Do Not Worry

 Do Not Worry

April 1, 2026

Matthew 6:25 (NKJV) 

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:33-34 (NKJV) 

33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day [is] its own trouble.

The corollary to trusting in the Lord and loving Him with your whole heart is not worrying. That’s easier said than done. My mother was la first class worrier, so I come by it naturally. But really trusting in the Lord means that we REALLY trust in Him for everything! When He is truly and completely in charge of your life, there is nothing left to worry about. So make Him king and seek first His kingdom, and all else will fall into place.

Love the Lord

 Love the Lord

March 31, 2026

Mark 12:28-31

28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answeredthem well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ 31 The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Yesterday we talked about trusting the Lord. You cannot trust without love. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he quickly quoted the command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When we love the Lord totally, it is easy to trust. The second part is more difficult. We can love the Lord because we know He loves us back, but what about our neighbor? He can be difficult and contentious but we are to love anyway. 

The golden rule states that we are to do to others what we would wish to be done to ourselves. It is said that only Judaism and Christianity have this rule. All other religions, at best, only command to love your brother, but to hate your enemy. Certainly Islam falls into this category as they decree charity be done to fellow Muslims, but they teach that all infidels deserve slavery or  death. Certainly Jesus taught a better way! 

So our job today is to love the Lord with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourself. “There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Trust in God

 Trust in God

March 30,2026

Proverbs 3:5-10 (NKJV) 

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In allyour ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

We are in the midst of an extended Bible study at church, and one of the key lessons is to trust in God. Proverbs 3 is a key verse for that point. You cannot state the blessings of trusting in the Lord any more plainly than is expressed in this proverb. Guidance, wisdom, health, honor and prosperity, are among those blessings, but all rely on trusting in the Lord with your whole heart and not on your own understanding. That is harder to do than it sounds since we are conditioned from youth to think logically, solve problems, and trust in reason and logic. But the way of peace is contrary to that. Not that we are not to reason logically, but we are to put our final trust in the Lord, even when it seems to go against good sense. The Lord knows better than we do all that will transpire and what unforeseen consequences might occur if we rely on reason alone. So know that the Lord is Good, He loves you, and has a plan and purpose for your life, and knows better than you the exact steps you should take. So let Him direct your paths and do not be wise in your own eyes.

Measure My Days

 Measure My Days

March 28, 2026

Psalm 39:4-7 (NKJV) 

4 “LORD, make me to know my end, And what [is] the measure of my days, [That] Imay know how frail I [am.] 5 Indeed, You have made my days [as] handbreadths, And my age [is] as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state [is] but vapor. 

Selah

 6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up [riches,] And does not know who will gather them. 7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope [is] in You.

When we are young, we think we are going to live forever. But when we get to the Biblical four score and ten and approach eighty, we begin to contemplate the end and take a measure of our days.

Psalm 90:10 (NKJV) 

The days of our lives [are] seventy years; And if by reason of strength [they are] eightyyears, Yet their boast [is] only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

They say that growing old is not for the faint of heart. Things slow down and aches and pains appear out of nowhere. What once was but a second thought now requires some effort and planning. Even wrapping presents on the floor requires a plan on how you’re going to get up again! So what is our attitude to be as we contemplate our days?

As the psalmist says, “My hope is in You.” The Lord has a plan for our days. When we look back, we see the many marvelous things He has done. So we have faith that there is a purpose and a plan for our remaining days. It would be good to end our days like Moses. When the Lord told him that he was done, he sang a song  (Dt 32-33), blessed the people, and went up on the mountain and died. It would be good to go out with a song on my lips, May it be so. And if you have read this far, may you be blessed with the knowledge of the plan and purpose that the Lord has for your life. For all of your days, even the ones in the closing chapter.

God is at Work

 God is at Work

March 24, 2026

Philippians 2:13

13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure

Do you ever look at all that is going on around you and wonder whether God is at work or not? The world can get crazy and sometimes it’s hard to cope. It was no different in the first century. The Apostle Paul goes on to say how we should act in difficult times.

Philippians 2:14-16

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

“Without grumbling or disputing”, now there is the rub!  We love to grumble and complain about all the injustice that we perceive in our world. “It’s not fair!” Is a common refrain, and advertising is always promising something better because “you deserve it”. But the Word says that this is a “crooked and perverse generation”, and 2000 years has not improved on that assessment. 

So how do we act? Paul says to recognize that God is at work and that his will for us is good. Walking is such a way as to demonstrate His love and faithfulness will show His light to the world. So hold fast to the word of life and do all to the glory of God for He is at work in you.

Walk by the Spirit

 Walk by the Spirit

March 20, 2026

Romans 8:4-5

4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Joshua 5:13-15

13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the LORD’S host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

My daily reading plan has me in Joshua. There are many examples there of walking in the Spirit but it starts in chapter 5 where Joshua encounters a man. Joshua didn’t know what to make of this so he asked him “Are you with us of for our adversaries?” But the reply was quite clear, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” Joshua did the wise thing and bowed down and accepted instruction from the Lord. This is the first principle of walking in the Spirit, that is to hear the voice of the Lord and commit to obey everything that He says.

The first two battles that Joshua faced as they entered the land illustrated the wisdom of following the Lord’s commands and the folly of following your own vision. In the first battle, the Lord gives Joshua a plan for conquering Jericho which is vary unusual, but they follow the plan exactly and the city walk fell on the seventh day when they marched, shouted and blew the trumpets. It was a clear and miraculous victory.

The second battle didn’t go as well. When they approached the city of AI, the spys said that the city appeared to them to be small and weak, so they should only send a small army against it. This plan, derived what what they could see with their own eyes, was disastrous. They didn’t inquire of the Lord and more seriously, they didn’t purge the sin from their midst and they were soundly defeated. However, when Joshua inquired of the Lord, he was given a plan to expose the one who had been disobedient and given a new plan to take the city.

The captain of the Lord’s host has the plan for victory, but we must commit to listen and obey to execute that plan and see the victory. How often do we follow our own vision and do what seems right, but it ends in disaster? Walking in the Spirit means listening to the voice of the Lord and stepping out to do all that He commands us to do. That is the way to victory.

Spiritual Wisdom

 Spiritual Wisdom

March17, 2026

1 Corinthians 2:13-16 (NKJV) 

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but whichthe Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them,] because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is [rightly] judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

“Foolishness”. We can look around today and see lots and lots of teaching by natural men, that is rational men, and the Lord says that it is foolishness. True wisdom comes from the Spirit of God but cannot be discerned by the rational mind. The world today is in dire need of true wisdom.  Paul goes on in chapter 3 to talk about sectarianism in the church. Divisions between people continue to be a source of foolishness among the people. There are many teaching things today with the intent of dividing the populace. There are all sorts of reasons to be pro-Trump or anti-Trump; to be pro-Israel or anti-Israel; to be for the police to against the police, etc. It’s the devil’s strategy to divide people it is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that seeks to bring unity. We desperately need that unity today. The forces of evil are readily apparent all around and so the people of God need to be unified in order to oppose evil and advocate for the good. But with all the sectarianism in the church today, we can’t even all agree on what is the good! Lord, teach us your ways and give us the mind of Christ that we can have true wisdom and unity to bring the word of the gospel to the nations.