He changes deserts into lakes and dry ground into springs. [Psalm 107:35 (GW)]
Thank you, Lord, because if anyone can turn around a bad situation, it is you!
He Doesn’t Keep Score
If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped. [Psalm 130:3-4 (MSG)]
If God doesn’t keep score, how can I? Father, help me wipe away any pain, anger or disappointment still harbored in my heart. May I be as generous with my forgiveness as you are with yours.
Be Happy with the Lord
Be happy with the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Entrust your ways to the Lord. Trust him, and he will act on your behalf. [Psalm 37:4-5 (GW)]
Guide our prayers, O Lord. Give us thankful hearts so that we focus not on what is missing, but on what is there; not on what we want, but on what we already have been given. Let us be less concerned with our needs and more concerned with the needs of others. We trust you with our future. We are in your loving hands and know you will provide everything we need.
I trust you, O Lord. I said, “You are my God.” My future is in your hands. [Psalm 31:14-15a (GW)]
God’s Rulebook
Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:37-39 (NLT)]
How could Jesus condense over 600 rules and regulations of the Old Testament into two simple laws? Actually, it was pretty easy since we can’t do one without the other! If we love God, we also love our neighbor and, let’s face it, it’s impossible to love our neighbor without loving God! Moreover, once we love our neighbor, our behavior toward him changes. We won’t envy or gossip about him, we won’t violate his marriage, or lie about him. If we love our neighbor, we certainly won’t steal from him, harm or kill him. God’s rulebook is quite simple. We have only two rules: love God and love our fellow man.
How to Pray
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT)]
With the right kind of prayer, we can have the right kind of life!
Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God. [Phillips Brooks]
BE STILL
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” [Psalm 46:10 (NLT)]
Lord, silence my noisy thoughts so that I can hear your whisper from deep within me. Calm me so that your hushed voice can guide me through this day.
Someone had dissected Psalm 46 down to its smallest, deepest core. All that was left was the distilled essence of every prayer.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
[From “God Never Blinks” by Regina Brett]
Devotions of the Heart 