Monday
God's Promises
For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
You rule throughout all generations.
The Lord always keeps his promises;
he is gracious in all he does.
The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.
The eyes of all look to you in hope;
you give them their food as they need it (Psalm 145:13-15 NLT).
The Lord our God is with us. He has promised to never leave us, but many times we choose to leave Him. Our Father has supplied us with an everlasting kingdom but it's our choice on whether we accept the gift of Christ and salvation or choose the worldly path. He lifts us up from our brokenness and supplies our needs...but we have to meet Him in relationship.
Much of our brokenness is the result of our choices. God has the answer and the remedy to our earthly failures. He offers hope and provides for all of our needs...if we ask Him into our lives.
Dear Lord, lead those who are fallen back into Your presence. Let those who have never known You see Your amazing work in their lives and the lives of those around them. We ask and pray in Your Son's holy name. Amen.
Tuesday
If...
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him (1 John 4:9 NLT).
If God didn't love us, He wouldn't have sent His Son to die for us. If God didn't love us, He wouldn't have made a way for us to spend eternity with Him.
Lord God, thank You for loving us. Thank You for making a way that we might spend eternity with you. We praise Your mighty name! Amen.
Wenesday
We Are Needy
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him (Psalms 91:1-2 NLT).
In this crazy world that we live in, isn't it wonderful to have a loving God that we can come to when we are in need of rest or protection? Our God is amazing and His love, mercy, and grace endure forever.
Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Have faith in Him. He never fails.
Father God, may we realize that You are with us, 24/7/365. You never leave us or abandon us. We praise You, Lord God. Amen.
Thursday
Our Inheritance
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world (Matthew 25:34 NLT).
Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have inherited the kingdom of heaven. We don't deserve God's mercy and grace but He calls us worthy. We are worthy enough that Jesus Christ took all of our sin to the cross so that we might be saved. All we must do is accept Him as our Savior and repent, proclaiming Him as our King.
We should hit our knees and praise Him out of reverence and respect for His mighty power. After all, He spoke the entire universe into being. That, my friends, is power; an unshakable power.
I am so thankful that we have a God who loves us and sent Jesus to save us from ourselves. Thanks be to God.
Father God, thank You for loving broken sinners like us. You didn't have to sacrifice Jesus for our sin, but You did because of Your amazing love, mercy, and grace. We praise You Lord God in the mighty name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Friday
Never Give Up Fighting
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin (Hebrews 12:1-4 NLT).
Folks, sin rears its ugly head against everyone, no one is exempt. It's part of living a broken life in a broken world. But we have a cure for sin. His name is Jesus Christ. He died for our sin and placed it in the grave. Then God raised Him to new life and everlasting life. We too can have a new life. We can be dead to sin and be assured everlasting life when this old body dies.
How do we attain a new life? By coming to the saving grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, confessing with our mouth that He is Lord, believing that He is the Son of God, confessing and repenting of our sin and giving our whole being to Jesus.
So brothers and sisters, don't be weary, God already did the "heavy lifting" for us. All we must do is walk with Him in endurance and in His strength, claiming Jesus as our Savior, our King, and our Lord.
Lord God, we pray for strength in fighting the good fight. When we get tired, Lord, lift us up and carry us to the finish line. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Saturday
Forgiving, Not Necessarily Forgetting
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (Philippians 3:10-14 NLT).
Read this and dwell on what these verses mean. Then read over the last 2 verses. "Forgetting the past and pressing on." God doesn't hold our past against us when we fall into his arms. Why in heaven's name can we not put our own past behind us? We keep beating ourselves over the head with our past failures. Why? God doesn't.
Folks, lay your past which you keep dragging around, at the foot of the cross and run the race and finish well. Jesus will forgive us through faith and repentance. Now we should forgive ourselves.
Dear Lord, help us to realize we become a new creation when we give our lives to You. Help us to press on. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Sunday
Are You a Gambler?
One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:39-43 NLT).
I pray that you won't gamble with your salvation until your last breath, as the thief on the cross did. I pray you will accept Jesus now and begin a new life with Him, today.
There is great news in knowing that Christ accepts us, even if it's just before we take our last breath on this earth.
We never know when our last breath might come. It could be so sudden that we don't have time to cry out in belief before that breath. Are you really willing to take that chance? What about your family? Don't they deserve to know that they will see you again in heaven? The thief's family never knew that he had accepted Jesus, so they did not have the assurance of his eternity.
Accept Christ today. Declare Him your Lord and Savior and then turn from your former life of sin and grow deep in being a new creation of the most high God of creation.
Lord God, thank You for your rescue mission. Amen.
