Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” - John 14:27 Father, I lift my friend before You.  Bring break through, I pray!  Still the lying tongue of the enemy and remind them of Your truths.  Show them that it is not foolishness to embrace hope.  Jehovah-Shalom, our God of peace, hold them tightly and bless them with peace and the mind of Christ for decisions on the horizon.  Give them self control to not make harmful or permanent decisions based on temporary or intermittent feelings.  Faith, rise up within them, that they will walk by faith and not by sight, and to respond by Your Spirit instead of reacting in their flesh.  Lord, help them to stand on truth instead of running in fear and to choose the path of righteousness leading to blessing and victory, and away from temptation and...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “The LORD hasn't lost his powerful strength; he can still hear and answer prayers.” - Isaiah 59:1.  “Stretch forth Your hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,” - Psalm 144:7 Father, I lift my friend before You.  You are intimately aware of everything about their life.  You know everything from the number of hairs on their head to their number of days.  You knew them before they were born, and knitted them in their mother’s womb.  By Your hand  every freckle was painted.  You shaped their eyes and gently formed the bow of their lips.  You are mindful of how they were made, know their favorite color, their greatest pet peeve, what makes them laugh and what makes them cry.  Your presence is all around them, inhabiting the very air that touches their skin and fills their lungs.   We bring their requests before You, not because You are unaware of their...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another. I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind.” - Philippians 2:1-2  Lord, as the Body of Christ, whether we are a hand, foot or an eyebrow, we are designed to come together.  A disembodied hand may have been funny on the Addams Family, but in reality, separation from the rest of the Body, is more accurately depicted by a horror movie, because it is unnatural, unhealthy and leads to death.  Father, draw us into community with the Body and with You.  We are admonished in John 15:4 to remain in the vine, because a branch that has been cut off cannot bear fruit.  Help us to find safe relationships within our community to serve and be served, teach and learn, give a...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” - Luke 6:45 Lord, we only need to catch five minutes of the news to see what our world is full of.  It is so disturbing and sad.  We have come so far from what You intended for mankind.  You remind me, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” - I John 4:7-8. “The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.” - Psalm 29:11 And “Our hope comes from God. May He fill you with joy and peace because of your trust in Him.” - Romans 15:13 All of these things our world is sorely lacking, love, joy, peace and hope, are all gifts that come from You.  But as a...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “As holy people whom God has chosen and loved, be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Put up with each other, and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” - Colossians 3:12-13   The leaves on the trees along the banks of our pond are starting t o change colors.  Soon they will be released from the trees and will gracefully dance their way down onto the surface of the water to float like tiny boats.  It’s a beautiful thing to watch Autumn coming in like a slow wave of color that laps up over the rolling hills.  In preparation for winter, the healthy, deciduous trees know to release their leaves.  Deep within them You have placed an awareness of the change of season, and a knowing as to when it is time to let them go. Lord, You know how the trees were made.  In Your wisdom You designed them to release their leaves in Fall, because with the pre...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” - I Thessalonians 5:11 It has been a challenging couple of weeks, with extra stress and unexpected struggle.  My eyes opened this morning with a tinge of dread at what the day might hold. I had felt I was on a flat sea, adrift.  Apart from a breeze from Heaven, I felt stranded until something changed. I clicked on my cell phone and I saw a single sentence that changed my day.  The message was from someone I did’t even know, but their encouraging words put wind in the sails of my heart. Father, words can be so powerful.  They aren’t anything we can necessarily touch with our hands, but they are a force for creation.  You spoke everything there is into being with mere words.  Made in Your image, we have been given a gift to create with our words, too.  “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” - Psalm 150:6 It's time to start worshipping.  Before the answer comes... before relief is in sight...before the healing is felt, the reconciliation is realized, the finances appear or the war is over...it's time to worship.  You alone are worthy of our praise.  You are worthy of praise whether our prayer is answered in the manner we hope it will be, or not.  Whether You ever answer one more prayer or provide one more thing for us, You are worthy of our praise.  Even those with no relationship with their creator will say, "Thank God" after a test or a trial has passed.   But it takes a measure of faith to wholeheartedly thank and praise God before the test and trial are over.  It’s an exercise of faith.  Its time to start exercising. Father I lift up my friend.  Encourage them to join me in sliding into their spiritual work-out c...

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy!

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! "When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next." - Ecclesiastes 7:14   When I read a book I would consider the book boring if only good things happened in the story.  It is the conflict and rollercoaster of events that makes the story interesting.  It makes for a great story to have all sorts of twists, turns and conflict.  In my own life, however, I just want smooth sailing every day...no drama...no trauma...no pain.  But it is through those ups and downs that You give us the opportunity to live a life of adventure and impact.  We are afforded the opportunity to learn about You, ourselves and our fellow man, and we have the choice to become "bitter" or "better" as a result of our response to them.   In this rollercoaster of life, it can come down to whether we trust th...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” – Romans 8:26-28 (MSG) Lord, what a beautiful picture these verses paint of the intimacy with which You not only know, but care for us.  How I thank You that our prayers don’t need to be eloquent, or even coherent to be understood by You.   Our groans and our tears are laced with thousands of thoughts and feelings that lose their way on the way to our lips.  We praise You, Father, for Your ability to interpret every sigh, You know the hurt behind e...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6 Lord, we don’t have to be the only one in a room to feel alone.  We can be in a coliseum full of people and still feel lonely.  We feel alone in our skin.  You encourage us to not forsake meeting together as a church (Hebrews 10:25), but it is the internal companionship that keeps us from feeling loneliness in that packed coliseum. Father, I lift my friend.  Your Word says that where two or more are gathered in Your Name, You are there in the midst of them.  So Lord, as in Acts 19:12 when Paul sent a blessed handkerchief to the sick and they were healed, likewise, across time and space I take hands with Your precious child.  Together we bow before You and admit we need You.  We invite Your presence.  If they feel...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” - Psalm 34:18 Lord, this morning my heart is heavy over my friends who are struggling with change, disappointment, sadness and grief.  They look at life’s circumstances and can’t imagine how they will ever be able to move forward.  I praise You that Your heart is tender toward the broken-hearted.  You are close to them and Your heart is moved by their pain. You keep track of all their sorrows and have collected all their tears in your bottle. (Psalm 56:8) Heavenly Father, I lift my friend before You.  Send Your Holy Spirit to comfort them.  Touch their aching heart.  Touch their mind to be able to conceive of having joy again.  Send the Body of Christ to compassionately care for them, sometimes even with words.  In their area of shadows, devoid of the light of hope, I ask You to shine Your light of tr...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “When I was a child, I was speaking like a child, I was thinking like a child, I was reasoning like a child; when I became a man, I did away with the things of the child.” - I Corinthians 13:11. Father, when I was a child I had hopes and plans about what my life would be like as an adult.  I look back now and see that maybe 20% is as I had planned.  The other 80% is a mishmash of good, hard, wonderful, sad and hopeful.  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10.  We understand that when we die to our old life in baptism, we are raised with Christ to live for You. We have been resurrected, but our old nature wants to hang on to the plans, hopes and dreams of our life before surrendering to You.  Our personal history has become His Story/Your story.  You have a plan for this life that may have elements th...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - I John 1:9 Lord, I had a bad dream last night.  I don’t remember anything about it other than at the end of the dream I was looking in the mirror and I was filthy.  I was crying and saying, “Lord, I’m a mess!  I’m a mess!”  Your response was, “Sweetheart, you are clean.” Even now recounting the brief snippet of the dream, tears are rolling down my cheeks.  We get ourselves into messes, we make poor decisions or take matters into our own hands, because You seem to move too slowly.  We make messes of ourselves and then look in the mirror and realize that to clean ourselves up is more than we can do alone. Father, I lift my friend.  How I thank You that as their Father, You can do for them what they cannot do for themselves.  Praise You for loving them, mess and ...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. “ — 2 Timothy 1:13-14 I recently had a disturbing conversation with a man who had been raised in and served in church.  The topic came around to salvation.  I was shocked when he said, “I have heard about Jesus dying in the cross so many times that I am getting tired of it.  It’s cheesy.”  Hearing that made me feel sick to my stomach. Whether it is our cell phone, a relationship or the gospel, if we are not careful to guard the value of our blessings, they can become commonplace and eventually contemptible.  I’m reminded that, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; “ - John 10:10a. While I hold my salvation as precious, I wonder which other truths and blessings have lost their ...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that   I would see the goodness of the Lord in  the land of the living.   Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage,   And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” - Psalm 27:13-14 Father, we thank You that with You all things are possible.  All around us there are financial troubles, poverty, disease, depression, anxiety, divorces, confusion, disappointment, illness, loss, pain and grief.  The list goes on and on.  People are suffering, Father, and are clinging to the last vestiges of hope.   Lord, I lift up my friend.  You know precisely what weighs on their mind today, and which troubling thoughts strike fear in their heart.  Long seasons of struggle bring with them weariness and discouragement.  I cry out to You on their behalf, Lord.  You are able.  We ask for miracles.  Noth...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4 Lord, we don’t like suffering for any amount of time, let alone enduring longsuffering.  Thank You that You do not take it lightly when we do.  You work in ways that our minds cannot conceive.  In our suffering, there is far more transpiring than we know. Thank You that “...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” - Hebrews 4:14.  Jesus’ suffering was a work far greater than what was observed by the crowds.  There was far more going on under the surface that went beyond the beatings, crucifixion and death.  Much more was happeni...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9 Lord, I have been a chiropractor for more than 30 years.  We strive for balance, symmetry and perfection.  And I have spent the last three decades focused on exactly that.  While I still love my profession, I can clearly see how striving for perfection has bled over into many areas of my life.  Apart from You, Lord, no one is perfect.  Yoked to the burden of perfectionism has made me a good doctor, but it has put a burden on my soul that has stolen joy that could have been mine, had my goal been excellence instead of perfection.  Recently, I have been relishing the fact that Jesus is perfection for me.  That truth frees me to just be the best me that I can be.   I have been painting ceramics and have been purposeful...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” - John 14:21. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. “ - Psalm 91:14 Father, I learn things about myself from our little dog, Luigi.  He is eager to please and smart as a whip, but there is a streak of rebellion in him that is unfortunately like looking in the mirror.  I love him so much, that I would walk through broken glass to save or protect him.  When he sees me, most of the time he obeys and receives a reward.  When I am out of sight, he believes my command to “wait” can be ignored.  I want him to obey all of the time, so I can know that he will be safe when I detect danger.  I also want to be able to reward him, which I can’t do when he is disobedient. ...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.  But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 A couple nights ago, I was texting with a most beloved friend in the middle of the night.  She lives in a different state, a long distance away.  For her it was late evening.  For me, it was very early morning of the following day.  Just like for us, we were in different parts of the day and even on different days on the calendar, so Your children are in different seasons of life, Lord.  I thank You that You stagger our trials and tribulations, so we might be available to be of comfort to one another.  Oh, what a mess we would be were we to all fall at the same time, so there would be no one left standing to help us up.  I praise You for the ingeniousness of Your plan, t...

CONFESSION: Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.” Proverbs 14:29   Father, recently there have been a couple of situations where I have become very angry, very quickly.  My anger initially was based on an injustice and harm that I was trying to prevent.  Originally, it was righteous anger.  However, I allowed myself to become overly angry, and I lashed out in a way that was just plain wrong.  My heart changed from righteous anger due to love, to sin anger that wanted to punish. Father, forgive me for my foolish heart and lack of self control. “If angry, beware of sinning. Let not your irritation last until the sun goes down;” - Ephesians 4:26.  Jesus had a very long fuse and never sinned, yet He occasionally became angry.  He turned over the merchants’ tables in the temple in righteous anger over sin.  The difference is that Jesu...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him...Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.” - Acts 12:5, 13-16   Father, this is so like us.  We pray and hope, but when You answer we struggle to believe it, even when we see it with our eyes.  It is a strange place that we find ourselves, with enough faith to pray, but not enough to believe You will answer.  After the woman who was healed of the issue of blood reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, Jesus said, “Daughter, your FAITH...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “Jesus answered, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.'"” - Matthew 4:4 When I fast from food, about mid-morning my stomach starts to growl and my head begins a parade of tasty images in an attempt to coerce me to eat.  When my phone has been broken, it disappoints me how often I think about it.  We develop hungers in our lives, and those hungers drive us to feed whichever belly is gnawing with emptiness. Jesus equated time in the Word and Your presence with feeding His body.  He hungered for You.  Without feeding that hunger, He knew His spirit would have become weak, frail and vulnerable to sin.  I think how often I have gone without regularly feeding my spirit.  Lord, how well fed does my spirit look today? Father, I lift my friend.  I ask that You would bless them with a divine hunger.  May regular time in Your presence and...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “I treasure your word above all else; it keeps me from sinning against you. “ - Psalm 119:11 We went shoe shopping yesterday.  The store sold active wear and both sport and everyday shoes.  They gave us a free glass with their emblem on it, as a free gift with purchase.  I had to laugh. The words on the glass said, “Do what’s natural.”  Well, for me that would be to sit on the couch and watch TV.  Somehow I don’t think that is what they were talking about. Lord, I fight the temptation to “do what’s natural” every single day. Some days are more successful than others.  Inside of me, left to its own devices, my flesh will always bob to the surface of my heart.  And when temptation arises, I reach down inside myself to try to pull out something that will help me win the battle.  If what is on top is a couple layers of “what’s natural”, chances are I am going to lose that battle.  ...