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Today is brought to you by the letter "U"

“Unto Thee O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You. Let me not be ashamed and don’t let my enemies triumph over me.” Psalm 25:1,2

This was a praise song we used to sing MANY years ago. When I fixed this piece of scripture in my mind I liked it but it still gave a sort of sense of losing. It was like it was inevitable that I would be ashamed of my God and that my enemies would be the ones who triumph. So I took the spiritual and literary freedom and changed the end of this verse from “Let me not be ashamed…” to “I will not be ashamed and my enemies will not triumph over me.” That’s the level of assurance I want to come away with as I “lift up my soul to God,” and “trust in Him.”

Romans 1:16 says, “I am NOT ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.” My understanding and personal application of the gospel gives me assurance, not a sense of hoping but a sense of knowing.

Psalm 1 says “blessed is the person who doesn’t mess with sin” (my paraphrase this morning) SO THAT “in all that he does he prospers.” Spiritual prosperity, not necessarily economic prosperity, I believe is the promise. Economic prosperity will have to wait for another GMU topic!

Lord, because I lift you up in my life as my God and because I trust in You, I will NOT be ashamed, and my enemies will NOT triumph over me because my priorities are on You. That’s my promise to Him and His promise to me this morning.

Have a great and confident day in Him because HE is the one you trust,

Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: How about joke for today instead!

Too often I might treat God like this:

Fred was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said,

"Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up drinking."

Miraculously, a parking place appeared.

Fred looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one!"

PS Today’s uGather is a must! We’re going to dedicate our potential SMs for next year. Join us at 10:30 and let our next year’s international volunteers know they are loved and will be missed. https://youtu.be/daxd2r5xt-A