Psalm 2:7-8 An adopted/chosen child!

That's right; God chooses us! And blesses us with a Father child relationship.

Psalm 103:2 -- Praise God and don't forget His benefits

Is it true; the more we have the more we want and the less grateful we are?  Can we consciously observe the good things coming our way and truly value them?  I've heard a phone call to thank someone makes the person making the call happy...and just to think God made us this way!

James 1:17 -- Gifts

Have you ever thought of the gifts God is giving to you?  In your life what is good and perfect?  When you answer this question you'll have the answer to what God is giving to you. Don't forget to thank the folks He uses to give these gifts out.

Philippians 4:29 -- God will supply

God will supply our needs; not necessarily our wants

Philippians 4:13 -- I can do all things...

God will strengthen us to do what He has planned for us today.

Isaiah 55:8 -- His thoughts, our thoughts

Have you ever thought about what God thinks about?  How does this change the way we pray?

Joshua 1:9 -- Be bold, Be strong...

The Lord is with those who choose to have Him as part of their lives so what do we have to fear.

Philemon 1:3 -- Start young

Lord, I think of all the parents, teachers, child care workers, friends, church members.... who have influence over our children.  With all the multi-media available to them would you help them to focus the children on You and what is important.

John 15:16 -- Fruit that will last

God chose us!  How cool is that!  He chose us for a purpose; to bear fruit! Love, Joy, Kindness, Meekness, Faithfulness and Self Control as well as disciples of Christ.  With this focus in mind He has said we can also ask things in Jesus name and the Father will give it.
Let's ask, and thank Him for answered prayers!

Philippians 4:6-7 -- PPTA = Peace

Prayer
Petition
Thanksgiving
Ask

Notice Prayer and Petition are two different things here.  Should we petition those in power as well as pray to God?  Should we thank those that give us stuff as well as God?  Should we ask people as well as God?

Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself".  This implies a people and God relationship!

Pray, yes! Petition, yes! Give thanks, yes! Ask, yes!

Father, I want a church where everyone feels like they're a part of the body and each person feels like they're both giving and receiving within the body of Christ.  I want a church where it doesn't matter how long you've been around; every one feels blessed to be a part of the body of Christ. Thanks Lord for the fellowship You've given to date.

Matthew 18:12 -- the God of One

Is God the God of one, twelve, fifty, one hundred, the multitudes...?  God is amazing in that He acknowledges the systems.  Moses' Father-in-law recommend hiring people to help him lead the crowds and the New Testament talks about us belong together like parts of a body yet Jesus usually engaged the individual.  God is the God of the individual.  He loves us so much He'd leave the healthy group to reach out to the wandering one.  He's a gentleman though; He won't force the wandering one to return to Him.  Father, help us to choose You when we wander away.

2 Corinthians 12:9 -- Who's strength; Who's weakness?

We're not the center of the universe; we're just one person in this universe yet God has every person in a place just like every part of the body is in the correct place.  In addition, He doesn't expect us to be God.  He expects us to be all that He made us to be and we work best when we recognize that it's Him working in us because His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Lord, as we live out today help us to remember it's Your power and Your grace that rests on us; so fill us in such a way that others will see You in us.

Joshua 1:8 -- Grace, Truth, and the Law

Balancing Grace and the Law is interesting.  Some think Jesus came to get rid of the law yet it's important so people don't get hurt.  Jesus said He came to fulfill the law yet He also modelled grace and truth.  Can we be really honest with ourselves today and can we really just surrender to the next little thing God tells us to do; and can we consistently look into God's word so He can teach us?  May God continue to grow His truths in us.

Psalm 27:1 -- Light and Salvation

The truth is we're not righteous without Christ's Salvation and our failures are exposed with God's light yet God has chosen to clean us up and use the light to help us because He loves us.  We're strong because we're children of God so who shall we fear?!

(Note: the cleanup process is in God's timing; sometimes it's instant and sometimes He chooses to involve us and it's a process yet even so, God chooses to defend us with His righteousness)

Psalm 103:3-5 -- God's healing powers

How we deal with our guilt affects our health and so do diseases.  The reality is we are so small compared to everything and everyone around us yet God is bigger than all of this and He knows and loves us personally!!!...He even knows how we mess up and He still loves us and is willing to work with us to make us into all that He wants us to be.  God wants us to surrender all there is of us into His hands so He can begin to help us heal and renew our youth!!!  How beautiful is this!!!  And who says adults can't play!!! :-)

Psalm 5:12 -- Protection through blessings

Lord, will you bless those who are choosing to do the right thing with a shield of blessings?  How cool is that!

Psalm 68:19 -- No matter where we are God's willing to carry our burdens

Along our journey we may carry burdens that God never intended us to carry.  If this is so we can leave them with Him and trust Him with the next little thing God tells us to do.

Isaiah 43:1 -- God has redeemed

When we blow it and the most important, most powerful finds out about it it can be a little scarey yet He's a loving God.  He'll help us just where we're at to be all that He needs us to be.

Psalm 23:3 -- God's Refreshment and Guidance

Two things God did for David.  He refreshed his soul and guided him along right paths so God would be glorified.

What does God need to do in our lives so that He is glorified?

Philippians 4:6 -- Prayer, Requests and Thanks

Be honest with God, tell Him how you feel, tell Him what you're experiencing, tell Him what You'd love, tell Him what frustrates you...tell Him.

Then ask Him for what you want and need...and don't forget to say thank you when you get it.

Trust God -- it's good for inner peace

Thank You Lord for giving inner peace as we learn to trust You and as we learn to be obedient to You and as we learn to understand how important we are to You.

Psalm 91:15 -- God is hard to get rid of! :-)

We may choose to disowned God, ignore Him or walk away from Him yet He's not like that.  As a friend He's willing to stick with us even when we make mistakes and even when we're going through a hard time.

Isaiah 41:10 -- Do not be afraid

Facing our fears can be done by zeroing in on reality like Chris did in space
https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space

yet sometimes we don't have enough knowledge to know all the facts to calm our fear;
and sometimes we have too much knowledge to figure out what we need to know to relax;

So this promise from an all knowing, all present God is wonderful.  He says He will help us and He will strengthen us and His righteousness will take care of us!

Thank you God!

John 1:12 -- A child of God

It's hard to imagine what life would be like as a rich kid yet imagine life as a rich kid with a Father who is rich in kindness too!

Deuteronomy 6:5 -- Love the Lord

Focus on the Lord.  Enjoy the beautiful gifts He gives.

Psalm 147:10-11 -- Bigger than anyone thing

God is bigger than any one thing and any person yet He's so personal He knows about every detail of our lives so before we're tempted to think it's all about us we need to remember we're smaller than a snowflake when we're looked at by humans walking in outer space...and that's just a human perspective; let alone a God perspective!  Therefore God is able to accomplish what we need accomplished today IF we're willing to do what He asks us to do and IF we'll trust Him with the rest.

Lord, please help us as we learn to respect You for who You really are.

Joel 2:21 -- Be glad; the Lord has done great things

It is a blessing to know that God knows far more than the smartest person on this earth; and He knows the thoughts of each person; and even though men and women have the free will to choose Him and His will God can still do great things inspite of bad choices people make. Thank You Lord that we don't have to be afraid when we're doing what You want us to do.  Please help us to make good choices.

Psalm 121:7 -- God is watching

It's a comfort to know that God is like a shepherd watching over us, His sheep.

Psalm 25:3 --- What? Live with consequences?

It's a wonderful world when we can do everything we want yet Paul says being this free isn't necessarily beneficial.  We can smoke all we want, or eat all the ice cream we want yet God has designed things to work a certain way so if we do this we should expect our bodies to eventually complain.  The same is true in all aspects of our lives. Galatians 6:7 says God is not mocked; we reap what we sow; yet God is willing to walk with us and help us to do our part in cleaning up the messes we make.

Isaiah 43:2 -- A companion; through it all

Many of us would like to think having a relationship with God means an easy life yet this is not necessarily true.  There are many reasons for this.

For instance a kid to always eating ice cream tastes good at first but ultimately it catches up with them.
Or there are challenges to help us grow and learn; doing simple addition in university would be boring!
Or someone elses actions affect us
Or...

Yet no matter what, God promises to be with us and walk with us through the good and the tough times. May we always remember that He is with us; during the good and bad times.