Devotionals

Psalm 62:1

I've had times when I've found myself wondering about the things I've believed and preached for years. What happened? Had God died?

No. My vision just got a little blurry. My circumstances caused my thinking to get a little foggy. I looked up, and I couldn't see Him as clearly.

That's what happened to John Bunyan back in the seventeenth century in England. He preached against the godlessness of his day, and the authorities shoved him into prison....

Psalm 139:14

The next time you pick up your little baby or grandbaby, look into the face of that marvellously made child and say, "You are fearfully and wonderfully made."

And it wouldn't hurt to repeat that statement throughout her childhood.

Children need to know how valuable they are in God's sight—and ours. Nothing gives them greater security than a strong sense of self-esteem.

Proverbs 11:28

Our society has gorged itself on the sweet taste of success.

We've filled our plates from a buffet of books that range from dressing for success to investing for success....

We've gobbled down stacks of notebooks, albums, and videos in our hunger for greater success.

The irony of all this is that...instead of fulfilment, we experience the bloated sensation of being full of ourselves—our dreams,ourgoals, our plans,our projects,our accomplishments.

The result of this all-you-can-eat appetite is not contentment. It's nausea

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Isaiah 50:10

Let's get six words clearly fixed in our minds. These six words form the foundation of God's therapeutic process for all worrywarts.

                                                                            WORRY ABOUT NOTHING,
                                                                            PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING

1 John 5:20

God offers instruction, but then it's our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction.

So you see, application is the essential link between instruction and change....

God has sent us His instruction. He has preserved every word of it in a book, the Bible. It's all there, just as He communicated it to us.

When He returns for His own, He isn't going to ask us how much we memorized or how often we met for study.

Psalm 90:12

The Hebrew text suggests that we correctly "account" for our days.

I find it interesting that we are to view life by the days, not the years. We are to live those days in such a way that when they draw to a close, we have gained "a heart of wisdom."

With the Lord God occupying first place in our lives we accept and live each day enthusiastically for Him. The result will be that "heart of wisdom" the psalmist mentions...

Because we cannot alter the inevitable, we adjust to it.

Proverbs 22:1

Unfortunately, we have grown accustomed to shrugging off lapses in moral character, manifested in secretive and deceptive lifestyles.

We are frequently told that trying to find people who value honesty and model responsibility, who promote fairness, accountability, loyalty, and respect for others, and who hold strong, upright convictions is not at all realistic.

Proverbs 11:25

Close, open relationships are vital. A glib "Hi, how are ya" must be replaced with genuine concern.

The key term is assimilation. When I use the word here, I'm referring to people reaching out to one another.

Being absorbed in the function of the family of God as a participant (rather than a spectator)

...relating to

...working with

...caring for others whom I know and love.

As I read it over, I see written between the lines the reminder:

This is not automatic. I am personally responsible.

1 Peter 5:7

How wonderful that God personally cares about those things that worry us and prey upon our thoughts.

He cares about them more than we care about them. Not a single nagging, aching, worrisome,stomach-tensing, blood-pressure-raising thought escapes His notice.

This is how the Phillips translation renders 1 Peter 5:7: "You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern."

Isn't that good? He genuinely cares.

Ecclesiastes 7:12

God has given mankind the ability to see beyond the present. And He has not given that ability to any other creation. He has given us eternity in our hearts, without which "man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end,"(Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I have italicized "the end" for the sake of emphasis. Let me tell you why.