The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.   Psalm 116:5, 6

There is a true relaxing joy in us when what we believe and say about God becomes who we are in the depth of our soul.  It does not mean troubles and opportunities all leave the scene, but seeing them with the attitude of grace brings the blessings of real emotions and thoughts that are renewing and relaxing.  When we allow the freedom of his grace to touch our emotions we will discover what the Psalmist meant when he said – “when I was in great need, he saved me.”   Today, take a good deep breath from his Word and let your heart along with your mouth express compassion and thanksgiving for his grace and love for you.  Your nature is on a great journey of renewal and the freedoms you were created for are about to blow your hair back.  Enjoy!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.   Romans 15:13

The words here - hope, joy, peace and overflow are words of WOW!  Here we see that our Lord desires for us on our individual journeys, to not just believe in him but to trust him with all the details in our thinking and emotions. His grace is given so that we may experience that life called eternal, and find ourselves in an optimistic mood, a mood of hope, a mood of joy and a mood of peace.  His gift is given to us with the strength of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.  In this place we find ourselves overflowing with emotions of thankfulness, which impacts people in a very good way that live and work around us.  Today, may you lay aside anxiety, worry and stress and enjoy trusting in him.  It is refreshing to live a life that can be called overflowing with hope, joy and peace.  Enjoy!

He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.  Proverbs 21:21

 It is amazing what we really pursue as important during our lives.  We work so hard at going after so many things that we think are important, only to find out that while pursuing them many of our relationships do not turn out to be what we hoped for.  So what is this righteousness and love?  Well, righteousness is the pursuing through all the details of our life a relationship with God that gives him glory (which is praise and thanksgiving to him).  It allows us to work with our abilities, then rejoice and delight in him. Love allows us the ability to bless others as we work and play.  It allows us the joy of being aware of the emotions, desires and goals of people we meet along our journey, then finding ways to bless them as our Lord has blessed us.  Today let yourself enjoy his grace that gives you something to pursue that will not wear you out and will bring you along with others refreshment in your journey. Enjoy!

 

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lamentations 3:24-25

What a wonderful journey life is, even with all its highs and lows. The awe of falling in love and finding that someone else loves you as much as you love them. Wow, what a refreshing time that is, and as wonderful as that is, it gets even better with age. When the Lord becomes a reality to us in the journey of life instead of some kind of belief or religious system, his grace begins to overwhelm us. Let us remember that his grace is his love expressed and given without condemnation and with his grace in our lives we now have the freedom to enjoy expressing and giving love to others the same way that he has done for us. With grace we find the joy of giving more than receiving and now our thinking and emotions can really enjoy our journey. On this new day may you enjoy the Lord as your portion, knowing how much he loves you. May all who meet you see and hear your hope and joy in him and may his grace allow your life to overflow with gladness. His grace will do things through your life and speech that will blow your hair back and it will feel like you have lost weight. Enjoy the freedom of the Lord and give his grace to everyone, it will put a smile on your face and all those around you. I told you love gets better with age.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O GOD! how vast is the sum of them. Psalm 139:16,17

One of the great beauties of God's grace is that it gives us the ability to relax and rejoice all at the same time. Living overwhelmed by his grace gives us better hearing, of what is really around us and much better vision as to the situations we are walking through. Grace changes are values and choices which automatically impact our attitude for the day we find ourselves in. Living in a grace condition removes fears, anxiety and much of mis-trust about others. It gives the freedom to know that our Lord is involved in the journey with us and therefore we do not need to be offended so easily and we can enjoy encouraging others along there journey as we have been encouraged by our Lord. On this new day let his grace be precious to you and enjoy his attitude of kindness as it will be expressed through you. You will be pleased at the way you process info and so will those around you. This is a good day to smile and give thanks to the one who has overwhelmed you with his grace and enjoy his thoughts, bringing praise and refreshment through you.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him praise his name. Psalm 100:4

Our natural nature is birthed in condemnation, which is self-centered. In that condition we can find ourselves easily angry, annoyed, irritated, criticized and shamed. In that condition giving thanksgiving and praise is something to do, which is just one more task along our journey. Grace changes the entire situation. It puts God's love right into the center of our lives and changes our values and who we are. In that condition, thanksgiving and praise is not one more thing to do, it is who we are. Living our journey in thanksgiving and praise to our Lord lets us encourage, bless, be considerate and esteem others as more important than ourselves. On this new day, may you absolutely enjoy his grace that has set you free from the control of your old nature. You will like this day and those around you will feel important, encouraged and refreshed. His grace lets thanksgiving and rejoicing just be who you are. Enjoy!

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. Proverbs 10:19

Proverbs is known as a book of wisdom which is simply the ability to take understanding and knowledge and apply it appropriately to the situation we find ourselves in. How many quarrels would not have taken place in a marriage if only one would have remember how to speak in grace? How many business partnerships have ended because of so many words, that the friends that started off are no longer friends? How many times have churches had problems because someone started talking about what they did not like until they had a group and off they go to the leadership complaining and the impact on family, church and community is less than outstanding? Grace gives us the wisdom of God to speak in such a way as to handle things without condemnation and therefore finding solutions will give glory to God and a blessing to those who hear. On this new day may you enjoy the words of grace that express themselves through you. As you speak may those around you sense the kindness, patience and tolerance of the Lord because of the grace that is heard through you. You will be refreshed, blessed and full of thanksgiving. Those around you will feel secure and encouraged. Blessings upon you in the grace of God. Being overwhelmed by this grace is very freeing.

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

There is something absolutely beautiful and enjoyable when we find ourselves in a place where we are loved and respected. In this place there is no stress, anxiety or feeling of walking on egg shells. We find ourselves relaxed and refreshed so that we have the freedom of expression, especially the giving of gifts of encouragement, blessings in the details of peoples lives and helping however we can, even financially. God's grace allows us the freedom to live this way 24/7. Wow! Talk about being refreshed! How about actually living in a place - no matter where we are found - where love is given and expressed without condemnation of any kind. Grace puts a smile in what we say and in what we do. On this new day, that has never been nor will come again, may you find yourself overwhelmed with his grace. Praise and thanksgiving will naturally flow from your mouth as well as your hands. What you find to do today will bring joy to you as well as everyone around you. God's grace just makes a good day and allows you to see and hear with new eyes and ears. Feel free to have tones in your voice and expressions from your face that cause others to be refreshed as you have by His grace.

Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people - none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NLT The nature of sin in us will produce by-products that at best are filthy. There has never been a family, a community, a state or a nations that has become refreshing when these things are the habit of its people. Grace comes in right at this point to remove sin's power and give us a freedom in our nature that will bring thanksgiving and delight. Grace is the power of God's love in Jesus the Christ to release us from habits that are filthy by nature and produce habits that have their foundation in God's love. On this new day may you allow the freedom of his grace to set you free from habits that do not bless you or anyone else. In his grace you have the right as sons and daughters to praise, bless and encourage through your actions and words. This freedom is now and forever yours because of his grace in you. Enjoy!

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42 NLT

Worship is that one thing that is needed for our good. It comes when we enjoy the Lord and live with an attitude of thanksgiving. For without these, there can be no worship of the Lord and therefore we will not sense his freedom of grace. What we experience is condemnation in all its forms, about others, about ourselves and at times even about the Lord. Worshiping the Lord puts all the details of life in proper perspective. On this new day may you allow his grace the freedom of expression through your words, your attitudes and your work. In this place there is no complaining, no stress and no mistrust. Here you will experience his freedom in all its forms and it is called grace.