TODAY IS…

an excellent day to motivate one another.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  Hebrews 10:24 NIV

Sometimes it is difficult to get ourselves geared up to do anything at all.

Occasionally we need help and most of us know to turn to God for that help. Most of us know that if we are caught up in a period of lethargy or indecision, asking God to help us is always the right thing to do.

But what about those of us who are timid or whose indecision has frozen them and disabled their ability to even reach out to God?

Part of our responsibility as followers of Christ is to be aware of the needs of those who are around us. It is important to keep our eyes open for those who may be in need of encouragement and motivation. God wants us to turn to Him whenever we have needs, but He also expects us to take care of one another and fuel the flames of each other’s faith, spur each other on and lift each other up. If someone is withdrawn and seemingly unmotivated, try to determine the cause and find a way to help.

It may be that the ‘only’ thing we can do is to pray for them, but if the opportunity lends itself, pray with them and try to get them to join you in an activity of service to someone in even greater need.

There is one certain way God helps us get our minds off of our troubles or helps us to step outside our comfort zones, and that is by helping us focus on another individual. How energized we can become when our goal each day is to energize and motivate those around us. To serve God in this manner is a perfect way to thank Him for all of the blessings in our lives. To use the power of the Spirit within us to exert a positive influence on another of God’s children is to show the Lord that we have received His message loud and clear.

Spread God’s word by spreading His love and help others around you do the same.

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

TODAY IS…

a good day to look closely at the face in the mirror.

“You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”  James 1:24 NLT

The Word of God contains powerful messages that we must learn in order to live our lives on earth in a manner that demonstrates our understanding of exactly what it is that we are looking at.

When James was speaking to Jewish Christians residing outside Palestine, he exhorted those who were listening to demonstrate that they were paying attention to God’s Word by obeying. Merely going through the motions of reading the Bible or listening to a sermon in church is of no value if we are just doing it out of habit or obligation. James told his listeners that there was action required.

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.” (James 1:23-24 NLT).

We should probably all take a look at how and when we study the Bible, pray, meditate, and read daily devotionals. Are we focused on what we are doing? Are we intent on using the time to feel God’s presence and ‘hear’ God’s voice? Do we pause and reflect on what we are reading and look for ways to apply what we are reading to today? Do we take time in the morning to ask God how we may be of service to Him today? Do we turn off the radio and television and seek the things that we will need to make this day a significant one for God?

Serving God requires constant, purposeful, focused attention.

Not only is it important that we set aside time just for God every day, we must take a moment several times throughout the day to thank Him or ask for His continued guidance.

Each and every day of our lives is a wonderful gift from God.

Using each day with God’s purpose in mind is pleasing to Him. Applying what we learn through reading the Bible and by listening for His ‘voice’ will show the Lord that we are not just giving a glancing look at what we see.

We will show that we are looking closely and we will work on what we see until we can also see what we have learned looking back at us.

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

TODAY IS…

a fine day to see possibilities through our fears and our tears.

“So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in the fifty and two days.”  Nehemiah 6:15 KJV

A child struggles with the task of learning to tie his or her shoelaces.

Failure breeds frustration which unleashes a torrent of tears. We quietly comfort and gently encourage, trying to instill confidence. The frustration brings out an angry “I can’t!” followed by our gently positive response, “You can. It just takes practice, patience, and focus.”

Growing up is accompanied by repetitions of this scene with the only thing different being the ‘it’ that can be done.

Though the Jews had been back in Jerusalem for many years after being exiled, the walls surrounding the city, which had been torn down in many places, were still in need of rebuilding. The walls were intended to provide security and safety as well as a source of beauty to the city. Its many gates, which were massive, had been burned and were in need of rebuilding as well.

To many people, the task was so enormous as to be an impossible one.

Nehemiah knew that the answer could be found in prayer. He knew that seeking God’s approval and asking for His guidance would result in a plan that would restore the wall, the gates, and the beauty, safety, and security that they represented.

Many of us will give vocal acknowledgement that prayer is a powerful tool to employ in any task that may loom before us, but simply saying it doesn’t make it so.

The power of prayer to seek the approval and gain the assistance of God is real and it is only our faith that can unleash its power. It is not enough to mouth the words or go through the motions, but true faith will produce a prayer that is sincere. God will hear it and we will find the path to our objective stretched before us with all that we need to arrive at our destination or to accomplish our task.

Remember the words of Jesus when the father of the boy who was ill expressed doubt. His response could not be any clearer:

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?’ Jesus asked. ‘Anything is possible if a person believes.’” (Mark 9:23 NLT).

The challenges confronting us on a daily basis may be considerably more difficult than learning to tie our shoes. But if we pray with faith, God will turn the seemingly impossible into possibilities to be realized and will give us all that we need to realize them.

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

TODAY IS…

the day for self-examination.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts…”  Psalm 139:23 KJV

We examine the outsides of our bodies in many different ways and for many different reasons. We painstakingly keep an eye on blemishes to see if they change size or shape; women are encouraged to examine themselves for lumps that might be an indication of cancer; we examine our stomachs, our hair, our teeth; we poke and prod and do everything but look at ourselves through a magnifying glass – and sometimes we do that!

But what about a self-examination of our soul? How often do we examine our spiritual health?

The truth is, many of us do not perform this important task on anything resembling a regular basis, and that is a serious mistake. It is important that we ask God to help us perform a “spiritual spot check” frequently. In our busy lives it is all too easy to let ourselves go spiritually in much the same way that some of us allow ourselves to slip physically. Just as neglect can cause us to put on physical weight, we also put on “spiritual weight.” This comes in the form of burdens of sin that accumulate inside of us, weighing us down spiritually. And just as allowing ourselves to put on physical pounds slows us down and has a negative effect on our moods, the weight of our sins affects us in the same manner.

For many of us, too much time is spent searching our exteriors for imperfections when our attention really needs to be focused on the inside. When we ask God to regularly help us give ourselves a spiritual checkup, we are taking an important step in ensuring excellent spiritual health.

We have mirrors to help us examine our skin, hair and other exterior components of our physical makeup. We have God to help us examine the inside. Unfortunately, the mirror does nothing beyond helping us to see flaws. God, on the other hand, not only helps us to see the things that are wrong with us spiritually, but He is there to help us fix whatever needs fixing.

Ask God to help you give yourself a “spiritual spot check” today.

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

TODAY IS…

a superb day to thank God for His gift of friends.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13 KJV

There is much that has been written, and said, about friendship throughout history

We can probably all remember times in our lives in which friends have played a critical role: a spouse passes suddenly, or a tragedy befalls one of our children; we have a car accident and are injured; we go through the unfortunate unpleasantness of a divorce. The list goes on and on but the action taken by friends in times of need is always the same: a friend is immediately and unquestionably there for us when we need them.

Hopefully none of us will be required to lay down our life for a friend, although this very thing has been done many times and in many places. The world truly is filled with individuals who place a high value on the friendship of another human being.

Do we include ourselves in that group?

Friends are there for us even when we may not think we need them. Our friends will tell us when we are wrong. They will speak up and try to help us to avert disasters that we refuse to see looming before us. In fulfilling the obligations of friendship, sometimes the truth will hurt. However, our friends will never tell us anything but the truth.

After all, “Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6 NLT).

Jesus spoke very powerfully about friendship, and the love that is required for it to flourish and grow. His instructions were clear and left no room for misinterpretation.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NIV).

After He spoke of laying down one’s life for a friend, He offered His friendship to us. “You are My friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14 NIV).

What an incredible gift He is offering to us. Not only has He blessed us with the gift of friendship from those around us, He blessed us with the gift of His friendship for being friends to others.

Offer the gift of your friendship to those around you. Live your life in the manner directed by God, and thank Him for the gift of friendship that you receive.

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

TODAY IS…

a great day to think about where you are.

“So I say, live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  Galatians 5:16 NIV

Whatever the condition or circumstances of our lives, we arrived at this point under the watchful eye of the Lord.

Some of us are not going to be very happy with that knowledge because we are not in a good place. We might develop a tendency to blame God, but God did not place us where we are, He simply watched over us and allowed us to choose the path that brought us to this point.

If life appears to be wonderful, we have used the talents God gave us to our personal advantage. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. But God is watching to see what we will do with our good fortune and how we will use it to help others. He will watch over us to see that we work diligently at understanding His word and applying the wisdom and guidance found there to our daily lives.

He looks into our hearts to see if we are in the correct place there.

If life has not been so good to us; if we find ourselves surrounded by storm clouds, trials, and tribulations; if nothing ever seems to go right and all the world seems to be against us: this journey as well has been made under the watchful eye of the Lord. It is at this point that many will wring their hands in despair and look to heaven and ask God, “Why me?”

Perhaps the answer is not as complicated or mysterious as we might think. It is possible to live into our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond believing that we are “basically” good people. OK, so maybe we drink a little too much, or we might take illegal drugs “once in a while” or abuse prescription ones; we might spend some time on the computer looking at pornography, but “only after everyone has gone to bed”; perhaps we just spend a lot of time watching television or playing video games. But we’re “basically good,” right?

God did not place us where we are.

He allowed us to get there on our own. If we have a “good” life God expects us to share what we have and know that the means of our success came from Him. If we have an abundance of negativity in our lives, God is right beside us, waiting for us to reach out to Him for guidance. All we must do is ask and be sincere in our efforts to know Him and to live in a manner that is guided by the Holy Spirit within us, and the wisdom contained in the Bible.

Each one of us must ask ourselves, “Am I in the place that God wants me to be in or am I in a place of my choosing?”

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

TODAY IS…

a good day to remember that “No!” means “No!”

“Thou Shalt Not…”  Various Scripture

These words appear in some form throughout the Bible in whichever translation one decides to keep close to them. The words carry with them an admonishment to not do something.

The words, simply, mean “no.”

And, oh, how we hate that word or any phrase that instructs us to stop, or not begin, a particular action. Somehow we became programmed as children to exhibit a little more curiosity when we hear it, or to want what we want with a little more intensity. And when the shoe transfers to the other foot and it is our turn, as parents, to be the ones delivering the dreaded “no” to our children, it is often done with that peculiar “do as I say, not as I do” manner that we adopt as adults.

We are all aware that the largest single list of things that mean “No!” in the Bible would be the Ten Commandments.

God gave each of us the breath of life.

Breathing comes naturally to us and is something to which we do not normally give much thought. However, the act of living the life that God gave us requires instruction. Just as we instruct our children, God instructs us. Unlike many of us, however, God never tells His children to do one thing only to turn around and do something entirely different. He is the perfect example.

While we can never be perfect, we must strive for perfection from a very early age and we must impart the fact to our children that ‘No!’ really means only one thing: ‘No!’ Of the utmost importance is for each one of us to understand and obey without making excuses, finding loopholes, thinking there are exceptions or simply disregarding the “No!” that we don’t like.

“Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15 KJV). No taking things that do not belong to us. What part of that is complicated? Yet, Dad comes home with paper and printer cartridges from work and the kids hear Mom ask, “Do you really think you should be doing that?”

We can all hear the response, “They won’t miss it.”

Or “They don’t pay me enough.”

Or, a favorite excuse of many of us, “Everybody does it.”

How about one that may not be so readily discussed in front of the kids? “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14 KJV). This is a tough one for many, many of us, unfortunately.

But ‘No!’ means ‘No!’ does it not?

Therefore, it is critical that each one of us take a step back from ourselves and examine who we are, how we live our lives, and what sort of example we are setting for our children. We must also demonstrate to God that we “hear” His words and we know their meaning.

Our children do not always like it when we say ‘No!’ to them, nor do we like it when God says ‘No!’ to us. But children of all ages need to understand without question that ‘No!’ is not another way of saying ‘Go ahead and do it if you want to.’

“No!” only means one thing: “No!”

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

TODAY IS…

a wonderful day to consider what can happen with faith.

“By Faith…”  Various Scripture

Found throughout the Bible, in any translation, those two words precede many examples of the power of having an unshakable confidence in God.

The list of individuals throughout history who demonstrated their faith and profoundly impacted the world is long. Noah had faith enough to build an ark where there was not even any water simply because God instructed him to do so. Since those members of Noah’s family and the animals that he built accommodations for were the only survivors in the whole world, the impact of Noah’s faith is evident.

The author of the book of Hebrews is not really known, but whoever wrote it provides us with example after example of important figures who put their faith in God with amazing results.

Faith is not hoping.

Faith is not thinking,

Faith is not assuming.

Faith is believing.

Faith is confident knowledge.

Faith is complete trust in God.

Abraham had it. He was ready to kill his son simply because God told him to. God didn’t let him do it, of course, but his confidant trust in God would allow him to do no less than what he was instructed to do. Can any of us truly understand that level of faith? That degree of trust?

The list goes on, familiar names and familiar situations: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab.

Can our faith possibly have the same impact on the world and the people in it as did the faith of all of those individuals?

That is a question that we may never really know the answer to, but if we have that unshakeable, unquestioning, confident trust in God, then our lives will be shaped by His instruction and His will. As a result, actions that become simply a way of life for us can have a life changing impact on someone we meet. The kindness, generosity, and compassion that we offer to another could change the way they think and act towards others. They, in turn, might change the way they live, and so on.

Can we ever possibly know the full impact that our faith can have upon the world? Probably not. But we can be assured that it is working in the hearts and minds of those around us.

Your faith in God makes you a powerful force on earth. Use the gift of this day to think about that.

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

TODAY IS…

a great day to go through the curtain.

“By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”  Hebrews 10:20 NLT

The Most Holy Place gives us direct access to God; to talk directly to God and to know that He will hear and answer us.

When we stop and think about it, this unfettered access to the One who created all that we can see, hear, touch, and smell is a truly remarkable gift given to us by Christ through His death on the cross.

If any of us were to have unfettered access to the President of the United States, we would be members of a very exclusive group and we would most likely develop a little bit of an attitude. After all, he’s a very important man and he has little time to waste on trivial matters. We would be very proud of our status and feel very special.

And yet, each and every human being has direct access to God, and most don’t even give it a thought. The giver of life and the creator of the world has all the time you need, and nothing is trivial to Him. He knows your heart and He knows the burdens you carry, and He wants to carry them for you if you will only let Him.

Yet so many of us think nothing of this unbelievably free access to the One who gives us all we have. So many of us look to ourselves, those around us, or even the president to solve our problems. The simple truth is that; we are too involved in the problem, those around us have their own problems, and the president is far too important to be bothered with our problems.

But God always has time, always has the patience, and always has the answers that we need.

So we have to ask ourselves: While it would certainly be pretty special to have the president on speed-dial, isn’t it much, much better to have direct access to God?

Embrace the gift of access that Jesus Christ gave us when He shed His blood for us and died on the cross. Be proud of the fact that anytime you need Him, God will be there to listen and to help.

Step through the curtain into the Most Holy Place and humbly thank God for always being there for you.

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

TODAY IS…
the perfect day to conquer fear with love.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18 NASB

The love that God has for us will protect us if we will only embrace it.

Just as the love we have for our children causes us to keep a watchful eye over them, God watches over us. Does God prevent every bad thing we can think of from happening?

No.

But then, good parents know that children will incur some bumps and bruises as a normal part of growing up. It is not wise to even attempt to protect those we love from events that help them to grow. They would have to be placed in a protective bubble, and that would hurt them in the long run more than the bumps and bruises their bodies and hearts will sustain along the path of life.

Our love will reassure them, give them confidence, and help them to set aside their fears. We will encourage them to get on a bicycle and attempt to ride on two wheels. We will do this knowing they may fall down a time or two and sustain a scrape, a cut, or a bruise. In our love, we will help them up, clean them off, comfort them, and encourage them to try again. This is the pattern of life, and the responsibility of a loving parent. The love we give our children gives them courage to do things they are afraid of: joining a drama club at school; learning ballet; becoming a member of a baseball team; speaking in public.

No matter what their interests, we know that there is an element of fear involved and it is our job to allay those fears, and we do this with love.

So it is with ourselves, our fears, and our God. He is the perfect parent, giving us perfect love, and He is always there for us. He will not remove every obstacle. He will not prevent us from falling down or failing. As the perfect parent, He will watch us, knowing that we will hurt ourselves, and then He will be there to pick us up, dust us off, and show us His perfect love.

And for those times when we get hurt, there is no better place to seek comfort than in the loving arms of God. Let the power of God’s perfect love give you all the courage you need to live to the fullest the gift of each new day He gives you.

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