Monday
Love the Lord you 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.
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
Some things are just not very complicated. Living for Jesus can be boiled down to two principles: love God with everything I am and have, and love others and treat them as I would like to be treated. Not too hard to understand. I guess it's living it that is the challenge!
MY PRAYER ...
O Living and only True God. Please accept the work of my hands, the words of my mouth, the moments of my rest, and the love of my heart as my worship to you this day. I pray that it is pleasing and refreshing to you. Through your only Son I pray. Amen.
Tuesday
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.
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
Love is a verb. We can't say it enough. Love must not only be spoken, but must also be shown. The beginning of love is God. He showed his love in the most sacrificial of ways so we could know our incredible value to him. The price of our adoption was the emptying of heaven of its greatest treasure, God the Son, who is our Savior.
MY PRAYER ...
Loving Father, thank you for adopting me into your family. I can never thank you enough or ever repay you for your kindness, but please receive the service of my life today as thanksgiving for your grace and my small way of trying to share the love you have given me. Through my Brother and my Ransom I pray. Amen.
Wednesday
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
"Talk is cheap!" "You can tell me with your words, but I'll show it with my life." "Put your life where your mouth is." We know the slogans, now let's live love in truth. In a world where barter has replaced sacrificial and steadfast love, let's go against the grain and do the truth!
MY PRAYER ...
Sacrificial Father, I confess to you that at times I am selfish. Other times my intentions are good, but my follow- through and faithfulness are lacking. Use your Spirit to empower and enable me to be what I hope to become, to your glory. May your love be seen in my actions of genuine concern today. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Thursday
God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
Power! We like that concept. When it is godly power, might does make right, because godly power is accompanied by love and self-discipline. These three together make a person's life effective. Live life to its fullest: not as a closet Christian, afraid of standing true and firm, but one who lives by God's power, shares God's love, and displays God's virtues.
MY PRAYER ...
Holy God, you are without comparison in your majesty and might. I have no right to come into your presence, and yet you have invited me here by your love and your grace. You are my Rock, my Fortress, and my Strength. I depend upon your guidance and your mercy to sustain me through my storms and to reclaim me from my stumbles. Holy God, you are without comparison, and I worship you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Friday
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalms 73:25-26
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
What can truly fulfill and sustain us? Maybe the best way to answer that question is by asking another: What can we keep when our bodies are placed silently in their graves at death? Only our relationship with God and his people last beyond the grave. If he is what lasts, then how can we displace him for anything that doesn't?
MY PRAYER ...
Mighty Yahweh, Strength of Israel, Keeper of the Covenant and Fulfillment Maker of every prophecy – you are my hope, my strength, and my future. I live this day in wide-open amazement that the Keeper of the Universe knows my name, hears my voice, and cares for me. Thank you for being my past, my present, and my future, the Great I Am. Through my Savior, I pray. Amen.
Saturday
He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
How we long for this to be our true confession. We are not yet gold, but long to be. We are not yet fully following his steps, but are trying. We have tried not to turn aside, but we sometimes falter. Thank God for his grace until our intentions and desires are fulfilled!
MY PRAYER ...
Magnificent Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, I confess my sin and my inablitiy to follow your paths. Forgive me. I commit my life to serve you in holiness and joy. Thank you for your grace, which covers my sin, and perfect in me the character of Jesus. Through him I pray. Amen.
Sunday
"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."
New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE ...
No matter how we try to perceive God, he is still God and we are not. We must forever remember that the original, and still primary sin was to try to become like God in terms of knowledge and understanding. We are to know God, but we can never fully know about him. We are to take on his character, but we cannot approach his majesty. This is both exciting and frustrating. But the promise remains that one day we will be like him and see him as he is.
MY PRAYER ...
Tender Shepherd, thank you for being so patient with me when I cannot fully understand and appreciate your holy and transcendent character. Thank you for sending Jesus so I can know you better and trust you to know me better than I know myself. I look forward to seeing you face to face when Jesus comes to bring me home. Until that day, please know I love you. Through Jesus I offer my thanks and praise. Amen.