Victory247

“Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” Ephesians4:26 (NIV)

Paul is dishing out some helpful advice in chapter 4. He knows that anger can do some serious internal damage on all of us.

Athletes workout hard or play in a cumbersome competitions. They soon learn that their muscles recover much faster when they use ice or cold water on their bodies before they go to bed. What happens is that lactic acid builds up, especially in the legs, and make them feel heavy and slow.

A lot of professional athletes make it a habit to take an “ice bath” in the evening. They know that they don’t have time to let the lactic acid slowly go away. Ice will blow it away so that they are free to keep performing at a high level the next day.

Anger is what creates bitterness in our hearts. Bitterness is like the lactic acid. We need to deal with the anger before we go to bed so that we don’t wake up sluggish and cranky. We can’t perform and enjoy life at a high level!

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to forgive those who make me angry, and have a good perspective on situations that make me angry. I hand those over to You so that I can perform life at a fulfilling level. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you”  Deuteronomy 31:6 (NASB)

I am a principal at a Christian high school. But there are still plenty of discipline issues that I need to handle.

One day I had a very large (6’3”, 220lbs.) athletic student in my office, Marcus, because of his repeated problems with disrupting classes. I challenged him not to just “be good”, but also to help me by using his size and personality to enforce school pride and an honorable environment.

He responded great to my little talk, but I still needed to “punish” him for past behavior. I saw that he was wearing an IRON MAN t-shirt, so I told him to write out Deuteronomy 31:6 one hundred times.

One week later, he broke up a fight by picking up an angry student. He held his schoolmate off the ground and proceeded to explain to him to calm down and think about what he was doing.

Marcus was being ‘strong and courageous’ for God.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, make me ‘strong and courageous’ in my deeds, because You are ‘the one who goes with me’. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul…”  Psalm 23:2-3 (NIV)

Most days I go from one thing to the next on autopilot. Before I know it, it’s the end of the day and I am wiped out.

One thing I learned to do for my own sanity and inner health was to take a 5 minute vacation at least once in the middle of my day to STOP and just relax. Those are times to hand my day over to God and be ‘refreshed’.

After that quick time with God, praying or thinking about passages like Psalm 23, I will try to get in a light-hearted conversation with a friend or co-worker before I go back to my work.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, give me a refreshed soul in the midst of my busy day. Thank You that you can quiet my heart and mind. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind”  Psalm 49:10 (NLT)

Sometimes we feel like we are going to live forever. Then we get old and feeble, and it almost surprises us.

So, if we “can’t take it with us”, what are we really striving to leave behind? I suggest that we try to impact those around us. To be the person that is talked about when said, “I’ll never forget when so-n-so did this for me”, or “when so-n-so pulled me aside to tell me these words of great encouragement”, or “when so-n-so lived a life for others and God, and made me want that for myself”…

I vividly remember an older lady pulling me aside, when I was in high school, to tell me how she can tell that my bad knee slowed me down, yet saw my great effort on the basketball court in spite of it. Or the time when my own father praised me for a certain skill I had, the family friend who gave a huge gift to help in a time of great need, and then the young man who saw my desire to please God and told me that he wanted to go and do the same.

We will leave our material things behind, but we also can leave an impact behind as well.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, make me a good memory for others when I am gone from this place. Help me to make and see opportunities. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Make me a good memory

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” John 16:33 (NIV)

Jesus is sharing some bad news and good news all in the same verse. We will have troubles in life, but we have Him to pull us through.

‘Troubles’ (hard times and trials) happen for different reasons. Sometimes it’s because of poor choices by those around us; a spouse, child, or parent that is being out of line. Sometimes it is attacks from the Evil One. Sometimes it’s just the hand we’ve been dealt; a physical impairment, born in a rough neighborhood, have a bad coach…

I also know that troubles can come because of our own wrongful decisions. If you kick a mean dog, you will have “troubles”. “Lord, why is this happening to me?”. He could reply, “why did you kick that mean dog?”

One guy told me that the Protective Angels can only go the speed limit. I’m not so sure of that, but I know that being wreckless increases my chances for “troubles”. Eating poorly increases my chance for health trials. Sex outside of marriage is a sure way to collapse relationships. Gossiping gets back at you, being jerky gets you into scuffles, being selfish reduces your chances for good relationships.

I guess if we work on following His principles, we can avoid more ‘troubles’ than we will have anyway. But, no matter how they come, ‘take heart‘, HE is there to pull us through.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, pull me through those hard issues and situations in life. Use them to make me depend on You more. Show me where I’m hurting myself. Thank You that blessings will follow. 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. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”  Luke 6:38 (NIV)

This is a classic principle in God’s Word and God’s world. ‘Give’, and it will come back in some form, at some time. How it comes back isn’t always immediate, but I had one experience when it did.

I went to the small workout room of the apartment building in which I was living at the time. I started my weight lifting routine in an attempt to “sculpt” my very average sized body. In walks a very timid, thin young man who looked very confused. Being an athlete in high school, I had an okay idea how to lift weights, so I decided to take the time to show this guy a few things. He was very appreciative and teachable.

I went back to my own workout, and entering the room comes this massive bodybuilder dude. For some reason, he asked if he could show me a few things that would accelerate what he saw me trying to accomplish. His advice was very advanced and extremely helpful.

As I was walking back to my apartment, I realized that what I just experienced was what I learned in Luke 6 about giving.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me opportunities to give my time, advice, encouragement, money… Thank You for the evental blessings that will follow, internally, situationally, or materially. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” Your love, O LORD, supported me.  Psalm 94:18 (NIV)

There was a young boy who had a deformed foot. His dad noticed that the foot was slowing his child down. The dad invented a box to put the foot in. He said, “trust me, son.”

Each day the loving dad would tighten the box. Each day the son would feel more pain and got more impatient. The dad would calmly hold the little boy, “I know this hurts, please trust me”. The son could have pulled out of the box, but trusted his father in spite of what he felt like doing.

Finally, the day came to take off the box. The pain was gone and the foot functioned perfectly. With tears of joy the child said, “Thank you dad for supporting me and changing me”. Was the pain worth it?

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to not run when times get tough. Support me when I start to do just what I feel like doing, instead of what is under Your care. Especially when You are doing painful surgery on me through some hard times to change me for the better. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation” Ephesians 1:17 (AMP)

In today’s verse, Paul was telling his friends at Ephesus what he was asking God to do for them. He knew the great value of God-based wisdom in handling life’s issues. Also, the value of learning; revelation. He wants to reveal truths as we seek to learn and seek who He really is.

I remember the old saying, “Live to learn, and learn to live”. We need to become curious about why, what and how things operate. We need to study people, study our craft, but do it with God’s eyes. Search for His insights by figuring out His perspective.

A little league football quarterback can be a star on raw speed and talent. Hike him the ball and have him run toward the slow kids. But amazing talent doesn’t make an NFL quarterback. He needs to know a massive playbook, know all the options for each play, know how to read defenses, know his opponent, know his team… The great ones are always studying and learning.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, make me a curious student of people, of life, and especially of You. Give me Your insights and Your perspective. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped” Psalm 28:7 (NASB)

When I think of a ‘shield’, my mind wanders back to my youth watching great battle scenes with knights, lances, big swords, and whatever that ball with spikes attached to a swinging chain is called. The ‘shield’ was protection.

Occasionally, I come across a particular scenario that I find very humorous. An adult man holding a woman’s purse for her. “Awkward!”. He has to make sure that he grasps it like he doesn’t really care about the purse, the loaf of bread hold is my favorite.

She is basically saying, “You are someone I can completely trust to protect this bag of valuable stuff. She knows he will be a shield to all snatchers and thieves. 

We all need a shield of protection with our insecurities, self-worth, frustrations, secret fears, and hurts. God wants us to hand Him our “purse of stuff”.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to open up to You and continually hand You my “valuable stuff”. I know You are always there to be my help. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:8 (NIV)

Paul was clearly expressing his goal in life. He wanted to ‘know’ Christ,‘know’ God.“Know” in this text translates as a very intimate word.

When I first went off to college, there was a young lady that I met over the summer whom which I wanted to stay in touch (like the movie Grease, but without the dancing and singing). Back in those days there was no Facebook, cell phones, email or Skype. So I made my trek down to the post office every day to deliver and pick up my “love letters”.

I would store the envelopes till Sunday morning and open each one with respect and reverence. PSYCH! Are you kidding! I would tear that thing open in the post office and read it over and over, all the way back to my dorm.

I wanted to know about her and what she thought about me. And to really know her, I would spend time with her when I went back home. We would hang out together and talk for hours.

Just like with God. We need to tear into the “love letters” He sent us in the bible (read some Psalms, start with 51). Don’t wait for Sunday morning. Then hang out with Him during the day, talking to Him through our thoughts and thinking about what He wants to say to us.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me how to know You more and more. Thanks for being my God and my Friend. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.