Our reason for living

Psalm 150:1-6 (MSG)
Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise god! Hallelujah!

God can fix us

Psalm 25:7 (MSG)
Forget that I sowed wild oats; Mark me with your sign of love. Plan only the best for me, god!

God is to be looked at

Psalm 46:8-10 (MSG)
Attention, all! See the marvels of god! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. "Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything."

Light has no place with darkness

1 John 1:6-7 (MSG)
If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.

God is a safe place

Psalm 46:1-3 (MSG)
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, god-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

God doesn't leave us

2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 (MSG)
One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master's Word will simply take off and race through the country to a ground-swell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we'll be rescued from these scoundrels who are trying to do us in. I'm finding that not all "believers" are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He'll stick by you and protect you from evil.

God will anoint the Godly

Psalm 45:6-7 (MSG)
"Your throne is God's throne, ever and always; The scepter of your royal rule measures right living. You love the right and hate the wrong. And that is why God, your very own God, poured fragrant oil on your head, Marking you out as king from among your dear companions.

Don't play with sin

James 4:7-10 (MSG)
So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

Only with God's help can we win

Psalm 44:4-8 (MSG)
You're my King, O God— command victories for Jacob! With your help we'll wipe out our enemies, in your name we'll stomp them to dust. I don't trust in weapons; my sword won't save me— But it's you, you who saved us from the enemy; you made those who hate us lose face. All day we parade God's praise— we thank you by name over and over.

God cheers us up

Psalm 43:5 (MSG)
Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I'll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He's my God.

David thirsts for God

Psalm 42:1-3 (MSG)
A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I'm thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, "Will I ever make it— arrive and drink in God's presence?" I'm on a diet of tears— tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, Pestering, "Where is this God of yours?"

We can count on God

Psalm 59:16-17 (MSG)
And me? I'm singing your prowess, shouting at cockcrow your largesse, For you've been a safe place for me, a good place to hide. Strong God, I'm watching you do it, I can always count on you— God, my dependable love. A David Psalm, When He Fought Against Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah and Joab Killed Twelve Thousand Edomites at the Valley of Salt

Anger has no part in righteousness

James 1:19-21 (MSG)
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Anger is a foothold for the Devil

Ephesians 4:26-27 (MSG)
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

Don't seek revenge

Romans 12:17-19 (MSG)
Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

God looks out for us

Psalm 41:1-3 (MSG)
Dignify those who are down on their luck; you'll feel good—that's what god does. god looks after us all, makes us robust with life— Lucky to be in the land, we're free from enemy worries. Whenever we're sick and in bed, god becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health.

Anger only backfires

Daniel 3:19-23 (MSG)
Nebuchadnezzar, his face purple with anger, cut off Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace fired up seven times hotter than usual. He ordered some strong men from the army to tie them up, hands and feet, and throw them into the roaring furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, bound hand and foot, fully dressed from head to toe, were pitched into the roaring fire. Because the king was in such a hurry and the furnace was so hot, flames from the furnace killed the men who carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to it, while the fire raged around Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Don't broadcast your anger

Proverbs 29:11 (MSG)
A fool lets it all hang out; a sage quietly mulls it over.

Quiet gifts calm anger

Proverbs 21:14 (MSG)
A quietly given gift soothes an irritable person; a heartfelt present cools a hot temper.

God judges because of motives

Proverbs 21:2 (MSG)
We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives.

God lifts us up

Psalm 40:1-3 (MSG)
I waited and waited and waited for god. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to god.

Prayer for cleanliness

Psalm 51:7-15 (MSG)
Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don't look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.

Only fools quarrel

Proverbs 20:3 (NIV)
It is to one's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

Forgive and forget

Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense.

Fighting is not worth it

Proverbs 17:14 (NIV)
Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.