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www.bible.com/1713/gal.6.9.csb

Do you ever get tired? I really don’t think getting tired is an option. If you do work, you get tired. Your body gets tired. Your brain gets tired. But what about your soul? Does your soul ever get tired? Frankly I’ve been frustrated that my soul keeps wanting to do on when everything else says stop.

I think this is the issue that Paul is addressing here. We do tend to spend a lot of time trying to do good, and sometimes it doesn’t seem like we are getting anywhere. It is possible go weary your soul in trying to right wrongs and fix people. But Paul’s encouragement to us is clear. A harvest is coming. It will come when it is time. Don’t give up planting those seeds. Don’t give up investing in people. Some people need more fertilizer than others.

A reminder on this Monday that our work for the Lord will always bear a return. Even if your job seems hopeless and and pointless, God has plans for you where you are, plans to prosper His word and your witness.

Dear Lord, help me to see today Your purposes in the mundanity that is Monday. Help me to see Your purposes in all things, that You may be glorified. Help me Jesus this day, Amen. Thank you Jesus.

www.bible.com/1713/php.2.5.csb

Have you ever had an ”attitude”? I’ve been told I need to straighten up my attitude. I need to get a new attitude. Even to fix my attitude problem. I feel they are all related.

I wonder what attitude helped Jesus through puberty and young adulthood? How did he simultaneously know everything yet still remain humble? Did he have good friendships growing up? What kind if a kid was he?

The Scripture is silent on these topics. But this letter does tell us that Jesus’ attitude, as One who is God, still humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. That’s the kind attitude we are to have. Wow.

Lord help me to have the attitude of Jesus. Help me to be humble as you were, so that I may grow in faith and wisdom. To you be the glory Lord Jesus. Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/psa.105.1-2.csb

Nothing in the Bible tells us we ought to keep our faith private. It doesn’t exist. The only thing that comes close is the ”messianic secret” that Jesus counseled while He was still walking this earth. But even that was over when He rose from the dead.

Your faith ought to be something everyone knows about. There is no point to keeping praise for the Almighty in our heart. God demands and our lips declare the praise and glory of the Great King!

Don’t keep it to yourself.

www.bible.com/1713/eph.2.10.csb

God always sees ahead of us. He always knows what’s coming. So He is always preparing the way ahead for us. It’s like the little girl on the train who worried about all the valleys they would cross in their journey until she realized that someone had built bridges for them all along the way. God has seen our individual journeys from eternity past and prepared situations and circumstances ahead of us so that we will be able to cross the valleys.

But again, God does these things with a purpose. He intends for you to do good works. These are not just for your benefit, but for His. God’s will is to see as many as possible make the decision to follow Jesus and be saved by His grace. Sometimes that means people will watch you struggle, only to overcome that struggle through faith in Christ. But through each trial, God is also crafting and molding you into a better example of His disciple. This life is merely a proving ground for the next. He intends for us to learn about life and love and faith in this world so that we will be thoroughly vetted for the world to come, to live with Him for eternity. God does not intend for you to accumulate wealth and live lavishly. He intends for you to invite and persuade many so that they too will choose life in Christ over the despair and brokenness of the world.

You were created to communicate the gospel. To go forth and share the blessings you’ve received with others. Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, I don’t know what to say. I’ve lived under the delusion that I need to struggle to get ahead, to make something of myself, as if all depended on this. And yet I read that you have greater plans than this for me. My goal isn’t to be all I can be, but to be all you’ve called me to be. I am alive today because You will it. You call me to a particular purpose and direction. Help me Father to listen to Your voice, Your calling, that I may follow in Your footsteps and be Yours. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/mat.7.12.csb

The Golden Rule has been preached since the days of the early church. It jas echoes in several other world religions. Why? Because it is wisdom. It is a foundation for human society and civilization. You can’t build a society on ”survival of the fittest” or ”every man for himself.” Just ask Communist countries.

When everyone seeks another’s good, seeking to treat others as they themselves would be treated, you have a society not focused on self but community. How others are treated are the chief concern. Because if others are treated in a certain way, you know you will be too.

Does this rule encapsulate all at the Law and the Prophets teach? In one sense, I find it hard to see this. The Law and Prophets point to how and who we worship. But in another sense, it anticipates how God treats us. How does God treat us? He made us, created for us this amazing world with abundance and pleasures we have yet to fathom. It is an awesome thing to consider all the manifold works of His creation. And then consider the others He’s placed in our lives. Family, friends, special people we have come to admire and adore. God has done all of this for us. He has treated us as He expects to be treated. He expects lavish and unbounded praise. He expects love and worship. He has goven us the most profound gift in His own Son, payment for our sin and shame. What should we give in return? Devotion and discipleship.

If you want to be golden this morning, give as you have received. Give as you wish to receive.

Heavenly Father, you have given me so much and have set the example for the kind of person I need to be. Help me today to be better. Help me to see the blessings I’ve received and appreciate the gifts I have. Help me to be content so that I may be content in you. I oray for joy and for opportunities to show You my gratitude. Please watch over me today, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/1ki.18.37.csb

What proof would be unmistakable for you that the “Lord, He is God!”? In 1 Kings 18 it is the contest between Baal and God. Elijah’s elaborate setup and the indisputable payoff gave the Israelites the proof many needed to return to their traditional faith (for a time). Baal failed to respond to the pleading of hundreds of priests over hours. God responded with fire to one prophet within minutes.

Last night we were studying Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar’s need for proof was both to tell him his dream and interpret it for him. If a god could do this, that would get his attention. Only God could do this. Nebuchadnezzar praises Daniel’s God, though it would take a few more episodes to convince him that Daniel’s God could be his too.

What proof are you holding out for? Are you waiting for signs in the heavens? Gideon’s fleece? Visions of angels? Or something more mundane, like having your gas bill paid? And when you receive this, will you then believe?

God has given us a sign. It is the sign of the raising of His Son from the dead. Whether you believe it or not, it is an historical fact, and the very cornerstone of the Christian faith. If you are waiting for a sign of proof, we’ve had it for nearly 2000 years.

May You Lord receive all the glory due Your Name. Signs and wonders are fantastic and leave a lasting impression, but Your love and grace last even longer. While I wait for a miracle, let me feel your love for me today. While I don’t need to see a sign to know you are real, I do need Your grace today. Help me to know that today I am loved. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/rom.5.3-5.csb

Endurance produces perseverance. Perseverance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope does not disappoint. Through this process of maturity, affliction produces satisfying hope. Thus we rejoice in our afflictions, because they begin a process in us that is full of hope, which gets us through the day.

Don’t despair when afflictions are placed upon you, but know that these are the seeds of hope.

Lord God, help me today to see the problems and issues that afflict me today as seeds for the hope that will spring up in me in the process of growth and maturity. Father, I need Your help, because I just don’t have the vision for it. I need your guidance to show me the path through endurance and perseverance and character. Help Lord God this day. Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/deu.7.9.csb

In case you had any doubts. Praise be the Name of the Lord!

No one loves you like God does. He designed you. He created the complex set of circumstances that brought you into the world. You are carefully crafted, unique, and special. You are reflection of the infinite creativity of God. Let us praise His Holy Name!

www.bible.com/1713/job.19.25.csb

There’s a lot of things that happen over the course of our lives. We can’t imagine the end from the beginning. I would have never thought I would have ever moved to Kentucky. I would not have imagined working as a Chaplain. I don’t even know if this is what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. Even though I have this month’s work schedule, I don’t know what will happen this month. That’s the way the future works.

It there is one thing I do know about the future. I know that Jesus will be there. Jesus will never leave me. He will never forsake me and leave me behind. He will always persist in leading me, guiding my steps, showing me what He needs me to do next. I will still have choices, and I will probably make bad choices. But I hope I will also make good choices and that will keep me in God’s will.

When Job entrusted his future to his Redeemer, there were few things in his life going well. He had lost everything. His wealth, children, his wife’s respect, his friends’ trust. They were sure he had committed some grievous sin and tried to get him to cop to it. He did not know that the end of the story would make his life ten times better than it had been. He didn’t know the future. But he knew the Lord. He had trust enough to know the Lord’s character.

I don’t know what you are going through today, but the Lord doesn’t expect you to know the future, only to trust Him in the present.

Heavenly Father, help me to do exactly that. I fear for the future, but I know You are there, already preparing circumstances for our arrival. Please strengthen my trust in You in the present. I know that you are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me. I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.