Wednesday, November 14th

"Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:20

Dear Jesus, when I was a little child I always felt safe when I knew my Dad was around. When I was in school I always behaved better when I knew the teacher was in the room. When I was in high school I always had more fun when my closest friends were with me. When I have my family with me now, I have a hard time feeling lonely.  All of these blessings come from you sending someone to be with me!  And then I read your words, "I will be with you always."  You are all those people in my life; the One who makes me feel safe, who changes my behavior, who makes life more fun, who keeps me from feeling lonely.  I need you every hour to be with me.  Thank you for promising to be right here with me during this whole day.  I know today will be good, because today you will be with me.  Thanks.  AMEN

 "Jesus never intended for us to feel alone.  We did that to ourselves."

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Monday, November 12th

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7

Dear heavenly Father, how much energy I have wasted by worrying over my own lot in life or that of my loved ones.  So often the bad things that I fear never happen and what looks bad you always turn for my good and the good of others.  Furthermore, you often bring blessings into my life, more than I could ever imagine.  Today I will listen to your word!  I give you each of the things I have been fretting over. (List them here.)  Since I won't be worrying so much, I will give myself to doing more productive things, like helping others in your name.  Show me today someone I can help.  And give me the energy to act on my thoughts and make it happen.  AMEN

 Without worry, we are free to grow and go in ways we never imagined."

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Tuesday, November 13th

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. - Philippians 2:14-15

Dear Jesus, you lived 33 years and never once did you grumble.  I am not sure I can go 33 minutes without grumbling to myself.  I am grateful that your life covers mine.  But I see what you are saying.  When I live out my days cheerfully, then I shine in front of a world darkened by selfish grumbling. I want the music of my life to match the words I hold out to them.  Come by your Holy Spirit and exchange my poor pitiful grumbling with your cheerful, faith filled joy.  Make my life a blessing to those who need to be cheered up today. AMEN

"Anyone can grumble in the face of adversity.  Keeping a cheerful spirit is the real accomplishment."

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Sunday, November 11th

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.  - Psalm 139:1-4

Dear Heavenly Father, so often I wonder if I am alone.  I cannot see you and I have never heard your voice.  But then I see in your word that you are intimately involved in every move I make.  You see me all day and all night.  You know my thoughts and words before I do.  I find comfort in knowing that you know me so well.  I cannot hide anything from you.  Help me to remember that when I am tempted to sin or to doubt your loving care.  You knew everything about me and still chose to redeem me in your Son.  How can that be?  It's what makes you so amazing to me.  I want to make you happy with my thoughts, words and actions.  Help me be pleasing in your sight today. Give me someone new to encourage as well.  AMEN

 "God is always present whether we acknowledge him is the only contingency."

Saturday, November 10th

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:6–7

Dear God, I live alone with myself so much of the time. No one knows what I am thinking.  No one knows what I am worrying about.  No one knows my little fantasies and secret insecurities.  And no one seems to care nearly as much as I do about myself.  Since I cannot hear you, I wonder too, if you know what is going on in this heart of mine.  But then I read what Jesus said.  You even know each sparrow, like the stripped sparrow that the Audubon Society says is 700 miles off track north of town right now.  You know how he got here and where he will be tomorrow along with every other sparrow in the whole entire world. You have not forgotten me and you know my heart.  What's more is that you love me.  That blows my mind because I don't love me, not like that.  I love me in a selfish way; You love me in a pure and encouraging way.  Thank you for leaving behind these words of love and grace, "You are of more value than many sparrows."   Today I will smile to think that you see each thought and know each word before it leaves my mouth.  AMEN

"We are never alone, not for one second.  Let that thought make you live as light hearted as a sparrow."

Friday, November 9th

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.  So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! - Romans 7:14-25

Dear Lord Jesus, I look forward to many things in heaven but none so much as the freedom I will experience from my sinful self.  I am so tired of knowing the right thing to think and do, but choosing to do the wrong.  The more I learn about your will and ways, the more it feels like there are signs everywhere saying, "Wet paint." that beg me to touch.  I can see from a distance a negative reaction to a problem and promise myself that I will not do it, and almost like the script of a predictable movie, there I go, thinking and saying the very thing I promised you and me both that I would not!  I can't stand me!  But I am glad that you can.  You rescue me with grace first and grace last.  I am forgiven.  I am loved.  I am strengthened.  I know that I can improve with your grace and power, but improvement is not what I need as much as grace.  Help me always to desire both but to live in grace while I simply work on improvement I want to keep in step with your Spirit.  AMEN

 "Being a child of God is much better than doing everything perfectly."



Thursday, November 8th

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. - Romans 12:3-5

Dear God, in this word from Paul I see two ditches in which I can fall.  On the one hand I can think that I am so gifted that I can do more than the rest and so I will try to control every task in the family or the church.  I could think I am just too smart to not exert my influence and help.  But on the other hand, I could believe that I am so below average in my gifts that I do not believe I have the need to offer any help in important matters.  Instead, I will think I have permission to waste valuable time entertaining myself and playing through life.  Either ditch is foolish thinking and it keeps me out of living in the truth.  I see the truth that you have gifted me with some gifts for the good of others and have also given them some gifts for my benefit.  I want to fit together happily with each one.  Help me to accept my gifts and responsibly serve others while I also graciously let them serve and shine with their gifts.  AMEN

 "Be who you are and not more or less.  Then you will enjoy the ride from the right seat on the bus."

Wednesday, November 7th

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. - Philippians 3:20-21

Dear Jesus, so many of my dearest friend’s bodies are failing them.  Their immune systems cannot triumph over the cancer or the heart is wearing out, or their brain has slipped a cog, or some other organ has thrown a rod.  My own body shows the wear and tear of high mileage at an early age.  If it were not for the hope of our rescue and ultimate renewal, I would be totally depressed.  But I do have hope, albeit sometimes only a small part of my thoughts.  I have hope in heaven where we will all be together, where we will all be close friends, where we will all be free from the fear of death.  Thank you for tasting death for everyone so we can live through this terrible dream called "dying" with peace and hope in living beyond it all when we "wake up" in heaven.  AMEN

 "If the faith you hold does not get you over the great divide alive, it is worthless."

Tuesday, November 6th

But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he is over individual and nation alike, - Job 34:29

Dear God, you hide yourself and what you are doing from me and it drives me crazy.  I spend so much time and energy trying to figure out my life.  After much thinking, talking and praying it still doesn't make sense.  I cannot understand all your ways.  I cannot understand half of your ways.  I cannot understand 1/10 of your ways.  I think I am starting to get it that I am to find peace in letting go of the hope of making sense of everything.  Your love and promise to be God of my life in grace is enough.  I will stop being irritated with your silence since I know you can handle the universe just as you did before you formed me.  AMEN

"Rest is not found in figuring out your life, but in trusting the One who has it already figured out for your good and his glory." - Paul David Tripp

Monday, November 5th

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? - Galatians 3:1-3

Dear Jesus, when I stare at your cross and ponder what it all means I lose myself.  If I tried my hardest to earn such love I would be embarrassingly foolish.  It would only cheapen the gift to try to earn it after it was given.  I am freed by your love there on the cross but I am also enslaved by the thought that you suffered death and hell for me.  Today, I will serve you without any fear because I know I am yours by that one finished, catastrophic act of love.  The fact that you forgave already all the many embarrassing things I have thought, said or done is the most attractive part of your cross.  It is the only thing that helps me live them down.  I am yours Jesus because you are mine.  AMEN

"If you obey for a thousand years, you're no more accepted than when you first believed." - Paul David Tripp

Sunday, November 4th

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. - Philippians 3:7-9

 Dear Jesus, I have spent enough of my life trying to feel good about myself by how good others think of me and my performance.  It seems that once I muscle my way to the top of the pile, and stagger to my feet, the feeling of contentment and accomplishment fade as fast as cotton candy and I am left looking at the next hill to climb hoping desperately that it is the right hill to give me self-worth and a sense of value in my person.  But the hundred disappointing hills that I conquered that lay behind me are testimony to the futility of such a life.  I love it that you tell me that you have given me your success and your worth.  Now I have a new pursuit, to love you and others from a heart freed from self-actualization.  I am right with you and the world is right for me as a place to serve.  Thank you for rescuing me from the awful treadmill of selfish ambition.  AMEN

 "If you have been freed from needing success and acclaim to feel good about yourself, you know that grace has visited you." - Paul David Tripp

Saturday, November 3rd

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Romans 15:5-6

Dear heavenly Father, I sometimes get so weary of enduring life in my situation and with the people you have wedged me between.  I know they get weary of enduring me too.  I am even less enduring with my worldly generation that is rushing headlong into hedonism and selfishness.  But you are the God who gives endurance and I need a heavy dose from you now.  Please give me the encouragement that I need to take one more step and complete one more day of service to you and them.  Make me an instrument of your peace and unity.  Help me to make the most sandpaper soul feel loved and connected.  I will not have to endure this forever, but you will still be here enduring people after my departure to your glory in heaven.  So, reach down into your storehouse of love and pour it on me so I can finish this race.  AMEN

 "I don't want to win.  I just want to finish as a friend of God."

Friday, November 2nd

If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny his own." - 1 Timothy 2:13

Dear Jesus, what it must have been like for you to remain faithful to Peter and Judas while they were all over the map that fateful night.  One came back to you.  The other went away forever.  But you were there for them both.  And you are there for me too.  It is strangely comforting that you are seething in silence over my wayward choices but patiently waiting for me to come to my senses.  You remain faithful while I jump around in my weaknesses.  I am coming back to you now.  Forgive me, and strengthen me to be constant in my love, faith and life toward you today.  Help me make the right choices even if they cost me friends or friendliness.  You cannot deny me and I don't want to deny you. AMEN

"God's faithfulness rests on who he is, not on what you are doing." - Paul David Tripp

Thursday, November 1st

 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. - Philemon 1:4-5

Dear Lord, today I pray for your bride, the church. I see so many of your saints who are either indifferent or critical of their brothers and sisters in the faith and they are starving each other of the unending grace that you gave us to enjoy as the wealth of our faith.  Somehow they think they are offering you service by rejecting fellow Christians over matters that have nothing to do with truth.  Oh, Jesus, fill us with your loving Holy Spirit so we fulfill your deep desire to see us love one another the way that Paul encouraged Philemon.  If we must spar about matters that need resolution, help us to fight more like friends having a pillow fight rather than enemies shooting high powered rifles at one another. AMEN

 "A godly person will show you love even when they are sharply disagreeing with you."

Wednesday, October 31st

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." - Isaiah 26:3

Dear God, there is so much I do not understand about my life.  I have thrown all my theology at it, I have thrown all of my experience at it and nothing sticks.  Some things just can't be filtered through.  I am learning to trust you not because of great insights and emotional breakthroughs but just because you promise to make everything new. Today, I am going to take a vacation from trying to link my faith to my understanding of the meaning of my life apart from being redeemed.  It is enough to be your child and to have the promise of being with you in person, forever.  The rest can go out with the trash and it won't change my destiny.  My mind is stayed on you.  Please, free me from my lust for sorting out the details as if I have to know how each piece fits in order to be at peace. AMEN

"We don't trust God because he makes perfect sense to us.  We trust him because he is God and we are not."

Tuesday, October 30th

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." - John 10:14

 Dear Jesus, too often I feel alone with my thoughts and emotions just wandering through life looking for pasture.  But I feel the most loved and settled and at peace when I fix my thoughts on you and think hard about your words and what they mean for me personally.  I can tell when people speak whether or not their thoughts are in line with your words.  Your words are simple, clear truth and they comfort me.  They give truth and they give grace.  You are the good shepherd of my soul.  I am not a wandering sheep.  I am a lamb in your pasture. I will feed on your words and I will work hard at not needing any other approval other than what you gave at your cross for me. AMEN

"There is nothing more peaceful than believing that you are perfectly known and yet dearly loved by God."

Monday, October 29th

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. - Psalm 136:1

 Dear Lord, I remember rattling off this verse as the after dinner prayer every evening in my parents’ home.  It became almost as hard to think about while saying it as the precious prayer you gave us.  But WOW, when I think of what it really means, it is the foundation of my life.  I have never known any love from any person like the love that you show me.  Everyone has a limit.  Everyone becomes conditional sooner or later.  Everyone can wear out.  Even I don't love anyone as much as I long to be loved.  But ... your love for me endures forever.  How can you do that?  How can you be that? How can you love me when I am selfish or act out as much as when I am docile and good?  I trust your love when I look at the cross and when I hear your word.  It was your love that got me through the night and it is your love that will get me through this day.  "I am loved by God!"  This will be my strength today. Amen

"God's love is the single most stunning reality in the life of a believer." - Paul David Tripp

Sunday, October 28th

"All things have been created through him and for him." - Colossians 1:16

 Dear Lord Jesus, I know I do it every day.  I wake up and act like all things have been created for me.  This basic attitude is the source of all my self-made dreams, my irritations and my conflicts.  I naturally think the world revolves around me.  As stuck as I am, I am also ashamed of being this way.  I am thankful for the sake of everyone else that I am wrong too.  All things were created through you and for you.  And you are the only One to be trusted with them all.  You make all things work out for everyone's good.  So, I step into your world today, for your purposes to accomplish your dreams.  It feels so much more better to serve your much bigger plan than it did to serve myself.  Thank you for rescuing me by your grace and resetting my dials. AMEN

 "It is much more peaceful and satisfying to serve God than it is to serve ourselves."

Saturday, Octobeer 27th

"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you." - Romans 8:11

Dear Lord, every day I try to do well in serving you.  I know you like to see me try.  But you also know how I fall short.  I am thankful that you forgive and don't dwell on my shortcomings.  I don't want to dwell on them either. But I have a request, by your Spirit who lives in me, help me get it right more often for my good and your glory.  By your Spirit change my desires.  Give me keen discernment.  Make me see exactly what is going on around me and help me figure out what to do about the complicated messes that get thrown at me.  I want to press redeeming grace into the corner of the world around me.  I need you every minute of today in order to do this.  So, walk with me and give spiritual life to this dead head.  AMEN

"If it were not for air I'd be gone.  If it were not for God's Spirit I would be the walking dead."

Friday, October 26th

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - Hebrews 11:6 - "Faith is a gift of God not by works" - Ephesians 2:9

Dear Lord, you have given me faith which I have never been able to produce on my own.  By myself I would have never believed in a God that I cannot see, hear or feel, but who has made some grand promises in an old book that so many people misuse and abuse.  Without your gift of faith, I pretty much just trust myself and even that trust is a little thin. Furthermore, you surprise me with so many situations that I cannot logically see any wholesome outcome at first. But I have seen you bring amazing good out of what I viewed as a train wreck.  The cross of your Son is the best example.  But you have done this millions of times since and thousands of times right before my eyes.  Because I have your promises and your gift of faith in them, and because I have experienced your redeeming love changing situations and lives, I boldly step into a new day believing that you are near me and will be the captain of my ship through calm and troubled waters.  I am nervous about my day, but I am not paralyzed, because I believe in you.  AMEN

"Believing in Christ is not a Sunday walk in the park.  It is a 24/7 dependence on Christ who is your life." - Daniel Duetschlander