Inspiration for Today - 31 May 12

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels,^[b]
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
⁷ All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
⁸ The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Inspiration for Today - 30 May 12

O Lord my God, in You I put my trust;
Save me from all those who persecute me;
And deliver me,
² Lest they tear me like a lion,
Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this:
If there is iniquity in my hands,
⁴ If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶ Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies;
Rise up for me^[b] to the judgment You have commanded!
⁷ So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You;
For their sakes, therefore, return on high.
⁸ The Lord shall judge the peoples;
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
And according to my integrity within me.

⁹ Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
¹⁰ My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
¹² If he does not turn back,
He will sharpen His sword;
He bends His bow and makes it ready.
¹³ He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.

¹⁴ Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;
Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
¹⁵ He made a pit and dug it out,
And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
¹⁶ His trouble shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.

¹⁷ I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Inspiration for Today - 29 May 12

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
² Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?

⁴ Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?

⁶ I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my supplication;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
¹⁰ Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

Inspiration for Today - 28 May 12

Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditation.
² Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
³ My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

⁴ For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You.
⁵ The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
⁶ You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

⁷ But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.
⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.

⁹ For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
¹⁰ Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.

¹¹ But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
¹² For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Inspiration for Today - 25 May 12

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

² How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? Selah
³ But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him.

⁴ Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There are many who say,
“Who will show us any good?”
Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
⁷ You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
⁸ I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Inspiration for Today - 21 May 12

Who do you represent?

During this election year, many of us will be representing our sides of the political arena.  Most of us are diehards and committed to our cause.

If politics aren't your thing, perhaps sports is.  How many of us represent our favorite team/s?  Some of us will represent by signs, license plate holders, stickers, t-shirts, posters, paint our chests for the game, etc.  We talk about them all the time.  We can't wait to talk to our co-workers and friends about what happened.

Why is it that we Christians cannot represent ourselves in that way?  Or, if we do, we are thought of as radicals or cult-like.  We tend to hide or casually announce that we are Christians by one or two little verses at our desk, maybe a small fish on the car yet our attitudes and actions reflect differently.  Some try to use the envelope that our sins have been wiped away eternally so it's a free license.

Please understand, if any of you have followed my posts for very long, all of my posts seem pointing... they are pointing at me most of all.

With the passion that people have about sports (not me), TV shows (now that's me), cars (me again), or other hobbies, we still do not have that same representation of the Gospel.  We need and should be fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus instructed us to go out and preach the Good News to all of the world.  "That's what missionaries and pastors are for."  WRONG!  WE ALL are commissioned for this.  And every action that does not represent Christ gives a false or negative witness to what we should be reflecting as we live Christ-like.

Christians, step out on this journey with me.  It will be long, it will be challenging, yet the rewards will be tremendous.  Don't be afraid!  Ask the Holy Spirit to do the talking, ask Jesus for guidance and strength, and ask the Father that His will be done by planting those seeds of the Good News into the lives of the un-believer while we continue to do our very best to live like Christ...though we ALL fall very short of this.

Inspiration for Today - 17 May 12

Psalm 3

Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
² Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah

³ But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

⁵ I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.

⁷ Arise, O Lord;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah

Inspiration for Today - 15 May 12

Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
⁶ “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

⁷ “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
⁹ You shall break^[a] them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son,^[b] lest ^[c] He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Inspiration for Today - 14 May 12

How impressive is life?  How diverse is life?  Look at all the life that God has designed and created.  Look at how complex a stalk of wheat is.  1 wheat seed, properly fed and watered, boasts to approximately 4-5 feet in height sprouting kernels that yield the basic grains of food for us and is also the seed that we use to plant the next crop.

1 apple seed, properly watered and fed, tremendously sprouts to several feet tall and wide yielding dozens of luscious apples for you and I to enjoy.  Yet, it too contains a seed for the next tree/crop.

Take this same logic and think of how you live life for God.  Are you planting that seed of Truth, the Gospel, in someone's life?  Yes, we can plants thousands of seeds that are strewn about.  Some will not grow, some will begin but fade, yet others will make profound changes that will save someone's life and the lives of others.

Life is a terrible thing to waste.  Share permanent, eternal life with someone today!

Inspiration for Today - 11 May 12

Great verse via Biblegateway.com...

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Inspiration for Today - 10 May 12

Who can understand trivial things?  For the past two weeks, I have been attempting to make posts via my iPod touch rather than the old fashioned laptop.  Since blogspot was upgraded, I have been unable to post effectively and end up giving up, rather than posting.

So how is this inspirational?  How many ways does the devil use to shut God out?  The enemy is very crafty and will use ANY and EVERY item to slow the growth of the Kingdom of God.  Because of my earthly weakness (newborn baby woes lol), then confronted with a cumbersome device because of ease, God's message is not getting out.  That's a point for the enemy.

However, I am now combating the enemy to the best of my ability through the Holy Spirit.  We all have battles much like this and we may perceive them to not even be battles or wins for Satan, however, God is the ultimate General.  He sent Jesus to be His Warrior for mankind and the cool thing to all of this is in the end, Satan is no more.  Yes, Satan will be defeated.  Satan will not bother us again.

For the moment, we endure the enemy yet as Christians, we need to put on the whole armor of God.  Be in the Bible daily, be praying constantly, and attending church regularly so that we can shoot down the missiles of the enemy.  We will be able to fight back with the Sword of the Word and, as I said, we know through Revelations and Daniel that Satan will be wiped into non-existence through a simple word.

Bye-Bye Satan... Hello Father God Almighty!  Thank You Jesus for that blessed assurance!

Inspiration for Today - 8 May 12

Great is thy faithfulness,

O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with thee;

Thou changest not,

Thy compassions, they fail not;

As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness!

Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning

New mercies I see;

All I have need thy hand hath provided;

Great is thy faithfulness,

Lord unto me!

Summer and winter,

And spring-time and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars

In their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness,

Mercy, and love.

Great is thy faithfulness!

Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning

New mercies I see;

All I have need thy hand hath provided;

Great is thy faithfulness,

Lord unto me!

Pardon for sin and a

Peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence

To cheer and to guide;

Strength for today

And bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine,

With ten thousand beside!

Great is thy faithfulness!

Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning

New mercies I see;

All I have need thy hand hath provided;

Great is thy faithfulness,

Lord unto me!

Inspiration for Today - 3 May 12

Be still, be silent, wait... It's God turn to speak. Can you hear Him?

Inspiration for Today - 2 May 12

Don't give up. Don't give in. GIVE IT TO GOD!

Inspiration for Today - 1 May 12

How's your Spirit? Romans 8:1-17 is an awesome resource if you are in need of a spiritual recharge. Often times, we as Believers disregard just how powerful the Holy Spirit really is. Yet, this is an awesome passage reminding us that He is stronger and all we need to do is call on Him to rescue us.