Michael Irwin Smith

Good morning! Thank You Lord for another wonderful day. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty who was, who is, and is to come. He is waiting to hear from you. You who are clothed in light no eye can bear, who sits above the song of the seraphim, You still lean toward our quiet and ordinary hearts. Because You Love us. You wait for our words, the half-formed cry, the simple turning of a face toward Yours. So here I am. I am listening. I'm speaking my heart to You. Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” The angels never tire of it. The holiness does not fade. Yet the same God who receives unending praise bends low enough to hear a human whisper. Isaiah 30:18 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” He is not distant in His holiness. He is waiting, actively, in each moment, with the patience of one who already knows the end of the story and still wants a conversation with us. Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” Attentive. Not merely open. Not half-listening while greater matters press. Attentive, as if the cry of the small one matters in the throne room of the Almighty. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” The invitation is not small. He does not ask for a finished speech, only that we call. And He answers with more than we knew to request, things too deep for us to have imagined on our own. He is holy beyond all telling. And still He waits to hear from you.

NEWS FLASH!!!! GOD LOVES YOU!

Why Do The Angels Love Worship And Praise of God So Much? Father, We come quietly, almost shyly, because we only catch glimpses of what the angels see. You who are beauty itself, holiness that does not burn but draws, glory that does not crush but fills, teach our hearts the same glad astonishment that keeps heaven awake. Let the love that makes angels fall and rise again, singing, also rise in us. We do not ask to understand fully; we ask only to love You more truly, as they do. In Jesus Name, Amen. They love worship because they see Him as He truly is. Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Three times they say it, not because once is insufficient, but because language itself keeps falling short. Holiness is not merely the absence of stain; it is the blazing fullness of everything good, pure, and alive. The angels do not grow bored of it. How could they? Every fresh glance reveals a new depth of the same perfect light. They cover their faces not from fear alone, but from the sheer weight of wonder. And still they cannot stop calling it out to one another, as if the joy is too large to hold alone. They love worship because He is endlessly worthy. Revelation 4:8 “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’” There is no rest from this praise because there is no exhaustion in the One they praise. He was before anything began. He is, right now, more present than the air they breathe. He is coming, and the future itself will only make His glory clearer. The angels are not performing a duty; they are simply telling the truth about Someone whose beauty never diminishes. Their song is the natural sound of hearts that have found the one thing that fully satisfies. They love worship because of the Lamb. Revelation 5:11–12 “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels… saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’” Here the mystery deepens. The same God who is thrice-holy chose to be wounded. The angels who once watched creation’s morning now look upon the scars that bought a people for God. Power and weakness, majesty and mercy, meet in one Person. They do not understand every reason He suffered, yet they know the result is worthy of everything they have. Their love for Him grows not smaller because of the cross, but larger, because they see a glory that includes self-giving love. They love worship because it has always been this way. Job 38:7 “When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Before any human voice existed, the angels were already singing. Worship is not something they learned; it is the first and truest language of heaven. They rejoice not only in what God does, but in who He is. Creation itself was an occasion for their joy because it flowed from Him. Even now, every act of mercy, every rescue of a soul, every display of justice becomes fresh material for the same ancient song. They love worship because it is home. Revelation 7:11–12 “All the angels… fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’” They fall. They rise. They fall again. Not in reluctant obedience, but because nearness to Him is the place their hearts were made for. Gratitude, honor, strength, wisdom, these are not dry attributes to them; they are the living atmosphere of the One they adore. In His presence, praise is simply the way love breathes. And so they invite us, even now, to begin learning the same song. because the same God who holds their gaze also draws near to us everyday. Praise Be To God!

Good morning! Thank You Lord for the freedom to choose our leaders today. The Vote We Have Today Matters And Every Outcome Is In The Lords Hands Daniel 2:21 “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he pleases.” Romans 13:1 “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Jeremiah 29:7 “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” Psalm 75:6-7 “No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” Father, the throne is Yours. Kings rise and fall by the breath of Your word, and every ballot box still sits inside Your larger hand. We come as people who know we do not hold the final outcome, yet we refuse to fold our hands and call it trust. Give us clear eyes to see what is true, quiet courage to mark the choice that seeks justice and peace, and the humility to leave the result with You. Shape our hearts so that our vote is not an act of fear or pride, but a small, steady offering of stewardship. Where we lack wisdom, supply it. Where we are tempted to despair or rage, steady us. And when the counting is done, keep our hope fixed on the King who is never on the ballot, yet never absent from the story. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The Church - We're Supposed To Be The Bride of Christ In these days the church can feel like a house that still stands, yet the rooms have grown cluttered with things we never meant to keep. The doors are open, the lights are on, but the quiet center where Christ used to meet us has grown quiet. Many still speak the name, still gather, still sing, yet something essential has slipped. The form remains. The power grows faint. This is not new. The letters warned us it would come. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. 1 Timothy 4:1 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3–4 We feel the drift in quieter ways too. Love cools not always from open rebellion, but from the slow weight of lawlessness around us. We grow careful. We grow tired. We learn to want comfort more than clarity, and the heart that once burned for truth learns how to settle. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Matthew 24:12 What, then, should a person do when the house is mixed and the weather is changing? Not first to fix every room or win every argument. The deeper work has always been the same. Return to the One who still walks with us everyday. Stay close enough to hear His voice above the noise of teachers who only tell us what they want us to hear. Let the Scriptures be more than a reference; let them be the place you live. Test what you hear by what is written, not by what feels kind or current. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:13 Endure is a quiet word. It does not mean become hard. It means remain tender toward Christ and firm toward truth. Keep loving the people near you with a love that does not depend on the temperature of the times. Pray when it feels small. Speak when it is costly and costly only. Stay in the simple things, repentance, mercy, and the Word, because these are the things that cannot be counterfeited for long. The true church was never mainly an institution to be defended. It is a people joined to a living Lord, and that joining is not undone by the noise outside or the confusion inside. In these days the call is not to panic or to polish the exterior. It is to keep the lamp lit. To love the truth more than the crowd. To remain awake, not because we are afraid, but because Someone we love has promised to return. He still knows His own. And His own still know His voice. Lord Jesus, You still walk among Your people, even when the rooms feel crowded and the light in some of them has grown dim. Bring us back to You to the true meaning of the Church. Not with better arguments, but with stronger, truer hearts. Where we have grown tired, restore our first love. Where we have learned to settle, awaken us again to the sound of Your voice. Where lawlessness has cooled what was once warm, kindle the love that only You can keep alive. Teach us to love the truth more than the comfort of agreeing with the crowd. Keep us tender toward You and firm toward what You have spoken. Help us endure, not by growing hard, but by staying close. In the mixture of these days, hold us as Your own. Let the simple things be enough: Your Word, Your table, Your mercy, and the quiet strength to remain. We are Yours. And You are still the One who will return. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Silence is perfect like a sheathed sword like a fire simply breathing.

Thank You Lord for this beautiful day, this beautiful life. Help me to live fully as You intended. Lord, we spend so much of our days rehearsing the ending. We measure time by what we might lose, brace ourselves for the last breath, and call it wisdom. But You did not come to manage our dying. You came to give us life, not the empty, careful kind we settle for, but the full, breathing, overflowing kind. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” So why do we keep preparing for the thief? Why do our prayers sound more like goodbyes than hellos? You walked into a world already practicing its own funeral and spoke life into it anyway. You still do. John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” We are not waiting for life to begin later. It has already begun. The grave is real, but it is not the point. The point is the breath You keep giving us right now, this beautiful morning light, the chance to love someone before the day is over, the quiet courage to live as if death does not own us. Teach us, Jesus, to stop rehearsing the ending and start living the life You already gave. Not carelessly, but freely. Not later, but now. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Are You All In With God? He's All In With You. You don’t have to be perfect to be all in. You just have to stop keeping part of yourself back. Most of us know what it feels like to give God the edges of our lives, Sunday mornings, a few quiet minutes, the parts that feel safe. But the deeper places stay guarded: the future we’re afraid to release, the hurt we keep rehearsing, the plans we still want to control. We say yes with our mouths while our hands stay half-closed. All-in looks quieter than we expect. It is less about big emotion and more about open hands. It is the slow turning of the whole heart toward the One who already gave everything. Not a performance. A direction. When Jesus said to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, He wasn’t asking for more intensity. He was describing a life no longer divided. One current instead of two. One allegiance instead of a careful negotiation. The truth is, God is already all in with you. He did not hold back His Son. He does not hold back His presence. The invitation is simply to answer with the same kind of yes, not flawless, but whole. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 So the question sits gently in front of us: Are you all in? Not “have you figured everything out?” Not “do you feel strong today?” Just, are you willing to stop reserving part of yourself? Because the life that is fully given is the life that finally breathes free. Father, I don’t want to keep one hand on the door. Take the places I’ve held back, the fear, the plans, the quiet refusals. I give You my heart, not just the parts that feel ready. Make me whole toward You. Not perfect, but undivided. All in, because You were all in first. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Good morning! Thank You Lord for another perfect day. Every prayer is precious. Every act of faith is counted. Psalm 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Revelation 8:3–4 “He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” Malachi 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.” Hebrews 6:10 “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Father, You do not forget what we offer You. The prayer that feels heavy, the step of trust that feels small, the quiet “yes” no one else sees, these rise to You like incense. You gather them. You write them down. Nothing sincere is wasted in Your presence. Not the tear You keep, not the faith that keeps returning, not the love that simply continues. So we bring You what we have today, honest words, imperfect trust, and the faith that You are already holding it all. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Good morning! Thank You Lord for another wonderful day. Our Plans, Our Stories, Our Dreams Are Written Within Us. Our dreams are real. Our stories are often messy, and still God is not improvising. He has already seen the whole. We are invited to keep walking, one ordinary page at a time. Our stories are not side projects, God is writing them, and our dreams are not separate from His larger work. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. — Proverbs 16:9 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. — Psalm 139:16 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. — Romans 8:28 Father, You have been writing our stories long before we knew we had one. The chapters we love and the ones we would rather rewrite, You have held them all. We bring You our dreams, not as demands, but as offerings. Some still feel unfinished. Some have been delayed so long we wonder if You still want them. Teach us to hold them loosely enough that Your hands can shape them, and tightly enough that we do not give up on what You have placed in us. Where our plans have narrowed the path, widen our eyes. Where we have tried to force the ending, give us rest and patience to wait. Let our stories become places where others can see that You are faithful, even when the plot turns in ways we did not choose except to listen to You. We trust You with the pages we cannot yet see. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The sky is always marvelous its stories its dreams.

Don't you just love the sky? What a blessing.

Good morning! Thank you Lord for answering our prayers. If You Are Still Here And Breathing Your Prayers Have Been Answered Sometimes the answered prayer is not the soaring, but the walking, the steady, unspectacular step that keeps you upright when everything in you wants to stop. Strength is often renewed in the middle of the troubled walk, not before it. 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” You may still feel the weakness. That does not cancel the answer. The grace that held you through the night is the same grace holding you now. Enough was given, and it is still enough. Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” If trouble came and you are still here, then help was present, even when it did not feel like rescue, even when it only felt like endurance. Presence is a form of answer. The deeper thing is this: many prayers are answered not by the removal of the trial, but by the quiet sustaining of the one who walks through it. You are still standing. That is not small. That is the Lord’s faithfulness made visible in the simple fact that you remain. Father, we come as people who have not been consumed. You heard the prayers we could barely say, the ones for strength we did not feel, for protection we could not see, for one more morning when the night felt longer than our courage. We thank You that Your answers are sometimes simply this: that we are still here. Still able to stand. Still able to speak Your name. Teach us to recognize the miracle in the ordinary fact of our remaining, and to trust that the same hands that kept us will also carry us forward. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Good morning! Thank You Lord for another blessed day. The Fires Within You The flame is not meant to destroy you. It is meant to keep you alive. Leviticus 6:13 “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out.” Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Luke 12:49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Acts 2:3 “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” Malachi 3:2–3 “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” 1 Peter 1:7 “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Lord, There are places in me where the fire has grown quiet. Not gone, but low, coals under ash, warm but not bright. You know the corners where the passion once leapt and now only smolders. I bring those places to You without holding back. Stir them again. Not with spectacle, but with the kind of flame that stays. The kind that cleanses as it warms. The kind that refuses to go out because it was never mine to keep alive in the first place. Burn what needs burning. Leave what is meant to remain. And teach me, even in the heat, to trust the hands that tend the fire. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Good morning! Heavenly Father thank you for another wonderful day. The Wonderous Dangers of These Days. Be Careful What You Listen To. Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Romans 16:17–18 “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” 2 Timothy 4:3–4 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 2 Peter 2:1–3 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.” Jeremiah 23:16 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.’” Lord, guard our ears from the soft voice that flatters, and our eyes from the smile that hides the snare. Give us a quiet steadiness that does not rush toward what feels good, but pauses to ask what is true. When words arrive smooth as oil and warm as comfort, let Your Word stand clear beside them, sharp enough to show the difference. Keep our feet on the narrow path even when the wider one is crowded and cheerful. Protect us not only from being fooled, but from the slow drift that begins when we stop testing. Teach us to love the sound of truth more than the sound of approval. And when we are uncertain, hold us close enough to You that we recognize Your voice above every other. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Good evening! Thank You Lord for another blessed day. Have You Looked at Yourself Lately? What Needs Fixing? The deeper work of knowing yourself is often not finding a new list of rules you have broken, but noticing what you have stopped noticing: the subtle preference for being right over being reconciled, the way self-protection has become more natural than love, the quiet agreements you have made with bitterness or distraction. The invitation is less “try harder” and more “let yourself be known.” Most of what needs fixing is already known by the One who is patient enough to stay while you look. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” — Psalm 139:23-24 “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” — Lamentations 3:40 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? … First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly…” — Matthew 7:3, 5 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — Proverbs 4:23 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” — 1 John 1:8-9 Father, I come without the usual defenses. Not to list my strengths, but to ask for light. Search me deep for the rooms I keep closed. Show me the patterns I have renamed as “just who I am,” the silences I have called peace, the small thick headed ways I no longer feel. What am I protecting that You would rather free? What am I repeating that keeps me from You and from others? I know some of my obvious failures; but show me the quieter ones, the places I have grown used to being wrong. Give me courage to stay when the light is uncomfortable. Teach me the difference between self-condemnation and honest seeing. And when You show me what needs fixing, stay with me in the mending. In Jesus Name, Amen.