Deal with it quickly.
Ephesians
4:26-27 says, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not
give the devil an opportunity.” Satan wants you to dwell on your feelings and let them grow. But God
asks you to deal with anger.

In some instances of extreme pain and suffering—for instance, a drunk driver kills your son or daughter—you won’t be able to get rid of your anger before the sun sets.

But you should acknowledge your feelings and decide that you will deal with them. You shouldn’t
just accept rage as a natural response and allow it to become part of your life.

May your anger be less today. Michael

Noah needed strong faith to build an ark, despite the ridicule of his neighbors. But he trusted God when
He said there would be a flood. Although Paul was persecuted, stoned, imprisoned, beaten, and eventually martyred, he didn’t compromise his convictions.

When the authorities told Peter and John to stop preaching about Jesus, they replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).

The Lord wants us to live by conviction. Unfortunately, most people live by preference. They ask
themselves, What do I desire?What is the easiest or best for my life?What will bring the most satisfaction
or acceptance? For a believer, our decisions should be based on personal convictions—strong beliefs we
hold based on the truth of God’s Word—rather than our preferences.

What do you want to do today?  What does God want you to do today?  I hope they match.  Michael

As Dr. Chalmers well says, "Sin is that scandal which must be rooted out from the great spiritual household over which the Divinity rejoices . . . Strange administration, indeed, for sin to be so hateful to God as to lay all who had incurred it under death, and yet when readmitted into life that sin should be permitted; and that what was before the object of destroying vengeance, should now become the object of an upheld and protected toleration. Now that the penalty is taken off, think you that it is possible the unchangeable God has so given up His antipathy to sin, as that man, ruined and redeemed man, may now perseveringly indulge under the new arrangement in that which under the old destroyed him?

Does not the God who loved righteousness and hated iniquity six thousand years ago, bear the same love to righteousness and hatred to iniquity still? . . . I now breathe the air of loving-kindness from Heaven, and can walk before God in peace and graciousness; shall I again attempt the incompatible alliance of two principles so adverse as that of an approving God and a persevering sinner? How shall we, recovered from so awful a catastrophe, continue that which first involved us in it? The cross of Christ, by the same mighty and decisive stroke wherewith it moved the curse of sin away from us, also surely moves away the power and the love of it from over us."

Sin kills.  Give it no ground in your life. Michael.

Our part is the trusting, it is His to accomplish the results. And when we do our part, He never fails to do His, for no one ever trusted in the Lord and was confounded. Do not be afraid, then, that if you trust, or tell others to trust, the matter will end there.

Trust is only the beginning and the continual foundation; when we trust, the Lord works, and His work is the important part of the whole matter. And this explains that apparent paradox which puzzles so many. They say, "In one breath you tell us to do nothing but trust, and in the next you tell us to do impossible things. How can you reconcile such contradictory statements?"

They are to be reconciled just as we reconcile the statements concerning a saw in a carpenter's shop, when we say at one moment that the saw has sawn asunder a log, and the next moment declare that the carpenter has done it. The saw is the instrument used, the power that uses it is the carpenter's. And so we, yielding ourselves unto God, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto Him, find that He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; and we can say with Paul, "I labored; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." For we are to be His workmanship, not our own. (Eph. 2:10.)

And in fact, when we come to look at it, only God, who created us at first, can re-create us, for He alone understands the "work of His own hands." All efforts after self-creating, result in the marring of the vessel, and no soul can ever reach its highest fulfillment except through the working of Him who "works all things after the counsel of His own will." 

What will He do through you today?  Michael

In 2006, Charles Moore lost his job as a roofer in Toledo, Ohio, and decided to return to his hometown of Detroit to look for work. He couldn’t find a job, however, and soon found himself homeless. In July, while looking through a trash bin for bottles, Moore found thirty-one U.S. Savings Bonds. With the help of the Neighborhood Service Organization, a local nonprofit group, Moore tracked down the owner of the bonds, Ernest Lehto, who had bought the bonds during the 1980s at a face value of $8,900. By the time Moore found them, the bonds were worth $20,738. Ernest Lehto died in 2004, but Moore returned the bonds to his son, Neil Lehto. For his honesty and effort, Moore was given $100. He was thankful for the money.

When local media picked up the story, however, Neil Lehto began receiving phone calls and emails from angry people calling him cheap and ungrateful. Lehto, a lawyer, blamed his eighty-two-year-old mother, saying that she was the sole beneficiary and had determined the reward amount. “That generation of people would consider $100 to be an adequate reward,” he said.

Now aware of Moore’s need, the community began to support the homeless man. One man sent him eight trash bags filled with bottle returns and a bowl of coins. Jesse Nyikon, a local billiards owner, offered Moore a night on the town, complete with food, drinks, and unlimited pool. As the story began to grow, so did the number of people expressing gratitude for Moore’s integrity. Dick Wolski and Ken Zorn — two businessmen from Troy, Michigan — pulled together a gift of $1,200. They also paid for $250 worth of clothing at Men’s Wearhouse. Best of all, they lined him up with a job interview at a local cleaning company.

“Here’s a man who by all rights should be worried and thinking about himself but who takes the time to think about others,” Wolski said. “What a lesson! Isn’t that what we’re all supposed to be doing?”

Amen.  Michael

As lunch ended in the ornate United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee conference room, Senator Jesse Helms stood to bid farewell to the guest of honor: U2 singer Bono.

Bono stayed at the conservative patriarch’s right hand, doing what he could to help. For the photographers, it would have been hard to imagine a stranger image than this delicate dance between the aging senator and the rock superstar.

“You know, I love you,” Helms said softly.

The singer gave Helms a hug. This private session with a circle of senators during U2’s recent Washington stop wasn’t the first time Bono and Helms have discussed poverty, plagues, charity, and faith. Nor will it be the last. Blest be the ties that bind.

“What can I say? It’s good to be loved — especially by Jesse Helms,” Bono said two days later, as his campaign for Third World debt relief continued on Capitol Hill.

Bono can quote the book of Leviticus as well as the works of John Lennon. While his star power opens doors, it is his sincere, if often unconventional, Christian faith that creates bonds with cultural conservatives in the Vatican and inside the Beltway. Bono has shared prayers and his sunglasses with Pope John Paul II.

Never underestimate what God can accomplish and who He can bring together.  Michael.

In an interview with Lee Strobel, Peter Kreeft concludes that the answer to suffering is not an answer at all. “It’s the Answerer,” says Kreeft. “It’s Jesus himself. It’s not a bunch of words, it’s the Word. It’s not a tightly woven philosophical argument; it’s a person. The person.

The answer to suffering cannot just be an abstract idea, because this isn’t an abstract issue; it’s a personal issue. It requires a personal response. The answer must be someone, not just something, because the issue involves someone asking God, where are you?”

Be Jesus to someone today.  Michael

God wants people to know Him. If He preferred anonymity, He would not have orchestrated the writing of a multi-author book about Himself. But Bible reading is just a first step. Knowing about God is different than knowing God. Anyone can learn a few facts about Him, but only a dedicated believer takes the time and energy to be His friend.

First, we learn about the Lord from His Word. By reading the Bible, believers begin to accumulate facts about God’s character, principles, and ways of operating. Unfortunately, churches are full of men and women who stop at this step. They know a lot of religion but cannot share faith.

The second step is to meditate on Scripture. That means thinking about God’s words and allowing the Holy Spirit to interpret them.

Finally, we must apply what we learn. Suppose you read Psalm 46:1 which says, “God is a very present help in times of trouble.” Then, when trouble shows up, you rely on Him for help. When He answers—and He will answer, although not always as expected—you learn something: God helps you by responding to your trust and dependence with a custom-made solution to your problem.

God wants to know you.  Return the Favor.  Michael

As believers, we sometimes hear wrong information about temptation. For instance, many people believe that feeling tempted is sinful. But Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert. (Matthew 4:1) If the Lord remained righteous after being encouraged to do wrong, then temptation itself cannot be a sin. We must guard against false ideas that could disrupt our ability to stand strong.

The truth about temptation is that it’s an enticement to take our God-given desires beyond God-given limits. We all feel the pull of our natural, sinful selves to do and think things that are immoral. In this lifetime, we will never be so mature or spiritually minded that we can relax our vigilance. Satan will always try to capitalize on our weakness and selfish desires.

Trust that good desire in your heart.  Michael

Think back to the day that you received
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Would
you say that you have been growing spiritually
since then? Or do you perhaps find
yourself a little stagnant? Second Peter 3:18
instructs us to “grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior” because
the victorious Christian life depends upon
understanding God’s ways.
Most people are satisfied to know how
the Lord acts because they are interested
primarily in what He is going to do for
them. Of course we all delight in His blessings
of provision, healing, and deliverance.
But God didn’t create mankind just as
an audience to witness His awesome
power—He could have demonstrated it
to the angels, if that had been His purpose.
Instead, He created us to know Him as
a person and to develop a growing, intimate
relationship with Him. For this reason,
God desires to unveil His ways to us—
then we will understand why He acts as He
does and why He allows some situations
that cause suffering and heartache.

He is speaking in your life.  Are you listening?

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may be able to determine what God's will is -- what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. - Rom. 12:2

When we fulfill the calling that has so clearly been placed on our lives by Jesus Christ Himself, we will see miracles. We will see the kingdom of God advance in power and in might. We will see things be made right again. We will see order come where there was confusion, we will see health where there was sickness. We will see freedom where there was bondage. We will see hope where there was despair. We will see life where there was death.

Don’t settle for less.  Live for the best.  Michael.

“As he thinks in his heart, so he is.”

Proverbs 23:7 NKJV

To listen to our vocabulary you’d think we are the victims of our thoughts.  “Don’t talk to me,” we say.  “I’m in a bad mood.”  As if a mood were a place to which we were assigned (“I can’t call you.  I’m in Bosnia.”) rather than an emotion we permit.

Or we say, “Don’t mess with her.  She has a bad disposition.”  Is a disposition something we “have”?  Like a cold or the flu?  Are we the victims of the emotional bacteria of the season?  Or do we have a choice?

Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage—“capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”?  You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.  Our assignment is to protect the boat and refuse entrance to trashy thoughts.  The minute they appear…we go into action.  “This heart belongs to God,” we declare, “and you aren’t getting on board.”

Think twice today.  Michael

The bottom line of everything in our lives should be to glorify God. We should seek that glory constantly. 1 Cor. 10:31 (NRSV) So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Creation itself is for God's glory: Psa. 19:1 (NIV) For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

We are to thank God, in order to glorify Him. 2 Cor. 4:15 (NRSV) Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

We are to be hospitable, to bring God glory. Rom 15:7 (NRSV) Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

The difficulties we face, are to be for the glory of God.

John 9:1-3 (NRSV) As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.

"Our" successes should bring God glory, also, for we could not accomplish them without Him. Exo 14:17 (NIV) I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The bottom line is: Our lives, our walk, should be glorifying God constantly.

5:6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

      Christ died because he would die; other men admitted to the dignity of martyrdom are willing to die, but they die by the torments of the executioners; they cannot bid their souls go out and say, “Now I will die.” And this was Christ’s case: It was not only, “I lay down my life for my sheep” [John 10:15], but he says also, “No man can take away my soul; and I have power to lay it down” [10:18]. And, de facto, he did lay it down — he did die before the torments could have extorted his soul from him.

Many crucified men lived many days on a cross. The thieves were alive long after Christ was dead, and therefore Pilate wondered that he was already dead (Mark 15:44). His soul did not leave his body by force, but because he would, and when he would, and how he would. . . . Christ did not die naturally, nor violently, as all others do, but only voluntarily.

In this life, our Lord chooses the right time for us as he did for himself.  Trust His timing.  Michael

Allen Johnson, a conservative evangelical Christian living in the mountains of West Virginia, is an environmental activist and cofounder of Christians for the Mountains, a group of people who have demonstrated against coal companies and participated in Rainbow Family gatherings.

Allen hopes that environmental stewardship will quickly become a unifying issue for Christians across the nation. “God has called all of us seriously,” he says, “and we should agree on one thing: to take care of his earth.”

Allen’s passion for environmentalism began in 1993 while visiting Haiti with a Christian Peacemaker team. He saw desperate farmers cutting down grapefruit trees to make a cash crop of charcoal. “I just started sobbing,” he says. “It really hit me that impoverishment is so closely tied to environmental destruction.”

Since that day, Johnson has been a pioneer in a growing movement called “Eco-Christianity.” His biggest challenge has been convincing other Christians to join him in the fight instead of labeling him a “New Age wing nut” or a liberal. “My identity is not as an environmentalist,” says Johnson. “It’s as a Christian. Because I am Christian, I should be involved with social justice — the poor, the needy. Environmentalism is one thing in my circle, but it’s not my center.”

Tending to this world is what He told us to do.  Let’s do it.   Michael

"After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him." Luke 5:27-28

How we struggle to live our Christian lives! Some banter about the right doctrine or the right church. Others argue how we should worship or what version we read. But Jesus took a very simple approach to our discipleship. Just follow Him! Listen to His words. Consider His message and ways. Ask yourself always, "What would Jesus do?"

Christian faith is not complex just demanding. It is looking to Jesus each hour and chatting with Him along the way. It is completing the statement, "Jesus and I talked about that." Talk to Him. Often. Michael.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.    2 Corinthians 9:10

It is said that in this world we are just seven relationships from anyone else.  A telling concept for this verse that speaks of our seed or influence will grow under the capable provision of God.  If we are willing to sow liberally for God, He will bless that effort with more opportunity and ability.  What may escape us though is the harvest that God collects far beyond our recognition.  Our good words and deeds spawn new seed and new deeds in the lives of those touched by the bounty. 

We worship in churches built by the sacrifice and service of our forefathers and take it for granted.  We enjoy a freedom and prosperity that is not free.  We all enjoy the harvest of their work.  It is kind comfort to know that untold numbers will reap what was given to our hand by God.

Be a blessing today.  Michael

4:32 Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.

Acts 4:32

It is an amazing thing about Christians helping other Christians.  There seems to be little boundry between mine and yours.  You don't even have to ask.  They volunteer.  The generosity between believers is a fact of grace.  I hear stories every week of people going out of their way to help another.  What we don't realize is besides binding us together at the heart, such sharing joins us in our spirit.  We start to move and think alike in the cause of Christ.  We behave as a team or as Paul said, 'One body'.  Enjoy the day and join your church family in moving forward.

Michael

I once asked a deeply religious man if he considered himself a truly pious person. He responded that while he aspired to be one, he felt that he fell short in two areas. One was his not being happy enough.

He said unhappy Christians reflect poorly on their religion and on their Creator. He was right — unhappy religious people do pose a real challenge to faith. If their faith is so impressive, why aren’t they happy?

There are only two possible reasons: either they are not practicing their faith correctly, or they are practicing their faith correctly and the religion itself is not conducive to happiness. Most outsiders assume the latter reason.

Unhappy religious people should therefore think about how important being happy is — if not for themselves, then for the sake of their religion. Unhappy religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.

63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.

This is "A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.'' This is a special psalm. It is an ointment that is poured out upon all kinds of sores. It is a bandage for bruises. It is a balm to put upon wounds to help them heal. It has been a marvelous psalm for the church. It speaks of the thirst for the Water of Life.

There in the desert, David was hungry and thirsty, but his deepest desires were spiritual, not physical. With his whole being, body and soul, he yearned for God's satisfying presence (v. 5; 42:1-2). Just as we have physical senses that are satisfied by God's creation, so we have spiritual senses (Heb. 5:14) that can be satisfied only by Christ. Those who hunger and thirst for spiritual food and drink shall be filled (Matt. 5:6). David could say with Jesus, "I have food to eat of which you do not know" (John 4:32).  Do you?