Singing in the Morning

But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. (Psalm 59:16 NKJV) How a thing begins often dictates how it will end.  Getting a good start on a new business venture is vital. When a movie starts out slow it is terribly difficult to win the audience back in the middle.  Humans have a special gift of getting to start fresh each day.  Our Lord assures us that His mercies are new every morning.  How we start our days often dictates the kinds of things that we will think about, and the tenor of our whole day. Do we start out with a rush and a hurry or will we start our days out with our focus on our relationship with Christ. While it may be difficult to open our eyes each morning and ignore the list of things that we feel that we must accomplish nothing could be more profitable than to open our eyes in the morning and begin with a song of Our Lord's power and love, and begin by entrusting ourselves to His care. If you are looking for a good song to start with I have always loved "How Great Thou Art".

The Fastest Car in the World

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

Romans 6:11 NASB

I have seen pictures of the fastest car in the world, but I don't know if I believe them.  In the pictures the car is always just standing still.  I imagine if you saw this car in person it wouldn't be very fast...unless someone was driving it.  The fastest car in the world just stands like a statue until someone gets in, puts it in gear and pushes the gas pedal.  Similarly, we can know about our relationship with God without actually pursuing Him.  Through the life of Christ, however, we are able to read the precious promises of God's word AND trust in Him for life.  We are able to approach Him in prayer at any time.  After all, even the fastest car in the world doesn't go anywhere, unless you drive it!

A Powerful Prayer Life

But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. (1 Peter 4:7 NKJV) It is so easy to slide into complacency or inattentiveness in our prayer lives. Excuses offer themselves up almost without being called upon.  We think we are too busy, or we don't think we know how to pray.  The worst deception is the 'theological' deception which attempts to excuse our laziness in prayer by a feigned belief in God's perfect knowledge and plan. This self deception often rears its head with the rather pious sounding platitude: "Why should I pray when God knows what I am going to say before I even start?"  Prayer is about our relationship with God through the completed work of Jesus Christ.  Just as we love to talk to our loved ones, even when they already know what we are going to say, so we long to speak regularly with the Lord. But there is yet more reason.  With the end of this age being closer than it ever was before, our serious and watchful prayer is more important than ever.

"Just leave me alone, okay?"

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

"Just leave me alone, okay?"  My friend had walked up to me in the midst of a hard week.  The only response I had left for him was to turn around and walk away.  On top of the unfavorable events of the week another brother in the Lord had heard about my problem and preached at me which just increased my foul disposition.  I wasn't in any mood for another sermon.  However, this friend persisted.  He sat down next to me and carefully drew out the problem.  He listened and responded sympathetically.  Then he gave some great advice that turned the whole week around.  Thinking about it later I realized that both friends gave identical advice, but only one had the time to listen before giving it.