Daily Meditations

 You may be thinking that the issues in your life cause lots of fear, so what am I supposed to do?  Isaiah 41:10 KJV: Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  God wants you to know that when fear comes, He is there to give you strength, to help you, to hold you up when you think you are going to fall.  He is the God of all comfort for His children.  He wants the very best for you.  In this world we do have lots of issues, but always remember He never turns His back on you.  Don’t run from God if you have a problem, run to Him.  His arms are always open to those who turn to Him for help.

 Have you ever lost your electricity and tried to burn an oil lamp?  Sometimes when you light it there is a nice glow showing through the glass chimney.  But other times it doesn’t want to light and when it does light, the chimney gets so smoked up you cannot see the glow.  What to do?  You clean the chimney, but... if you do not trim the wick the same thing will happen again when you try to light the lamp.  Let us learn from the “lamp”.  We too must trim our wick...change our thoughts and clean up our lives.  Why?  The world judges us by what they see us do and hear us say.  May each of us be determined not to let anything in our lives hide the light of the world which is Jesus who lives in us.    

 Do you know that your are chosen?  Jesus said that we did not choose Him, He chose us and has a special work for each one of us to do.  Many times we thank Him for choosing us, but we fail to inquire concerning what kind of special thing He chose for us to do.  We are each different, yet when we flow together as one in the family of God, there are great and mighty things that can be done.  Most of those mighty things we don’t have the ability to even think of, but God knows.  You say, well now there is just one of me!  So???  There is just one of each of us!  God’s plans generally don’t require a “multitude”, just someone who is willing to follow Him.  After all, it is His plan and His power.  All He asks of us is obedience.  Let us be obedient so that we may see the great and mighty things that God has in store for us!

 Very often we need to consider our ways.  It is so easy to take a wrong turn.  We must be diligent to follow God with all our heart.   (Psalm119:59-60;63-66 Amp.) I considered my ways; I turned my feet to (obey) Your testimonies.  I made haste and delayed not to keep Your commandments...I am a companion of all those who fear, revere, and worship You, and of those who observe and give heed to Your precepts.  The earth O Lord, is full of Your mercy and loving kindness; teach me Your statutes.  You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to Your promise.  Teach me good judgement, wise and right discernment, and knowledge, for I have believed (trusted, relied on, and clung to) Your commandments.    

 Have you looked in the mirror lately??  What?  The Bible is our mirror spiritually.  When we look in the Bible we see what we should look like in our lives.  Most of the time when I look in my “mirror” I feel like I am sadly lacking in the virtues that are listed in the Bible.  Does that mean that I should give up and say all is hopelessly lost?  NO!! That’s where we were before Jesus became our Savior.  When we look into our natural mirror we want to see what we look like.  Is our hair combed, did we get our make-up on straight.  Do our clothes match, etc?  When we look into our spiritual “mirror” we should see how we look and what we need to do to improve.  Improvement help comes from God.  If our desire is to become more Christ-like, we need the help of the Holy Spirit, who is our guide and teacher.  May the Word of God be revealed to you today by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  

 As we look around the world, many times we are angry and sad at the wickedness around us.  Let us remember these words: (Psalm 119:53-57 Amp.) Burning indignation, terror and sadness seize upon me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.  Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I have [earnestly] remembered Your name, O Lord, in the night, and I have observed Your law.  This I have had [as the gift of Your grace and as my reward]: that I have kept Your precepts [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].  You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep Your words.

 What am I supposed when the “winds of adversity” blow?   We must set our mind on the promises of God and stand our ground.  Keep standing.  Stand on the rock of God’s Word and do not fall for the devil’s tricks.  Sometimes it is a health issue, or a financial issue, a work issue, a family issue, but God has the answer and will give you that answer when you seek him for it.  Once you know that God has given you the answer from the Word, than pray that answer, stand on God’s Word, believe that God will see you through the situation and when you have done all you know to do: KEEP STANDING.  God is good.  God’s mercy is there for you. Believe and doubt not.  God wants the best for you.

 Another way deception takes place is when there is no clear understanding of what is right and wrong.  In today’s world it seems that the loudest voices are saying whatever you want to do is OK, and anyone that would dare say otherwise is narrow-minded, prejudiced, or a bigot.  It seems strange to live in a world created by God Almighty and very few seem to give any glory to Him for the wonders of the universe or the truth of His Word.  We need to remember that God said we have a choice to make.  We can choose Him and live in blessing or we an reject Him and live under a curse.  He said to choose life and blessing.  Therefore when we see things not looking so good, we should look up and say “Thank You, God for life and blessing”.

 Does it seem to you that deception rules in the world today?  We have virtual this and virtual that.  Things are kept in the cloud.  All kinds of weird games to play.  Nothing that is very substantial.  Why is that?  I believe that Jesus addressed this when He was speaking of the last days.  He said that we should be very careful not be deceived.  There are many ways to be deceived besides with games, clouds, and virtual reality.  Many times words, actions, and pictures are used to deceive.  It is hard to know for sure what is the truth or reality of issues.  What are we to do?  We must realize that Jesus said the devil was the father of lies, therefore we must know what God says in His Word in order to know the difference between truth and deception. Then we must pray for God’s wisdom and understanding, and try not to make hasty decisions.  Now is the time for us to be steadfast in the word and power of God.

 With deception and temptation all around us, we must remain steadfast in Jesus.  He is our Rock and our Fortress.  When we live our lives holding His hand then we can be steadfast and unmoveable even though the “winds of adversity” blow around us each day.  We know that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He is the one thing that does not change.  Change is not always good.  I’m certainly glad that God does not change. I would hate to think that one morning God might look at me when I wake up and well I don’t like the way she looks.  Mark her off the list.  I am glad that God has said what He will do and does what He says.  That is reality and stability.  Maybe we need to try to be more like God.  Let our yes be yes and our no be no.  Mean what we say and say what we mean.   I believe that will cause us to be steadfast during these days of deception and temptation