HUMBLE AUTHENTICITY

As people of faith, we hope that unbelievers will admire us for our fine character, our family values or our lower number of vices. Instead, they immediately see beyond our words to our personal failings and consider it all as hypocrisy. The answer? Humble authenticity. Faith in Christ must be genuine, unwavering and most importantly, contrite. Pride must never be permitted to free range in our hearts. Arrogance will quickly turn blessings into curses, friends into enemies and godliness into uselessness. Lord, grant me grace for walking humbly before You and others. Help me accurately discern my own heart and actions.

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SACRED FOOTPRINTS

“This is the day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!” Psalm 118:24 ESV. The table is set for a brand-new day. Only God knows exactly what is already prepared for my arrival in it. I must now leave behind days gone by and ready myself for new insight, a higher life, and greater things. Am I up for what today will bring? Only the day will tell, but the One who provides it will also carry me through it. One thing is sure; I will walk upon on sacred footprints since the Alpha and Omega has already trod this moment in advance, sprinkling blessings and divine opportunities throughout. I must pay attention so I don’t miss a thing He has placed along the path. Lord God, Lover of My Soul, today is the day You have made; I am so good with that and already rejoicing in what is to unfold. Lift me in Your arms and carry me through with faith, joy, and purpose.

HE LIFTED ME

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand," Psalm 40:2 NIV. Our family was blessed to have quite a few pets over the years; a Pekinese named Reina was with us the longest. She was, without a doubt, the sweetest and dumbest pet we ever had. Whenever we asked her if she wanted to go out, she ran to the wrong door...EVERY TIME for 17 years! One day, she tried to stand up, but her back legs wouldn't work. Reina just sat there staring at me, shaking and bewildered. I've seen that “help me, I don’t know what’s going on here” look before. I've HAD that look before. God sees that look every day on His children’s faces around the world. LORD, You lift me and comfort me in my bewildering trials. You grant me assurance when I am weak. You place my feet on higher ground. We are “more than conquerors” in Your mighty grasp.

IN THE STORM

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side,’” Mark 4:35 ESV. Jesus left the multitudes on the peaceful shore and took His disciples into the storm. The apostle Paul was taken prisoner and into the storm. In each case, a miracle followed, not AFTER the storm but IN the storm. Some storms are spiritual, some emotional, some physical, and many are the storms of others into which we are drawn. There are private storms, cultural storms, political storms, doctrinal storms, church storms, family storms, and on and on it goes. But one thing they all have in common, there is no storm in which I cannot take the Savior’s hand and walk with Him on top of the tempest! LORD, my prayer is that of the psalmist: “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

COFFEE ON THE DOCK

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