The Most Important Call

Psalm 28:1 “To You, Lord, I call…”

Happy New Year!

If you’re like me then you have been busy texting and calling and wishing everyone a Happy New Year.  The most important call we make, however, is to our Lord.  No one can answer us like He can.  No one can bless us like He will.  No one can shower us with the peace, joy, hope, protection, faith, guidance, wisdom, and health that we will need in the upcoming year.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the rest of the 28^th Psalm says, “The Lord heard me praying…He is my strength and my [impenetrable] shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart greatly rejoices; I thank Him and praise Him.”

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You hear our prayers.  Thank you that You are our strength. Thank You that You are our shield.  You cover us from all the madness in this world, and we need it every single day.  Help us to trust you more and more.  Our hearts rejoice today and will rejoice every single day in the coming year. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

A Carton of Eggs

Greetings,

I received some lovely advice this morning from a weird place: A carton of eggs! That's right!  I opened up the carton to prepare all the ingredients for my omelet, and right there on the lid were these words,

"This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalm 18:24.

Rejoicing and being glad is way better than scowling and being upset. I'll take happiness over discontentment any day.  I prefer satisfaction over dissatisfaction.  Therefore, if God is telling me that every single day can have a measure of joy in it simply because He made it, then I choose to believe it.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for this lovely day! You made today for us to rejoice, and we do. You gave us another day of life, and we are happy. You are the giver of blessings, grace, peace, forgiveness, and salvation. Of course we are glad! We pray that on this day and every day which follows that our souls prosper, that our bodies be in health, that we would have victory over sin, and that light would flood our hearts.  In Jesus' name, AMEN.

The Lamb's Book of Life~

Luke 10:20 “…rejoice that your names are written in Heaven.”

Greetings in the name of our precious Savior,

Last night I was a little aghast when I found out that my math teacher son – Hormone – takes off five whole points for any student who does not write his or her name on their test.  One poor kid will be quite sad to discover today that their otherwise perfect grade has taken a hit!

I would never have the heart to do that, but maybe, in the end, this lesson will help kids to make sure they write their names down.  When you think about it, it is actually important to be identified.  There are so many important documents that need a proper name: Marriage license, driver’s license, birth certificate, death certificate, pay check…

But the most important place any of our names could ever be recorded is in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God Himself has a precious book where all the names of those who have asked Jesus to enter into their hearts and lives are permanently and indelibly entered.

The best part is that none of us has to pick up a pen or pencil to write our names in it; all we have to do is to invite Christ into our lives. It’s so simple.  We tell Him how much we desperately need His forgiveness, love, guidance, provision, protection, hope, peace, love and faith. And not only does He show up and provide these things, but in the process He makes sure our names are written down forever. 

This is really really important – way more – incalculably more – than whether we forget to write our name on a test or anywhere else because “Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will get into Heaven” (Revelation 21:27). 

If you're not sure whether your name is written down or not, take a moment and ask God to pull out His Holy pen and enter it in.  All you have to do is ask Him. (See Prayer number two below).

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that our names are written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and thank You for making the process simple.  It all about what You do for us when we call upon Your name.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

PRAYER TWO: Dear Lord, The most important place my name could ever be written is in the Lamb's Book of Life.  I want to make sure my name is recorded. I invite Christ into my life to forgive me and help me.  By faith I receive all the blessings that come from being Your child -- especially the one where my name is now an inerasable entry forever!  In Jesus' name, AMEN.

God Rejoices Over Us~

Good afternoon, all you mightily-blessed and loved children of God!

"Love," has been on my mind a lot lately because everyday I get to see Rayray and her fiance all googly-eyed and sappy.  And a couple of days ago she suddenly jumped up and ran out the front door, scaring me half to death.  I followed her to see what was wrong and got there just in time to see her lean in and kiss Emilio, who did a quick drive-by on his way to the gym.

The first thing I thought of was that it's been a long long time since I got that excited to see Jorge.  And while we are being honest, it's been a while since he went out of his way to drive by the house so I could smooch with him on the way to wherever he was headed.  (Maybe he thinks I wouldn't come out?)

Nevertheless, look at what Isaiah says 62:5 "God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride."

This means He takes pure delight in us.  He loves spending time with us.  He never grows tired of us. We are perfectly beautiful in His eyes.  He just can't get enough of us.  It's one long perpetual honeymoon...

The very next time you become afraid of something, the next time you encounter a difficulty, before you do anything else, remind yourself that God rejoices over you.  That He loves You with an even better fierceness and passion than the love between young couples, and even better, His love never wanes. Never ever!

He will always always always go out of His way to show us His love--even to the point of doing something so amazingly radical as sending His son to die for us.  I have said it right here before that I love you guys.  I pray for each of you.  I would do almost anything to help you.  But give up Hormone?  NOPE!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Your mighty love for us.  We cling to that truth today, and we ask that You remind us of it whenever we are about to forget it.  In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Rejoice~

"This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24


Picture, if you dare, a little girl with knee-hi socks, a Little House on the Prairie frock, pig tails, and a tambourine singing her heart out to the verse above. The entire song is repeating the verse over and over again, and it doesn't matter if you were upset when you started singing. By the time you were done you were, in fact, rejoicing in the day the Lord made. That precious child was me.

I still have that tambourine--the one that must have accompanied me to over 3000 prayer meetings, and this morning I found it. So, if your day started out rough, I want to remind you that God made the day, and it is a beautiful thing. Will you choose to be glad in it? Or will you be rude and nasty in it? Will you rejoice or will you pout?

Rejoice, I say, rejoice!!!!

PRAYER:
Dear Lord,
We love that You expect us to rejoice in our day no matter what. It doesn't say rejoice only if everything is perfect. If that were the case, we might never be glad again. But since we have faith in You, our loving Father, we know You will work it all out. Of course we will rejoice! In Jesus' name, AMEN~