Daily Devotionals

Job 8:21; Psalm 126:2

Luke 9:51

When Jesus tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God," the very word "seek" implies a strong-minded pursuit. J. B. Phillips paraphrases the idea with "set your heart on." The Amplified Bible says, "Aim at and strive after." The Greek text of Matthew's Gospel states a continual command: "Keep on continually seeking...." The thought is determination, which I define as "deciding to hang tough, regardless." 

Hebrews 9:27

Life is so short. We really don't have many years. And to spend them doing dumb stuff seems like such a waste.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Monotony and mediocrity mesh like teeth in gears. One spawns the other, leaving us yawning, bored, and adrift. In referring to monotony, I do not have in mind a lack of activity as much as a lack of purpose. We can be busy yet bored, involved yet indifferent. Life becomes tediously repetitious, dull, humdrum, pedestrian. In a word, blah. 

2 Samuel 7:1-3

There is an important dimension to hanging tough that you dare not miss. It is the thing that keeps you going. I call it a dream. I don't mean those things we experience at night while we're asleep. No, by dream, I mean a God-given idea, plan, agenda, or goal that leads to God-honouring results. 

Mark 10:42-45

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to most of us that we act out precisely what we take in. In other words, we become what we think. Long before that familiar line found its way into Psychology 101 and hyped-up sales meetings, the Bible included it in one of its ancient scrolls. It just said it in a little different way: "For as he thinks within himself, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7). 

Exodus 35:21, 25-26

God is a God of freshness and change. But wait, before I leave that thought, let me make something very clear: God Himself isn't changing, nor is His Son. He "is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Isn't that a great thought? God is no different this year than He was last year or a decade ago. Nor will He change one hundred years from now. But even though He is the same, His working is different. It stays fresh. His ways and methods are forever fresh, unpredictably new. 

John 21:20-22

People of excellence are those who see through the clutching greed of our times—people who have declared their undivided allegiance to Christ's message, people who have humbled themselves to Christ's sovereign authority.

Psalm 31:24

Vision—the one essential ingredient for being an original in a day of copies—gets lost, overwhelmed by the odds. Too bad! We start focusing on the trouble. Then we start comparing the odds. The result is predictable: We become intimidated and wind up defeated. 

Acts 16:6-10