Good Words for Today

Here’s a good plan for today: Be Quick to Believe. Be Quick to Repent. Be Quick to Forgive. The world would be a better place if we were quick to do all three.                    

Keep hope alive. You never know what God will do.

Lord Jesus, help us to remember that you’ve got a bigger and better plan. Forgive us for presuming to tell you how to do your work. We’re glad that you are God and we are not. Amen. 

If a man is true to God, he gains everything. If he is untrue to God, he loses everything. In time and eternity, nothing matters save loyalty to God.

God's faithfulness is the ground of our assurance. Sometimes believers struggle with assurance because we don't "feel" saved. But feelings have nothing to do with it. If you feel saved, that's good, and you should be grateful. But if you don't feel saved, trust God to keep his word anyway. Salvation rests not on your fickle feelings but on the unchanging promises of a God who cannot lie.  

“It is better to tell the truth and be thought unloving than to whisper lies and be thought compassionate.” Erwin Lutzer

The surprise of Judas is that he was the only one who betrayed Jesus for money. He sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver, making it the worst investment decision in history. But we do the same thing every time we choose our desire over God's will. There is a little Judas in all of us. If we think differently, the devil has a bag of silver he will trade for your soul.      

God is not offended by your problems. He will not turn you away. "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him" (Ezra 8:22).

Lord Jesus, I pray for discernment to choose friends who will bring me closer to you. Amen.

Lord Jesus, I long to be delivered from my bondage to sin. Grant that I might emerge victorious by your power. Amen.

Each temptation brings you face-to-face with a moral choice. Either you give in, or you stand your ground and say no. Each time you give in—even a little bit—you grow weaker, and each time you resist— even when you resist a small temptation—you grow stronger. Say no to sin and yes to God!

Love must have limits. We must love people, but we must not thereby tolerate false doctrine or condone moral evil. To use a familiar phrase, we must love the sinner while hating the sin. Sometimes we may appear to love the sinner too much, and sometimes we may appear to hate the sin too much. Both will be necessary if we are to stand for Christ and win the lost in this evil day.

We ought to be the most thankful people on the face of the earth. May our days be marked with humility, simplicity, and integrity. We can start by giving thanks for the things we no longer have to have.

When we submit ourselves to our heavenly Father and finally say, "Lord, you are God and I am not," when we bow before him, through our tears if necessary, then (and only then) do we discover true freedom. This is what Jesus meant when he said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

O Lord, teach me to guard my heart today. Deliver me from evil within and without. Amen.  

The church was founded by traitors. That's what Mark 14:50 means when it says that after Jesus was arrested, "Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away." These are the same men who would later preach the gospel, endure great persecution, and die for Christ. Under pressure, they ran away, but that was not the end of their story. Your failure isn't the end of your story either. We all fail in many ways, which is why there is no room for pride in the church. We are all traitors who found the Lord. It's all grace, all the time, for everyone. Let that thought give strength to your heart today.  

Lord of Hosts, you have given me everything I need to be victorious in the day of battle. May I not foolishly rely on my own strength but wholly rest on you alone. Amen.

Has God been kind to you? Be kind to others. Has God shown mercy to you? Show mercy to others. Has God forgiven you? Forgive others. Freely you have received, freely you give. This is the heart of the gospel.

"You are not suffering from anything that a good resurrection can’t fix." D. A. Carson  

Beware of the perfect church. You couldn't join it anyway because you don't qualify for membership. Better to be part of an imperfect church filled with imperfect people who realize their imperfections and cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness. When you find that imperfect church, join it, because you will fit right in.                                                

If you can worry about it, you can pray about it.

Right now we're on a journey from earth to heaven. The road often seems long and lonely. Fear not, child of God. If the Lord is your Shepherd, you have everything you need—now and forever.  

Father, I praise You for grace so great that it goes beyond my sin, finds me when I have fallen, picks me up, and sets my feet back on the road to heaven. Amen.

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest Name I know, Fills my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go."

It would be a tragedy to go through a trial and learn nothing from it. If you find yourself face down in the valley of trouble, worship God there. Let your tears draw you closer to your Savior.

“I’ve given God a million reasons not to love me.  None of them changed his mind.”  

Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is not to make an unkind comment.

Where anger prevails, murder cannot be far behind. Given the right circumstances, all of us would commit murder. Our hands are not clean because our lips are not clean. Why bring this up? Because we are guilty of the very thing we said we would never do. We are too quick to excuse ourselves. The Lord won't let us off the hook. If we take him seriously, then we've got to stop making excuses for our hidden anger, buried resentments, and a tongue that is as sharp as a razor. Don't bury your anger. Deal with it. Talk it out with a friend. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Don't go to bed angry, or you'll wake up with a short fuse.

If you want what you plant to last a year, plant some flowers. If you want it to last a lifetime, plant a tree. If you want it to last forever, plant the Good News of Jesus in the heart of a lost person.

There are only two possible answers to the supreme question of life: What will you do with Jesus? Either I believe him for who he is. Or I reject him and his claims. Yes or no. Life or death. And a man, depending on his answer, is either wise or a fool.

"But God, who is rich in mercy" (Ephesians 2:4). Here's some good news the whole world needs to hear. God is rich in the one thing we need most: Mercy! That's our hope of heaven.  

Three Reminders for Christian Warriors: 1. The world isn’t going to stop trying to seduce us. 2. We can win the battle if we remember who we are. 3. When you know who you are, you can live for Christ anywhere.

God answers prayers, but he doesn’t answer complaints. Make sure you know the difference.

God wants us to believe in him. He begs us to believe in him. He dares us to trust him. Is your problem too hard for the Lord? If you answer yes, then there truly is no hope for you. But if you say no, then you have a bright tomorrow! The choice is yours.

I ran across a wonderful statement that seems to fit the strange, difficult days in which we live: “Christians should be the calmest people on earth.” What a thought that is. We have no right to run around wringing our hands, not when our God is on the throne working out his purpose on the earth.

Omnipotent God, the nations are but a drop in the bucket to you. Open my eyes to see beyond the headlines to the hurting hearts in every land. Amen.

No one elected King Jesus. No one can defeat him. No one can impeach him. Now and forever, he is King of kings and Lord of lords!