Training Table

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Fill my consciousness constantly and complete Your joy in me as I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: Jeremiah 15:19 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” 

Verse of the day: Psalm 121:1-2

121 “I lift up my eyes to the hills.    From where does my help come?2 My help comes from the Lord,    who made heaven and earth.”

Today’s reading: Proverbs 10-12 2 Corinthians 4

Training Table

We must love our neighbor the way we love ourselves(Matthew 22:39). We now know that our love for self must exist in the truth of how much God loves us and how perfectly He continues to fill our lives. God has aspirations for each of us-He wants us to be satisfied and fulfilled in Him and He wants us to feel secure and significant. We can have these only in Him through Christ.

In loving God first and foremost, I find a true love for myself-one that is not self-seeking but God-seeking-desiring more of Him.

This, then, in my life comes out in my love for my neighbor and my prayers for my enemies. This treasure I have found in God in Christ is what I begin to want for my neighbor and my enemies.

Instead of thinking of our enemies as pain, we start to have a righteous yearn for them in our hearts.

But how do we get there? The ‘great enemy’ makes it seem so impossible to love those who would destroy us and all we love.

But, again, with God all things are possible(Matthew 19:26).

But how? In Proverbs 12:12&18 it says that “Hate stirs up trouble and whoever hides it is a liar-but love forgives all wrongs”.

Pray to harness God’s will and power to forgive(1 John1:9) and His ability to choose to not remember(Jeremiah 31:34)-all in His perfect love(Psalm 103:8).

You may consider yourself to be a ‘weak’ or ‘small’ believer. God sees us for what we are but also can become. Football players over 350 pounds consume from 5000-7000 calories in a day’s time-the key is it is controlled by dietitians and nutritionists.

Our ‘controller’ gives all we need from His divine training table and does it in the ‘presence of my enemies’(Psalm 23:5). We must see this as something not to spite our enemies but an opportunity to be trained by God’s heart to offer them a seat at the table in Christ.

...because He loves you, He will do it-always…

Father in Heaven,

Great and glorious shepherd, how grand is Your kingdom. Lead me to do Your heavenly will. Give me a vision of me loving my enemies as well as loving my neighbor the way I love Your life in me. Forgive me for my hate. Destroy hate in my heart.

Great God who chooses to never remember our sins,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen