His Love Never Fails

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer} FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.

SCRIPTURE:

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:6-7 [MSG]

OBSERVATION: When times get tough, turn to God.

APPLICATION:

It is not news that our nation -- the world, even -- is in the midst of tough economic times. My wife has been quite stressed lately about money, and the task of buying Christmas gifts for two toddlers surely doesn't help. I tried this morning to calm her concerns, reminding her that God has always provided for us, seeing us through tougher times than this.

Then God led me to the epiphany of His Word. Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. At a time when many are concerned about jobs, mortgages, even just making ends meet, the Father still reaches out to us through His Word to let us know that He is there to provide for us. Does God still speak to us in the 21st century? The timeliness of this passage is no coincidence.

PRAYER:

Thank You, Father, for directing me to Your Word, for reminding me that You are in control. Your love never fails, Lord.

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All Things For God's Glory

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer} FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.

SCRIPTURE:

"Don't you even know the basics, how things have been since the earliest days, when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth? The good times of the wicked are short-lived; godless joy is only momentary. The evil might become world famous, strutting at the head of the celebrity parade, But still end up in a pile of dung. Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, 'What's that?' They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered, like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light. Though once notorious public figures, now they're nobodies, unnoticed, whether they come or go. Their children will go begging on skid row, and they'll have to give back their ill-gotten gain. Right in the prime of life, and youthful and vigorous, they'll die." Job 20:4-11 [MSG]

OBSERVATION: That which we gain through dishonest means does not last.

APPLICATION:

In Indianapolis Wednesday, three men robbed a bank. The IMPD was on the ball and picked up on the trio's trail before they could make a clean getaway. After a brief high speed chase, the crooks were involved in an accident that disabled their getaway vehicle. Before Police could move in to take the trio into custody, one of them shot himself in the head. The other two are now in Police custody.

What could the three have been thinking when they made their plans to rob a bank? Did they really expect to get away with it? Did they really expect to be livin' large on loot taken by force from a bank? Did they forget that, after the recent shooting of a pregnant teller during another Indianapolis bank robbery, that the IMPD has been on a constant state of alert for such behavior?

This trio could only have been thinking of one thing: the easy money. They could not have considered the long term effects of their actions, could they? Of course not, and as is so often the case when we fail to consider the long term effects of our actions, sacrificing what we really want for what we want right now, they paid a terrible price.

The good times of the wicked are short-lived. The love of God transcends all time.

PRAYER:

Father, comfort the families of this misguided trio. Use this terrible event as a deterrent for some future soul that might otherwise head down the same path. Let some good come of this, Lord.

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The History of Economics

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer} FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.

• S: A great protest was mounted by the people, including the wives, against their fellow Jews. Some said, "We have big families, and we need food just to survive." Others said, "We're having to mortgage our fields and vineyards and homes to get enough grain to keep from starving." And others said, "We're having to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards. Look: We're the same flesh and blood as our brothers here; our children are just as good as theirs. Yet here we are having to sell our children off as slaves—some of our daughters have already been sold—and we can't do anything about it because our fields and vineyards are owned by somebody else." I got really angry when I heard their protest and complaints. After thinking it over, I called the nobles and officials on the carpet. I said, "Each one of you is gouging his brother." Then I called a big meeting to deal with them. I told them, "We did everything we could to buy back our Jewish brothers who had to sell themselves as slaves to foreigners. And now you're selling these same brothers back into debt slavery! Does that mean that we have to buy them back again?" They said nothing. What could they say? "What you're doing is wrong. Is there no fear of God left in you? Don't you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you? "I and my brothers and the people working for me have also loaned them money. But this gouging them with interest has to stop. Give them back their foreclosed fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes right now. And forgive your claims on their money, grain, new wine, and olive oil." They said, "We'll give it all back. We won't make any more demands on them. We'll do everything you say." Then I called the priests together and made them promise to keep their word. Then I emptied my pockets, turning them inside out, and said, "So may God empty the pockets and house of everyone who doesn't keep this promise—turned inside out and emptied." Everyone gave a wholehearted "Yes, we'll do it!" and praised God. And the people did what they promised. Nehemiah 5:1-13 [MSG]
• O: The history of economics repeats itself.
• A: This isn't the first time in history that a people has put themselves so far into debt that they were literally slaves to their debt, facing foreclosure and the loss of all their possessions. Nehemiah faced the same thing, and took matters into his own hands, calling the nobles and officials together and putting them to task about their unfair lending practices. What we are going through in America right now has been described as an economic meltdown. It has been said that we could find ourselves in the worst depression in our nation's history. We could lose our homes, our jobs, our businesses. Nehemiah, in his time, called on the nobles and officials to enact a rescue plan that would forgive the people of their debts, to return foreclosed property, and to make no more demands of the people. Our own elected officials have rolled out their own rescue plan that is designed to accomplish the same goal in a different way. By calling upon taxpayer money to bail out those who have faced (or now face) foreclosure, the government is trying to save our nation from this "economic meltdown." It may work, it may not. One thing is certain -- doing nothing will result in nothing. This problem will not fix itself. People have got to tighten their belts and sacrifice for the greater good. People from all walks of life, at all levels of the financial spectrum, and from all branches of government. Taking action will achieve success or failure, but sitting on our hands and doing nothing will achieve nothing, and result in certain failure.
• P: Father, as our elected officials begin to make plans and take action upon the $700 billion bailout plan recently signed into law, please guide them to act wisely and prudently. And we, Lord, who our footing the bill with our tax dollars, please motivate us to make the necessary sacrifices for the greater good.

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An Economic Lesson

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer} FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.

• S: Speaking to the people, he went on, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot." ... "Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can't go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. Luke 12:15,33-34 [MSG]
• O: Earthly treasures are fleeting, and not worth the effort to obtain and protect them.
• A: Economic crisis! Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, Washington Mutual -- the failure of the banking industry. The stock market plunging over 700 points in one day. Mortgage foreclosures. The news today is rife with tales of financial woe and bail out. Finger pointing and blame gaming are the popular gestures. But why? Because we have allowed ourselves as a nation to become so obsessed with material possessions that we're willing to borrow outside our means to buy what we cannot afford to impress our neighbors. But what does God say? Put your treasures in Heaven. The things of Earth -- no matter how nice, no matter how expensive -- will all pass away. They will be left behind -- along with the mounting debt that purchased them -- when we move on from this place. But the treasures of the heart and of the soul will live with us forever in Eternity.
• P: God, whatever the politicians cook up to bail us out of this economic downfall, help us to learn a valuable lesson about the true value of valuables.

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