“I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” -Psalm 4:8

Some time back, I had the privilege of having lunch with the president of one of the largest aerospace companies. Following lunch, he took me on a tour of his vast facility.

What really impressed me was the “clean room.” My host explained to me that the clean room is so spotless because no particle can pass through the air conditioning system into that room unless it is small enough to fit on the point of a needle. He told me something I didn’t know before. The point of a needle is really flat. Put a needle under a microscope and you will see that the point is literally flat. And the largest speck that can come into the clean room will be able to rest on the flat part of the needlepoint!

To enter that room, I had to clear security and then they had to make sure I was clean. It was a fascinating as well as a thought-provoking experience.

You should have a clean room at the center of your life. Your mind should be your own personal clean room. You should have security checks on whom and what enters your room. There are some writers I refuse to read because they fill me with negative thoughts, and some ideas and some practices that don’t pass security. Have you been careless? I suggest you begin today to set up your clean room at the very core of your mind – a place so clean that both you and God are comfortable there. God’s dwelling place!

“Assuredly I (Jesus) say to you, I have not found such a great faith; not even in Israel.” -Matthew 8:10

The words in Matthew 8:10 were spoken by Jesus to a soldier who had come to Christ and asked for his servant to be healed. The soldier had just said to Jesus that there is no need for the Master to even come to his house, for this soldier knows that all Christ has to do is say the word, and his servant will be healed. Jesus’ response that he had “not found such great faith” has always fascinated me. I read the words of Jesus in Matthew 8:10 and have so often pondered what kind of faith Jesus would call great.

In my lifetime, I have seen so many declare with conviction that they have faith that all things are possible, yet I somehow sensed there was a hesitancy to their words. That if they were placed on the witness stand before a great litigator, their faith would fold like a cheap tent in a stiff breeze. I for one am guilty as charged. Yes, I believe that with Christ, all things are possible, but there have been times in my life when I wondered why would He do it for me? Who am I? I’m not worthy of such a miracle from the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Early in my faith I remember going through a stage of reasoning that went something like this: Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the lame to walk and the blind to see, but those are just the few who won the holy lottery. Miracles like that just don’t happen today, or if they do, they certainly would not happen for me. Can you relate?

Then I began to witness miracle after miracle happening around me. Miracles that could not be ignored. Great stories of cancers disappearing after prayer with no medical explanation. Sight returning to a man after leaving a church service. A clinically dead man coming back to life while lying in a body bag in a morgue just as his mother was praying for him long distance, several states away.

With each new story, my thoughts would drift back to the soldier in Matthew 8:10. What kind of faith did he have? By the way Christ reacted to him, his was not shallow faith, or a questioning faith, or a fence-walking faith. His was a faith of deep conviction. There was no question in his mind that all Christ had to do was say the word and it would be done. Yet, what convicted me the most was that the soldier was a stranger to Christ, someone Jesus had never met before. Yet, this soldier came to Jesus with a no-holds-barred, no-doubt-whatsoever kind of faith that this miracle worker he’d heard about had the power to heal his servant. From Christ’s reaction, we learn that this soldier, a perfect stranger, had more faith in Him than even Christ’s own disciples!

Now we come to you and I who love Jesus, who have invited Him in to our hearts as Savior, and call Him friend. Yet, so many times we walk through our daily lives with less faith than this soldier had!

My friends, let this story of the solider be a wake-up call to your faith! Jesus Christ performs miracles, yesterday, today, and tomorrow! The key is faith. If you need a miracle in your life, approach Jesus like the soldier did in Matthew 8. Don’t take my word for it. Open your Bible and go read the story for yourself. It will take you five minutes, but there is a miracle waiting for you at the end of that five minutes! When you ask the Lord – in faith, believing – miracles DO happen, and they WILL happen for you!

~ * ~ * ~

What miracle do you need from Christ today? Ask Him!

“And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” -Luke 12:25

To my dear grandmother, anyone who spent too much time worrying was instantly called a worrywart. I remember as a teenager asking my grandmother why the term worrywart? As with most of her answers, it came with a sweet chuckle mixed with both innocence and a lifetime of wisdom. “Because,” she said, “when you worry, your face changes, it wrinkles and crinkles into an unsightly wart. You can’t help it. God made your face to wear a smile, not a frown.” And, oh, how my grandmother loved to laugh.

Jesus’ life was all about joy. He came to give us restoration with our Heavenly Father. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. He came to share with us that, through Him, all things are possible. He came to share with us that we are the light of the world. To tell us that God the Father truly loves and cares for our needs.

Our passage today is right in the middle of one of my favorite teachings of Christ. In Luke 12:28, Jesus says, “If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?” If you find yourself being, or becoming, a worrywart, spend some time reading Luke 12:22-34 and let Jesus, the Master Healer, Teacher, Friend, and Savior, share with you that there is nothing to fear. You will not add one cubit to your stature by turning into a worrywart.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” -I Corinthians 13:7

We hear messages from those we love. Sometimes they say something that hurts our feelings. Sometimes they don’t say the things we long to hear and that, likewise, hurts our feelings – these messages heard either by words said or words left unsaid – they leave us hurt. Some of the messages “heard” are not due to words or lack of words but actions that speak louder than words.

However, the message is heard. And whatever message is heard, we have a choice as to what we will believe about that message. Too often messages are heard that are wrong. The person never gave the message that we received. Our insecurities can hinder our hearing, filtering out the positive so we only hear the negative.

So, when you receive a negative message, I challenge you to question your hearing. What if you heard wrong? What will you believe about the one you love? Will you believe – the best? About them? About you? About God?

We all have a choice about what we will believe. Believe in love today – for yourself! Believe you are loved! By God! By your loved ones! Yes, you think that by believing the worst, you are protecting yourself. However, more often than not, you are hurting yourself far more than you are protecting yourself. You are losing out on love.

Believe the best – today and always. That’s true love!

Of course you don’t!

You drag that soiled, grimy, ugly carpet to the dump and are glad to be rid of it! The vibrant color and crisp clean scent of new carpet brightens any home no matter what the size. So why is it that we, as believers in Christ, work so hard to drag our past into our present? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to simply press the reset button on our lives?

You can!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV

Today’s scripture makes it very clear that Christ has long forgotten our past mistakes no matter how horrific and hurtful they may be. If Christ – who loves you, who cares for you, who created you – is willing to let the past remain in the past, at what point are you going to do the same? All things are truly new for YOU when Christ is your Savior!

excerpt by Jim Penner from A Positive Minute - The Hour of Power

The greatest news in the world is that God has visited this earth. He has walked this planet. He has made his great pronouncements. He has spoken his mind. He has declared his will. He has revealed his heart.

It is Jesus who reveals to the human race that God is “the eye that never closes, the ear that is never shut, the mind that never stops thinking, the heart that never grows cold.”

God would be only a vague idea, an irresponsible product of someone’s imagination, an unreliable exercise of human philosophizing, if it were not for Jesus Christ. Interpret Jesus as you wish, but one fact emerges clearly—God becomes real to those who draw close to Christ.

So listen to him when he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11: 25). Come to him…you with the empty, hollow lives. And when you come, don’t intellectualize, don’t analyze, and don’t diagnose him. Simply bow. Simply believe. Simply bend your knee, and you will experience the good life he has for you!

~ Robert H. Schuller (This excerpt was taken from the “Power for Life Daily Devotional”)

Today I will make a difference.

I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving.

Today I will make a difference.

I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It’s OK to stumble. I will get up. It’s OK to fail. I will rise again.

Today I will make a difference.

I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends.

Today I will make a difference.