Scripture for Wednesday, June 15 (6/15)

The scripture for today, June 15, is 1st Timothy 6:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“…which God will bring about in his own time ~ God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords!”

But it’s hard to know just when God’s time is. You may think it is when an opportunity arises, but something happens and it doesn’t turn out. So later another opportunity arises, but something happens there too and it still doesn’t turn out.

This verse can carry you from hope to hope. Your life is like a line drawn across a piece of paper, and you have to stay on that line. But God looks down and can see the entire line at once, and he can also see everything going on around you.

Rather than give up on God and decide he doesn’t really love you like he claims, amidst your tears of disappointment, stretch your spirit and praise him anyway. Acknowledge him. Then rest until his own time.

Scripture for Sunday, June 12 (6/12)

The scripture for today, June 12, is Luke 6:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”

How in the world did Jesus think of enough things to say that he could pray all night?
Most of us on a good day only manage a 5-minute prayer.

The next verse says that the next morning he selected his twelve apostles. He had probably spent at least half an hour each praying for them by name, as well as for others he was considering.

Who do you pray for by name? Do you have a prayer list? How about opening the newspaper and praying for all those people in the news ~ perpetrators, victims, causes, governments, situations? Or everyone you work with? Or everyone your children go to school with? Or all their teachers and administrators? Or the clerks in the stores you go to regularly? Or members of an organization you belong to?

There are always people in need of prayer. And one of the joys of such a prayer life is now and then telling people whom you know that they are in your prayers; or writing a note to someone who was a stranger to you that you pray for them.

Some people have never heard their name in prayer. Some people have never even been told that someone prays for them.

God loves to answer prayer. Do you love prayer?

Scripture for Friday, May 13 (5/13)

The scripture for today, May 13, is 1st John 5:13f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

FunWithBibleNumbers-Cover-Kindle“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

What a wonderful and comforting promise: The God of the universe, the Creator, the King of all kings hears you!

Of course, it must be “according to his will.” Well, how are you supposed to know God’s will? By a feeling deep in your heart? Feelings are fickle. But can there be another way? Of course. It’s simple. Just read his very words to you in the Bible.

The Bible is full of examples of people who did right and who did wrong, to help you see the consequences of good and bad decisions. The Bible is also full of God’s advice to you. Proverbs is one of the books that is full of such advice. Read the Bible.
You do not have to guess what God’s will is.

What about asking God’s will whether you should move to this place or that, whether you marry this person or that, whether you take this job or that? Perhaps all your choices are good. God has also given you free will. Always remember, “ALL things work together for good to those who love the Lord and called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Scripture for Wednesday, May 11 (5/11)

The scripture for today, May 11, is 1st Peter 5:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Luke-Slave&Physician KINDLE Cover“To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.”

God has the power to do more for you than you ever dreamed. He can take you in new directions in your life; arrange for you to meet wonderful people; provide the ability to overcome not-so-good things in your life.

All you have to do is ask. Perhaps more than once. Perhaps many times. But he wants you to ask. Why?

Parents sometimes tell their children “no” the first time they ask for something. Maybe it’s because the child needs to find out for him/herself how badly s/he wants it. It’s in the asking that they find out. So God waits for the request. Sometimes the request never comes. And so the blessing never comes.

Remember, God has the power. He may have something special in mind for you. So ask.

The scripture for today, April 12, is Colossians 4:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“He is always wrestling in prayer for you.”

Do you have fast-food prayers? Drive in, ask for something for yourself, and drive out two minutes later?

How about trying gourmet prayers ~ where you gather many ingredients, not just one? They take longer, but are very special and rewarding.

Your menu is your prayer list. People on your list don’t even have to be people who know personally. They can be from the newspaper, teachers at a local school, government officials, your neighbors, your congregation. List people by name. Pray for them by name.

Then tell these people you are praying for them. You may think you’ll get some strange looks, but mostly, even from the unreligious, you will get a smile and a whispered thank you. Some will actually reply, “No one before has ever told me they were praying for me.” After awhile, you will begin receiving word from some of them, “I am praying for you too.”

Prayer is wonderful. It is most wonderful when it centers, not on yourself, but on struggling in prayer for others.

One by one you will begin seeing amazing answers in the lives of those you pray for. And that’s a promise!

The scripture for today, January 4, is Philippians 1:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”

Do our prayers consist mostly of give me this, help me with that? Let us begin today to keep an on-going list of our prayer requests for the year, and another one of thanksgiving for when those prayers are answered. Let us begin today to tell God “Thank you.”

Let us also begin today to look around at our circumstances ~ whatever they may be ~ with joy. There can be some kind of joy in every circumstance if we look at it through eyes of joy.

A majority of the people in Philippi in northern Greece on the border of today’s Bulgaria (called Thrace in the first century) were barbarian-looking warrior Thracians. But these rough warriors also brought joy with their beautiful sculptures.

Philippians is a book about peace and joy. This is the book that says, “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7)

This is also the book that says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:13).

Let us say ”thank you,” and in the process recognize our joy.

The scripture for today, December 23, is 1st Samuel 12:23 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-Thumbnail“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”

It’s a sin not to pray for others!

Do your prayers get bogged down in the mire of me’s? Do you wonder why you can’t pray for more than a couple minutes ~ five on a good day? Satan gets you to do this; he is the enemy of prayer because he knows how powerful it is.

Who is on your prayer list? Pray for people by name. Your neighbors. People you work with. Your government officials ~ both good and bad. People in a nursing home. People in your congregation. People in the military. People being persecuted, imprisoned and even killed because they are Christians. Missionaries. Children in an orphan home. Sales people at the store. Local school teachers.

Pray for 15 minutes a day. Half an hour. An hour. It’s oh so easy when we stop praying only for self and pray for others.

Pray for them by name. And tell them that you do. Some people have never been told, “I am praying for you”.

Let us not sin by praying only for “me”.

The scripture for today, November 9, is Luke 11:9 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD” ‘So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’ “

Does this mean that, if we ask for our favorite team to win, they will win? Does this mean that, if we ask for a particular job, we will get that job? Or, if we have our eyes on a particular young man or young woman, we will marry that person?

In the context that Jesus said this, he had just taught his disciples what many call the Lord’s prayer. In that prayer, Jesus instructed us to ask for a little bit of the physical and a whole lot of the spiritual.

You might say, “Well, that doesn’t leave me much to pray for.” Oh, yes it does. Shift your focus from yourself. It leaves the rest of the world to pray for. What about their little bit of physical and their whole lot of spiritual? How many people do you pray for? Not as a group, but by name? Not occasionally, but every day?

Well then, will God give us every one of the souls we pray for? God gives everyone free will. He does not force people to follow him. God provides opportunities for people we pray for, and he even moves their hearts. But he does not force them. We must still, keep on praying, even when we feel like someone is hopeless. Maybe they are hopeless during our lifetime. But sometimes someone’s soul is saved after our death.

So let us pray for others and never tire of it ~ a little bit of the physical and whole lot of the spiritual. Seek and we will find. God will answer in his own way. And that’s a promise.

The scripture for today, November 5,is Ecclesiastes 11:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 3-HEARTS AFIRE-COVER“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

Are you ever frustrated because you cannot touch God or see God? In times of deep unbearable distress, probably a lot of people feel that need. But, if we could touch or see him, he could not be everywhere at once; he could not be omnipresent. That means, if he was with you where you could see and touch him, the rest of the world would have to wait for him to get done with you and go to the next person.

Are you ever frustrated because you cannot figure out God? In times of great challenges to faith, probably a lot of people feel that need. But, if we could figure out God, He would not be superior to us. It means that either he would not be God, or we would be God also.

Let us be grateful that we cannot touch or see God. Let us be grateful that we cannot fully understand God. Let us be grateful that, despite all his greatness, he dearly
loves us.

The scripture for today, August 3, is 1st Corinthians 8:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

0-BOOK EIGHT-COME FLY WITH ME-Cover“But the man who loves God is known by God.”

How can God know us all individually? Just how does God do it? There are multiplied millions of us. All praying with our own set of problems, sometimes thousands of us at once. All singing our various hymns. All trying to do right in the name of God.

This Creator of the entire universe, the Maker of stars and sunflowers and little puppies and unfathomable oceans, knows each person who loves him. Not “knows about”, but KNOWS! With all that is going on in the world, yea even in the universe, he still knows which ones of us love him, and he takes the time to know us!

How large he is. How small we are.

Utter amazement!

And so we worship him.