“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” -(Proverbs 18:21, NIV)

Our words have creative power. Whenever we speak something out, either good or bad, we are giving life to what we are saying. Too many people go around saying negative things about themselves, their family, and their future. Things like, “I’ll never be successful. This sickness is going to get the best of me. Business is so slow I don’t think I’m going to make it. Flu season is coming. I’ll probably get it.” They don’t realize they are prophesying their future. The Scripture says, “We will eat the fruit of our words.” That means we’re going to get exactly what we’ve been saying.

Here is the key: you’ve got to send your words out in the direction you want your life to go. You cannot talk defeat and expect to have victory. You can’t talk lack and expect to have abundance. You will produce what you’ve been saying. With your words you can either bless or curse your future. Make sure your words are what God says about you so you can move forward in the life of blessing He has in store for you!

Psalm 113:1-9

1 Praise the LORD.
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.

2 Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,

6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8 he seats them with princes,
with the princes of their people.

9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD.

“Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised” (vv. 2,3).

These verses tell us that we have some responsibilities. First, we are to praise God. It’s tragic when we forget to praise the Lord. Someone has said that he feels sorry for atheists and agnostics because when they want to be thankful, they have no one to talk to. How can a person really enjoy a beautiful sunrise or a sunset, a beautiful spring day or even a beautiful winter day, if he can’t thank the One who creates these things? God deserves our praise, for He does so much for us.

The psalmist also tells us to praise God all day long, “from the rising of the sun to its going down” (v. 3). Praise Him when you have to get up in the morning. Praise Him when you’re tired at the end of the day. Praise Him during the day for the good things that happen and for the difficult things. Give Him thanks for seeing you through every situation.

We also should praise Him all over the world–as suggested by the psalmist’s reference to the daily journey of the sun from the east to the west. What are we doing about those who do not know the Lord, the many who have never heard about Jesus Christ and His salvation? Let’s begin by witnessing right where we are. Let’s pray and give. Missionaries need our support. Perhaps God wants you to go and carry the Gospel message overseas.

God has attached responsibility to your privilege of praising Him. You never run out of reasons to praise the Lord. Your praise to Him should encompass the whole day and the whole world. Is praise part of your daily walk with the Lord?

When we were growing up our parents taught us, by both word and example, to pay attention to little things. If you do a thing at all, do it thoroughly: make the sheets really smooth on the bed, sweep all the comers and move all the chairs when you sweep the kitchen, roll the toothpaste tube neatly and put the cap back on, clean the hair out of your brush each time you use it, hang your towel straight on the rod, fold your napkin and put it into the silver ring before you leave the table, never wet your finger when you turn pages. They kept promises made to us as faithfully as they kept those made to adults. They taught us to do the same.

You didn’t accept an invitation to a party and then not turn up, or agree to help with the Vacation Bible School and back out because a more interesting activity presented itself. The only financial debt my parents ever incurred was a mortgage on a house, which my father explained was in a special class because it was real estate which would always have value.

When I went to boarding school the same principles I had been taught at home were emphasized. There was a hallway with small oriental rugs which we called “Character Hall” because the headmistress, Mrs. DuBose, could look down that hall from the armchair where she sat in the lobby and spot any student who kicked up the comer of a rug and did not replace it. She would call out to correct him, “It’s those tiny little things in your life which will crack you up when you get out of this school!” In the little things our character was revealed. Our response would make or break us. “Don’t go around with a Bible under your arm if you didn’t sweep under the bed,” she said, for she would have no pious talk coming out of a messy room.

“Great thoughts go best with common duties. Whatever therefore may be your office regard it as a fragment in an immeasurable ministry of love” (Bishop Brooke Foss Westcott, b. 1825).

It is not easy to find children or adults who are dependable, careful, thorough, and faithful. So many lives seem honeycombed with small failures, neglectful of the little things that make the difference between order and chaos. Perhaps it is because they are so seldom taught that visible things are signs of an invisible reality; that common duties may be “an immeasurable ministry of love.” The spiritual training of souls must be inseparable from practical disciplines, as Jesus so plainly taught; “The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches! And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?” (Luke 16:10-12, JB). (The footnote to “your very own” says, “Jesus is speaking of the most intimate Possessions a man can have; these are spiritual.”)

Psalm 112:1-10

1 Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.

2 His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.

4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

6 Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.

7 He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

Psychiatrists call the fear of certain things phobias. There are people who fear heights (acrophobia) and people who fear closed-in places (claustrophobia). There are people afraid of water, dogs and even other people. But there is one fear that drives out all other fears, and we find it in Psalm 112. “Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments” (v. 1).

All kinds of fears are taken care of if we fear the Lord. One is family fears. “His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed” (v. 2). Commit your children to Him and you won’t have to worry about their lives.

Fear of the Lord also drives out financial fears. “Wealth and riches will be in his house” (v. 3). This doesn’t mean we will all be millionaires. It means we’ll always have what we need. If we fear the Lord, we can let go of our financial fears.

Some fear the dark. “Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness” (v. 4). Fear God and you’ll always have light when you need it. You will have His guidance and direction.

Some fear the future and change. “Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance” (v. 6). God says, “Don’t be afraid of the changes that are going on around you or in you. I am the God of the universe. Fear Me, and I’ll take care of the changes.”

Finally, some people have a fear of bad news. But verse 7 reads, “He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” No news is bad if you’re walking in the will of God.

When you fear the Lord, every other fear is conquered. Walk today in the fear of the Lord, trusting Him with your future. He will give you peace.

One day recently something lit a fuse of anger in someone who then burned me with hot words. I felt sure I didn’t deserve this response, but when I ran to God about it, He reminded me of part of a prayer I’d been using lately: “Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.”

Where could that kind of peace come from? Only from God, who gives “not as the world gives.”

His will that I should be burned? Here we must tread softly. His will governs all. In a wrong-filled world we suffer (and cause) many a wrong. God is there to heal and comfort and forgive. He who brought blessing to many out of the sin of the jealous brothers against Joseph means this hurt for my ultimate blessing and, I think, for an increase of love between me and the one who hurt me. Love is very patient, very kind. Love never seeks its own. Love looks to God for his grace to help.

“It was not you who sent me here but God,” Joseph said to his brothers. “You meant to do me harm; but God meant to bring good out of it” (Genesis 45:8, 50:20, NEB).

There is a philosophy of secular education which holds that the student ought to be allowed to assemble his own curriculum according to his preferences. Few students have a strong basis for making these choices, not knowing how little they know. Ideas of what they need to learn are not only greatly limited but greatly distorted. What they need is help from those who know more than they do.

Mercifully, God does not leave us to choose our own curriculum. His wisdom is perfect, His knowledge embraces not only all worlds but the individual hearts and minds of each of His loved children. With intimate understanding of our deepest needs and individual capacities, He chooses our curriculum. We need only ask, “Give us this day our daily bread, our daily lessons, our homework.” An angry retort from someone may be just the occasion we need in which to learn not only longsuffering and forgiveness, but meekness and gentleness; fruits not born in us but borne only by the Spirit. As Amy Carmichael wrote, “A cup brimful of sweetness cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, no matter how suddenly jarred” (From her book IF published by Christian Literature Crusade).

God’s curriculum for all who sincerely want to know Him and do His will always include lessons we wish we could skip. But the more we apply ourselves, the more honestly we can say what the psalmist said: “I, thy servant, will study thy statutes. / Thy instruction is my continual delight; / I turn to it for counsel. / I will run the course set out in thy commandments, / for they gladden my heart” (Psalm 119:23, 24, 32, NEB).

“Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away’ ” - (Matthew 13:24, NIV)

Jesus is telling a parable in Matthew 13 about a man who went out to his field and planted wheat in the ground. He sowed good seed. This represents that he was doing the right thing, honoring God with his life, and being good to others. But while he slept, an enemy came in and planted weeds. The man didn’t know what had happened. He was expecting to have a great harvest; after all, he did all the right things. But the weeds sprang up among his wheat.

Sometimes, things happen in life. Weeds spring up that we didn’t have anything to do with. The key is to keep the right attitude and keep focusing on the goodness of God. When these unexpected challenges happen, we can say, “It’s just another weed. I didn’t sow it. I don’t have to reap it.” Then we can keep the door open for God to move on our behalf.

Today, don’t let the weeds take root. Don’t let discouragement creep in. Instead, lift up your eyes of faith to what your father God can do for you. Keep believing, keep praying, and keep hoping because your harvest is on the way!

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed”  - (1 Peter 4:12–13, NIV)

It’s one thing to know that you’re going into a challenging season. You get prepared for it. You get mentally ready. But what about the difficulties that we don’t see coming? The unexpected crisis that catches us off-guard? Sometimes, it can seem so overwhelming that it almost knocks the wind right out of us.

The Scripture says that we shouldn’t be surprised by fiery trials. That’s because the forces of darkness would not be fighting against you if they didn’t know that God has something amazing in your future! Sometimes, those unexpected difficulties are just a sign that you’re on the right track. It’s always darkest just before the dawn appears. The enemy always fights the hardest when you are closest to your breakthrough. The key is to stay the course and keep fighting the good fight of faith. Keep your joy and keep declaring God’s Word over your future. God has promised that you will overcome every obstacle. You will defeat every enemy, and right now, I declare that you will fulfill your destiny in Jesus’ name!

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed”  - (1 Peter 4:12–13, NIV)

It’s one thing to know that you’re going into a challenging season. You get prepared for it. You get mentally ready. But what about the difficulties that we don’t see coming? The unexpected crisis that catches us off-guard? Sometimes, it can seem so overwhelming that it almost knocks the wind right out of us.

The Scripture says that we shouldn’t be surprised by fiery trials. That’s because the forces of darkness would not be fighting against you if they didn’t know that God has something amazing in your future! Sometimes, those unexpected difficulties are just a sign that you’re on the right track. It’s always darkest just before the dawn appears. The enemy always fights the hardest when you are closest to your breakthrough. The key is to stay the course and keep fighting the good fight of faith. Keep your joy and keep declaring God’s Word over your future. God has promised that you will overcome every obstacle. You will defeat every enemy, and right now, I declare that you will fulfill your destiny in Jesus’ name!

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives” - (John 12:24, NLT)

It’s good to be passionate about your dreams, but did you know a dream can actually become an idol? If it’s all you think about, and you’re not going to be happy unless it happens your way, that’s out of balance. The fact is, sometimes you have to release that dream back to the Father.

Sometimes we can get frustrated because we are trying to force things to happen on our timetable. Sometimes we hold on to things so tightly, but when we finally are willing to let them go, that’s when God can bring them to pass. If you’ll choose to release that frustration and not let it become the center of your attention, but instead, use that same time and energy to thank God that He’s directing your steps, you open the door for God to give you the desires of your heart.

We have to remember, God already knows what we want and what we need. He’s the One who put those desires in us. We shouldn’t be consumed by trying to make things happen. Instead, a greater act of faith is to be happy right where you are; to stay open and trust God because He has good plans in store for your future!

“A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure”- (Proverbs 16:9, AMP)

Oftentimes as children, we have dreams for the future, dreams of being ball players and actresses, super heroes and firemen. But most of the time, they end up just being wishful thinking. As we get older, we grow out of them. It’s good to play and have dreams as children, but when we grow up, we have to know the difference between a God-given dream and a wish. I remember when I was a little boy, I dreamed of playing basketball for the Houston Rockets. That was definitely a fantasy! Beyond our wishes though, we all have dreams placed inside of us by the Creator of the universe. In fact, the Latin word for “desire” means “from the Father.” One way to tell if a dream is really from God is that the desire won’t go away. You may have had it for years, but you still can’t let it go. In fact, you may have tried to let it go, but it won’t let go of you.

Today, I encourage you to search your heart and allow those God-given dreams to surface. He placed those desires inside of you for a purpose, and He’s going to use them to direct you into the destiny He has in store for you!

Psalm 109:21-31

21 But you, O Sovereign LORD,
deal well with me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.

23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.

25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O LORD my God;
save me in accordance with your love.

27 Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O LORD, have done it.

28 They may curse, but you will bless;
when they attack they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.

29 My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
in the great throng I will praise him.

31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save his life from those who condemn him.

When David wrote this psalm he was being sorely persecuted by his enemies. He was praying for them; they were preying on him. Yet throughout this psalm he expresses some rather vehement thoughts. He calls upon God to bring judgment upon them because of the way they lived. Again, keep in mind that David was not seeking personal revenge. He was above that. Instead, he was praying as God’s anointed king, concerned about the needs of his people.

I like the way Psalm 109 ends: “I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn him” (vv. 30,31). Even though he sees all these enemies around him, even though they are persecuting the poor and needy, even though they love cursing, David says, “I’m going to praise God. I’m not going to look at them and walk by sight. I’m going to walk by faith and praise God.” Praise can change a negative situation. It helps us see more clearly and lifts our hearts to the Lord when the world around us seems so difficult.

David not only praises God, he also witnesses. “I will praise Him among the multitude” (v. 30). In other words, “I’m going to tell others about what God has done for me. Instead of focusing on the enemy, I’m going to go out and share the Word of God with others.” That’s a good way to get victory. Instead of thinking constantly about the problems in life, let’s go out and tell others about the One who solves them.

Then he makes a third resolution. He says, “I’m going to trust my Advocate in heaven.” God is standing at our right hand (v. 31). At the right hand of God is Jesus Christ, our heavenly High Priest, our Advocate. So let’s not be afraid. Let’s not be bitter. Let’s praise the Lord and realize that He is at our right hand, and we dare not trust anyone or anything but Him.

To trust God when you are surrounded by enemies requires that you walk by faith, not sight. Perhaps you are in a similar situation today. By a courageous act of your will, get your eyes off your enemies and begin praising God. It can change your situation.

Some things are simply too wonderful for explanation–the navigational system of the Arctic tern, for example. How does it find its way over twelve thousand miles of ocean from its nesting grounds in the Arctic to its wintering grounds in the Antarctic! Ornithologists have conducted all sorts of tests without finding the answer. Instinct is the best they can offer–no explanation at all, merely a way of saying that they really have no idea. A Laysan albatross was once released 3,200 miles from its nest in the Midway Islands. It was back home in ten days.

The migration of birds is a thing too wonderful.

When the angel Gabriel told Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son,” she had a simple question about the natural: How can this be, since I am a virgin?!

The answer had to do not with the natural but with something far more mysterious than the tern’s navigation–something, in fact, entirely supernatural: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35, NIV). That was too wonderful, and Mary was silent. She had no question about the supernatural. She was satisfied with God’s answer.

The truth about the Incarnation is a thing too wonderful for us. Who can fathom what really took place first in a virgin’s womb in Nazareth and then in a stable in Bethlehem!

At the end of the book of Job, instead of answering his questions, God revealed to Job the mystery of Who He was. Then Job despised himself. “I have uttered what I did not understand,/ things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3, RSV).

In one of David’s “songs of ascents” he wrote, “My heart is not proud, O Lord,/ my eyes are not haughty;/ I do not concern myself with great matters/ or things too wonderful for me./ But I have stilled and quieted my soul; / like a weaned child with its mother,/ like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:1,2, NIV).

A close and fretful inquiry into how spiritual things “work” is an exercise in futility. Even wondering how “natural” things are going to work if you bring God into them–how God will answer a prayer for money, for example, or how your son-in-law is going to find a house for eight in southern California (on a pastor’s salary) is sometimes an awful waste of energy. God knows how. Why should I bother my head about it if I’ve turned it over to Him? If the Word of the Lord to us is that we are “predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with his purpose” (Ephesians 1:11, NIV), we may apprehend this fact by faith alone. By believing that God means just what He says, and by acting upon the word (faith always requires action), we apprehend it–we take hold of it, we make it our own. We cannot make it our own by mere reason–”I don’t see how such-and-such an incident can possibly have anything to do with any divine ‘plan.’”

Why should we see how! Is it not sufficient that we are told that it is so? We need not see. We need only believe and proceed on the basis of that assured fact.

Mary’s acceptance of the angel’s answer to her innocent question was immediate, though she could not imagine the intricacies and mysteries of its working in her young virgin body. She surrendered herself utterly to God in trust and obedience.

Do you understand what is going on in the invisible realm of your life with God? Do you see how the visible things relate to the hidden Plan and Purpose? Probably not. As my second husband Addison Leitch used to say, “You can’t unscrew the Inscrutable.” But you do see at least one thing, maybe a very little thing, that He wants you to do. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult [other translations say too hard, too wonderful] for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven…. nor is it beyond the sea…. no, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14, NIV).

Let it suffice you, as it sufficed Mary, to know that God knows. If it’s time to work, get on with your job. If it’s time to go to bed, go to sleep in peace. Let the Lord of the Universe do the worrying.

“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” - (John 16:21, NIV)

Years ago when we first found out that my wife was pregnant, we were so excited. Even though she didn’t look any different on the outside, we began planning and preparing for our new baby. Then as time went on, we moved out of the fun, easy stage of conception and into that much more difficult stage of development. That’s when the mother becomes uncomfortable, swollen, can’t sleep at night, her back aches. Things seem to get the hardest right before the birthing begins.

In a sense, it’s the same way in our spiritual lives. When we conceive something in our hearts from God, it’s so exciting. It’s easy to stay encouraged and full of faith during that time. But the real test is when we go through the development process. Are we willing to keep a good attitude even when we’re uncomfortable and things aren’t going our way? Are we willing to stand and fight the good fight of faith until we give birth to our dreams?

If you’re standing for something today, keep standing. Keep believing even when you don’t see anything happening. Hold on to that promise even when it’s uncomfortable because soon you will give birth to every dream and desire the Lord has placed in your heart!