Joey's Journal - August 30, 2006

Father God, I offer my day to You today! May my works, joys and suffering be acceptable to You. Thank You for Your protection, providence and guidance. May Your hand be upon us to protect us from all evil and pain. Watch over the children and give us Your grace to be patient with them in times of disciplining and guidance. Lord, make this day be a fruitful one as I reflect on the Book of Psalms or other books in the bible. Guide my thought, words and my actions in living Your Word. All these I pray in Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen.

My reading - Psalm 28 The Lord is my strength, my shield from every danger.

O Lord, you are my rock of safety. Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help; as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary. With those who do evil, those who speak friendly words to their neighbors while planting evil in their hearts. Give them the punishment they so richly deserve! Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness. Pay them back for all their evil deeds! Give them a taste of what they have done to others.

Praise the Lord! For he has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord is my strength, my shield from every danger. He protects his people and leads them like a shepherd and carry them forever in his arms.

My reflection – ‘Those who speak friendly words to their neighbors while planting evil in their hearts’. When I think about this statement, I remember that this is one frailty that we all have as humans. And, this is in regards to how we treat our neighbor, our brother or sister, spouse, children, boss or staff etc. The definition of a ‘neighbor’ is any other person besides our self. In one occasion or another, we have done this in our lifetime. We speak good and friendly words about another person, yet we do not mean it and even plant evil thoughts about that person in our hearts. How many times have we said ‘hello’ to a co-worker and really meant it. Usually, it is a ‘ hello’ gesture, and then a thought comes to our mind like better not cross my path wrongly today. Or, we speak bad or spread rumors about the co-worker! Do we really mean it when we say ‘I love you’ to our spouses; or is it mainly lip-service? What did Jesus say about loving our neighbor? We should love them as ourselves! We will never tolerate rumors, especially bad and false, about ourselves. We will never accept gossips or simple talk that distracts us from the truth. If we don’t want these things happening to us, why then do we do it to others? This is when we need the Lord’s strength to make us strong and rebuke the evil one. The Holy Spirit is there to remind us how sin is against God and by doing this, we reject Him. But, when we have the Lord as our strength, He will shield us from the enemy.

My prayer – Our Father, keep us focusing on You and on the path of living godly lives! Jesus, You have set this example for us to follow in order to be acceptable to the Father. May we put complete trust in Your ways! Lord, we are sinners yet we long for Your mercy and forgiveness because we fear losing You. Remind us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves! And, should our sinful nature derail us from this objective, send Your Holy Spirit to strengthen us to change. All in Jesus Name. Amen.

by : Joey B.