Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalm 84

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. v10

We are told that we are foreigners in "this world" and at home and citizens of Heaven.

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.  1 Peter 1:17

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ[.] Philippians 3:20

As such we should not grow comfortable with this world and not "conform".

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

We should "[b]e holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2).

God knows that we cannot do this alone - so He provides the Word, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the church, and of course Jesus Christ His Son through which we have the Holy Spirit - the same power the brought Jesus from the grave.

Our time here on earth is to be spent discipling others and bringing others to Him.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who has brought me out of the miry pit...again and again.  You always welcome me back with open arms - You free from the sting of sin and death and You put me on a path to live a life more like You.  Thank You Jesus!  Yet I am not worthy of such love.  I often do not obey and I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus!  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!...But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Psalm 81

If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!...But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. v13-14,16

A great promise for us...that God will protect us from our enemies (Satan) and that we will be fed (physically, etc.) and satisfied.  We need both protection and provision.  All of us do....We also need a Savior.

Key here is to listen to God...to listen and obey.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

That is why corporate worship and living hand in hand with other believers is important.  So that we can support and encourage one another...to press forward towards maturity.

But most importantly I believe is to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness so that we may be transformed through the renewing of the mind.


My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me, even though You know everything about me.  You provide and protect me....and You have saved me from the sting of sin and death.  Thank You Jesus. I am not worth such love and blessings.  I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

Psalm 78

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. v4

As a father, I am called to be spiritual head of the household and to instruct my children in the ways of the Lord - see Ephesians 6:4.  See also this post by Dennis Rainey.

Rainey provide useful guidance about how to manage, minister and model to our families.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who has blessed me with a wonderful family - Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love though.  I often fall down in my role as husband and father and I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

Psalm 73

Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. v27-28

God wants us to be in relationship with Him - and this means we must worship, be in prayer with Him, and serve Him - daily.  When we sin, we must confess our sins and repent. When we do so, we are reconciled back to God.  Otherwise, as Psalm 73 states, we remain far from God.  We do not want to remain far from God as once sin catches hold we risk being "dragged away" by our own evil desires.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15

  
My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loved me and died for me, knowing everything about my sin.  You always welcome me back with open arms when I confess and repent of my sin.  What a God of love and grace You are.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love.  I neglect my role as father too often.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.

Psalm 69

You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. v5

We all need Jesus Christ because we all need a Savior...because we sin (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10), because the wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23), and Jesus is that Savior as He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).   He nailed our sin to the cross and gave us freedom over sin and death.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cr Colossians 2:13-15

 
What is most remarkable for me is that God knows everything about us and loves us no less and He paid the price we should have paid.  Amazing.  Amazing Grace.

 My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who gave me amazing grace.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such grace.  I am harsh with my words and actions.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Psalm 63

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. v1

David cries out to God as Saul and his men seek him out to destroy him.  David's life is at stake and only God can sustain him.  We must feel the same way.  We need God more than we need water because God provides living water and everything else that sustains us - we are already dead in our sins.  We must seek God to rescue us and also go to God daily for our provision. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me - even though You know everything about me. Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love as I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin and towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.

Psalm 58

Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth. v11

We often concern ourselves with how others should be judged for their wrongs and in so doing we sin.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

We should rest in knowing that God knows everything and that nothing is hidden from Him.  We can also rest in knowing that God's justice is perfect.

Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.  Revelation 22:11-12

It is not our role to play judge. On the other hand, we are to love others as God loves us (John 13:34). 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who knows all yet loves all.  You know everything about me including my sin, yet You still came to earth to die on a cross for me so that I would be free from the sting of sin and death.  Thank You Jesus - I am not worth such love.  I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.