Good Words for Today

Let God get even with your enemies. He's better at revenge than you are.

No one deserves to go to heaven. Unless you understand that truth, you can never be saved. Heaven is reserved for those who admit they don't deserve to be there.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). Jesus does not mean that following him will cause us to hate our parents. Far from it. Following Jesus ought to strengthen our love for our family.   But it does mean that following Jesus has a price tag attached to it that we dare not disregard. Faithfulness to Christ may lead us to do things that those closest to us will not understand or support.   They may think that we hate them when all we are doing is following Christ.

Plan for today: Do God's will to the best of my ability. Pray instead of grumbling. Be quick to forgive. Give thanks for tiny blessings. Lift the load for some weary pilgrim. If we can do that, this will be an excellent day.  

Lord Jesus, help me to tell someone about you today. Amen.

The walls of Jericho were no match for the Almighty. Keep that in mind the next time you face a "wall of impossibility."

Don't expect the world to give you a merit badge when you stand up for Jesus. Stand up anyway.

Before you criticize someone, pray for them. If you don't have time to pray, you don't have time to criticize either.

“The man who has met God is not looking for anything; he has found it. He is not searching for light, for upon him the light has already shined. His certainty may seem bigoted, but his assurance is that of one who knows by experience his religion is not hearsay. He is not a copy, not a facsimile. He is an original from the hand of the Holy Spirit." A. W. Tozer

‌“I send you forth as sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). If Jesus sends us, and he goes with us, we’re safer among the wolves than if we stayed in the pen.

Lost people may not listen to our sermons or pay attention to our doctrine, but they notice the way we live under pressure. When we are broken by life, if Christ still shines through us, they may see our faith and come to believe that Jesus is alive today.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). So rare is this kind of person that when people see a peacemaker, they say, “There goes a child of God.” And God smiles from heaven and says, “That’s one of my kids.”

When Paul gave a benediction, he often said something like "May the Lord himself do such-and-such." When trouble comes, we don't need more words; we need the Lord himself. Thank God, we don't have to walk through the valley alone. The Lord himself walks with us.

" I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). Your doubts are not the end of the story. Your fears are not the end of the story. Your worries are not the end of the story. Your uncertainties are not the end of the story. Your troubles are not the end of the story. Because Jesus rose from the dead, better days are coming. The grave will not have the last word. One day the children of God will exit the cemeteries once and for all. One day, the dead in Christ will rise, and we will rise with them to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Between now and then, we are living on the edge, waiting for what God has promised. It’s like a TV cliffhanger where the end of the episode says, “Come back next week to see how the story ends.” Stay tuned, child of God. The best is yet to come.

Guard your mind. You become what you think about. What fills your mind will soon fill your heart.

Just a reminder from Proverbs 23:9 : "Do not talk directly to a fool, because he will despise the wisdom of your words." Sometimes it's better to say nothing at all. Just let it pass, or walk away. Arguing with a fool is like wrestling with a pig. You get dirty and the pig loves it.

Sin is addition. Grace is multiplication. When your sin adds up, God multiplies his grace so that it is covered, forgiven, forgotten.

“He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). The hotter the fire, the more the pain but the quicker the gold comes forth. In the end you will be both approved and improved by God. Your trials are not wasted nor are they random acts of fate. You will be approved—found to be good. You will be improved—made to be better. I can’t tell you when your trials will end, but I do know this much: He’s an on-time God. You can’t rush him, but he’s never late either. When the appointed time has come, the fierce heat will dissipate and the gold of tested character will come forth in your life.

If you can’t be thankful for what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.