Psalm 37:4 writes, “Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Question is, “Does this mean He will give you the things you want, or does it mean He will give you the desire to want what He wants?”

I used to think about this text very simply, but now I believe the meaning is deeper, that when we delight in the our Lord, our desires change. We begin to desire things that fit with the wonderful life He wants for us, and he blesses us with those things giving us joy and Him glory.

Dear Lord, you promise us an abundant life if we follow the path you have for us. Help us delight in you so that the things we truly desire in our hearts are those things that you want for us. What joy it is to have our desires matched with your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Many of us have memorized the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…..” and we probably know it in the language of the King James (KJV), or Revised Standard (RSV) versions of the Bible.

In the RSV, verse 3 says, “He leads me in paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake.” Which is not completely clear in our modern language, however, reading this verse in the New Living Translation (NLT) says, “He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” This helps me understand a little more clearly.

If we follow Jesus, our shepherd, he will show us the right paths. We do not need to stress and worry about what to do. We trust Him and move forward, and He will lead us.

Dear Lord, many of us have concerns about decisions and questions in life. Help us remember that if we look to you for guidance, you will put us on the right path, and bring honor to You. In Jesus’ name we pray.

I think we are all familiar with the account of Jesus feeding the 5000 with five barley loaves and two fish, recorded in each of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In addition to the fact that Jesus performed this miracle, I think there is a message in how He went about it.

John 6:11, says, “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.”

I think one lesson, for us, is found in Jesus’ actions. He didn’t explain how He was going to feed all these people, He just thanked God for the things he had to work with, and then got started with belief for success.

So often we have trouble believing in God’s power to make things happen, because we cannot explain how it can be done. What we need to do is, accept that we don’t know how God will resolve things, just thank him for the resources we have, and move forward in belief that God will provide a solution.

I like the quote from Arthur Ashe, the Tennis Pro in the 1970’s, who said, “Start where you are, Use what you have, Do what you can.” I would add, “believe in God’s power.”

Dear Lord, You can do anything, we just need to believe, be thankful and move forward. Help us really trust your power to answer our prayers, especially when we don’t know how it can be done. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke write about Jesus telling us that we must have faith like a child.

In Matthew 18:4-6 Jesus says, “So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

In Matthew’s account there is one interesting addition. In verse 10 Jesus says, “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.”

“Their angels” it says. As one of the Bible verses supporting the belief that people have guardian angels, this verse gives an awesome and comforting vision that there are angels standing in God’s presence responsible for helping individual believers.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the assurance provided in this passage that you care for us, and assign your angels to look out for us. Help this give us strength, confidence, and comfort in our lives each day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Recently we were able to watch as a spacecraft launched from earth landed on Mars and will be exploring the planet in coming months. I am sure it will send back amazing information about the planet and our solar system. I am amazed at the photos and discoveries that have been made by the Hubble space telescope launched in 1990. The magnitude and beauty the photos of the universe are awesome. More recently, scientists have been making amazing discoveries from other satellites sent deeper into our solar system taking years to reach Jupiter, Venus, and even landing on asteroids, and revealing more mysteries.

These discoveries are beautiful evidence of God’s creation and majesty. However, for centuries, people who do not believe God exists, have been trying to distract people into believing that these discoveries support theories (actually hypothesis) of some origin of the universe other than God. We must take care not to be lured into this false belief.

Psalm 19 beautifully describes, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship. Day and night they keep telling about God. Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world.” TLB

Thank you Lord for the beauty of your amazing creation, help us appreciate it and accept it as a gift that reinforces our belief in You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.