“This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

— Psalm 118:24

How is your day going so far? Are you enjoying it, unfettered by regrets about the past and worries about the future? Or do you find your mind focused on everything else but this day?

When I wake up each morning, I like to quote aloud Psalm 118:24—“This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” We need to focus on the present moment. The psalmist encourages us to seize the day … the moment … and rejoice and be glad in it. We can’t leave our happiness in the past, thinking our best days are behind us. Nor should we wait until tomorrow to rejoice. Today, at this very moment, we must be glad because this day and this moment are gifts from God.

Enjoying each day is like the art of reading aloud. When you read aloud, you must pay attention to each word you read as you read it, putting the appropriate emphasis and nuance on every word to impact the hearer as you desire. You cannot let your thoughts race three or four words ahead of the words you are presently saying. Doing so causes the words to lose their meaning and impact. Similarly, do not think about rejoicing tomorrow. Such thoughts cause today to lose its importance in your life. Instead, think about rejoicing today … and do it.

Why can we be so free to think only of today? Because, unlike the atheistic existentialist who blocks out the past and the future, the Christian can perceive and enjoy past and future events for their own value. Christians can look to the past—to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection—and rejoice in forgiveness, cleansing from sin, and spiritual renewal. Christ has disposed of sin, shame, and guilt. As Christians we can trust Christ with our past, knowing that He has erased our transgressions and made us new persons in His family. Our salvation is great cause for celebrating today.

In the same way, we can rejoice today because we trust Christ with our future. As Christians we look ahead and boldly affirm the glorious tomorrow that awaits us. We eagerly anticipate Christ’s return, an event that will usher in freedom from pain, fear, and death. The sovereign Lord has tomorrow in His hands, and He works all things together for good. We can rely on that truth. Today, lay your feelings about yesterday and your anxieties about tomorrow at Christ’s feet. Trust Him with your past and with your future, and rejoice in each moment of this day, a gift from God to you.

“Live in day-tight compartments.”
Sir William Osler

“And it shall come to pass … that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

— Joshua 3:13

Remember the last time you faced a situation so daunting that you didn’t know how to respond, a situation in which all potential solutions just produced more challenges? Perhaps you’re facing this kind of situation today.

Life seems to constantly throw challenges in our paths. We overcome one challenge, and there’s another one in our way. And the greater level of comfort we seek in life, the greater our consternation when hardships arise.

But if we’re to grow in Christ, we must persevere. Consider what Joshua faced. As Moses’ successor, Joshua had been commissioned by God to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. After the Israelites had wandered in the desert aimlessly for years, God finally led them out of the sands and to the river’s edge.

The Israelites had never come to this point before, and despite the heat and rough terrain, they’d grown familiar and comfortable with the desert. At the river’s edge, the Israelites confronted a new fear. The river was not fordable, and beyond it were walled cities and hostile tribes. But consider the troubles they were leaving behind: a desert and raging sun that had consumed a generation of Israelites. If they stepped into the river, they’d leave all that behind and enter the green and pleasant land of Canaan. Joshua led them into taking a step of faith, and God miraculously opened up the Jordan River. From there, God helped the Israelites conquer one tribe after another in order to inhabit the Promised Land.

We can identify with the Israelites’ situation. All at once something disrupts our usual flow: a new danger, a new fear, a new expectation, a new unknown. We get comfortable with the familiar and hesitate to engage in a new endeavor. But when we challenge new obstacles, we simultaneously leave others behind.

Are you facing a new possibility today, something unknown, unfamiliar, maybe even a bit dangerous? If God calls you to move ahead, step into the river. Don’t hesitate to trust God. He anxiously waits to bestow His blessings on you as you follow His call.

“There is no education like adversity.”
Benjamin Disraeli

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

— Romans 8:9

Have you ever wondered about the role of the Holy Spirit in Christianity and in your life? Well, literally hundreds of verses from Genesis to Revelation describe the work of the Holy Spirit, and as you delve into them, you’ll discover that the Holy Spirit has played and continues to play an active role in your faith.

Just as God the Father is in everything, so, too, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit played an important part in the creation of the world. In Genesis we read that “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” as the earth formed. As well, the Holy Spirit caused Christ to be conceived in Mary’s womb. The angel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you … therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). And the Holy Spirit, with the Father and Son, participated in Christ’s resurrection.

When we allow Him to, the Holy Spirit will do mighty works within us. For example, the Spirit regenerates us, resurrecting us from spiritual death when we commit our lives to Jesus. Christ says we must be “born of the Spirit” if we want to enter God’s kingdom. And so, the Spirit grants us new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit also sanctifies us, purifies us, and cultivates within us the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

To experience the fullness of God’s power in our lives, we must allow the Holy Spirit to work within us. Invite the Holy Spirit to do so today, then watch as He responds.

“We must not be content to be cleansed from
sin; we must be filled with the Spirit.”
John Fletcher

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

— Revelation 2:4

Many of us vividly remember the day we gave our hearts to Christ. We were awash in love and warmth. Ah, my friends, our first love. There is nothing that can replace the first time we felt saturated with unconditional love.

Sadly, though, many of us have gone adrift. Our hearts have wandered. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps you’re not feeling as connected with God as you once did. Or maybe you don’t have your old passion for doing God’s will.

We all need to ask ourselves, “Have I remained true to my first love? Do I love Christ as when I first loved Him?” If not, Christ has a solution for those of us with diseased hearts.

There are three parts to Christ’s “prescription.” The first is to remember from where we have come. Christ says, “Remember from whence thou art fallen.” God asks us to respond wholeheartedly to our salvation. We can give no less. Christ has loved us even to the point of enduring the pit of Hell for our sake. How can we not reciprocate this love? God created and saved us to love Him forever.

The second part of Christ’s prescription is repentance. Because of evil, our love for God may have become lukewarm. Satan works to cool that love and constantly pours the waters of this world and its trappings upon us to kill the flame of our love for Christ. To revive that fire, we must confess and turn away from evil.

The third part is our return. God wants us to turn back to Him fully, holding nothing back. We must get down on our knees. Once we’ve humbled ourselves before God, we must ask Him to light such a flame in our hearts that it shall never go out. We need to ask for His forgiveness and cleansing and the ability to move forward in His grace.

When we are in love, we can accomplish all sorts of things for the object of our affections. When we’re out of love, even the smallest effort can seem burdensome. Today ask God to show you what your first love is. If you find that it isn’t Him, ask Him to help you remember where you came from, repent of your lukewarm attitude, and return to that fire of your first love.

“Oh, make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for Thee.”
“O Sacred Head” (Hymn)

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

— James 3:8–10

Do you remember the last time you said something you wished you could take back? Do you remember the consequences? We all have said things we later regret. You’d think we’d learn, but we continue to fall into that trap. Someone once said, “The trouble with talking too fast is that we say things we have not thought of yet.” Why do we persist in doing something we know will hurt us in the end? Because we have no control over our tongues.

The Bible says the tongue is a great evil. James compares it to a bridle, a fire, an untamed creature, and a double fountain, among other things. The tongue is like a bridle because even though the bit is very small, it controls the horse’s movement. In the same way, a little word can change the whole direction of our lives. The tongue is also like a fire. Just as one little spark can start a raging forest fire of destruction, one little word can destroy a relationship, a hope, a life. The tongue is like a caged but untamed animal that paces restlessly back and forth, looking for any opportunity to escape. Though humans have tamed all kinds of wild beasts, they cannot tame their own tongues. When we least expect it, a harmful word escapes. As well, the tongue is like a double fountain that brings forth both fresh water and bitter water. Just as saltwater poured into fresh water makes all water salty, so bitter words absorb the sweet. If you bless God but also curse your brother or sister, your good words lose their effectiveness.

Our tongues can get us into all sorts of trouble. First, there are the sins of blasphemy, cursing, and profanity. The Third Commandment forbids these. The Ninth Commandment forbids deceit and lying. God said it is better not to make a vow than to make one and break it. We should keep our vows, even if we have to make sacrifices to do so. Backbiting is another sin of the tongue. The backbiter speaks maliciously of others, then talks behind their backs. Gossip is close kin to backbiting.

Do any of these habits hit a little close to home? If so, confess them. Ask God to show you how to better control your tongue. And today make it a goal to bless others with your words.

“Many a life has been ruined by a thoughtless word.”

“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:19

Do you often find yourself at month’s end with more bills than you have money to pay? Do you have any needs that are going unmet? Well, Jesus Christ is our all in all; He meets all our needs, whatever they may be.

Too often, though, we miss out on His blessings because we foolishly cling to the tattered rags of our own ability; we constantly look to ourselves for our provision. But we don’t have to. Scriptures make it clear that God will take care of all our needs (and even some of our wants). Take, for example, the specific promise Paul recounts: “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Russ Johnston observes that this verse doesn’t say, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to your ability to make money;” rather, it says, “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

I believe the “Jehovah texts” in the Old Testament can help us remember that Jesus will meet all our needs. The first of these, Jehovah-Shalom, means, “I am thy peace.” We can find our peace in God. When we need soothing, He will lead us beside still waters. A second such text, Jehovah-Rohi, means, “I am thy shepherd.” God will give us guidance throughout our lives. We don’t need to strike out on our own apart from Him; He will lead us wherever we need to go. Yet another, Jehovah-Jireh, means, “I am the One who provides.” Whatever our needs, Jehovah Himself will provide. And Jehovah-Shammah means, “I am the One who is there.” Wherever we are, whatever we need, God is there.

Don’t you feel comforted, knowing that through all the changes of life, through all the ups and downs of the economy—inflation, hyper-inflation, recession, or depression—God’s ability to provide never changes? What a sense of security we have when we rest in that fact. Today, lay your needs at Jesus’ feet. Ask Him to provide, then trust that He will fulfill His promise to “supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

“You can’t stand on promises [from the Bible]
if you don’t know what they are.”
Christian Song

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:6–7, niv

One of the best definitions of worry that I’ve ever heard is “interest you pay on debts you may never owe.” Have you paid interest like that recently?

Worry and anxiety take a great toll on our minds and bodies. For example, research has shown that anxiety causes high blood pressure. Researchers placed a mouse in a cage. At another location within the mouse’s sight, they placed a cat in a cage. The cat had no contact with the mouse: their cages weren’t close together, the cat never escaped from its cage, and the cat never had an opportunity to threaten the mouse. But the cat was in the same room, and the mouse knew it. The mouse kept its eyes on the cat all the time. Six to twelve months of testing revealed the mouse had developed very high blood pressure. Nothing had happened to it. Its life had never been in jeopardy. But worry almost killed it.

So many of us are like that mouse, seeing potential danger and borrowing trouble that may never come. Worry is the sand the Devil wants to throw into the machinery of your life. If you let it, worry will tear up your body and rip apart your mind.

Instead of worrying, we should pray about our concerns, giving them to our Lord. As one person said, “When I worry, I go to the mirror and say to myself, ‘This tremendous thing which is worrying me is beyond a solution. It is especially too hard for Jesus Christ to handle.’ After I have said that, I smile and then I am ashamed.” If we would only learn the secret of faith, we could live serene lives. Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing.” Paul’s word for anxiety (merimnao) means “to rip in half.” Don’t let potential problems rip you in half. Stop paying interest into that bank. Instead, hand your concerns to Jesus today. Let Him take care of them and, in their place, give you peace that surpasses understanding.

“Peace is such a precious jewel that I would
give anything for it but truth.”
Matthew Henry

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

— Psalm 23:1

On a scale from one to ten (ten being the highest), what is your daily level of stress? Do you cruise through life at level two? Or do you constantly run on all cylinders at level nine? Seventy-five years ago, the only people who used the term “stress” were engineers talking about the physical pressure placed on objects. But now we use the term to express the pressure we feel mentally and emotionally as we live through each day. Many physicians and researchers spend all of their time dealing with stress-related disorders, as hospital beds fill up with businessmen, bricklayers, housewives, and children. There’s no question about it—this is the Age of Anxiety.

But God never intended us to live stress-filled lives. The Bible states that worry is a sin, commanding us to “be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6). Yet we don’t live in line with this command. Instead, we worry and fret about our jobs, our families, our financial status, and everything else under the sun. Many of us don’t know how to cope because we don’t have the internal strength to withstand the pressures from without. Many seek solutions in drugs and alcohol. But God has given us a far more effective tranquilizer: Psalm 23.

This jewel of Scripture can so effectively take away our fears and worries that I commend it as a prescription from the great physician Himself, Jesus Christ. Psalm 23 is God’s tranquilizer. Take it regularly, and you’ll find what the world is desperately looking for and finding: the peace that passes all understanding. Grasping even the first sentence, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” can do wonders for the human heart.

Author Thomas Carlyle made this astute point, which can reduce our stress: “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” Thus, with God’s help, we should live one day at a time, trusting God to take care of our daily needs.

Do you feel stressed today? Then remember that the Lord is your shepherd who will take care of every concern you have. Turn your worries over to Him today, and allow His peace to guard your heart.

“Peace is such a precious jewel that I would
give anything for it but truth.”
Matthew Henry

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

— 2 Corinthians 11:30, niv

How well do you do when an occasion calls for going above and beyond the call of duty? If you need some encouragement in this area, then consider George Wishart, a sixteenth-century Scotsman. You may have never heard of Wishart, but he is one of the great heroes of our Christian faith. Even before the Reformation came to Scotland, he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wishart lived in a time when a plague decimated great numbers of people on the continent of Europe. As that plague drew near to one of Scotland’s cities, the people panicked and raced to call for the most godly and saintly man they knew. The man they chose was Wishart. Wishart answered the call and went outside the gates of the city. There he knelt on his knees and prayed to God to cease the plague’s onslaught. History reports that the plague spread no further.

After this tremendous victory, Wishart went immediately to one of the cities that had already been hit by the plague. Those who had contracted the plague huddled outside the city gates, locked out of the city, while those untouched remained inside, cringing in fear. Wishart climbed on top of the city wall and began fearlessly preaching the Gospel to those who were dying without and those who were cringing within. Yet, in spite of his courage, his willingness to venture all for Christ, the people declared him a heretic in those dark days and condemned him to burn at the stake.

Outside the gates of the castle, the people erected the stake and piled up the wood. As Wishart approached the stake, he knelt down, lifted his face to Heaven, and prayed, reciting parts of the psalms. Then Wishart stood, took the executioner by the shoulders, and kissed him on the cheek, explaining to him that the kiss was a token of forgiveness. Once they had bound Wishart to the stake, they lit the timber, and the flames carried George Wishart’s soul into Paradise.

Wishart remains an example to us of prayer and courage. If you face a situation that requires you to go above and beyond the call of duty, let Wishart’s story encourage you. Trust in God to give you what you need to make it through, and go forth willingly to fulfill His call for your life.

“Christianity has made martyrdom
sublime, and sorrow triumphant.”
Edwin H. Chapin

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

— Mark 8:35

When, at the end of your life on earth, you look back over your life, what do you hope to have accomplished or experienced? I think we would all like to “go for the gusto,” pursuing life with a capital “L”. But many pursue this goal in the wrong way. Sadly, even many Christians seek life with a capital “L” in a way that will prevent them from ever attaining it.

People miss out on abundant life because it is a paradox. The way we truly gain life runs 180 degrees counter to the way we think we gain life. Jesus tells us, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Yet most people frantically do all within their power to save their lives by heaping upon themselves all manner of comforts, pleasures, delights, and securities, not realizing that everything they do destroys the very thing they want to save. As they attempt to gain life, they lose it.

Jesus’ words are difficult. Many people read them, shrug them off, and go on their way, hoping that somehow those words don’t apply to them. For many, those words seem beyond understanding. But let me make it clear: If we focus all our attention and energies upon our material well-being, upon our lives in this world, then we shall lose that higher, greater, and more abundant life that we can have in Christ. Only when we release our lives to Christ, allowing Him to do whatever He wishes through us, do we gain life and gain it abundantly. Live for Jesus every day, including today, and you’ll experience life with a capital “L”.

“Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in;’
aim at earth and you will get neither.”
C. S. Lewis