Shortest Psalm

Psalms
Since this is the shortest psalm in the bible, I figured it could have the honour of being posted for today's reading.
Psalm 117:

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.  For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  Praise the Lord.

It certainly has an uplifting message, doesn't it?

Faithful in Prayer

If there's one thing I feel I could do better in, it's prayer.  Romans 12:12 says "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer."  As I just typed that out, I realized being patient in affliction could use some work in my life as well.  In making friends out of enemies, you'll need both of these things in good measure.  Today, practice patience, and while you're being patient (or trying to be), pray!

Doing God's will

Numbers
Why is it often difficult to see the fulfillment we can get out of doing God's will rather than our own?  It takes great faith to go out into the unknown and trust that God will deliver you.  But we can rest on previous experience and knowledge too, that we know God will come through.  The entire bible is a testimony to the grace of God, the trustworthiness of God.  The Israelites had to make a hard choice: invade a land of enemies and trust that God will prevail, or turn away from God's promised land and not have to face a hard situation.  Instead of doing what they did, and turn away, when you're faced with a clear opportunity from God that will bring immense joy and peace, go for it!  It may be tough work or take a lot of faith to get to that promise from God, but he'll see you through.  He was with the Israelites, even when they ignored him, and they eventually got to where God wanted them to go.  He is faithful.

Joining in God's mission

Acts
Paul's journey to Rome is an excellent example of God's faithfulness.  When we join him in his mission, we'll win every time!  It may not be the way we think we'll win, but it's the best way.  In faithfulness to God, Paul said he would go to Rome to preach the good news and appear before Caesar.  God rewarded that faithfulness and Paul didn't die in the shipwreck (see chapter 27).
What mission are we on?  Ours or God's?  Let's align ourselves with God's mission and see what wonders he can work in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Innocent of the blood of all men

Acts 20:13-38
I must admit that when I first read Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders, I thought that for some reason, the Ephesians were arguing about Paul's previous life of persecuting the Christians.  When Paul said that he was innocent of the blood of all men, I thought that referred to the people he had killed before he became a Christian.  I read a few commentaries on this passage though, such as William Barclay's, Matthew Henry's, and Barnes's notes, and I found out that Paul was actually just saying that he preached the gospel with such dedication in Ephesus that if people weren't saved, it was through no fault of his own.

I hope we can say the same for ourselves.  I was reading Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Church this morning and he was saying that faithfulness does not exclude fruitfulness, rather, it requires fruitfulness.  Jesus said a number of times that bearing fruit is of utmost importance.  In fact, he even cursed a fig tree that didn't have fruit as an example to his disciples about the importance of bearing fruit.  Am I being faithful?  If I believe the answer is yes, is there evidence of my faithfulness?