Confidence

TODAY’S VERSE
Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.
Psalms 27:3 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Sometimes the best way to overcome something is to replace it with the opposite. David decided to do this with fear. When he was surrounded by a mighty invading army, he had a choice to make. He could go with the normal response of fear, or he could replace fear with confidence in God’s love. It was the love that he had for God and the love he knew God had for him that allowed him to exercise confidence. The Bible says, “perfect love casts out fear.” Add to perfect love an all-powerful God, and you have a real confidence maker. Today, when stress comes into your life, when you are tempted to become overwhelmed, put your trust in God. Step out in faith and let confidence in Him take over.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Thank You, Father, that You are trustworthy. You are all-powerful and all-loving. I come to you today and lay my fears at Your feet. Give me the confidence to completely trust in You.
AMEN

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Take Heart

TODAY’S VERSE
I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are helpless take heart.
Psalms 34:2 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
We all have choices to make. We have all had times when we have come up against seemingly helpless situations. It is what we do with that helplessness that counts. Dr. Martin Seligman coined the phrase “Learned Helplessness” when referring to one of the primary reasons for depression. He said that when we get discouraged over and over again, we start to “learn” to feel helpless. We give up hope. Thankfully, David gives us another choice. He said that all those who are helpless should “take heart.” This means to take a pause and check deep within yourself and find hope. Find that mustard seed of faith in God and believe that He cares and will see you through.
Interestingly enough, later in his life, Seligman coined the phrase, “Learned Optimism.” He concluded that if we can learn to be helpless, we can learn to be optimistic. Perhaps he read the Psalms. The truth is we have a choice. Today, when things seem to be overwhelming if you find yourself getting discouraged, take heart, trust in God, and have faith. He will see you through.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me today to trust You. Help me overcome any discouragement by taking heart and putting my hope in You.
AMEN

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Really knowing

TODAY’S VERSE
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.
Ephesians 1:17-18 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
God wants you to know Him. And He has created you with a great capacity for knowledge. As you grow in Him, your knowledge also grows. Paul expresses this in today’s verses. He uses three different words for knowing or knowledge. First, he asks God to give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. This is where we start to learn and acquire knowledge about God and gain insight and understanding. But God doesn’t want us to stop there. Paul also says that we should gain this wisdom so we can “know” Christ better. This is a more personal, intimate knowledge. It is experiential knowledge. We need to move from our head to our heart and get to know our Savior in a more personal way. Paul finishes by praying that more than knowledge, that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened so, we would “know” the hope to which He has called us. This is our deepest felt knowledge. It is akin to the Biblical phrase, “being fully persuaded.” It is an assurance. The way they expressed it in the original language is, “I know that I know, that I know!” Oh, that we would grow to this level of confidence. Might our experience with God be such that we can say about God and His love for us, and all the promises that He has made; that we are confident in Him, that we are full of assurance, that there is no doubt, that we are fully persuaded, that we know that we know, that we know.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me know You. Help me grow in my knowledge and in my experience with You. Open the eyes of my heart so I can say with confidence that I know that I know, that I know You.
AMEN

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Be strong and courageous

TODAY’S VERSE
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Josh 1:9 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It is so easy to let fear grip our hearts and influence our decisions. We rationalize why we can’t be strong and courageous. We justify why we should be discouraged and drown ourselves in self-pity. But, what is it that God commands? He commands, “Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go.” Today you have a choice. God is with you, so decide to obey the Lord. Be strong and courageous in all you face.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I am faced with so many opportunities for fear and discouragement, and yet You have commanded me to be strong and courageous. Help me, Lord, trust, and obey You.
AMEN

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Self control

TODAY’S VERSE
So think clearly and exercise self-control.- Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires.
I Peter 1:13-14 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It is easy to fall prey to our own desires and lusts. I know if I am not careful, I will spend time doing things that are not in my best interest. Peter is encouraging us to live a better way. Now that we know Christ we don’t have to slip back into our old habits. We can count on God to help us with new desires. As we read the scriptures, spend time with God in prayer, and keep our conscience clear, He will renew our mind. He will help us “think clearly and exercise self-control”. It is this thinking clearly, this deliberately focused attention on God and His power, His strength, His love for us, that helps us align our thinking with His. It is this deliberate focus and yielding to the indwelling Holy Spirit that helps us exercise the self-control that is crucial to living our lives the way He wants us to. Today, let’s think clearly. Let’s focus on God and His will for our life, then we will exercise our self-control in living this day for Him. 

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me think clearly today. Help me exercise the self-control that You desire for me. I don’t want to slip back into my old ways. I want to live for You. Help me to this end I pray. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN 

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Contentment

Contentment

TODAY’S VERSE
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Some things are better than gold! Who of us hasn’t dreamed of being rich beyond our imagination? It is the dream that is portrayed over and over again on television, in the movies, and on the pages of books throughout the world. Money, fame, power; these seem to be the things that so many strive for. And yet today’s verse proclaims loud and clear just the opposite. It tells us to live our lives “free from the love of money and be content with what we have.” Why would the author suggest that? Why would anyone write something so contrary to human reasoning, unless it is true or he has something better to offer? In this case, the author of Hebrews has both. He was telling the truth. When all is said and done, contentment, peace, joy, and love are the true treasures of life. Money can help with this, but the “love of money” is something else. It is an addiction, an unreasonable, irrational obsession with something that gives false hope. Drugs never satisfy the long-term, neither will the love of money. When will you ever have enough? When will you ever be able to say “no” to the irrational obsession that the love of money creates? So what does the author suggest we really seek after? Jesus Himself. It is Jesus who promises to never leave us, never forsake us. He is the one who can really fill our hearts with love, give us the purpose, peace, and satisfaction that we were created for. It is Jesus that your soul is looking for. Today, turn to Him. Bring your longings to Jesus and let Him begin to satisfy.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me. Thank You that You will never leave me or forsake me. Thank You for giving me everything I need to be content in this world. I accept You as the Lord of my life and dedicate myself to following You.
AMEN

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Believe and Follow

TODAY’S VERSE
But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:2-3 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Jesus said to those around Him, “believe in God, believe also in me”. This, “believe in me” implies action. Jesus never intended belief to be exclusive from following Him. God has promised to instruct us, teaching us the way to go, but we have to go, we have to follow. Jesus used the parable about sheep and their shepherd. The sheep don’t just hear the voice of their shepherd, they respond by following him. Likewise, we can say we believe in Jesus but the real proof is in our actions. Today, listen to His voice and follow Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Jesus, I believe in You. Help me hear Your voice and follow You.
AMEN

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Significance

TODAY’S VERSE
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Where do we get our significance from? Is it the accolades for the skills that we have? Is it praise for our achievements? Perhaps it is our job, money, or notoriety in some field of endeavor. Maybe we get significance from those we align ourselves with, those teams that we cheer, or the position we have on specific topics. These all can manufacture some kind of significance. But the most striking significance of all is that which comes from the way God created us, our very innateness. Our significance comes from being chosen as a specific creation of God that He loves unconditionally. He created us to be holy and without fault in His eyes. In his book, “The Deeper Journey,” M. Robert Mulholland Jr. writes, “Here is the ultimate ground of our identity. You are a beloved child of God, spoken forth out of the heart of God’s love before the foundation of the world. The union of a man and woman that brought about your physical conception is only the secondary cause of your being. The primary center of your identity is the heart of God’s love.” So today, if you start to doubt yourself, if you begin to buy the lie that you are anything less than a loved child of God, remember this, God loves you and chose to make you His child before the world was ever created.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for creating me before You created the earth! Thank You that I am part of Your plan and dearly loved by You. Thank You that in You, I have all the significance I will ever need.
AMEN

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His Presence

His Presence

TODAY’S VERSE
Now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light. Psalms 56:13 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Have you ever wondered what it would have been to be Adam and Eve? They had a personal relationship with God. They met with Him every day and lived in His presence. Though they disobeyed God and changed the world forever, we still have an opportunity to fellowship with God. David knew this. As a shepherd boy, he would spend his nights under the stars and sing to God. As he grew, he became “a man after God’s own heart.” David knew what it meant to walk with God. He admitted, “Now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.” He realized that there was nowhere he could go, no situation he could be in that would take Him outside of God’s presence. We, too, can have that same reality. God bids us come and fellowship with Him. He desires for us to live in His life-giving light. Today, stop and realize that you are in the very presence of God. Better yet, remind yourself that His presence lives in you! Rejoice and walk with Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for Your abiding presence. Today I choose to walk in Your life-giving light.
AMEN

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Convinced

TODAY’S VERSE
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Romans 8:38 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It seems we start out believing by nature, but soon become skeptical by practice. How many “guarantees” have you experienced as no guarantee at all? We have been lied to, taken advantage of, and let down so often we don’t know what to believe. But Paul knew one thing he was sure of. He was “convinced!” He was convinced that nothing could separate him from the love of God. How many things are you convinced of? And what a difference being that sure can make. If you were convinced that you could invest $10,000 in stock and get back $1,000,000, how long would it take you to get the $10,000? Paul had that same attitude toward the love of God. He was convinced that he could invest in God’s love that will never leave him and get back a peace that passes all understanding; God’s constant provision, the fruit of the Spirit, and eternal life. Today become convinced. God loves you, and nothing will ever separate you from Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I believe, help my unbelief. I want to be convinced of Your love. Speak to my heart, move me, help me understand how trustworthy You are and how spectacular Your love is for me.
AMEN

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