Morning Thought: If you fall, be quick to wash the dust off you, and get back up again. “Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light… You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:8, 19 NIV)
Morning Thought: I used to spin a song entitled, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.” It was a funky remix by Masters at Work, but originally written by Neil Young. It’s true, love can break your heart – either love unreciprocated or love lost through death or some other circumstance. But love, authentic love, can also heal. There’s nothing greater than God’s unfailing love. “He heals the the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps 147:3). Today, invite The Father’s extravagant love to heal your heart.
Morning Thought: Our faith journey is like a cricket game. We need to guard our wicket of faith, hope and love. There are bowlers who will come to distort God’s Word, putting their own spin on Scripture and trying to knock out our integrity. The more we grow in God the better we will become at batting away temptation and error. “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17, 18 NIV)
Morning Thought: According to Leviticus being holy means distinguishing between the clean and the unclean. In the past (Old Testament), this had to do with food, but now it applies to our thoughts and attitudes. Is what I’m dwelling on clean or unclean? Should I throw away that thought or chew on it? What meditations of my heart will keep me internally healthy? “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean…For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Leviticus 11:45, 47; Mark 7:21-23 NIV)
Morning Thought: Prayer causes our lives to smell sweet, like the very fragrance of Christ. When I was in Bible School one of our teachers built a replica of the tabernacle’s incense altar and burned the prescribed fragrant spices on its coals. All that day our clothes were saturated with the sweet smelling perfume. Real prayer gets into our soul and soaks our bones, it’s savor beautifies us like our Savior. “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” (Ps 141:2 NIV)
Morning Thought: Scripture is like the ground where the manna of God’s living Word miraculously materializes for the hungry believer. Through the Bible the hungry are fed and the self-satisfied are left empty-handed. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we should arise early, seek out, and bend low to gather and feast on the sweet, yet savory bread from heaven. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day…Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.” (Exodus 16:4, 21, 31 NIV)
Morning Thought: Would you believe there’s a power greater than the ravenous hurricane, thirsty fire and merciless flood? A force that is larger than man’s most elaborate nuclear weapon? It’s quiet, subversive and mostly unrecognized. It’s God’s secret agent carrying out untold missions. What’s the name of this cloaked operative? Servanthood. Servanthood has ushered in the greatest revolution of history. “A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-27 NIV)
