Wednesday, August 16th

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”  Psalm 119:103-104

Dear Heavenly Father, I long for direction and comfort in my life.  Of all the messages I receive every day, I have never found anything as pure and enlightening as your holy scripture.  It always seems to speak to me in my inner most being.  It always takes into consideration what I already know by natural knowledge, that there is a God, that he is you, the creator of all things.  Your word helps me be honest with myself and it gives me the one solution for guilt that no other script has ever done.  It helps me know right from wrong and gives me a desire to chase after the right.  It makes me want to pick myself up when I fall and it makes me want to love my family, my friends and even my enemies.  Your word is spiritual power that drives my life from deep within my soul.  Thank you for giving us a book that ignites fire in the soul of all who read it.  Give me a desire to know your word that makes me prioritize reading it from a quiet place every day.  Amen.

The word of God is living and powerful.  That’s no empty claim.

Tuesday, August 15th

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”  Hebrews 13:5

Dear Heavenly Father, These are good times for my generation and me.  The shutdown of our economy makes us stop and reflect on where our help really comes from.  I find myself more worried about widespread financial strain for my friends and me than I do about getting the deadly virus.  Then I have to wonder where my anxiety really comes from.  I think it comes from a subliminal false idea that my economic welfare depends on me and the definable fiscal world in which I reside.  I also think it comes from my lack of experience with widespread economic catastrophe.  Most of the world lives in poverty and disease.  You graciously let me be born into the land of prosperity and opportunities.  So, I’m not very practiced at meditating on truth to get through the hard times.  That’s why this verse is important to me.  It reminds me that you are with me.  I know you will take care of me.  Help me get rid of the very thought that depends on a “what I can see and hear” mentality.  Give me peace and generosity to share with those around me during these tough times.  Make yourself known to every troubled heart.  Calm their fears too and give them friendliness in the stores and along the roads.  Amen.

Worry over finances is the back side of covetousness.  Trust in God and start living free to share.   

Monday, August 14th

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

Dear Jesus, What a wonderful verse for this week when we are all hearing about a virus that could sweep the world and kill millions, and when we hear reports out of Nigeria and Pakistan of people killing Christians in brutal attacks.  You gave these words to your Apostle in a day when no one knew what germs were, and the Romans slung people around like rag dolls.  You spoke into their hearts, “I am working well even when you think everything is bad.”  Help me to remember this insight as reports trickle out about new cases of the flu and people running for their lives.  Give me a peace than can be felt by those around me.  Teach me how to be cautious but not fearful, kind but not careless, and obedient but not rigid.  Guide us through these crazy times with the light of your grace and truth.  Amen.

God wants us to work as it depends on us but trust that it really depends on him. 

Saturday, August 12th

“Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.”  Proverbs 12:16

Dear Heavenly Father, Help me to wink at criticism and to stuff my clatter about pet-peeves.  I don’t need to be so egocentric as to believe that everyone needs to know what gripes me.  And often the person that’s annoying me needs my love and patience more than my frustration.  Give me the peaceful strength to avoid venting frustration without repressing it.  Help me to pray my frustrations to you and then to find in your Word the solutions for my angst.  When I do overlook an insult, use that one act of self-control to strengthen the bonds between the one insulting and me.  Oh God, give me the power and wisdom to step out of the downward spiral of disintegrating relationships.  Amen.

Friends that can take a punch are trusted companions in hard times. 

Friday, August 11th

“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.”  Matthew 24:35

“God’s Word is our great heritage and shall be ours forever; to spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavor.  Through life it guides our way, in death it is our stay.  Lord, grant, while worlds endure, we keep its teachings pure.  Throughout all generations. “ Amen.

You can trust this Book!  And not just the Book.  You can count on the God of this Book.  He has spoken and he will not change his mind.  His Word will not disappear. 

Thursday, August 10th

“From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.”  Proverbs 10:31

Dear Heavenly Father, Spare the people around me from any words that come out of my mouth that are selfish, unkind, sarcastic, mean, negative and critical.  Instead guide my thinking and speaking to be positive, encouraging and uplifting.  Help me point to you and the possibilities that you open up to us when we trust that nothing is impossible for you.  Give me the faith, hope and love to make my wholesome talk the honest outflow of a believing heart instead of the forced drip of a polluted mind.  Make me a spring of living water just as your Son was in his short life.  Amen.

Let God clean the well and the water it produces will bless everyone who meets it. 

Wednesday, August 9th

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”  2 Timothy 1:9

Dear Jesus, There’s almost too much here in this one little verse for me to fathom.  You gave me your grace before the beginning of time?  That’s when I was just an idea in your mind but nothing more.  In grace you chose my planned soul to be one who would learn how you fixed our biggest problem called sin and death and restored us to God the Father even before we were born to fall away from him.  What a mind bender?  I will try hard to meditate on your grace today amidst all the hustle and bustle of my various activities.  I cannot get over the fact that I was chosen by you before I even existed.  Help me get this Lord Jesus!  Amen.

Being chosen by God is way more faith building than thinking you first chose him. 

Tuesday, August 8th

“LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.”  Isaiah 25:1

Dear Heavenly Father,

It blows my mind to think that with billions of people on the earth, you planned the intimate details of my own little life from eternity.  But by faith in your word, I believe it.  This gives me great comfort because many times my life seems to be a series of random problems strung together and wrapped around my neck.  Since you planned this crazy life of mine, I beg of you to walk beside me in it.  Teach me how to live with hope, peace, faith and love as I deal with situations that too often seem too big for me to handle.  You took care of making me and saving me.  I believe you will take care of all my present struggles too.  Amen.

God planned us from eternity.  What a huge thought to fill one’s day with thinking.

Monday, August 7th

“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’  He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.”  John 6:5-6

Dear Jesus, So many moments in my life are like this one where you made the disciples stare at their need to realize that without your help they would be sunk.  You often help me see my spiritual, physical and mental depravity so I will learn to depend on you for everything.  And I have seen you come through over and over again.  This Biblical story and my own memories of blessings after emptiness help me let go of my anxieties today.  You will provide.  I cannot do this on my own.  I need you.  Lord Jesus, be my rescuer in every way.  Amen.

We don’t even take one breath without God’s approval.  Why do we worry about anything else? 

Saturday, August 5th

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, “declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

Dear Heavenly Father, Well, that verse is the understatement of the century.  You have shown me how different my ideas are from yours in how you have unfolded my life.  And while most of the events you orchestrated turned out better than my abandoned plans, I trust that those that seem to have been a curse, are actually going to turn out to be a blessing.  I love the mystery involved from knowing you are thinking much higher thoughts about my life than I am.  Go ahead and take the wheel.  Just let me know when you want me to get out and do some good works for you.  I will do my best to blossom where I am planted by clinging to your promises.  Amen.

God always thinks the best thoughts toward us because he sees his Son in what he is making us out to be. 

Friday, August 4th

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.  The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”  Psalms 19:7

Dear Heavenly Father, You never planned to leave us to our own devices.  You laid out very clearly what was right and wrong about property, sexuality, reputation, covetousness, envy, trust, and many other virtues.  Your words on these matters are a firm foundation under my life.  They save me oodles of time and energy too.  I can trust your moral will for all people.  However, even though I know your law, I break it.  So, I still desperately need more than your law.  I need your grace and mercy too.  Thank you for both.  With law and gospel my spiritual needs are met.  I’m ready to live them both today.  Amen.

Grace and truth are both earrings adorning a believer's soul.

Thursday, August 3rd

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. Mark 11:22

Dear Lord, Help me.  I want to live courageously and stand up for you in this world, but so often I find myself buttoning my lips and sitting on my hands.  I want to step forward in faith, standing on your promises, but so often I am afraid.  Lord, Help me.  Plant your word deeply in my heart so that I know what your promises are.  Remind me of your promises when I am afraid of stepping forward in faith.  Remind me that when you have spoken a promise, you will not change your mind.  Remind me that what you have promised, you will do.  And fill me, Lord.  Fill me with such a deep love for you that I cannot sit idly by while your word is mocked or ridiculed, while your name is dragged through the mud.  Fill me with such a deep zeal for you so that I cannot keep my mouth closed, but will speak up and speak out about the things I have learned and know from your word.  Lord, help me.  I want to be bold and courageous for you.  Fill me more and more with your Spirit so that I am.  Amen.

Faith in the promises and words of God makes us bold and gives us courage to live for him. 

Wednesday, August 2nd

“This is how God showed his love among us:  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”  1 John 4:9

Dear Jesus, I seem to want you to show your love among us by getting rid of all my struggles including sickness and death.  But you showed your love by coming to live among us to kill death forever.  I can never doubt your love even though my life might be hard and seem to have an impending dead end.  You came and died with us and for us.  You rose from the dead to show what will happen to my body on the last day too.  Now, you promise that we will live through you in the hope of cheating death in our soul even when our bodies fail us.  Help me to find real hope in this good news so I don’t doubt your love even when life gets hard for me or someone I dearly love.  Amen.

Life forever through Jesus Christ, that’s the good news that no one can top. 

Tuesday, August 1st

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Matthew 22:37-39

Dear Jesus, When this man pressed you to tell him the greatest commandment you very clearly said it was to love your heavenly father with all your heart and then you added that loving people was just as important.  It’s not the clarity of the commandments that haunts me.  I love how clear and simple they make my task for each day.  It’s just that I know I cannot keep either commandment perfectly.  If that’s all I had from you I would be depressed.  But since I know you kept both of them for me, I am all the more encouraged to try, because when I try by faith to love God and my neighbor, you are pleased with me just as my parents were pleased with my little sister’s Easy Bake Oven corn bread.  No matter how badly they tasted, my parents fawned over them because they were made out of love.  You see my love, albeit imperfect, and you fawn over me too.  Thank you Jesus for making life bearable under grace.  Amen.

Grace frees us up to honestly try to keep God’s will out of faith and not fear. 

Monday, July 31st

“Then the king said to Zadok, ‘Take the ark of God back into the city.  If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again.  But if he says,’ I am not pleased with you, ‘then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.’”  2 Samuel 15:25-26

Lord God Almighty, I am often tempted to take things into my own hands.  I am often tempted to fight fire with fire, to fight attacks with more attacks.  I am tempted to throw the spear back.  I am often tempted to live my life and protect myself as if it were all up to me to make my feet secure.  I am often tempted to work as if it were up to me to make things happen and to move things ahead.  But I am learning an important lesson from David today and, I PRAY, SEND YOUR Holy Spirit to me today to help me learn it.  David teaches me to entrust my cause, my case, my name, and my plans to you.  David wasn’t sure where this coup by Absalom was going to lead.  But he did know who was going to lead it.  He knew you and he was safe in leaving the city knowing that whatever you did was going to be good.  Help me to trust your leading and your working.  There is not a thing that happens today or any day that is apart from your working and your ruling.  Help me to live and work and plan because you are my refuge and strength.  You will make my feet secure even as I scramble up a cliff.  Amen.

Today is a day for faith not fear.  Today is a day to trust the Lord’s plan and his working whether we understand it or not.  He will make the footing beneath our feet secure.  His name is our mighty tower and a refuge for our souls.  

Saturday, July 29th

“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.  It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.  We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.”  Hebrews 13:9-10

Dear Jesus, There is no principal in scripture, no divine work, no emotional moment, no spiritual high that can compare to the stabilizing, comforting, liberating power of knowing I am covered by your grace and mercy.  Protect my heart from thinking that there is some religious or worldly pursuit that can feed my soul and sustain my faith.  I crave grace above all things.  When I stare into my soul and see what’s really there, I long for redemption not reformation.  I just want to know that despite the fact that I will never measure up to any standard much less your perfect will, that you still love me and will give me audience in your throne room for my prayers and space in your mansion for eternity.  I don’t deserve it.  But you have taught me that it’s mine by grace.  This removes the fear that drives frenetic living.  I can live in peace and quietness and healthy spiritual activity.  Help me live in the power of grace today.  Amen.

God’s treatment center for spiritual washouts is redeeming, accepting, and settling grace.                                                                                                                                               

Friday, July 28th

“The LORD sent Nathan to David.  When he came to him, he said, ‘There were two men in a certain town , one rich and the other poor.’”  2 Samuel 12:1

Lord God, I am often tempted to read about the sin of David and think to myself that I am so glad that I’ve never done something like that.  I’m tempted to minimize my own sin so that it seems insignificant in the face of other sins.  But Lord, I know, that even the smallest sins is big and condemning in your sight.  Forgive me today, dear Lord, for the big sins and the little sins.  And I pray, dear Father, send people into my life to show me how I have sinned against you and other people.  Send people into my life to lead me to repentance.  I can see you doing it in my heart through the conversations that I have with people about their lives that help me see how I have fallen into similar sins.  You reveal the sins of my own heart and life as I sit with other people.  You so gently correct and restore me in those moments.  Send people into my life to point out my sin to me.  When they show me my sin, whether they do it gently or harshly, lovingly or with a judging heart, help me to receive it in faith.  Thank you, Lord, for those people whom you have sent and will send into my life to lead me back to you.  Though the message they bring is painful, the result is forgiveness and salvation from you.  Amen.

In his grace, God sends people into our lives to turn us back to him.  In the same act of grace, God sends us into people’s lives to turn them to him.  Who will you tell today?

Thursday, July 27th

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”  Hebrews 13:5

Dear Jesus, You never wanted me to be worried about or become over enthralled with money, istead, you wanted my greatest passion to be for you.  How easily I resort to the accumulation of created things instead of living thankfully with you as my Creator.  It’s very comforting to know that you will never leave me or forsake me.  You are God of the empty times as well as the full.  I am connected with you, my inventor, every day.  I will spend my day with you as my friend.  That’s enough for me.  Protect my heart from the fraternal twins called greed and worry.  You are with me.  That’s all I need.  Let’s go out together and bless some people.  Amen.

Don’t look back at the end of your short earthly life and wish you had lived in the peace of realizing it was all temporary. 

Wednesday, July 26th

“The word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”  Hebrews 4:12-13

Dear Jesus, It frightens me to think that you see absolutely every thought that flies through my fallen mind.  I think how disappointed you must be!  But you don’t dwell on the negative.  Instead, you send your word to show me my own thoughts and to help me filter them so they are purified.  I have experienced the cleansing power of your word.  It reveals, washes, and renews.  Thank you for not leaving me alone to stink in my own thinking.  And give me a daily desire to cleanse myself with devotional meditation on your purifying word.  Amen.

You can tell a person who meditates on Scripture by their honest, humble faith and visible desire to live from pure motives. 

Tuesday, July 25th

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”  Acts 20:32

Dear Jesus, Your man, Paul, leads us all on how to “let go” when we know our direct influence over our family or close Christian friends is about to be diminished.  You have designed your word to be so powerful that if people will just read it with an open heart and mind, they will kept safe and will grow in faith and godly living.  So, Jesus, help me to trust your word enough that I will point people to your word and even give them passages for their need and then let go and let you lead their hearts.  You use your word to set people apart for you without my emotional energy to help make it happen.  Knowing you’ve got this, will give me more energy to help more people and it will keep my heart safe from the messiah complex that makes me carry the burden you never made for me.  I like letting you actually be God.  Amen.

You cannot give people a greater gift than a fitting word from God.