Here is a beautiful poem that my friend wrote. She gave me permission to share it with you

Life’s Handbook

If life had a handbook
To guide me along my way, 
I would put it at my bedside
And read it every day.
Inside this mighty handbook 
Would be the truth I need,
Something that could show me
I’m where I’m supposed to be.

I heard there is a book
That speaks of truth and love.
It’s all about Jesus
And all the work He does.
They say it’s called the Bible,
Where lessons of life be told.
Just read this mighty Bible
And your life will happily unfold.

by Kiersten Smith

As I read Psalm 40:5 yesterday I began thinking about God’s thoughts

It says, “…Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare them, they are more than can be numbered.”

Immediately my mind went to Isaiah 55:8-9. His thoughts are not our thoughts. They are far higher than ours

Psalm 139:17 is a great verse to wallpaper on the wall of our heart. It will be there when we are tempted to entertain negative dialogues against ourselves 

It says, “How precious also are Your thoughts toward me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

I want you, in your mind, to take a handful of sand. It’s impossible to count the grains. Now read verse 18 about His thoughts towards you

It says, “If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand…”

I encourage you to meditate on His thoughts as other Scriptures will come to mind after reading this 

As I was eating my breakfast I was thinking about consequences. Then went to my reading

Think of the consequences in your own life when you didn’t wait for the Lord

The Lord always hears our cries. David wrote Psalm 40 and 70. Both end with, “But I am poor and needy…You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.”

Psalm 130:1 says, Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; Lord hear my voice! Let Your ear be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”

Verse 5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.”

It’s essential for us to cry out to the Lord ~ releasing all our anxiousness, fears and worries. That frees our mind, will, and emotions to quietly wait for His timing

I have been working at memorizing Psalm 119:12-16

Verse 16 says, “I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”

Verse 11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

Sin has consequences. Psalm 99:8 says of Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, “You answered them, O Lord our God; You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds.”

When the Lord is our delight, sinful pleasures lose their pull. 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary for delight is: a high degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind; joy 

This takes us back to Psalm 1:2.  “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

As I started to get up this morning, the Holy Spirit spoke something. I called my phone to leave a message so I wouldn’t forget His wording.

“If we are always blaming others or our circumstances, then we mask the areas the Lord wants to finger and work on.”

My mind immediately went to Paul. He wrote the letter to the Philippians from prison. 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

This morning in my reading. Psalm 98:4 says, “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.”

Praise is our supernatural provision to course correct when our mind starts to veer off course. Psalm 68:1-4

I started to meditate on Psalm 32:11 several days ago. It says, “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” The Hebrew for glad and rejoice are pretty close. 

The 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary for rejoice stopped me. I had to really ponder it. The only time that I can relate to its definition, is when I am driving in my car by myself. Then I can rejoice and shout for joy. Think about when you fit this definition.

Rejoice: to experience joy and gladness in a high degree. To be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations. 

I noticed in my reading that there were several verses that talked about shouts of joy. Look up Psalm 5:11 and Psalm 95:1-2.

Our conforming is to yield to the discipline of the Lord through our trials. That results in the fruit of righteousness when we embrace our trials and allow them to train us to be conformed to His image. Hebrews 12:11. Romans 8:29.

The pursuit of godliness enables us to include the Lord in everything we do. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” 

Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of their thoughts.” As we are out in the world, among the ungodly, we are to represent Jesus in our actions and conversations. We can only do that when we include Him in our moments with them. I love the template of Acts 4:13. Do the people you interact with recognize you have been with Jesus? May all who know us see Jesus in us.

What are you pursuing in your life?  We can take Paul’s instruction to Timothy and make personal application. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 was written about those who were not content. Their desires were ungodly.

Verse 11 says, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” We could take each of these six things and expand their meanings through Scripture.

Isaiah 64:6 says that our fleshly righteousness is as filthy rags. At salvation, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That is our standing.

Isaiah 32:17 is our state ~ progressive sanctification. It says, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” I like to think of this verse as the work of a potter on a wheel. The clay has to conform to the pressure of the potter’s hand.