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  • Taking The Time To Decorate 

    1 Kings 6:29 “So Solomon decorated all the walls of the inner sanctuary and the main room with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.”

    As I look at this verse and consider the actions of Solomon, I try to envision how he turned a plain wall into something beautiful.  As a builder of the Temple, it was more than stone upon stone for him.  He wanted the temple to be beautiful for God Himself is described as beautiful.  Solomon’s father David desired to behold the beauty of the Lord. (Psalm 27:4) Thus, as the builder, Solomon was an interior decorator decorating both the outside and the inside of the temple.  And when he finished it was said that “Never before had such beautiful things been seen in Judah.” (1 Chronicles 9:24 NLT) 

    I think most of us appreciate things that are beautiful.  Now the old statement that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is true.  My father would be best described as “an ol’ farmer.”  He would see a large cornfield and say, “Isn’t that beautiful.”   I love sunsets. Watching the sunset over the Gulf Coast is breathtaking to me.  As well I love a sunrise.  I hope you will pause as you read and consider what you consider to be beautiful.  What is breathtakingly beautiful to you?

    In considering 1 Kings 6:29 about how Solomon decorated walls to make them beautiful I would like to place two thoughts before you.   One is to consider how God has changed your ugly life as a sinner into something beautiful.  At least that is what he did for me.  I was a mess.  I was covered in filth.  Then Jesus comes into my life and cleansed me from all unrighteousness with His blood.   My mess has been turned into a message of how Jesus Christ changes lives!

    The second thought is that we are to be active as interior decorators with our own lives so that we make the gospel attractive.  Titus 2:10 says, “and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” (NIV) Our behavior is to make the gospel message attractive.  The Greek word translated here attractive is a word that gives us our English word “cosmetic.”  We, as you know, use cosmetics to make ourselves more attractive.  Just as we use cosmetics to make ourselves more attractive to others, we are to put on actions that make the gospel attractive.

    So, how are you decorating God’s temple (your life)?  Do the words of your mouth make the gospel attractive?  Does your temperament make the gospel attractive?  (ouch) I think you got the idea.  Our actions as well as inactions stir up emotions in a lost person to be turned on to the gospel or turned off.  

    In closing allow me to share a decorating tip.  Just as Solomon decorated the temple wall with flowers you should have your life decorated with fruits.  The lost world should see love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (Gal. 5:22-23)  

    Decorate your life so the gospel is attractive.   

    Continue Strong As An Interior Decorator,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • Don’t Just Stop And Smell The Roses, Look And Learn From The Roses!   

    Matthew 6:28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;”

    As Jesus is teaching about trusting God and putting God first, He knows there is a very real battle of the urgent vs the important.  He knows there is a battle between focusing on the temporal as opposed to the eternal.  He knows there is a battle between the things of earth and the things of heaven.  He knows there is a battle over what one’s priorities will be.  He knows that the essential needs of the physical consume a person, consuming them to survive, consuming them so much that they neglect their spiritual life.   As He teaches the sermon on the mount (Matt. 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7) He wants His followers to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33 is the major message of the sermon. It is the heart of the message. To get to the place of seeking first God Jesus has told them they can’t serve God and mammon – money.  This creates a natural concern, a conflict, if you will, in their soul. Everyone has physical needs and survival demands getting food, and water, and clothing.  This means having money and getting money means making it a priority.   Physical survival trumps one’s spiritual life.

    For His listeners, He knows that asking them to put the spiritual above the physical could be a little much. So as a great teacher, He addresses the issues by telling them to not worry about the essential necessities of life – going so far as saying, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” He then gives illustrations as to why they can trust God and put Him first instead of worrying about the essentials of life.  He then points the worrier first to the birds (v26) and now He points the worrier to the flowers.  He says to look or consider how the flowers grow, growing because God takes care of them. 

    Sounds simplistic, doesn’t it?  Look and learn from birds.  look and learn from flowers.  Yet in these two examples, we have illustrations to remind us that God really does care about us and that He can be trusted entirely!    

    Friends, your life is more, far more, than just meeting the necessities of life. You are physical and spiritual and the spiritual life is so much more valuable!  

    Yes, the question must be asked.  “Will you be putting Jesus first today or your needs first?”  

    As you battle what (who) will be first you are encouraged to not just stop and smell some roses, but to LOOK and learn.  As God takes care of them, God will take care of those who put Him first!!!

    Continue Strong With Jesus First,
    And remember to DATE The Word

  • Responding Very Differently

    Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,”

    As Jesus teaches about relationships, He gives one of the most “on the contrary” responses we will learn.  Instead of returning hatred toward those who hate you – hate even to the point of being an enemy – we are called to show love, showing love with tangible actions.  This is a very different response as we don’t look to do good to those who do bad things to us.  Those who hurt us should be hurt back.  Our thinking is we don’t get mad we get even.  But as a believer seeking to follow and obey the teachings of Christ our response to those who hurt us and hate us is to go through the filter of Luke 6:27 and we now respond to hate with love and meanness with kindness.  

    At this point, you might be ready to say, “You have to be kidding.”  You might even go so far as to say this is totally ridiculous.  You are probably replying inwardly that “If someone hurts me, I am going to hurt them back.  If they hate me, I am going to hate them back.”  This is the natural response. Yet as we listen and learn from Jesus we learn He wants us to treat our enemies differently than they are treating us.  

    As believers, the expected response is to do good to those who are doing evil to us.

    Going a little deeper, the Apostle Paul would later write in Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (doing good them).”  Verse 21 is the conclusion to his teaching which is definitely a very different response to those doing us harm.  Romans 12:17 says, “Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”  Romans 12:20 says, “To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;”  

    I state again, as believers, the expected response is doing good to those who are doing evil to us.

    So, Luke 6:27 calls us to respond very differently.

    Challenging? You better believe it! But then, living differently always is.

    Let us remember that the time a person needs love the most is when they deserve it the least. 

    Continue Strong Putting Into Practice The Teachings Of Christ,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • Become a Bird Watcher

    Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

    Do you take time daily to look at the birds?  Are you a bird watcher? Did you know that is a question on the census and as of May 2023 45 million Americans identify themselves as “birders” or birdwatchers?  Based on our verse of Matthew 6:26 for June 26 today should be national bird watchers day!  And based on today’s verse, everyone, especially those who are prone to worrying, should be a bird watcher! 

    We should recall the reason Jesus points us to look at birds is because He has told us not to worry about anything, even saying not to worry about the very necessities of life.  Matthew 6:25 says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”  To calm the worrier down that they really don’t have to worry, Jesus says, look at the birds to see how God cares for them.  His point is that if He cares for birds then He surely will care for you!  As one looks at birds one will NOT see birds planting a field of grain to harvest at a later date.  They will see birds constantly finding food provided by God!

    I like visuals so I have a bird feeder outside where I can see birds. It is my Matt. 6:26 reminder that if His eye is on the sparrow, I know He watches me!! 

    Just a reminder; Too much concentration (worrying) on the personal cares of life can choke out your commitment to Christ. (Luke 8:14).  Fear and worrying lead to unfruitfulness. 

    One last thought on bird watching.  I encourage you to mark in your Bible Psalm 147:9 for it says about God that “He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry.”

    So, for June 26 do some bird watching and remember you are more valuable to God than the bird!

    Continue Strong Knowing How Valuable You Are To God,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • Praying Blessings On Others

    Numbers 6:25 “The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;”

    What are your desires, hopes, and prayers for others? Numbers 6:23-27 is the Aaronic blessing or the priestly blessing.  It says, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” 

    Breaking the blessing down one sees requests for God to provide and protect. 

    There is the request for God’s provision as one asks for His blessing, and His anointing, and His grace, and of His favor.  It is a reminder to the one being blessed that apart from the Lord one cannot do anything.  

    There is the request for God’s protection as one asks God to keep them.  This is a reminder of how God watches over His children.  And there is the request for God to give them peace.  Peace is what a heart longs for.  This peace comes from setting their mind upon the Lord for Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”

    Please pray Numbers 6:24-26 for family and friends.  Ask God to bless them, providing what they need and protecting them from the evil one and most of all bless them with a peace that passes all understanding.  

    Being a blessing to others by asking God to bless them!

    Continue Strong with God’s Favor
    And Remember to Date the Word

  • Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

    Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

    Jesus is preaching/teaching in Matthew 6.  The chapters of Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are called the Sermon on the Mount.  There will be several times in His sermon that He will bring the message to a decision point.  As we get to this portion of Matthew 6, He is headed to a call for each person to seek the kingdom of God first.  (Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

    As Jesus preaches, He knows there is tremendous competition for our hearts.  We can easily be LOVING a lot of things, a lot of wrong things!  For Jesus, our relationship with God is to be preeminent – supreme – above everything else. Knowing that one of the greatest competitors of our hearts is money, Jesus gets really personal and direct.  He says we must know that money and things can control and even consume us.  The love of and the desire to have more and more money causes a person to have wrong priorities.  Rather than seeking God, this love for money will squeeze God and God’s desires out of one’s life.  

    Personal and direct Jesus says you can not serve two masters!

    So, which will it be?  Who will be first?  The Lord? Or your family? Your finances? Your personal needs?  Your personal freedom?  Your recreation? Your work?  And the list can go on and on, can it not?   As Elijah said in 1 Kings 18:21 “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”  Who will be first?

    Maybe you need to realign your priorities as you cannot serve two masters! First things must be first. and if you are a believer then Jesus is to be first!  

    What adjustments do you need to make based on the teaching from Matthew 6:24?

    I hope you know that money makes a horrible master.

    Continue Strong with Jesus First,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • From The Worst News To The Best News! 

    Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

    Romans 6:23!  What a verse of contrast!! One will hardly find a verse in the Bible that has more contrast. This is the “John 3:16” of Romans.  Here we read of a sinner (and that would be you and me) facing a penalty – and unending punishment – death – spiritual separation from God. This is the worst news one can ever hear. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) is bad news (the bad news is we are bad) but now we learn the penalty – the punishment. The wages of sin is death. Let that sink in.  Death – Eternal separation from God.   

    For a moment ponder what if nothing else is written in Romans 6:23.  The bad news of Romans 3:23 has moved to telling the worst news ever from Romans 6:23a.  Can you imagine if there was nothing else?  

    But! 

    But that is not all that is written. There is the word but in this verse.  “But” starts a contrast that brings to us good news. There is a gift – a gift from God – the gift of God is eternal life rather than eternal damnation. The gift has been made available because Jesus Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) There has been a provision made for the penalty!! Christ Jesus paid the penalty at Calvary! Three days later He arose from the dead and is alive!  

    Friend, what a Savior!! What a salvation!! Romans 6:23 moves a person from the worst news to the good news! And the more you think about it I believe you will say it is the best news ever!

    Have you received God’s gift to you?  It is life’s greatest decision for you will either pay for your sins in a place called Hell or you will accept what Christ has done in paying for your sins and enjoy eternal life with Him in Heaven.

    If you have not accepted Jesus, call on Him today as Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.”

    Today is a great day to share the good news!

    Continue Strong Grateful For The Free Gift Of Salvation,
    And Remember to DATE The Word

  • What a Testimony of Triumph

    Daniel 6:22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

    The story of Daniel in the lion’s den is one of the first thoughts one has when you hear his name. Recalling this story means remembering why he is there. Daniel was a man described as a man of firm convictions (we know this from Chapter 1) and he had a conviction that he was to pray, openly pray to God three times a day.  Wicked men would use that against him, and he finds himself sentenced to die a gruesome death by ferocious lions. 

    Our verse tells us of his response to the king who had sentenced him to die as to whether Daniel’s God had saved him. I have always found it interesting that the king believed that Daniel would survive being thrown to the lions, believing it so much he came to the lion’s den and asked.  Daniel 6:20 says, “As the king came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”  To this question comes the answer “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” (Daniel 6:22) The short answer is, “You better believe HE did!” (my paraphrase)

    Daniel’s response shows us how Daniel’s trial was turned into a testimony of triumph.

    You know, without a doubt, Daniel would rather not had to face the lions, but wicked men had wicked intentions bringing about this trial.  One can imagine the fear Daniel must have had yet one might also consider the faith Daniel had.  It is clear from his testimony that as he faced the lions he was not alone.  I wondered if Daniel uttered a prayer as he entered the lion’s den based on Psalm 35:17. Psalm 35:17 says, “How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!” Maybe or maybe not?  What we do know is God sent His angel to shut the lion’s mouths!

    Because of what God did for Daniel the king heard Daniel’s testimony of God’s amazing work and protection!!  

    Friend, you may not be treated right for doing right as the world is bound to hate you. With their persecution comes God’s presence and protection!  Their attacks provide opportunities for you to stand firm for your faith as well as share your faith.  Their wickedness provides you an opportunity to witness. 

    So, your newest trial allows you an opportunity to make His story known. Let us be reminded that God is in the business of turning trials into triumphal testimonies!

    Continue Strong Knowing God Turns Your Trials Into Triumphal Testimonies,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • What Has Your Heart?

    Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

    To grasp the meaning of Matthew 6:21 we need to read verses 19 and 20.  Matthew 6:19-20 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

    While we do ask what is in a person’s heart, we also must ask what has a person’s heart.

    What has your heart?  Is it something temporal?  The temptation of the temporal screams at us for our time and treasure.  The temporal demands instant gratification and consumes us with a grip on our hearts.

    Is it something worldly? The Bible tells how Demas forsook serving the Lord because of his love for this present world.  Our hearts can be so in love with finances, fitness, fun, even family and friends, that we have no desire for God.  

    What has your heart?  Is your heart desiring God?   Are your affections on the things ABOVE as Colossians 3:1-4 teaches?  As a reminder it says, “Since you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”  

    The Bible tells of David being a man after God’s own heart.  Acts 13:22 says, “God raised up David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”

    So what has your heart? There is an old saying that says follow the money.  In my early years as a new Christian, I was told you can know much about a person by looking at their calendar and at their checkbook. The calendar and checkbook reveal what is really important to a person.   What is your calendar and checkbook revealing about what is most important to you?

    Are your affections toward temporal things on earth or on heavenly things that are eternal? 

    Application – When you give to God and His work you become more mindful of God and His work!

    Continue Strong Focused On The Eternal,
    And remember to DATE the Word

  • The Top Priority is to Glorify God

    1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

    Throughout life, we will have a variety of decisions to make and there will be some that are easy as the Bible says you shall or you shall not.  Then there are some that will be challenging as there does not seem to be a clear-cut “do” or “do not do.”  I was fortunate to have been discipled to have a filter for making decisions.  At the top of the filter was the question does it glorify God?   

    1 Corinthians 6:20, and later 1 Corinthians 10:31 (Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God) makes it clear that all of our actions – behavior – conduct – attitude – words – should glorify God!  We have been called – listen – into His kingdom and GLORY (I Thessalonian 2:12) thus we are to “walk worthy of God.”  Our ambition should be to please Him. We are to honor Him.  We are to obey Him.  We glorify God when we live like Him.

    1 Corinthians 6:20 reminds us that we have been purchased, bought at a price, a very high price. As one who has been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, we must commit and dedicate our entire lives doing only what glorifies Him! Thus, every decision is to be filtered with will this bring glory to God!!!

    There are 5 major areas that we are to steward and be found faithful. These are areas to GLORIFY GOD. They are: 
    1.  Our temple
    2.  Our time
    3.  Our treasure
    4.  Our talents
    5.  Our testimony

    Ponder – evaluate – examine yourself with the question of am I truly glorifying God with what I am doing with my temple?  My time? My treasure? My talents? My testimony?

    Continue Strong Doing Everything to His Glory,
    And remember to DATE the Word