Thursday, September 25th

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”      2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Lord Jesus, I need your strength.  I need you to bolster my heart and raise it to life.  As I live my life for you I am worn, tired and just plain exhausted of the fight.  The biggest battle I am fighting is the one in my own heart and mind.  I get in my own head too many times and think things and go down paths of thought that are harmful and sinful.  Create in me a new heart, O Spirit, and give me strength to carry on and step forward in faith and strength to serve and to do the good you have place in front of me.  Do not let me deterred from doing good.  Encourage my heart with your finished work.  You have loved me with an undying and eternal love.  You have given me eternal encouragement and hope by my adoption into your family, by the promises of your Word, by the way you repeatedly assure me of your love in your Supper.  Dear Jesus, strengthen me to live in these last days with courage, with grit, with your strength.  Amen.

The Christian lives from the inside out.  With a new heart given by the Spirit, we rise up to live with courage and strength. 

Wednesday, September 24th

“‘The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew.  I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people.  Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.  Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.  This is what the Lord Almighty says: ’Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah.  Do not be afraid.  These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely.  I hate all this,’ declares the LORD.”      Zechariah 8:12-17

Dear Lord, You should have justly cast me away forever from your sight.  But instead you chose to chasten and discipline me.  When I look at the love you showed Israel that was marked by blessing their lives with rain, food and prosperity even though they had turned their backs on you over and over, I realize more deeply just how permanent and powerful is your grace.  You love me through all my wanderings and bring me back to yourself.  I will never find a love more true and steady than yours.  It gives me confidence to speak to others about you and to live out the rest of my days with optimism instead of defeat.  Help me show that optimism instead of defeat.  Help me show that optimism today in the way I handle the good and the “bad” that you send my way.  Help me to show consistent grace like you with everyone in my life even though they may irritate me with their falseness.  Amen.

Never forget that God’s anger toward his child’s sin rests in the nest of his loving heart toward them too. 

Tuesday, September 23rd

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Dear Father, You speak so often and so clearly about living a blameless life in this world.  You speak to me without riddles and tell me to do even more than I am already doing, to work even harder, to live more purely, to love even more.  You call me to love my fellow person and even more so my fellow believer.  You tell me of your coming and you will come like a thief in the night.  Many will be caught by your thief-like coming as in a trap.  Keep me from this, O Spirit.  Keep me from pride and arrogance.  Keep me from falling.  Keep me diligent in the faith and in my living that I might live my whole life in the light and not in dark.  And most of all, O Father, keep me.  I cannot do this.  I do not do this as I ought.  Sanctify me thoroughly.  Wash my sins away and resurrect in me a clean and a new heart that seeks you only.  Make and keep me blameless in body and soul when your Son, Jesus, returns.  Father, my hope and confidence is in you.  I cannot do it.  You have and you must.  Save me!  I am yours.  Amen.

Our confidence throughout life is not because we have kept close to God, but because God has kept us close. 

Monday, September 22nd

“And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone just as we do for you.”  1 Thessalonians 3:12

Dear Jesus, Your love for me never quits.  It overflows from the cross and spills over into my heart and life.  It washes my sins away to make me blameless.  It reminds me that I am yours and that you will never leave me.  It assures me that nothing, no nothing at all in heaven or on earth can separate me from you.  Your love for me is always the same and it is always lavish and abundant; it is always more than enough.  Fill my heart so full of your love, dear Jesus, that my heart will overflow for the people I meet and the people I see.  Increase your love in my heart, dear Jesus.  Increase my care for other people so that I weep when they weep, suffer when they suffer rejoice when they rejoice.  Increase me loving actions in their life to respond in the right way to love them the way that you love me.  Work this in my heart, dear Jesus, that I may love like you.  Amen.

Our hearts overflow with love for others because Jesus’ love overflows to us. 

Saturday, September 20th

“One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.”  Proverbs 18:9

Dear Heavenly Father, Give me the faithful heart that leads my body to put in a day’s work for a day’s pay.  I do not want to be slack in my work.  I want to be productive with the life you have given for the benefit of all.  Help me to meet deadlines and to communicate when I need help in time to rectify any problems that arise.  Thank you for the people you have given me who model faithful work especially your Son who worked perfectly for all of us.  Amen.

Work is not a curse.  It’s an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. 

Friday, September 19th

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  Proverbs 27:1

Dear Lord, The more I read your word, the more I see that you want me to live totally dependent on you.  As I faithfully produce good works for society, you want me to look to you for blessing help and strength.  It’s easy to get off track and think in my heart that it all depends on me.  That always leads me to pride or despair.  My life is in your hands.  You have already decided how long I will crawl around on your globe.  It’s enough for me to pursue a relationship with you.  You made me and saved me.  Now preserve my life today and show me what you want me to do in order to be the greatest blessing for others.  Amen.

It’s more blessed to give than to receive and giving back to God is most blessed of all.

Thursday, September 18th

“It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’  Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:13-18

Dear Jesus, It’s sometimes overwhelming for me to face the outward wasting away of my life along with all those I love.  So many people who were my rock have already passed over to be with you.  And my own body reminds me every day that it’s not going to last forever here on earth.  That’s why these verses are a constant friend.  They remind me that you have saved my soul and that you will restore my body on the last day.  I cannot see it.  I’m not yet experiencing it, but the thought gives me great comfort.  I’d much rather think about the restoration to come than the degradation that is happening.  I love the hope it brings.  I never have deserved such grace but you have lovingly given it to me.  When you see me getting down about my losses, come to me by your Holy Spirit and use these words to strengthen my faith in you and all you have in store for me.  Amen.

The gospel about our final restoration dwarfs all of our suffering if we will only let it.

Wednesday, September 17th

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”  Proverbs 29:25

Dear Heavenly Father, It’s wonderful to hear that you have given me faith in you that provides an alternative to living in fear of what people could do to me.  I have to confess that at times in my life, my fear of people and their power to hurt, persuade, fool, and destroy, has driven my life.  When I lived by fear I made some huge mistakes too.  That fear supercharged anger.  It drove me to hide and avoid.  It paralyzed me in social settings.  But then you taught me that my identity as a child of God is secure with you.  I learned to see you in every room.  You and your fatherly acceptance are behind every situation I encounter.  Even though people are very powerful, they are not the God who owns me.  Now I feel safe because I believe I am yours.  You will watch over your own children, even when you let them suffer or struggle with a challenge.  Oh heavenly father, drive the fear of people far from me and help me act out of divine love and not fear.  Amen.

Love and fear are mutually incomparable in the human heart.

Tuesday, September 16th

“The God of peace be with you all.  Amen.”  Romans 15:33

Dear Jesus, I love this verse toward the end of your book of Romans.  It reminds me that you are the God who brings peace to my life.  Peace is the sublime assurance that everything is okay and will be okay going forward as well.  You give me peace from my guilt, peace from conflict, peace from fear and peace from worry.  As long as you are with me, I know everything will be okay even if at the moment it seems really bad.  When I remember that you are with me everywhere and that you are guiding my story to a blessed end, I have peace that I don’t have to be big enough to fix everything.  I can have impact on my situation but I don’t have to shoulder the responsibility to make everything perfect for me or others.  That’s your job.  The peace frees me up to love.  You really are the perfect Savior of my life.  Amen.

God’s peace guards the heart against a heart invasion by worry.

Monday, September 15th

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”  Philippians 1:9-10

Dear Jesus, Whatever is spirituality, it always revolves around love, that is; love from you, love for you and love for others.  This is not just something we receive and feel.  It’s something we do, something we pursue, something we celebrate and something we practice all day long.  I appreciate how you teach me to pray for more depth of insight from love.  I get it that love for you means that I will seek to live pure and blameless before you to.  Help me to bravely look at my life and find ways I can show love for you by changing the way I think and act.  Help me to form habits of love that make even the quiet little moments a sacrifice of thanksgiving to you.  Give me the wisdom and the courage to boldly do for others what love would dictate.  And finally, help me to relish being a loving person and not loathe it as a loss.  Amen.

Love makes us boldly love others even if it costs us dearly.

Saturday, September 13th

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:33

Dear Jesus, I pursue many things.  And truth be told my happiness often rises or falls based on whether I get what I want while pursuing them.  But you clear the air for me.  You tell me to pursue the peaceful righteousness of your spiritual kingdom, to focus on the intangible grace that changes me from the inside out, to be all about the inner life instead of the outer one.  I hear your promise to give me what I need to take care of my needs while I pursue the gospel for others and me.  Help me to believe your promise so much that I give up my earthly worry in exchange for heavenly concerns.  Amen.

It’s not what we accumulate that makes us rich.  It’s the blessing we learn to appreciate.

Friday, September 12th

“For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  Hebrews 10:30-31

Dear Heavenly Father, Oh how complete is the picture of yourself that you paint in for us in Scripture!  In our darkness we want to view you as a sugar daddy.  We come to you asking for you to give us this or that but we don’t like it when you intrude into our lives with your demands.  But you have earned the right to demand everything from us.  You made us and then when we had ruined our lives with sin, you sent your precious son to save us.  If we turn away from honoring, loving, trusting and following you, we deserve your rejection, even your punishment.  Give us a holy respect for you that recognizes you as our Holy God but at the same time trusts you as a loving father.  Show us what you want from us and give us the power to do it.  Amen.

God has a name for faith-based obedience.  He calls it love.

Thursday, September 11th

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”  1 John 2:1

Dear Heavenly Father, I see two great themes here that are the foundation under my life.  The first is that there is moral truth that you don’t want me to sin against it.  I know you created me to be good and loving.  But I fail at it so much.  That’s why the second theme is so comforting.  What better words can I hear than, “But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father?”  So, today I both want to do right in every relationship and I bask in grace and forgiveness for not being perfect.  Your grace makes me want to try even harder to be a good person but not because I think I earn your love.  It’s because I’m so thankful that I already have it.  Oh, Lord, make me a blessing today.  Amen.

Grace and truth are the sun and moon of all true spirituality.

Wednesday, September 10th

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and offering and sacrifice to God.”  Ephesians 5:1-2

Dear Jesus, I have spent my whole life following mentors.  It’s so much easier to emulate someone than to invent my own path.  And whenever I’m facing a difficult situation and cannot think of someone to follow, all I need to do is ask myself what you would do.  That’s when stories from your word about your life, spring into my mind.  My path forward becomes much clearer.  I love these words, “walk in the way of love.”  That picture of walking in love helps me avoid the trap of getting even and of playing the victim when I’m hurt.  Now even the hurts from others are an opportunity for me to show your love.  I cling to the promise that even though it doesn’t always seem to work to change the person immediately, you see it and it’s a fragrant offering to you.  I know I am pleasing you by imitating your love.  You are my audience.  Not the world.  Amen.

God smiles at our every kindness, especially the kindness shown to an enemy.

Tuesday, September 9th

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”  Ephesians 4:29-32

Dear Jesus, You have changed me by your love so that I have learned to use my words to build others up.  But I so easily fall back into criticism.  It’s easy to be the old me.  It takes concentration to bridle the mouth when I am disappointed or feel that someone is not respecting me or my needs.  In a weird twisted way, I can fall into thinking that talking about them to others will somehow make my life better.  That’s why your words here from Paul are so helpful for me.  They set a clear direction for my heart and my mouth.  They tell me that your Holy Spirit is regularly reminding me in my heart to be loving, kind, compassionate and forgiving to everyone.  I cannot forget these words once I have read them.  So, be with me today and help me speak wholesome words that leave a blessing in the memories of others.  Amen.

Words are the seeds of the soul, growing whatever was planted whether good or bad.

Monday, September 8th

“Paul, an apostle-not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead...”  Galatians 1:1

Dear Father, The apostle Paul was a great man.  I learn so much and get great encouragement from him.  He was a founder, a leader, and a pastor over so many different churches.  And yet, when he comes to the Galatians, I notice the humility and the authority with which he comes.  He could have come to them on the basis of his role in the church.  He could have come to them on the basis of his reputation and his authority.  But instead, he came on the basis of the authority and call of Jesus.  He was an apostle, yes.  But not because of him or because of anyone else; simply because of the call of Jesus.  The same is true for me too, dear Father.  You’ve called me into your kingdom.  You’ve graciously given me a role in your kingdom.  And you’ve put your words on my lips.  As I go out to share your words, keep from being a lord over others with my words or my being a lord over others with my words or my approach or my role.  Help me to remember that all that authority is from you and through you.  You are the Lord!  Lead me to come to people with your love in my heart and your words on my mouth.  I come as your representative; you are the authority.  Fill me with this humility and this confidence as I go about your work today.  Amen.

I am who I am because of Jesus.  I am not a self-made person.  I am not a man-made person.  I am who I am because of the forgiveness of God.  I am who I am because of the call of the Holy Spirit.  I am who I am because of the power of Jesus living in me. 

Saturday, September 6th

"Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.”  Psalm 141:3

Dear Jesus, It’s so easy for me to remember to guard what I say when I talk with the general public or when I know what I say will have direct consequences on my job or a significant relationship.  But then when I am with my closest kin, I can get sloppy and say things I shouldn’t.  I also don’t always watch my tone either.  I know it hurts them and makes their days harder to bear.  Help me put a guard over my lips out of love, so my words and tone build people up and make their lives richer in faith, hope and love.  Make me an encourager to the closest and farthest friends and family.  Amen.

Love treat indiscriminately blesses the friends and enemies alike. 

Friday, September 5th

“Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.”  2 Corinthians 12:7

Dear Father, You know what I need.  You know what is good for my soul.  You know what is good in my life so that I will spend my eternity with you.  You also know what other people need for their faith and for their eternity.  You know how my life and their lives interact.  I don’t.  I pray, work in my heart and life like you did for Paul.  You gave him a thorn in flesh so that he would stay humble, so that he would lean on you, so that he would depend on your strength.  You gave him exactly what he needed for his salvation and his faith.  I pray, dear Father, do the same in my life.  Do whatever it takes in my life so that I stay true to you and to your Word my whole life.  Do whatever it takes in my life so that I might be an instrument of your mercy and grace.  You alone know what is good for me and for others.  And when your work is unpleasant and even painful give me your Holy Spirit so that I remember and trust your loving and saving purposes.  Help me to see what you are doing and to find strength in you.  Amen.

I do not always understand what God is doing or why.  But I do know that his “so that” for my life is for my good and my salvation.  His purposes are always saving. 

Thursday, September 4th

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  2 Corinthians 9:8

Dear Father, What a promise this is!  What a statement this is!  You not only speak about your ability to care for me in an over-the-top way, but you also promise to give me exactly what I need when you want me to do it.  So many times, as I go about my day, I think that I’m short on time, short on money, short on gifts, short on all kinds of things.  So often I feel like I’m missing what I need to do.  But that’s not what you tell me here!  Here you tell me that you have for me exactly what I need to have for the work you want me to do.  I have exactly enough time to do what you want me to do-O Spirit, help me make good use of my time.  I have exactly enough money to do what you want me to do-O Spirit, make me a good manager of the financial resources you’ve given me.  I have exactly the gifts, skills and abilities that you want me to have-O Spirit, empower me to use them for your glory.  Father, you have given me and will give me exactly what I need when you want me to do it.  Give me a contented and joyful heart about what you have given me.  And then, give me wisdom and strength to carry it out.  Amen.

I am not lacking any gift.  God, my Father, has given me exactly what he wants me to have to do what he wants me to do. 

Wednesday, September 3rd

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  Matthew 20:16

Dear Jesus, This pithy little sentence levels the playing field for all humans.  You spoke it at the end of your parable of the vineyard where people worked different hours but all got paid the same.  Salvation depends on your decision not ours.  It’s yours to give to whomever you wish and you offer it to all.  The value of every soul has already been established.  It’s worth your life.  You bought each one.  So, you do not consider it a waste to watch someone squander all their days but turn to you in the end.  You aren’t happy with their wasted life.  But you still want to save their soul.  You will save even the latest to convert, just like you did the thief on the cross.  Help me to value souls the same way and to not write anyone off as a lost cause.  If their heart is beating, they still can be saved.  So, make me respect everyone enough to give them an opportunity to hear your race presented clearly.  You gave it all to make the most difference in their lives.  Don’t let me get in the way of that with my silence.  Amen. 

A wasted life cannot disqualify a redeemed soul.