully at how I am living my life.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for sacrificing your life for me. I am unworthy of your love. Bring my life closer to your example. Amen
“To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs.” Anon
Have you met Christians ready to pummel you with their God? Or the one for whom anything to do with God is a totally serious business. They never laugh when they are talking about him To them, God is a wrathful, angry God. One from only the Old Testament. Jesus taught us about another God. The God who wants us to have a cheerful face. The New Testament God is the one I follow. Christ didn’t have a grumpy face. He went to parties. He drank wine. His face was full of love.
Prayer: Intimate God, let us show a cheerful face to others that we might draw them to you. Help us to teach them about Jesus. Amen
Prayer: Thank you loving God for continuing to give us a chance. We just don’t seem to learn. Forgive us our sins. Amen
Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.
~G.K. Chesterton
We are told to love the Lord Our God with all our souls are all our hearts and all our minds. We are not told to prove that God exists. We are just told to love Him. Can we turn loose of all our trying to understand all of this and just love?
Prayer: God of love, help us learn to just love you with all that we are. Amen
““To fear the Lord is the beginning of freedom.” ~ Ecclesiastes 1:14a
It is a very strange fact that in giving ourselves freely to God we become free. It is in “fearing” God that we gain our very souls. To “fear” him is acknowledge that he is God and he is in control. Yet his way of control is to give us freedom of choice. We can choose him or not. We can love him or not. We can “fear” him or not. It is up to each of us.
Prayer: Intriguing God, your way to control is to turn loose. Help us to use our freedom for your kingdom. Amen
“There is one thing more I wish I could give to them (my family) , and that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one cent, they would be rich. If they have not that, and I had given them the world, they would be poor.” Patrick Henry
What do we want to leave as a legacy for our children. Most of us immediately think about our possessions. We want to have some money or property to leave them. Since I am now in my golden years I realize that possessions matter little if I haven’t taught them to love God. If they have no faith to support them when things don’t go well then I have given them nothing.
Prayer: God of love, help us to put teaching about you at the top of our priority list. Help us to set aside other demands and bring our families to church. Amen
Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them. Vincent McNabb
I am one of the worst for worrying about things. I cross every bridge before I get to it. When something is really wrong fear can rule my world. We shouldn’t expect all our fears to disappear. This is the real world. But by leaning on God’s grace can I begin to hold fear in check and rely on hope.
Prayer: God, our father and mother, we turn to you as to a loving parent. Help us to remember that you love us and want only the best for us. Help us to bind up fear and put it away. Amen
Hear God in Other Voices 