One of the most important things in life is to control your own mind. If we just let our minds wander, most people’s thoughts will turn negative and often toward sinful things. This is made even worse when we read or watch negative news stories, TV shows, and internet posts, that sensationalize tragedy, immorality and evil. When we do these things, we are handing over the steering wheel of our mind to these things, and frankly to the devil.

We need to take the wheel of our own minds, and fill it with good things. Paul writes in Romans 8:6, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

Taking control of our minds includes controlling the things two which we are exposing ourselves. Paul also writes in Philippians 4:8, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Dear Lord, You have created so much beauty, creativity, ingenuity, and love for us to fill our lives and thoughts with. Help us take control of our minds and thoughts so that we may stay on the path to life and peace, and be fitting Christian examples for others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Jesus teaches his disciples to pray what we call the Lords Prayer in Luke 11. In verse 2 Jesus says, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name…” Jesus teaches them to start their prayer with praise and acknowledgment of the power and awe of God. In a similar way, David prays in 2 Samuel 7, going on in many verses about how great and amazing God is.

There is a point to beginning our prayers this way, acknowledging the power, glory and amazement of God. It puts God in the proper place above us in our minds, so that we bring our requests and concerns to God, humbly recognizing that he knows better than we do, and we submit our desires to his will. As Jesus’ tells us in Matthew 6:8, God knows what we want before we ask.

Dear Lord, How amazing and almighty you are thank you for hearing our prayers, and giving us what we need. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Think of some famous person, U.S. President, Business Leader, or Celebrity. How many generations back do you think we can identify the names of their ancestors? How far back can we identify our ancestors? Most likely, we can identify our great grandparents, or maybe their parents. That would be four generations back.

Matthew 1:1-16, lists the fathers and some of the mothers of Jesus’ ancestors back to Abraham. Matthew 1:17 says, “All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.”

Luke 3:23-38 also has the a list of Jesus’ ancestors recorded all the way back to Adam, 76 Generations.

Though there are some variations between the Luke and Matthew list, historians have logical reasons for these variations. I find it an amazing to have this type of information for a person that lived 2000 years ago. It is difficult to dispute the significance of Jesus Christ.

Dear Lord, What a blessing it is for us to have historical information about Jesus. The extensive consistency and authenticity of Biblical accounts of history are being identified every day. Help us use this information to support our understanding, our faiths, and our witness to others, that they may come to know you, also. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Think about this for a minute.

Every experience we have in life may be there on purpose, so that we can become the people God wants us to be, for his plan.

If we believed this, would it change how we view our experiences? Would we look at our problems the same way if we knew they were put there by God for our development?

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Psalm 119:91, “Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans.”

Proverbs 16:9, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

And the, well known, verse Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Dear Lord, Thank you for guiding our steps. Though we may have experiences in life that are unpleasant for us, help us look at them as lessons from you to develop ourselves to be better servants for you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Judges 7 tells a story about Gideon, the leader of the Israelites after they had arrived in the Promised Land. God told Gideon he would help the Israelites defeat the Midianites who were threatening the Israelites. Gideon assembled an army of 22,000 men, but in the course of the story, God had him reduce his force to 300. We can only guess how large the Midianite army was, but if Gideon thought he needed 22,000, it was likely to have been several thousand.

In Judges 7:2, “The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.”

With 300 men then God gives the Israelites victory.

The message for us is that it is not what we have, or what we think we can do, that matters; It is what God can do. God has control over all things. So when we have no idea how “we” can accomplish something, that is when God can intervene, and when we have success we know God has done it for us.

Dear Lord, Faith is believing when we don’t know how. Help us remember that this is where you want us, putting our faith in you, and trusting you to work in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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