June 9

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a good day to think about how we should act towards those who do not believe.

“Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?  And do I not loathe those that rise up against You?”  Psalm 139:21 NASB

Can any of us think of anyone who needs God more than those who do not believe in Him?

Those of us whose love of the Lord is great instinctively want to stand up for God and defend Him. Perhaps our defense of Him may include hating the one who does not believe or – even worse – hates God.

But is this an acceptable way to act towards individuals who desperately need God in their lives but just have not realized it yet?

If the action we take is to ignore or isolate these individuals then we are helping to spread the negative message that spills from their lips. If we do not act differently, we give them additional power to spread the wrong message. The last thing we want is for others to fall victim to thoughts and beliefs that will deprive them of the promise of the kingdom of God.

We do not have to put ourselves in physical danger or subject ourselves to any verbal abuse by confronting these individuals directly, but we do need to take positive steps that can help either change their hearts, or shield others from the venom of their disbelief.

The first way we help to affect change in the way others act is by setting an example in the manner in which we live our lives and conduct ourselves. A belief in God that is deeply rooted within us, will be evident in the friendly, outgoing, pleasant and helpful way in which we live. Perhaps we cannot influence them directly, but there is always someone whom they are trying to convince who just might sit up and take notice of a better way to live.

Our faith can be worn with a smile and a helping hand that can be seen by all.

Another way to act towards those who need God the most is to use the power of our prayers for their benefit. Jesus says “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44 NASB).

A simple way to do this is to pray, “Father thank You for working in the hearts of those who hate. Please continue to soften them that they may one day accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and join those who have secured a place with You that will be filled with everlasting peace, joy, and love. Amen.”

That is how we should act towards those who do not believe, and today is a good day to start.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 8

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a superb day to follow the fiery cloud.

“On the day the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it. But from evening until morning the cloud over the Tabernacle looked like a pillar of fire.”  Numbers 9:15 NLT

Discerning the direction God wants us to go is not always easy. Very often we have to choose a path and each one seems as if it could be one God wants us to follow.

How do we know which one to take?

When God instructed Moses, He was very clear that He would guide them. He was also very clear they were to follow. Fortunately for them, He provided a clear marker to know when to move and which direction to move in. When the cloud lifted over the Tabernacle and began to move, that was the signal for the people to break camp and follow. When the cloud stopped, they stopped. And at night, the cloud appeared as a pillar of fire. This let the Israelites know they were going the right way, and that they were protected.

Since we are all individuals moving in what seems to be millions of different directions, it has gotten harder to determine which direction God wants us to go. The reality is that we are all headed to the same place. At least God wants us all to be headed to the same place. Unlike the Israelites, we may not each have a clearly defined object to follow, but God has promised to guide us.

“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8 NLT).

It is impossible for God to lie to us so if He said it, it is true.

So where is our fiery cloud?

The Holy Bible is all we need to travel safely to the final destination God has prepared for us. The path we are to take is clearly spelled out with His love and wisdom and it is up to us to use that love and wisdom to direct us to the specific place we are to set our feet as we move closer to Him.

Can it be as simple for us as it was for the Israelites?

It truly can be if we are focused on the everlasting life that God has promised us and we read the Bible daily for specific instructions on how to safely arrive at that glorious final destination.

The fiery cloud that will guide you and keep you safe is right at your fingertips. Get your bearings daily and keep your life on course. It’s not a yellow brick road and it’s not a bouncing ball. It’s your own fiery cloud and God wants you to follow it today.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 7

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a fine day for a little home improvement.

“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”  Haggai 1:4 NASB

Life is a rat race, this much is certain.

There is always a desire for more money for more things to make us comfortable and provide us with a higher standard of living. We think we must work harder and longer to obtain more physical comfort for our days on earth.

That new car, boat, RV, or swimming pool certainly does beckon to us.

There is nothing wrong with having a desire to live a comfortable life and reap the rewards of our labor, but in our effort to make our homes more enjoyable, our lives more comfortable, and our leisure time more fulfilling, are we neglecting God?

After King Cyrus dreams that the people of Israel who had been exiled could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, work was begun but opposition to the work, as well as indifference on the part of the people, caused the work to come to a halt. People became more focused on their own needs and their own desires than on God.

Haggai was very good in pointing out the seriousness of their mistake. Placing God anywhere but first affects everything else in our lives in a negative manner, whether it is immediately apparent or not.

If we don’t think of God first, how can we make decisions? How can we identify which is the right path? If our concern for God comes after our concern for ourselves, how do we expect Him to put us first?

The Jews were negligent in not making the rebuilding of the temple a priority. Through that negligence, they were making a statement, and it is not a statement that we want to make.

God comes before everything else. With God in front of us, we can count on Him to lead us in the right direction. We can count on Him to warn us of danger heading our way. We can count on Him to enrich us in ways we cannot imagine.

It is time to do a little work on our relationship with God.  A little help in improving God’s house will go a long way to improving ours.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 6

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a great day to give a gift to our children.

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek Him, you will find Him. But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”  1 Chronicles 28:9 NLT

In order to know someone intimately, it is necessary to spend considerable time with that person, talking and listening.

We give our children life through the grace of God. This act should never be taken lightly. Our ability to create life is a gift from God, and that makes the children born as a result of that gift, a gift as well. Our responsibility as parents does not end when the child is born.  In fact, as we all should know, that responsibility is just beginning. We are responsible for clothing, feeding and teaching our children. And of course, as parents of our children, we want them to listen to us, follow our instructions, and adhere to our rules and regulations.

We are also responsible for sharing with them the gift of intimacy with God through Jesus Christ. Sharing that gift is the most important thing that we can ever do for our children. In order to do that, it is important to have such a relationship with God ourselves so there is never any question where the guidance we give them, and the morality we try to instill in them, comes from.

In order to fully accept and appreciate this gift we are trying to give them, they must be able to clearly see the positive impact that our own intimacy with God has had on our lives, or else the message we want them to receive will have no impact.

We must teach them from the day they are born, and much of our instruction needs to be in the form of a living example of how the gift of intimacy with God makes us happier, healthier, kinder, gentler and more loving people.

If we want the very best of everything for our children, then we must begin with the very best gift we can give them. Of all the things we could possibly give them, the gift of an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the best gift we could ever give.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 5

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a good day to remember that God knows when we are unfaithful.

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  Revelations 2:10 NASB

While God rewards faithfulness, some of us mistakenly think that if we are faithful, we will avoid suffering and that is simply not true. God never promises any of us that we will not suffer in some way, at some time in our lives. Our reward will come when we endure our suffering, as Jesus endured His, and still remain faithful.

In John’s vision, Jesus instructed him to write a letter to the church in Smyrna. In that letter He told them not to fear suffering, and instructed them to remain faithful during the suffering. Our instructions are the same today.

But God looks at faithfulness in several different ways. Not only are we to live our lives completely faithful to the Lord, but we are also to live our lives, if we are married, being faithful to our spouses.

Just as many Christians turn away from God when trouble enters their lives, many married people turn away from their spouse when difficulty and trouble enter their relationships.

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and who commit adultery.” (Hebrews 13:4 NLT).

Being a Christian is to know about commitment: Commitment to God, to our spouses, to our children, and to everyone around us. We cannot claim to be faithful to God if we are unfaithful to our spouses. We cannot claim to be faithful to God if we are not faithful to our children. We cannot be faithful to our children if we are not faithful to our spouses.

God sees us and knows if we are living up to our commitments. There is no hiding, there is no pretending. If we live secret, separate lives, we are being unfaithful to our children, our spouses, and to God.

There are no excuses to be made, just corrections to our behavior that are required. We should always endeavor to use the troubles and the suffering in our lives to make us better people, and to draw us closer to those we love: Our children, our spouses, and God.

Today is a good day to ask ourselves if we are being faithful to everyone we love.

If we are honest, and we find that the answer is, “No,” remember that God knows too. If you hand the “No” over to Him, He can help you change it to, “Yes” and today is a good day to remember that.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 4

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a terrific day to satisfy our hunger.

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35 KJV

If we are hungry, simply staring at a piece of bread or thinking about a piece of fruit will do nothing to satisfy our physical hunger.

The only way to do that is to eat. Eating is an active act. Simply wishing the food was in our stomach will not make it so. Dreaming about how we would feel after a big meal will not produce the desired feeling of fullness, nor will it provide the nourishment we need for physical life.

Throughout the Bible, various translations often use different words to interpret the same sentence, but there is not much difference in the interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus when He said, “I am the bread of life.”

We need what Jesus Christ has to offer us in order to satisfy our spiritual hunger, but we must actively partake of what He offers us.

Merely thinking or wishing will not make our hunger go away.

Approaching Jesus Christ in a half-hearted manner will not produce the desired results. We must ‘consume’ His teachings. We must look forward to our next ‘meal’ with the same enthusiasm we have for our favorite restaurant or home cooked dinner. We must savor each and every morsel that the words of Jesus represent and draw from them the nutrients to help us become spiritually satisfied.

Eating requires effort in order to receive the benefits derived from it. Far too many of us think that we need only sit down at Jesus’ table one time, or on special occasions. It is true that we do enjoy special meals at various times throughout the year, but in order to live, we must eat daily.

And so it is with the life that Christ offers us. We must partake of it on a daily basis so that we grow strong in faith and in character, and build up a defense against the disease of sin.

Fortunately, satisfying our hunger with the bread of life is not like when we were little and we were forced to eat our peas. The bread of life is wonderful to consume and makes us feel better inside immediately.

If you haven’t already, make the bread of life a part of your daily diet, and today is a terrific day to start.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 3

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a great day to understand why things are allowed to happen as they do.

“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”  Nahum 1:3a NASB

It is very likely that most of us have experienced times in our lives in which we have felt frustration with God over things that we see around us, read about in the newspaper, or see on television.

Great harm befalls innocent victims. People are slaughtered by a deranged gunman or are systematically eliminated by vicious dictators or rulers. Crimes of unspeakable horror are wrought upon children, women, and even men and we sit and cry, asking God for answers.

As difficult as it is to accept sometimes, we must not allow ourselves to ever think that God’s silence is approval for evil.

The Bible makes it very clear that, “The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in Him. But He will sweep away His enemies in an overwhelming flood. He will pursue His foes into the darkness of night.” (Nahum 1:7-8 NLT).

In other words, no evil act, or sin, escapes God’s notice, nor does God forget them.

It is important that we try to understand that even the life of the most despicable, hateful, murderous individual on earth is but a brief moment in time to the One who has seen all that has transpired since before time began.

In the end, those who prey upon the innocent and wreak havoc wherever they go will face an eternity of unbelievable pain and punishment. Our humanity demands justice now, but that is not always God’s plan, and it really is not our place to question His plan.

We are instructed to believe in Him and we are required to trust Him.

Unfortunately, there are those of us who fail to realize this and sometimes adopt an attitude that is not wise. Some may think that if God can allow horrible things to happen, He must not care. And if He doesn’t care, then, “It doesn’t matter what I do.”

Do not fall into this evil trap.

It does matter, and we all need to have faith that it matters. It may be very difficult sometimes, but we must remain trusting and faithful to God and we must resist temptation in spite of anything that takes place around us because God never lets the guilty go unpunished.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 2

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

the perfect day to stop at the crossroads.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.’ But, you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road that we want!’”  Jeremiah 6:16 NLT

From the time we are small, we are confronted with choices we must make.

Most are relatively unimportant, but we must train ourselves to recognize when we are at the crossroads of a decision that can have an effect not only on our life here on earth, but also on our fate when our time here is done.

The right way to go, of course, is the way of God – the way of righteousness, peace, love, and joy. Many of us have made the wrong choices at some point in our lives only to discover much later that we have spent a tremendous amount of time and expense – as well as an enormous amount of energy – moving in the wrong direction, following a path that clearly is not one God has marked out for us.

In an age of “new” and “improved” and “better,” it is sometimes difficult to understand that some things don’t change.

For instance, “Jesus Christ (is) the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 KJV).

We must always remember this. As much as the superficial things in the world change: fashion, furniture, cars, hairstyles, food preferences and on and on – no matter what transpires in politics or world events, the Lord can be counted on to be the same, and the path that God wants us to take will always be the right one.

We will never have to worry about God’s path going out of style or somehow not fitting. No matter what changes take place in the world around us, God wants us to always be aware of the path He wants us to take.

There are those who think that public displays of faith are a way of forcing God, and God’s way, upon them. The truth is that God sets all of us squarely in the middle of the crossroads and allows us to make our choices.

He does not force Himself on any of us.

He simply makes it clear that there is an eternal price to pay for following the wrong path, and there is an eternal reward to be received for following the right one.

God’s path is the one – the only one – that leads to rest for our souls and eternal rewards.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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June 1

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Tony Casson

Today is…

a fine day to think about giving and receiving advice.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” Proverbs 12:15 NASB

The president of the United States surrounds himself with trusted advisors, as most world leaders do. No matter how learned we are, no matter how educated, no matter how confident we may be in our ability to make decisions, it is always wise to consider the advice of those around us.

It is as important to consider carefully whom we choose to advise us as it is to seek the counsel of others in the first place. King Rehoboam had an opportunity to listen to advice from older, wiser men on the subject of relaxing some of the harsh labor and tax demands of his father, but he didn’t care for that advice, so he asked people he grew up with.

“What is your advice?’ he asked them. ‘How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?’” (1 Kings 12:9 NLT).

Their response was to suggest even harsher treatment. His friends told him to say, “Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.” (1 Kings 12:11 NLT).

Rehoboam took the advice of others and it turned out poorly. He sought counsel but it was provided by individuals who obviously were not very wise.

So, perhaps it is best to not seek out advice in the first place, right?

Wrong.

First, it is important to have some idea of the heart of those from whom we seek counsel. It is important that God figure highly into the equation.

“The plans of the godly are best; the advice of the wicked is treacherous.” (Proverbs 12:5 NLT).

When confronted with situations that require advice, do these things: Pray for God to guide you; search the Bible for answers; talk with someone you feel has your best interests in mind and is guided by God in their hearts. Also, make sure they have some knowledge or experience in the matter at hand before considering what they have to say regarding it.

When it comes time for someone to seek counsel from you, always ask God to guide you, and if you know nothing about what you are being asked, offer this advice: “Find someone who knows more about the situation than me.”

Because no advice is better than bad advice, whether it is advice we are giving or advice we are receiving.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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May 31

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Tony Casson

TODAY IS…

a wonderful day to remind ourselves of God’s promise of eternal life.

“This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God – who does not lie – promised them before the world began.”  Titus 1:2 NLT

Many of us have seen the sign that proclaims: “In God We Trust – All Others Pay Cash!”

Of course we can trust God. He is, after all, the One who gave us life. He is the creator of all we can see and hear and touch and smell and He absolutely, positively cannot – and does not – lie.

We can all trust God.

Just as God is love, God is truth, and God has given us all the promise of an eternal life with Him. The cost of this promise is both nothing – and everything. There is no real out-of-pocket expense involved. It cannot be bought, nor can the promise be sold. It was offered to each one of us and whether we want it or not it is our choice to make.

There are many unfortunate individuals who scoff at the idea of eternal life. They reject the notion and refuse to give what is required to receive the promise. Many feel confident that this life is all that there is and it is here and now, that it is to be lived and “enjoyed”.

Many don’t care what happens because they falsely believe that when we are dead, we are dead.

Thankfully there are vast numbers of us who know the Truth and have willingly, lovingly, and gratefully accepted the promise that was made even before life, as we know it, began.

We have accepted Jesus as our savior and we thank God for the tremendous sacrifice that enabled those of us who know the Truth to spend an eternity in the loving presence of our Lord.

God will never lie to us. He has no reason to. While the thought of an eternal life may be a difficult concept for some, the thought of a lie coming from the mouth of God is an impossible one.

In God we can always trust. Today, tomorrow, and forever.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson

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