God of the universe, you think of everything. You gave us morning, day, evening, and night. All good in their own way for starting, doing, stopping, and resting. Each day has its own mosaic Seasons of the year are a mosaic too. Life is a mosaic. So are my friends you gave me, and my enemies too. Even you are, for I was fashioned like you. All things work together for your pleasure and mine as long as I follow you. I wonder what you have in mind for my mosaic today. What color will today be? Whether light or dark, bright or dull, I will praise you for it.
My Father, sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing between pride and spreading the word about something I have done that will inspire others to do. Keep me from pride.
Ah, my Lord, how can I thank you for loving me and saving my soul? Thank you for preparing a place for me in your eternal home? Oh, how I long to transfer from this world to your perfect one. And thank you for the opportunities I have in this world to stand up for you and fight those who imitate Satan with their wiles and false promises of happiness. Working for you is sometimes hard, but it makes me stronger and more like you. And I know that, whatever you promise, it will come true. I worship you.
You are so amazing, My Lord. They tell me your universe has two trillion galaxies in it and each galaxy has 100 thousand million stars. And you are larger than all of that. You are so large, no one can really see you. Seeing you is like trying to see a 100-story building of different colors of marble, decorated with majestic columns, splendid filigree under the roof and around all the windows, and statues on each side of a grand stairway and on the roof. Seeing you is like standing an inch from that building and seeing only a little wood or brick and that’s all. I have such a limited view of the building, I cannot begin to understand its grandeur. In the same way, when I try to see you as you are, my human view is so limited, I cannot begin to understand all that you are. You are impossible to see. How I long for the day when my faith in you will become sight.
Lord, thank you for the things I take for granted ~ dishes to eat off of, paved streets, electricity, flowers, butterflies, puppies, stars, friends, buses, food, cotton, trees, water. Also for all those prophets through the ages who wrote down your divine words and all those who translated them into the languages of the world. So much to thank you for. Are you smiling, God? Me too. I’m smiling too.
When I praise you, God of the universe, my heart is lifted up beyond myself. Though I may be low and powerless, weak and sinful, you always remain high and mighty far above the universe, the work of your hands. You never change. You remain great, regardless of what happens to me or to anyone else. You are always there for me, ready to step into any situation for my benefit. My eyes are ever fixed on you. You are my life.
Thank you, my Lord, for sending your Words to be spoken and lived by flesh and blood. Not only that, but this part of you took my place so I would not end up in hell. You have made the impossible easy. To live again forever became possible because of your sacrifice, then conquering death. And, Lord, it is so quiet and peaceful this morning. A few birds greet the sun and add a lilt to the quiet. Peace. Quiet. Calming to the soul. So precious. I worship you.
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Lord, you are my heart. It swells at the thought of you. Your love is colossal in a world of the ordinary. Your storehouses are full of your grace. You are powerful above and beyond all else. The mountains quake when they hear your voice. The hills run and hide. The whales dive deeper. None can escape you. Many want to escape you by pretending you do not exist. Not me. My heart runs toward you until, at last, you open your door and let me in. What ecstatic thought. What divine opportunity. What shimmering promises on the horizon of my life.
Father, I complained about something again yesterday. I know that complaining is the same thing as accusing you of withholding something from me. Help me, when I am tempted to complain, to bless instead.
It is raining outside. It has been a while since we have had rain. The new crops need your water of life. The animals awakening out of their winter’s sleep need your water of life. I listen to the gentle drops of rain and think of your smile. I, too, smile and thank you for remembering us when the time is right. Thank you for the rain. And thank you for pouring down from heaven the crystal dew drops of your love.
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I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book? https://bit.ly/2AeBR4I
Ah, how I praise you, Lord Almighty. Your grace flows from your throne on high to me in my finiteness. You are my heart. You are my soul. You are my being and I worship you. You created me and, like a pet who retrieves what belongs to its master, I retrieve the soul you sent to me on earth and run to return it to my master. You send me out to fetch other souls for you and I do my best to bring them back to their Maker. It is my delight to return to you. I see your smile. I see your open arms. I see your love.
How I long to go home. You have made it so easy: Just close my eyes here and open them in your throne room. Sometimes life is hard. I am not complaining; I know you give me my assignments. But sometimes I want to rest. I thank you for my temporary times of rest here and a forever rest in your heaven. Thank you for opening your door to me. Someday I will walk through that door and enter the home you have prepared for me. Keep the door open, Lord. Keep it open for me. I’m coming home. I’m coming.
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I pen my thoughts to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book? https://bit.ly/2XBFXvJ
The scripture for today, May 26 (5/26), is 1st Thessalonians 5:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Brothers, pray for us.”
Do you have a prayer list? Often prayers get bogged down and short because the only person we “remember” in prayer is ourselves. Well, and maybe a relative or two
There are many people who need your prayers: Your family is obvious. How about your neighbors? If you don’t know their names, pray for them by house or apartment number. What about the newspaper? Every one of those bad-news stories is crying out for prayer. The school near you needs your prayers ~ students, teachers, administrators, janitors. It doesn’t matter whether you have a child in that school; pray for them anyway.
Are you praying for the hospital workers during this time of pandemic? People who keep us safe or rescue us in the fire and police departments? How about people in food service? And the delivery trucks to bring things to us because we hesitate to go to the store? What about people in your town who are self-isolating and have to family nearby?
Who are your local government officials? Not liking them doesn’t make any difference, for Jesus said we are to pray for our enemies too. And that leads to the list of your enemies; do you have any at your workplace? Include them too. It’s pretty hard to resent someone you pray for.
One other thing you might try doing in addition to having a prayer list: Have an answered-prayer list. Write down when you pray for someone, then when it is answered. Keep it as a reminder when you are down and don’t think He’s ever going to answer your requests. God does care, after all.
And speaking of requests, by the time you’re done praying for all the other people on your prayer list, you won’t have a lot of time to pray for yourself. And that is okay too, for others are praying for you!
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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Most are based on one or more of my books. Will you help me spread the word about today’s book? https://bit.ly/3eh9Yrk
The son of my friends is head of the music department at a Christian High School. Rob Towell in Austin, TX, recorded this. He sings all the parts himself. Very touching.
Below is a chart I made up from Wikipedia of a portion of the plagues, pandemics and epidemics that have hit since the third century. About half lasted a year.
A few days ago I sent out a list of when quarantine started and which were used in which outbreaks. So, we see quarantining has always been a practice.
You will notice above that about half of the epidemics/pandemics lasted a year. Of the many I went through on Wikipedia, over all half lasted one year.
Does this mean perhaps some organizations and churches might think about year-long alternative arrangements to meeting inside their building. Drive-in theater method? Pews with spacers? Zoom? What? Does anything substitute for seeing each other in person, even at a distance?
Below is a chart I made up from Wikipedia of a portion of the plagues, pandemics and epidemics that have hit since the third century. About half lasted a year.
A few days ago I sent out a list of when quarantine started and which were used in which outbreaks. So, we see quarantining has always been a practice.
You will notice above that about half of the epidemics/pandemics lasted a year. Of the many I went through on Wikipedia, over all half lasted one year.
Does this mean perhaps some organizations and church might think about year-long alternative arrangements to meeting inside their building. Drive-in theater method? Pews with spacers? Zoom? What? Does anything substitute for seeing each other in person, even at a distance?
The scripture for today, May 25 (5/25), is Galatians 5:25f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.”
When someone is better than you in doing something, do you pick fights with them as punishment, or spread gossip about them in order to get others to quit respecting them?
Perhaps you don’t do this all the time. But what about times when there is something you feel you are really good at, but another person not as talented gets the honor? That’s when it’s hard to “keep in step with the Spirit.”
Whenever you envy someone, deep down, you consider that person your enemy. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45a).
To many, loving our enemy is the most difficult command in the Bible. Perhaps one way to love your “enemy” is to realize that Jesus loved his enemies. Every time you sin, you become one of his enemies. But Jesus keeps right on loving you, even when you don’t want to stop doing whatever you shouldn’t.
Jesus demonstrates the love of the Son of God. And here he says, if you love your enemies, you are demonstrating what the children of God do. And that is far more important than honor that goes to those you envy. Leaving behind conceit makes it much easier to love everyone. Love everyone? What an intriguing thought.
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I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?
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