Genesis 39:19-23 "Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed."

Even when we do the right thing, it doesn't always mean that everything will go well. Joseph was a good man. Honest, trustworthy, and a hard worker. Even though he was falsely accused, he got thrown into prison. I can't imagine how he must have felt to know that a false accusation got him thrown into prison. It's said that every prisoner says that they are innocent, but for Joseph it was true.

God looked down upon Joseph's innocence and used him in the middle of a bad situation. But, it seems like God should intervene and stop injustices. Why doesn't He? Shouldn't God step in and not just ignore the injustices? Sometimes He does and sometimes He doesn't. In the end, God will show what was true and what was false.

Look to God. He knows your circumstances. Allow Him to use you even when things don't go well or you don't end up where you feel like you should be.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you see when we are wronged. Help us to not become bitter, but to remain faithful in the difficult situations.

Daniel 1:17 "God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams."

I've occasionally been asked if it is God who is doing things through us or if we play a part. I answer...Both!  God gives us talents, giftings, and abilities, but it is up to us as to what we do with them. We can use them for good or use them for evil.

In this case, four young men (Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel) were in slavery to their captors. Instead of becoming a part of the new culture, they decided to stay committed to God. Interestingly enough, they were very likely teenagers. What? A teenager with convictions?  That would stand out. But, they held true to their convictions and God rewarded them.

God wants to do the same with us. He wants to continue to work through us as we continue to advance His Kingdom and stick with our convictions. In other words, God isn't finished with you yet and you haven't reached all of your potential. That's good news for me!  And, I hope that is good news for you.

Prayer: Lord, help me to stay true to my convictions. Grant me what you gave to these four young men so that I may further your Kingdom. 

Amos 5:23-24 "Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living."

I think we have all had a time where we turned on a stereo full blast and it wasn't tuned to a station like we thought it was and we just got what is called "white noise." It's alarmingly obtrusive and hurts the ears.

Whenever we come up with our own rules for our relationship with God, our prayers, songs, and life becomes noise in his ears. He doesn't want the song and the dance without the walk being right. He wants us to be truthful with one another, love one another, and look out for one another. Without that, all of our financial giving, singing, and attendance at church is just noise to Him. It's obtrusive and just noise.

Let's decide to become a person and a people who has a vibrant relationship with God and others so that our worship becomes pleasing in God's ears.

Prayer: Lord, may we not be noise in your ears. We want to be a blessing to you and to others.

Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

To be a Christ follower means that we totally surrender to Him.  That surrender will need to take place every day. If you are like me, you tend to take back areas that you surrendered. It takes a daily commitment to stay in surrender because our flesh rebels against God.

To pray this prayer that my words and the things that I think about within my heart would be pleasing is a prayer that is difficult to do. It almost can become a wishful prayer rather than a purposeful one. I wish that it could happen, but I don't really believe it. But, I should. And so should you. This isn't a wishful thinking, throw a penny in the fountain, and hope for the best kind of prayer. It is one marked with purpose and intentionality.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord my rock and my redeemer. Pray it like you mean it!

Luke 12:42-44 "And the Lord replied, "A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns."

One thing God promises over and over is that there is a payday someday. While we usually thing of that in a negative light where judgement will occur, God actually describes a positive judgement on many occasions. While we will be remorseful over what we didn't get right or failed to do, God does give us credit for what we did get right.

When you really did the good deed and nobody noticed...God did. When you really didn't say anything bad when others said you did...God wrote it down. When you did the work and others wrongfully got the credit...God's going to reveal it.

Furthermore, He sees it now and doesn't just reward you in heaven. He rewards now. Give it time. Stay faithful. God hasn't forgotten and He rewards justly. Hang in there.

Prayer: Lord, Thank you for being a just God who not only deals with our wrongs but credits us for what we do right.