Matthew 6:31-34 One Day at a Time
“So don’t worry at all about having enough for food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to. So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at time” (TLB).
The song “One Day at a Time” was written by Marijon Wilkin in 1972 with the help of her friend, Kris Kristofferson. She said that the song came quickly after a pastor asked if Marijohn had ever thought of thanking God for her problems. After talking with the pastor, she went home, sat down at the piano and had the first verse in about twenty minutes. She called her friend Kris Kristofferson to come over and help her with the chorus and other verses. They finished the song in a short time. It has been recorded by numerous artists since then, and others have written new verses, but the central theme given to Marijohn Wilkin lives on. Many of us have been blessed by it.
“I’m only human, I’m just a man
Help me believe and all I can be and all that I am
Show me the stairway I have to climb
Lord, for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.
Chorus:
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking of you
Just give me the strength to do everyday
What I have to do.
Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord, help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.”
I leave it to the reader to look up many other verses written and added to this great song. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:32-34 to “Live one day at a time.”
It is my belief that Jesus wants us to put full effort in what we are doing today. If we do that each day, we will be amazed at what we can accomplish for the Kingdom of God just one day at a time. He will prepare us for tomorrow with new blessings when we awake for the new day. In Lamentations 3:22,23 we are told, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (NLT). With that blessing we can march forward into tomorrow with satisfaction in the work we have done today with no worries for tomorrow for he will have made preparation for us when we get there. He’s already there.
Continued next time.
Psalm 100:1,2 I Lift My Voice
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (RSV)
In 1976 Laurie Klein wrote a short worship song that fulfills the words of this verse: “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my king, in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” Every time I sing this song I can feel the joyful nose I am making to my Lord, and I am excited to realize that He does take joy in my singing, no matter the quality of my voice.
I believe that my Lord takes joy in the singing of praise of any and all of His people. And I also believe that each of us should get great joy whenever we sing words of worship and praise to our Lord. There are many, many great worship and praise songs that we can sing when we are alone or when we are in the company of a group of believers in church. What a privilege we have to bring joy to our King with our voices.
While I get great satisfaction in singing these songs to Him, sometimes I don’t follow the melody—I just speak the words. I do that because I occasionally find myself focusing on the music without thinking of the words I am singing. It’s good for me to slow down and consider each of the words of the song, speaking them as a prayer to my Lord and God. Sometmes it takes me a long time to speak through a song that contains deep meaning and touches my heart, but I find it is time well spent. Sometimes I just hum the tune because I also get blessings from the melody. Hearing a full congregation sing a worship song and singing along touches my soul and raises my spirits.
I guess I am saying that I am blessed by worship songs, whether I sing them alone, just speak the words, just hum the tune, or join fellow believers in raising a joyful noise to the Lord. Thank you to those who write these special songs, and thank you to those who lead worship and praise in church services.
Hebrews 6:18-20 "Throw Out the Life-Line"
“We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek”. (MSG)
The unbreakable lifeline is the salvation offered by Jesus mentioned in the Scripture above. Jesus has provided eternal salvation for all, but each one must reach for the lifeline himself or herself.
There is an old hymn, “Throw Out the Life-Line,” written by Edward Ufford, that focuses on this lifeline and its importance. It speaks of our responsibility as Christians to make sure that the lifeline offered by Jesus is known across the world. Verse four says, “Soon will the season of rescue be o’er, Soon will they drift to eternity’s shore, Haste then, my brother, no time for delay, But throw out the Life-Line and save them today.” (Chorus)”Throw out the life-Line! Throw Out the Life-Line! Someone is drifting away; Throw Out the Life-Line! Throw Out the Life-line! Someone is sinking today.” Very true words. People are drifting toward eternity without the lifeline, Jesus, and their drifting is taking them closer and closer to hell. If they don’t grab the lifeline before death, hell is a certainty forever. Romans 10:14,15 is a clarion call for us to do all we can to get the Word out. “How, then, can they call on one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (NIV) It is imperative that we GET THE WORD OUT anyway we can—speak it ourselves and/or support those who preach it. It has been said, “Preach a sermon every day. When necessary, use words.” That’s a good saying, but unless the WORDS are spoken, the message may not be clear.
John 7:37-39 Refreshing Water
“On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me in this way, just as the Scripture says.’ (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)” (Message)
Doesn’t that glass of ice water look refreshing among the rocks and sand of the Arizona desert? If I touch the glass, I will feel the film of condensed water on it, and I can feel the coolness of the water through the glass. I could even stick my finger in the glass and feel the coolness of the water and the ice cubes. I can just imagine how good it will taste, but until I actually taste it, it will do nothing for my thirst no matter how thirsty I might be. It won’t satisfy my thirst until it is ingested—taken into my body. Then I can taste it, and I can feel it cooling me down. Then, and only then has my experience with the glass of ice water become completely satisfying.
The same can be said for the Holy Spirit—the rivers of living water promised by Jesus for those who come to Him and drink of His presence. Only when we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord will we receive the Holy Spirit. We can read about Jesus, we call talk to people about Jesus, we can think of Him as a great man who did much good, but that’s not enough. We must drink of the living water He offers—to accept His sacrifice for us and claim Him as ours and ask Him to claim us as His. Then He will see that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that we will spend all of eternity with Him. We will be filled and satisfied for eternity.
Hebrews 13:15 Sacrifice of Praise
“Through Jesus, then, let us keep offering to God our own sacrifice, the praise of lips that confess His name without ceasing” (VOICE).
There’s a song that has been continually going through my mind for the past several weeks, and it comes from the verse quoted above.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving;
And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy.”
This song was written by Kirk Dearman in about 1980 after hearing a sermon about the sacrifice of praise. As he and his wife were driving home from church, he thought that a worship song could be written from the message. Within five minutes the tune and words came to him. When they got home, he played and sang the song for his wife and introduced it to his church the following Sunday. I’m glad he did.
Should we ever come into the house of the Lord without praise? Isn’t that one of the main reasons we gather—to praise the Lord? Thanksgiving should certainly be part of our worship every time we gather, and is joy really a sacrifice? In any case, singing praise, thanksgiving, and joy has been a part of my life for the past several weeks. Praise, thanksgiving, and joy are often written within the praise and worship songs we sing frequently. Here we have all three of them in one short chorus. The Scripture verse above says that we should bring these sacrifices to God without ceasing. I don’t have to go to church to bring the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the sacrifice of joy to my Lord. I can bring them every day. We all can, so let’s join in the sacrifice of praise every day.
