When we receive Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior something so miraculous happens. We trade our death sentence for an eternity with God our Creator and Redeemer. For that alone, we would say thank you over and over! Something else happens when we say YES to God. He gives us our inheritance to begin enjoying right now in this life!

David said it so beautifully in Psalm 103:1-2 (NKJV), “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” David goes on to recount the benefits of God’s blessing over our lives. I love how The Passion Translation puts it: “Yahweh, You are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness You’ve done for me?”

As believers, we have so much to be grateful for and if we ever begin to forget, Psalm 103 is a bullet-pointed reminder of all His benefits to us. Here are just a few from verses 3 and 5: “You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done. You’ve healed me inside and out from every disease. … You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again like a flying eagle in the sky!”

Sometimes it’s good to give our soul a good talking-to! And it begins with ~ bless the Lord, O my soul. Don’t forget all the many benefits we have been given because of Him!

I’ve never been beaten or put in prison for sharing the Gospel, but there are places in the world today, where that still happens. What would we do if we found ourselves in that situation?

Paul and Silas were sharing the Gospel, and on their way to a prayer meeting, when a series of events got them severely beaten and thrown in jail, and chained so there was no chance of escape. Guess what they did? Acts 16:25-26 from The Message tells us. “Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn’t believe their ears. Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.”

More amazing than an earthquake that sprung open every door in the jail…. no one left their cells! That must’ve been some worship service Paul and Silas were leading! Notice that their praises to God went up while they were still chained to the walls and behind prison doors. The guys certainly didn’t know how God was going to do it. They just knew that in ALL circumstances they were going to praise God. And so they did. Acts 16 goes on to tell how the jailer and his household were saved and baptized that very night.

I have to think that their heart of praise to God BEFORE the answer came, before the rescuer arrived was the sweetest sound to our Father. Today, before your answer arrives, for that challenge that is ahead of you, would you let your praise ring out to the heavens? Let’s tell God with our ‘praise before the answer comes’ that we trust Him and we’re grateful that He’s right here with us.

“Lord have mercy!” That was a common saying when I was growing up and sometimes I still hear people say it. We hear something or have to deal with something that is so unbelievable, so audacious, so incredibly outlandish and we blurt out a phrase that reveals such frustration. Lord, have mercy!

But, the mercy of God is such a beautiful gift that God gives us every day. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT) is a wonderful reminder of His generosity toward us. “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.” There is NO END to His mercy toward us. Not only neverending…but FRESH mercy at the start of each of our days!

His mercies are new every morning. Maybe because….we have a tendency to forget! Let’s not forget that God’s faithful love and mercy are waiting for us even before we put our feet on the floor to begin our day. He’s already been in this day ahead. He knows what you and I are going to face and what we’re going to need and He’s packed plenty of His mercy in it for us.

One of my co-workers, Beth, recently shared with our team such a good word that I’ll try to do her justice and share it with you! Before she began, she handed a small brown lunch bag to each one of us around the table with the instruction not to open it yet. Once everyone had a bag, she told us to open the bag and look inside. As we all peered into our bags, she told us to take out what was inside. We each had a zip lock bag with a slight variation of contents. I looked at my bag and inside was half of a chocolate chip cookie. The natural inclination was to look at my neighbor’s bag to see what SHE had. And she… had TWO WHOLE cookies inside her bag! As giggles, and a few “hey’s”, erupted around the table, Beth said, “Today, I’m going to talk about injustice”. Ooph!

Immediately my mind went to a part of life that I went through that I really didn’t like at all. In fact, there were many conversations I had with God when I said things like: this is not acceptable, God. I thought we had a deal. I would dedicate my life to serving You… and You would have my back and protect my family from the enemy. How could You, God??!! This just isn’t fair!!

After I quit the mouthy anger tactic, I switched to the quiet anger method. God, in His faithfulness and mercy, kept me. He was more patient with me than I would have been with me. Then one day, as I was studying Job and telling Him I didn’t understand why the last chapter read like a nice, neatly tied up new family package when Job couldn’t possibly have been the same from the losses he had suffered. It was then God revealed His heart and His lesson for me to learn. I heard Him whisper, “I didn’t want Job to stay the same… and I don’t want YOU to remain the same.”

My heart flooded with such gratitude. Grateful that He wouldn’t give up on me. Grateful for His plan that is always, always higher and better than mine. Even when we go through loss – God has a divine plan. I’m so thankful that God has a way of turning the injustice of this life into justice in His time. Staying grateful is key. For gratitude – makes what we DO have – enough.

“I just don’t feel like it!” If you’re like me you’ve said that at least once. I think it begins in childhood and it’s something we may deal with all of our lives. The struggle to do what we know we should – when we should! The Apostle Paul talked about it in Romans 7… knowing what to do and not doing it. I love how Paul follows up a whole section of his letter on the law and sin with the first two verses of Romans 8. ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.’

No condemnation. I’m grateful that we don’t have to live in condemnation and I love that God, through His Holy Spirit, sparks our heart to do what we should, when we should do it. This verse in Philippians 2:13 (NLT) jumped off the page of my Bible recently. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” The desire AND the power! Face it, sometimes we want to do good but we either don’t know how or don’t have the strength to do whatever the right thing is to do. Sometimes we have what we need to do it…and our heart’s just not in it to do it.

Let this be our prayer today: Father, we’re so grateful that Jesus came to set us free from the law of sin and death. That we can LIVE free and not under condemnation. Thank YOU for working within us, giving us the desire AND the power to do what brings joy to YOUR heart! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

On a recent trip to Nashville, I had an opportunity to sit with several Christian music artists and hear them share their stories. I was struck by the number of people who have been dealing with panic attacks and depression. Debilitating distress and anxiety have been their companions of late. They shared how they sought medical treatments and therapy and while some helped – their symptoms and suffering didn’t go away.

While the struggle is still present at times, each of them shared a similar discovery during their journey. A weapon that helped every one of them combat their enemy. Gratitude. Thanking God for being with them. Actually writing down the names of people and things that they were grateful for became a tool to help their mind and heart feel more at peace. Multiple scientific studies have noted that gratitude can help to short-circuit the pathway to anxiety. God hard-wired our bodies to respond positively to an attitude of gratitude!

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) gives us this instruction…and this reward. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” The Message puts it this way: “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.“

Lean into this equation that Jesus offers us today. He is reminding us that He will give us His peace if we will give Him our worries. What a trade!!

If you’ve ever had to stop what you were doing to go get something you need to finish the task then you know how frustrating it can be and how much longer it takes to accomplish the work! Whether it’s the right tools for building a project or all of the ingredients to cook supper or bake a dessert. Before you begin – you are setting yourself up for success if you do some prep work first.

What if we looked at today as a project… or a recipe? What ingredients or tools will we need to complete it? We may already be packing some experience, some knowledge, some teamwork into the mix but what about the essential or key ingredient that holds all of it together? Have we packed our acknowledgment of the presence of Emmanuel into it? We know that God is always with us; but, have we welcomed Him into our day?

Colossians 1:17 (NIV) tells us, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” The Passion Translation says it this way, “He existed before anything was made, and now everything finds completion in Him.” Every day God goes before us and He is the one who holds all of it together for us. That takes the pressure off, doesn’t it? Today. THIS day. God knows all that we will encounter, all that we are responsible for, all that we will need to complete today. Let’s START with a thankful heart that God is holding this day, and us, together!

Romans 12:3 (VOICE) “Because of the grace allotted to me, I can respectfully tell you not to think of yourselves as being more important than you are; devote your minds to sound judgment since God has assigned to each of us a measure of faith.”

I love that God has given each of us a measure of faith. Hebrews 11 (verse 6) tells us it’s impossible to please God without faith. Jesus told his followers that faith as small as a mustard seed could move mountains. In fact, He said, “Everything would be possible for you.” (Matthew 17:20, CEV)

Matthew 8:26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.”

Here’s what I take from all of these scriptures on faith: you and I have both been given a portion, a gift, of faith. Even a very small amount of faith could allow us to believe that God would do monumental things on our behalf. I think God is honored when we desire to grow our faith. We do that by learning and living by His Word. Trusting Him more each day. Every time we trust God to come through when we just don’t see how – we’re building our faith. Each opportunity to choose waiting on God over trying to make it happen in our own strength – we’re building our faith.

My prayer for us today is that we will continue to steward our precious gift of faith.

I opened up the wrapper on a piece of Dove Chocolate and not only did I find a delicious piece of milk chocolate I found a bit of encouragement on the inside of the wrapper! It said ‘Overthinking is prohibited for the next few moments.’ I smiled as I enjoyed the pleasure that little cube of goodness brought me and I found myself taking that word to heart.

I love finding inspiration in unexpected places. The Lord always knows when I need a little pick-me-up and it can be as simple as a patch of flowers that have bloomed in vibrant color. Or a sign at the end of a very long airport concourse that reads, “way to go – you made it!”

So, in an effort to share my chocolate wrapper message with you today – in this moment – whatever is making you feel anxious – whatever is making your mind run away with all kinds of thoughts – let me say this: don’t overthink what today is going to hold or how you are going to manage it. Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT) is the encouragement we need to keep our minds quiet. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

He’s already been where you’re headed today… and He’s not going anywhere. No need to overthink it. He’s not going to let you go it alone!

Remember the song you sang as a child in Sunday School about the wise man? The wise man built his house upon the rock and the rain came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up…and the house on the rock stood firm. But the foolish man built his house upon the sand. The same rains came down and the floods still rose…but the foolish man’s house went splat!

All you have to do is plant your feet at the water’s edge of the beach and watch the waves wash up over your feet and back out to sea. The sand around your feet starts to slide away with the water and leaves you a little wobbly and needing to find fresh sand. Just imagine if your house was built there? It wouldn’t stand for long, would it??!!

Jesus taught this in Matthew 7:24-27. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 

Jesus is the Rock. We must build the foundation of our faith on Him!