Today’s Verse: Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. ~Psalm 62:8 Almost all children learn to ride a bicycle with the use of training wheels. Training wheels help a child to establish his balance and gain confidence. Eventually, he will have to “let go” of the training wheels and start bicycling without them. The walk of faith for every Christian is like that: we need to let go of whatever we are holding on to and

Today’s Verse: Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. ~Joshua 1:2-3 Happy New Year! Today marks the start of a new year. We cannot go back and repeat last year. It is behind us. The achievements, failures, and records of the last year stay there.

Today’s Verse: And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ~Genesis 30:1 Have you ever been threatened by someone who said to you, “Do this, or else?” If so, you may have felt like an unreasonable demand was placed upon you. You may have felt pushed against a wall and faced incredible pressure to do something that requires more than just you to get it done. Rachel made a strong demand of

Today’s Verse: Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. ~Psalm 55:22 Weightlifting is considered an important exercise regimen to build and strengthen muscle and bone mass. It is a very good means for developing endurance and building resistance against weakness. Dead weight is a phrase that describes a heavy burden that is holding someone back or down. All of us will encounter one or more times when a burden t

Today’s Verse: And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. ~Numbers 11:1-2 Have you ever accidentally burned your toast? If you have, you know that there is a blackened, charred effect that makes the toast inedible. We

Today’s Verse: When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. ~Psalm 142:3 The inscription for Psalm 142 tells us that it is a Maschil of David; a prayer when he was in the cave. This psalm was written either when David was in the cave of Adullam or in one of the caves of Engedi. This is a teaching psalm. It is a lesson to the fact that every Christian will have a cave experience in his l

Today’s Verse: They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts. ~Psalm 119:87 How much can you take before you are ready to quit? I mean, how bad do things have to get before you feel like it is not worth it to trust in the Lord? We see the situation for the psalmist taking a turn for the worse. His foes are making an advance against him and he is suffering very badly. In spite of all this, we see a man who just keeps on trusting the Lord. We see the fa

Today’s Verse: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. ~James 3:13 Wisdom is the ability of making good decisions. It is asking the questions that are necessary to arrive at the decision that is best. Wisdom comes from experience and, sometimes, from making mistakes. It comes from the counsel of people who have gone through life experiences and have insight on what to do and not to do. I

Today’s Verse: And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: ~1 Peter 1:17 We live in a busy, commuter society. Invariably, many of us depend on public transportation for work, drive long distances in traffic, and ride airplanes to go across the country. This commuter time gives us intervals of opportunity to pass our time. In other words, we have blocks of time to use. We can

Today’s Verse: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. ~Matthew 26:41 Times of suffering and sorrow can be very difficult on anyone. It is during these settings that we can become very vulnerable to spiritual attack. They are also times in which we can become very disconnected with the reality of our situation and leave ourselves unprepared for further mishap. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. At this locati

Today’s Verse: And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. ~Mark 9:17-18 Have you experienced a power outage? If you have, you must realize how much you take the use of electricity for granted. When there is a power outage,

Today’s Verse: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight…. The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. ~Proverbs 15:8, 29 Proverbs 15 has a strong emphasis on the words of our mouth. Our words are our means of communication. Relationships are made, sustained, or broken by our words. Our words can be soft, or they can be hard. Our words can be encouraging, or they can be discouraging

Today’s Verse: Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. ~Isaiah 37:23 I read a story about an elderly woman who walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps. "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely. "The front row, please," she answered. "You really don't want to do that," the u

Today’s Verse: Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. ~Colossians 4:6 Do you like food that is bland and tasteless? If you are like me, you probably like your food seasoned with salt. Salt gives food just the right taste! It takes something ordinary and gives it just that right balance to make it palatable and delicious. Paul uses the metaphor of salt to help us understand the importance of saying the right

Today’s Verse: In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. ~Psalm 94:19 What’s on your mind? This is the typical question that we ask one another to find out what we are thinking about. Our thoughts have a lot to do with our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. What happens in our thought life determines our behavior and actions. The psalmist spoke of the multitude of his thoughts. Let us see, this morning, how we can be victorious in our tho

Today’s Verse: And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. ~Mark 1:35 Are you a morning person? Morning people thrive on being up early. They tend to be greatly energized after a good night’s sleep and ready to make great accomplishments during the first few hours of the day. Morning people will attest that they are more productive and successful. Morning people also enjoy the quiet solitude of tha

Today’s Verse: Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ~2 Corinthians 3:17 Today, the USA celebrates its independence from the tyranny of political and religious oppression of England. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed by our founding fathers. In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is a bell that is aptly called "the Liberty Bell” that symbolizes the freedom and liberty that we attained. There is

Today’s Verse: And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; ~Judges 16:16 Are you someone under pressure? Are you experiencing great stress in your job, your health, your family, or another important area of your life? There is the pressure of a trial, when the outcome of something is not in your control. There is the pressure from your peers to conform to them. There is the pressure from the world to ca

Today’s Verse: And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. ~Genesis 30:8 Wrestling is one of the oldest contact sports. Two opponents grapple each other to determine which has the finesse, strength, and technique to make the other lose by points or submission. Wrestling requires a lot of endurance and adaptability. No wrestling match is ever light. They are always intense. We see some valuable

Today’s Verse: Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise. ~Nehemiah 5:13 When I was a small kid, I remember times when my uncles and older cousins would take me, hold me by my ankles, turn me upside down, and give me a strong shaking as part of pla