Work In Peace

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, open my heart and mind, Holy Spirit. Fill my consciousness and complete Your joy in me as I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: 1 John 1:8–9

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 

truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 

unrighteousness.

Verse of the day—Romans 14:8 “If we live, we live to the Lord: and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Today’s reading: Psalm 94-96 Romans 15:14-33

Work In Peace

Psalm 97:11 Light is sown in the just(righteous);

    as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.

My hands were small then. I held on to the back of my grandfather's khaki shirt and rode standing beside him as he patiently held the steering wheel of the old 'M' Farmall. Even though he was paid through a subsidy program to plow up a certain part of a crop, even a child could see that it bothered him.

He would ask, "Can you see it yet?" I looked straight ahead and strained to see but I did not yet know what I was looking for. He had tied a white rag on a stick standing to mark the boundary. It finally came into my sight and that's where we turned the corner.

I would that we could reproduce the smell that surrounds you when you plow black land and milo on the back of a tractor without a cab. There is no other smell like that smell of the mixture of black, green, and an old farmer's shoulder.

There is peace and there is joy in those memories. A place the Lord allows my mind to remember in color, sight, sound, smell and love. The Lord wants us all to know that kind of peace and contentment as much as possible. Today, in Psalm 97, it says,

11 Light is sown in the just(righteous);

    as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.

12 Celebrate the Eternal God, all you who are faithful;

    offer thanks to His holy name.

The Lord sows light and gladness. We must get into the fields and work them to harvest--but the Lord's harvest, for the righteous and upright in heart, is absolute and real.

Being a 'dry-land' farmer was always a struggle for my grandparents. Life was hard a lot of the time, really hard. They farmed right through the great depression. I never saw any man more at peace than my humble grandfather-because the Lord Jesus was more to him than just a name on the page.

The Lord was his light and his gladness.

The Lord desires for us all to live in His light and gladness. He has sown it in the fields so it will grow into joy for us all as we work and harvest.

Psalm 97:12 Celebrate(be glad in) the Eternal God, all you who are faithful; offer thanks to His holy name.

Father in Heaven,

Hallowed be Your name. Forgive me for carrying the worries and anxieties of this worldly life. I want to get into the field and tend your light and gladness. Take me there, oh God.

Great God of joy and light!

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen

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