SPECIAL GRACE GIVEN

Psalm 119:65   Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, Oh Lord, according unto they word.  Thomas Carlyle, December 1795 –  February 1881 was a Scottish satirical writer.  He wrote, "Evil, once manfully fronted, ceases to be evil; there is generous battle-hope in place of dead, passive misery; the evil itself has become a kind of good."  Somewhere along the way it was said Carlyle lost his faith.  Some think people make their own destiny, maybe it is true. But one thing for sure, we do make choices and with those choices they will lead to good or they will lead to bad. So to be sure there are consequences. In our conduct we can either prepare good for us or we can prepare bad for us, kinda like we draw to us the consequences. Prayer:  Lord God, give us wisdom to day to make the proper choices for ourselves that will lead to our good. Amen

1 Peter 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.  Samuel Longfellow, clergyman and hymn writer wrote: One holy church of God appears Through every age and race, Unwasted by the lapse of years, Unchanged by unchanging place. We are the lively stones the verse in 1 Peter 2:5 is referring to. Whether here on earth or in heaven we are part of God's temple. Therefore, we must make sure we surrender and allow God to work in us so we will fit in the temple. Prayer:  Lord God, you know our hearts, make us right with you. Amen

Psalm 34:9  "O fear the Lord ye His saints for there is no want to them that fear Him."   John Newton wrote "What thou shalt today provide, let me as a child receive. What tomorrow may betide, calmly to thy wisdom leave. Tis enough that thou wilt care, why should I the burden bear?" All too often we become anxious and start stewing about situations that have not taken place. None of these things will bring about the desired result. So instead of becoming upset it is better to rest in God, trusting in Him to provide for today and putting in His hands tomorrow. Prayer: Lord God, I give you my today. I choose to trust you with it. To bring about thy desired will in my life and to provide me with everything I need for today. I leave tomorrow in your hands, for you know what will come and what I will need. Amen.

Psalm 37:7   Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  Martin Luther wrote, "Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him. In Hebrew, "Be silent to God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still and He will mould thee to the right shape. Some times we have no answers, we have to just rest in the Lord and wait on him to give guidance . Prayer:  Lord, today, help me to be patient and wait on you. Help me to quit stewing and to be quiet. Amen.

Psalm 90:1  "Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." Philip Doddridge wrote, "With grateful hearts the past we own, the future all to us unknown. We to thy guardian care commit, and peaceful leave before they feet." We know our past, and it cannot be changed. But we can leave it in God's hands. The future we don't know but fortunately for us we can also leave that in God's hands. He knows both. Prayer:  Lord, we give you our past and ask that you forgive us of our mistakes, take the mistakes and turn them around for our good. We surrender to you our future asking you to go before us making the pathway known to us. Amen

Mark 9:23  "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."   Thomas Carlyle said, "Know that "Impossible", where truth and mercy and the everlasting voice of nature order, has no place in the brave man's dictionary. That when all men have said "Impossible" and tumbled noisily elsewhither, and thou alone are left, then first thy time and possibility have come. It is for thee now: do thou that, and ask no man's counsel, but thy own only and God's. Brother, thou hast possiblity in the for much, the possibility of writing on the eternal skies the record of a heroic life." God made us to soar with the eagles not crawl on the ground. We should never believe that anything worth doing is impossible for us. Pray about it, ask God's counsel and if the two of you are in agreement that you should do a particular thing, then do it. Trusting Him to help you succeed . Prayer:  Lord God, thank you that you are my cou...

Deuteronomy 33:12  The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long.   H. F. Lyte wrote: " Whate'er events betide, Thy will they all perform, Safe in thy breast my head I hide, nor fear the coming storm." There are many storms in life and one of the lessons I think God would like for me to learn is to cast my cares upon Him. To remember that He is in ultimate control and because of that I am not to fear the storms that come my way. Prayer:  Lord God, I know not what storms will come today, but I do know you care for me. Help me to remember that you are in control and you will work things out for your glory and for my good. Amen.

Psalm 84:7  They go from strength to strength.   Oliver Wendel Holmes wrote: Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll Leave they low-vaulted past Let each new temple, nobler than the last Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea. Some of us do not rest very long before we hear new calls for us to move forward, perhaps to build bigger buildings or write another novel or climb another mountain. And many of us will heed that call and go forward knowing we have a new challenge. This feeds us inside just as food feeds the body. To those of us who do this, we prefer this way of life to one where you sit, on a chair and watch a box all day we prefer to live our life not watch someone else live theirs. Prayer:  Lord God help us this day to hear your call to send us forth to climb the mountains, write the novels, build the buildings that you hav...

John 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.   Marcus Antoninus said,  "He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing: not only he who does a certain thing." We can only speculate whether or not Mark Antony was referring to what happened to Caesar or the battle between he and Octavian, but which ever it is people do act unjustly. We like to think in our world there is justice, and in a perfect world there is, unfortunately right now we do not live in a perfect world. What we can do is make sure we act justly in all our endeavors, after all, changing the world starts with one person. Let that one person be you. Prayer:  Lord God, thank you for the day you have given us. You have laid on our hearts to do the right things You said if we do we will be happy. Keep that in the front of our minds and in our hearts as we go throughout the day helping us to be just in all things. Amen.

II Chronicles 31:21   And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.  J. Ruskin said, "God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places where He wishes us to be employed; and that employment is truly "our Father's business." He chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what he wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing Him, if we are not happy ourselves." Think about that. God cares what we do and He wants us to be happy in what we do. How sad that we humans try to make so many things complicated when in fact they should be easy.  Prayer:  Lord God, grant us the wisdom today, to see where you want to se...

Isaiah 25:9  "We have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."   Philip Doddridge wrote "Blest are the humble souls that wait with sweet submission to His will; harmonious all their passions move, and in the midst of storms are still." Sometimes we get very discouraged with ourselves. We try working on the faults we see and it gets us frustrated when we don't see change. Be patient with yourself as you would with others.  Just ask God to help you each day to change the things that need to be changed and trust Him. Prayer:  Lord God, we are trying to change the things we know need changing, help us to trust in you to do your part in helping us. Amen

Matthew 6:25  Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.      Archbishop Robert Leighton said, "Cast thy burdens upon the Lord,–hand it over, heave it upon him,––and He shall sustain thee; shall bear both, if thou trust Him with both, both thee and thy burden: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Perhaps we try to carry too many burdens. God plainly tells us to give Him our burdens, to trust Him with them. He doesn't want us carrying heavy loads. The other thing He doesn't want is for us to pile tomorrows burdens on to days. It take practice but if every time you feel those burdens you hand them over to God, eventually you will be able to let go and let Him have them. Your trust will grow. Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for being there for us. For offering to take our load of burdens on to your shoulders and off ours. Help us each day to give them to you and help our trus...

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, " If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth ."   Wilhelm Von Humboldt said, "In the moral world there is nothing impossible if we bring a thorough will to it. Man can do everything with himself; but he must not attempt to do too much with others." Excellent advice. There is nothing impossible for us if we believe. The thing is, however, some of us are not deep believers anymore if ever we were. So it is hard to believe that any thing is possible for us. Perhaps we need to use our faith in God. After all, He did say all things are possible. Could it be our faith is weak because we don't use it often?  Maybe what is lacking is trust. Trust in Him and His word. Hah, believe–trust...perhaps that is what we need to remember.  "All things are possible if you believe." To believe you have to trust. Prayer:  Lord, sometimes our belief in your word becomes weak and before long our trust seems to s...

Philippians 4:11 "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."     If we wish to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these: 1) Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather. 2) Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou are not. 3) Never compare thine own lot with that of another. 4) Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it were or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou doest thyself. 5)Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide". by E. B. Pusey It seems we spend a lot of time wishing we had what we don't; lot of time complaining of whatever and time  comparing ourselves to others in most everything. It seems we spend a lot of time in 'what if's'...

Psalms 56:3 "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." The crosses of the present moment always bring their own special grace and consequent comfort with them; we see the hand of God in them when it is laid upon us. But the crosses of anxious foreboding are seen out of the dispensation of God; we see them without grace to bear them; we see them indeed through a faithless spirit which banishes grace. So everything in them is bitter and unendurable; all seems dark and helpless. Let us throw self aside; no more self-interest, and then God's will, unfolding every moment in everything, will console us also every moment for all that He shall do around us, or within us, for our discipline . by Francois De La Mothe Fenelon What ever our crosses are to bear we can be assured that God is with us and will see us through them. It is useless to fret and worry it won't change anything it will just make it worse for us emotionally and probably physically. I...