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“A man’s steps are directed by the LORD” Proverbs 20:24 (NIV)

How should I act?, what should I do?, how should I talk?, which path should I choose?, how should I treat others?, what are my goals?… These are questions that dance through our minds as we live out our daily routines. Usually the backdrop of how we answer those questions has to do with “what is everyone else doing?”, and “what will they think of me?”.

Comedian Brian Regan says, “I’m just trying to go through life without looking stupid”. The challenge in today’s culture is to focus on what God’s ways are for us. Instead of looking to fit in or impress others, we need to stay in constant contact with Him so that He can guide us. Sure, we need to consider others. But at the same time, act out our steps based on God’s principles and His direction that emerge from our prayers.

Today, think about your steps and ask yourself; are they “fit in”-directed, or are they God-directed?

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me the way I should take and the choices I should make. Thank You for the fulfillment that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert”  Hebrews 3:8 (NIV)

Many times we don’t feel God’s presence. We don’t feel like He cares. We may even have many times that we don’t feel like there is a God at all. These dry times come and go. Some dry times stay longer than others. It can feel like a spiritual desert.

We can’t base our faith and communication with God on our feelings. It has to be based on the facts laid out in the bible, history, and on all the evidence that Jesus walked on earth (Read “Evidence that demands a Verdict” or “More than a Carpenter” by Josh McDowell).

We can experience great growth in our faith if we stay the course during those desert times. Just like the great athletes who choose to train, even on those days they don’t feel like it.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I know my feelings and emotions vary throughout each day, week and year. I need You to help me to keep walking with You, especially in those dry times. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death”  Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

Many times we want things to be okay to do, or not to do, based on what we feel is best for our own interests. We can tend to twist our thinking that God would surely endorse or not mind some of our decisions and choices. A lot of students pick a major or career path based on what they think they need and want, and not based on any counsel through the Bible and faith based people, or counsel that can come through persistent prayer.

Old time comedian, Henny Youngman, actually had some insight when he stated, “a self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student”.

It is vital to realize that God cares more about us than we even care about ourselves. Pleading for His guidance is a way to show that we don’t know our needs and how to meet them better than He does. Sure there are many times we make good choices, but going to God grows our minds and opens us to direction that will ‘pleasantly surprise’ us in the long haul.

We need to constantly seek God’s ways(“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  Isaiah 55:8). The old comedian also said, “a doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave him another six months”. What is the basis of our choices?

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want Your way instead of my short minded source of making decisions. Remind me to seek You in all I do. Thank You for the blessings that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The Lord appeared to Solomon and said: “I have heard your prayer…if my people will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered”  2 Chronicles 7:12, 14-15 (NIV)

There are times that we really don’t feel like prayer changes or affects things. If I’m convinced of that, then why don’t I talk to God more? Sometimes I know I get too caught up in the busyness of my daily routine. I resort to worry, stress, to-do lists, and racking my brain to figure out ways to get it all done, smooth out all problems, rehearse why I’m angry at someone…

It’s like a balloon that inflates with the building pressures inside my head. I may slowly let out some of the build-up with quick chats with God. But I can’t seem to pop that sucker till I really sit down alone with the Lord and give Him my undivided attention. The issues at hand become my main concern. BUT, His main concern isn’t solving my issues. His concern is that I am depending on Him.

There was a high school coach trying to get his key player recruited by colleges. He sent out tapes of games, called coaches, and searched the internet for schools (all things a good high school coach should do). He started to feel sorry for his player because he knew her hard work and abilities merited a college scholarship. Finally, after his stress balloon has bulging out of control, he sat down to some long conversations with God. Handing Him the situation. The hard part was to leave the results to God. Two days later another high school coach, out of nowhere, called him about 3 college coach friends of his that would be very interested in the player.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, remind me to stop the busyness of tasks and the stress of brain-racking, long enough to have unhindered talks with You. Then join me in those tasks and brain-racking. Thank You for the blessings that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Lord, pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are multiplied; bring me out of my distresses”  Psalm 25:15-17

David is pouring his heart out to God in during a distressing time. We all can relate to those times of feeling alone, hurt, distressed. Maybe a loved one is mad because of a misunderstanding, or we make a really bad choice that hurt those around us. Possibly friends are upset because we did and said some things that caused them to lash out or even alienate us.

Whatever the case, God longs to be the one we turn to. He wants to forgive us, comfort us, and even help us sort through the circumstances that are causing the distress.

I remember the phrase as a kid, “she’s a damsel in distress“. And the picture comes to mind of a cartoon villain holding a young lady against her will (or even tying her to a railroad track for the speeding locomotive to crush). She cries out for someone to save her, and the hero comes out of nowhere to rescue her from what seemed to be a sure doom.

Not so realistic, but God wants to be our Hero. We can call out to Him during our hopeless feelings of distress, and He will work us through it.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, remind me to run to Your side and allow You to work through my distress. Thank You for the comfort and direction that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves ME… I will love him and show Myself to him”  John 14:21 (NIV)

Our goal isn’t just “sin management“. We shouldn’t be walking around just figuring out ways to avoid sin. Those wrongful actions, thoughts, and words will happened. We then confess and start over. That is what we should do, but that can’t be our focus.

An athlete can enter a game with the attitude of not making a mistake, but they won’t score. A salesman can work all week trying not to be forward or offensive, but he won’t make many sales. A student can go to school and not talk at all. They won’t get a detention for disrupting class, but they won’t make friends with peers or teachers.

Our goal in all these cases should be to learn how to be more effective as we strive to get better. Not sit in a bunker hoping to not mess anything up.

God wants us to learn from Him, “have His commands“. Attempt to do what is right, “obey them“. He wants us to set our focus on living an exciting life while attempting to grow and develop. Taking some chances. Striving to reach the potential that God can fuel us to be and do.

If we do this, He promises to “show Himself ” to us. Our efforts need to go toward knowing Him. Then true fulfillment happens. Sin just gets in the way of that goal. Merely confess and move on to great achievements!

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want You to be real to me. Help me to focus on knowing You, doing right, and helping others, so that my heart’s eye can see You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap”  Luke 6:38 (NIV)

Sometimes when we pray, we only eek out some feeble requests as if we are asking a selfish miser to give us something. Or asking a poor man to hand over his last $20. But we are talking to a God who has an endless supply of wealth and resources. He has more money than LaBron James, Jay-Z and Bill Gates all together. Psalm 50 says He owns “the cattle on a thousand hills”.

Our prayers and requests go to a BIG God. What gets in the way of His blessings can be our lack of dependence on Him. Another thing that can block His blessings is our selfishness. As a matter of fact, He tells us in today’s verse that if we “give” (which is the opposite of selfishness), our blessings will overflow our expectations. It is as if we are putting our prayers and petitions on steriods. We are kicking them into “turbo mode”.

When we give, we are telling God that we know He will take care of us as we take care of others. It’s a show of faith. We can give our time, money, words of encouragement, a listening ear, helping hand, back rubs…

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me how to be a giver so that I can receive Your blessings. Not for selfish gain, but to give even more of myself and resources. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said,’… I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!”  Matthew 25:23-26 (NIV)

Jesus was telling a parable that contrasted a diligent man and a lazy man. The diligent man worked hard to grow his money and talents. The lazy man made excuses and rationalized away his lack of effort.

In our culture, having a life of ease with little responsibility is the goal that gets pushed on us. The thought of training, developing and working hard can make us cringe. But, successful and effective athletes, professionals, teachers, parents… work at it. Study it. Pray about it. THEN take breaks to enjoy some well deserved pleasures of life.

We all go through times of dreading what we know is the best use of our time. The key is to do it anyway, to ask God to help us fight through our feelings. When we fail, get ourselves back on the “diligent track”.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about laziness; “You ever find yourself being lazy for no reason at all? Like, you pick up your mail, you go in your house, you realize you have a letter intended for a neighbor. You ever just look at the letter and go ‘Hmm. Looks like they’re never getting this. It’ll take too much energy to go back outside’.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, give me the strength to fight through my feelings and my cultural pressure to not be diligent. Thank You for the fulfillment that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this”  2 Timothy 2:7 (NIV)

Paul was writing some interesting analogies in the previous verses. Then in vs 7 he gives us a vital bible study tip; a) ‘Reflect’ or think about what we read. b) Ask for, wait on, and expect the Lord to ‘give’ insight (maybe right away, maybe months from now).

Key questions to ask about a passage-What do I see? (major words and phrases, people involved, context, literal or figurative, contrasts, comparisons…) –What does this mean? (sanctified guesses and conclusions based on question #1) –How does this apply to me? (Figure out ways the meaning can fit in our daily routines).

Bible reading isn’t just a “check-off-the-list activity”. It is a critical collision with God, allowing Him to invade our thinking, our focus, our spirit.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me how to think about bible passages and give me Your insights to life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”  Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

I was coaching a basketball team one summer. Most of the players really wanted to win and do what they had to do on defense and offense to outscore our opponent. There was one player who didn’t care about winning, she just cared about getting her own points. This especially showed by how she played defense. In basketball, good defensive teams help each other by stepping over to “cover” for a teammate who gets passed, picked or beat by the player they are guarding.

Our one selfish player never helped a teammate, and always needed help because of her lack of effort on defense. She wanted to save her energy to run down the court on offense. I couldn’t keep her in the game long because the competition was too good to win with a player like that. Needless to say, this certain player and her parents couldn’t understand why I couldn’t play her as much as they wanted.

We can go through our daily routine just thinking about ourselves. Or we can look to help “cover” for those around us. We can look and pray to see the needs of others. When that is happening in basketball, the “law of sports” is fulfilling to all those unselfish players. More team victories are attained. But for the selfish, it’s a lonely road. You might get your points, but coaches and teammates are frustrated. The chances of victory are slimmer.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, give me the eye’s to see the burdens of others. Thank You for the fulfillment and blessings that come if I act on meeting the needs of others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.