February 1 through 7, 2010

Day One, Micah 7:7, As for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me; This verse offers us many things to reflect upon. It centers on the individual who is feeling pressured, afraid, alone, confused by conflicts and problems. But it moves beyond the “me” to the attitude and trust that this individual has developed. His attitude is that God is the ultimate source of his salvation (meaning deliverance) therefore he will look to Him. In my mind this means that he will pray and meditate about the things bothering him realizing that the Good Lord will provide the guidance, insight and mental toughness needed to handle what he is facing. But despite wanting immediate relief from his woes, he also realizes that God brings things together for the best outcome and this often takes time, therefore he adopts an attitude of waiting for God to work. Out of this positive attitude comes his assertion that “God will hear me.”

Day Two, Habakkuk 2:4, Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. While these are the words of a prophet, this passage is not so much prophetic as it is common sense. All we need to do is look around and discover the truth of this saying. It may appear that those “whose soul is not upright” are succeeding but in most cases they ultimately fail, they may loose what they’ve acquired, or their reputation is ruined as skeletons come out of the closets. On the other hand, the person who lives right and tries to follow God’s ways in their career and personal lives, as well as their spiritual life rise above what most consider failure; their faith in God, His ultimate purposes for them and his Love toward them gives them power to keep prodding along until eventually they achieve the dream that God has given them.

Day Three, Jeremiah 1:11, The word of the Lord came to me and said…WHAT DO YOU SEE?; Not everyone is called to some lofty mission for God, but we are all called to take advantage of the opportunities to live out our faith in word and deed. The question that God posed to Jeremiah is the same question that should echo through our minds every hour of the day. When we live in an awareness of this question and open our mind’s eye in response to it then we will seldom find ourselves wondering how to serve God at any given time. The word of the Lord came to me and said…WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Day Four, Job 38:36, Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?; Many times we feel overwhelmed because of heavy schedules, pending problems and a myriad of routine things that need attention. I once asked a highly successful executive how he was able to move so confidently through his pressure packed daily schedule making decisions that literally affected the lives of hundreds of employees. His response was to take out his wallet and pull out a business card on which he had written the words of today’s text. “I could not do it on my own, if I tried I’d be a nervous wreck” he told me, “but by looking at this verse several times a day I’m reminded that there is One who will give me both the wisdom and understanding I need.”

Day Five, Daniel 11:32b, But the people who are loyal to their God shall stand firm and take (appropriate) action; In our hectic world it seems that almost everyday presents some ethical dilemma. We have all known people who have faced these dilemmas and failed to live up their better instincts because it was more convenient to take the easier road. Of course, nothing that starts out wrong ends up right, so eventually these lapses in ethical judgment end with personal or professional disaster. That’s why we should never become so short-sighted as to loose sight of the long-term effects of our decisions, nor should we compromise our core values for short-term gain. If our convictions are rooted in God and we remain loyal to those convictions no matter what then we are empowered both mentally and spiritually to take the appropriate actions that will lead to good outcomes.

Day Six; First Peter 4:10, Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received; One of the great things about the way the Good Lord made us is that each of us have certain abilities in which others lack proficiency. This is the principle that all of society revolves around, that we each have the ability to compensate for what others lack. People come together for the mutual benefit of each other as they apply their diverse gifts and abilities toward a common good. But for this principle to really work, whether in business, a marriage, society or the church we must be willing to use our gifts and abilities for other people and not just to further our own agenda

Day Seven, Genesis 24:12, Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham; Many times we disconnect ourselves from the characters we read about in the Bible because we elevate and spiritualize them to the point that they become more than mere mortals. When we do this, we miss the fact that just like us they didn’t always understand the situation they were in or that they experienced the same uncertainties and anxieties. Like us, most of the people in the Bible were just trying to do the best they could based on their understanding of their faith. Our text for today is the record of a man’s prayer who had been given a difficult, if not impossible assignment. But more than a historical record, it shows us how to approach every area of our lives.