Daily Dose 2-26-18

Psalm 42:6-8 (MSG) When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan depths to Hermon heights, including Mount Mizar. Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God's prayer.

If life seems to be crushing you down, praising is a better solution than pouting. Taking the time to pause from self-pity to God-praise accomplishes a great deal. First of all, God is honored. He is worthy of the praise, so give it. Second, we begin to see the size of God vs. the size of our problems. He is big enough to conquer any challenge before us, or support us to get through it all. Third, we find love and comfort. God will never disregard the unbridled praise of His children focused on Him. When we empty our heart and mind of everything but Him, He WILL fill us up!

Father, I love our praise time together! Thank you for loving me back and lifting me up! I’m in awe of You! Amen

Daily Dose 2-25-18

Mark 7:6-8 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 
They worship me in vain; 
their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

What do your actions say about your heart? Do you follow the letter of the law or the heart of the law? It is so easy for Christians to get caught up in “religion” and forget about righteousness. We live our lives sometimes as though we want to operate under a checklist yoke. Instead of changing our hearts to follow the actions of Christ, we place the human interpretations of Christ’s teachings at the center of our hearts. What spews forth can be a harsh, judgmental litany of rules and regulations that people must follow to follow Christ. Obedience should never get short changed; but a walk in life with the Savior is one that obeys from love, not because it’s required.

Father, Help my heart! Change it to be like Jesus. He came to free us from law keeping and shape our obedience through love. Reshape my heart to adjust my actions to follow Him. Amen