Daily Devotionals

Proverbs 23:15

Let me make three practical suggestions to you who are parents:

First, determine your priorities. Ask yourself how high the family rates on your list of involvement. How are your children in particular—just how serious are you regarding time with each? Have you told them or your mate? . . .

Luke 12:15

Let's take a brief look at greed.

Practically speaking, greed is an inordinate desire for more, an excessive, unsatisfied hunger to possess. Like an untamed beast, greed grasps, claws, reaches, clutches, and clings—stubbornly refusing to surrender. The word enough is not in this beast's vocabulary.

Isaiah 29:14 

Seren-dip-ity–the dip of the serene into the common responsibilities of life.

Serendipity occurs when something beautiful breaks into the monotonous and the mundane. A serendipitous life is marked by "surprisability" and spontaneity. When we lose our capacity for either, we settle into life's ruts. We expect little, and we're seldom disappointed.

Esther 9:28

The Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial . . . .

Memorials are places provided for us to stand and be quiet, to reflect, and to pass on to the next generation the roots of a nation's heritage. They give the present significance because they give the past perspective.

Matthew 6:34

Here's a question worth your time: What are we to do when worry comes knocking on the door of our mind?

Psalm 32:5  

Like a cool, cleansing shower on a hot, sweaty day, God's forgiveness washes away not only sins but their tormenting guilt.

God goes into the depths of our inner being and provides that magnificent relief that only He can bring: PEACE . . . .

If you are harboring some sin—if you are keeping hidden a few secret regions of wrong—don't expect to enjoy freedom from guilt, child of God.

There is an unspoken axiom threaded through Scripture: secret sin cannot coexist with inner peace.

Proverbs 11:2

We are a success-saturated society. The tell-tale signs are everywhere. Each year dozens of books and magazines, scores of audio and video tapes, and hundreds of seminars offer ideas, motivation, techniques, and promises of prosperity.

Curiously, however, few ever address what it is most folks want (but seldom find) in their pursuit of success: contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction, and relief . . . .

At the risk of sounding ultra-simplistic, I'd like to offer some counsel to those seeking success . . . .

Psalm 103:1

Do you have eyesight? It's a gift.

Do you have a good mind? It's a gift.

Do you have leadership abilities that cause others to follow? A good education? These are all gifts.

Has God given you a family? Has He given you sufficient clothes? . . . These are all gifts from God's hand.

Reflect on His numerous gifts to you. It will increase your joy . . . .

Psalm 73:26

One of the hardest things for you and me to do is own up to our own failures.

Whether we're talking to our spouses, our kids, our employers, or with our Lord Himself, it goes against the grain to come clean and admit our offenses. The knee-jerk response every time is to employ defense mechanisms: to deny, to excuse, to rationalize, to reinterpret our shortfalls.

Psalm 84:10

If the pace and the push, the noise and the crowds are getting to you, it's time to stop the nonsense and find a place of solace to refresh your spirit.

Deliberately say "no" more often. This will leave room for you to slow down, get alone, pour out your overburdened heart, and admit your desperate need for inner refreshment.

The good news is God will hear and He will help. The bad news is this: If you wait for someone else to bring about a change, things will only deteriorate.