All Who Call Upon Him

 

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.

 

—Psalm 145:18-19 (NASB)

 

Faithful and Loving LORD,

 

What an amazing comfort to know that You are near, that You hear us when we call on You in truth, that You fulfill our desire when we fear You, and save us in every way!

 

May my response to Your promised nearness be to call upon You in truth—that is to call upon You from a clean, sincere, and devoted heart, a heart that beats after Your own heart.

 

May my response to Your promise to fulfill my desire be to fear You—that is to praise, worship, and serve only You, in holy awe of all You are and all You have done, so that my greatest desire is to know You and to make You known.

 

May my response to Your promise to hear me and save me be to cry out to You with confidence—that is to recognize my total dependence on You and find my hope in Your faithfulness to all Your promises.

 

What an amazing comfort to know that You are near, that You hear us when we call on You in truth, that You fulfill our desire when we fear You, and save us in every way!

 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Love and Loyalty to the LORD!

 

Love the LORD, all you godly ones!
    For the LORD protects those who are loyal to him,
    but he harshly punishes the arrogant.

So be strong and courageous,
    all you who put your hope in the LORD!

 

—Psalm 31:23-24 (NLT)

 

 

Forever Faithful LORD,

 

May the evidence that I love You be demonstrated by my undivided loyalty to You—as You comfort me with the knowledge that I remain under Your protection and that I can trust You to be forever just.  Make me strong and courageous, as I choose to make You my only hope!

 

Help me to prove my love for You, by walking uprightly before You—choosing never to divide my loyalty, but rather, making Christ alone the Lord of my heart and my life.

 

Let me always walk humbly with You, rejecting all pride that may try to raise its ugly head within me—so I might escape the punishment that is reserved for the arrogant, and so I can represent Christ well to the lost of this world.

 

Let me receive the strength and courage I need to face all the evil that surrounds me without fear—strength and courage that You give freely to those who put all their hope in You.

 

May the evidence that I love You be demonstrated by my undivided loyalty to You—as You comfort me with the knowledge that I remain under Your protection and that I can trust You to be forever just.  Make me strong and courageous, as I choose to make You my only hope!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Come and Listen to My Counsel

 

 

 

Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
    and make you wise. 

 

—Proverbs 1:23 (NLT)

 

 

Heavenly Father, 

 

Let me never forget that the highest and best counsel that I can receive comes from You!  For when I come and listen to You, You share Your heart with me and make me wise.

 

So, give me a hunger to come boldly into Your presence with a heart to listen for, to hear, to understand, and to follow Your counsel—as You speak to me through Your Word, and teach me by Your Spirit, revealing everything I need to know in order to accomplish Your plans and purposes for me.

 

Continue to show me more of Your heart with every day that passes—so that my heart might beat more and more fully after the things I find in You, and less and less after my own desires and distractions.

 

Teach me to draw from the deep wells of wisdom that I only find in You—as I allow Your great power, Your complete understanding, and Your perfect wisdom to flow through me and guide my every choice in truth.

 

Let me never forget that the highest and best counsel that I can receive comes from You!  For when I come and listen to You, You share Your heart with me and make me wise.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Completely Trust in Him

 

 

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

—Romans 15:13 (NLT)

 

Gracious and Loving God,

 

Be my source of hope—and fill me completely with the joy and peace that comes when I put all my trust in You.  By the power of Your Holy Spirit, cause that confident hope to overflow from deep within me—for Your glory, honor, and praise.

 

Let me forever place my hope in You.  May my continuing experience of Your patient goodness, loving kindness, and enduring faithfulness to me, give me cause to trust in You more and more—with every moment that passes.

 

And as I learn to trust You more completely, and give my every hurt and worry to You, fill me completely with Your joy and peace—so I am no longer disheartened or dismayed, no matter what circumstances I may face.

 

By the power of Your Holy Spirit at work within me, cause that confident hope that is mine, to overflow out of me to bless all those around me—as a testimony to Your great mercy, grace and love for us all.

 

Be my source of hope—and fill me completely with the joy and peace that comes when I put all my trust in You.  By the power of Your Holy Spirit, cause that confident hope to overflow from deep within me—for Your glory, honor, and praise.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Secret Things, Things Revealed

 

 

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

 

—Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV)

 

 

Infinite and All-knowing God,

 

Help me to use my time wisely, to become submitted and obedient to do those things that You have asked me to do—as revealed to me through Your Word and by Your Holy Spirit—trusting that You will show me everything I need to know, in order to accomplish Your Will for me.

 

In Your infinite wisdom You have chosen to make me finite in my ability to comprehend and understand the secret wonders of all that You are—and of all that You have done, are doing, and have yet to bring to pass—so that my dependence would be on You alone.

 

Teach me that, even though You have not revealed to me everything there is to know, I am responsible for everything that You have shown me—and that any disobedience in me is an act of my own rebellious will, and not because I lack the knowledge I need to obey.

 

Help me to rest in the assurance that I serve an infinite and all-knowing God who loves and wants me—a God who is in control over everything and has revealed all the Truth that I will ever need to believe Him, to obey Him, and to see His salvation in my life. 

 

Help me to use my time wisely, to become submitted and obedient to do those things that You have asked me to do—as revealed to me through Your Word and by Your Holy Spirit—trusting that You will show me everything I need to know, in order to accomplish Your Will for me.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

And His Name Shall Be Called

 

For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 —Isaiah 9:6 (AMP)

 

Immanuel, God With Us,

 

Thank You for coming into our world as a baby, living a sinless life, taking our sin on Yourself, and dying in our place to gain, for us, the victory over sin and death—so that we could find our life in You!

 

You were born into the world, through a virgin girl—to be fully human—and You were conceived in her womb, by the Holy Spirit, as the Son of God—to be fully God—and sent to a world in desperate need of a Savior.  

 

You brought a new government, a new covenant—perfect and just in all its ways—that would rest on Your shoulders, and not our own, so that it would never end.

 

You are my Wonderful Counselor—awesomely wonderful in all Your ways and perfectly wise in all Your counsel.

 

You are my Mighty God—strong and powerful on my behalf, protecting me from my enemies, preserving me with Your mighty right hand and never letting me slip from Your loving grip.

 

You are my Everlasting Father—the One who gave life itself in the beginning, the One who gave life to me when I was conceived in my mother’s womb, and the One Who gives me life forevermore in You.

 

You are my Prince of Peace—as in You alone do I find that peace that is far greater than I can understand, when I humbly submit myself to Your will for me.

 

Thank You for coming into our world as a baby, living a sinless life, taking our sin on Yourself, and dying in our place to gain, for us, the victory over sin and death—so that we could find our life in You!

 

In Your Most Holy and Glorious Name, Amen. 

The Word Became Flesh

 

 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

—John 1:14 (NKJV)

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Thank You for Your perfect plan to send forth Your Word to become flesh—in the fragile form of a baby.  Thank You for sending Jesus to dwell among us—that mankind might see His Glory, be instructed in the uniqueness of all His ways, and experience the fullness of the grace and truth that He brought to us all, because of His great love for us!

 

Help me to be a good student of Your Word, that I might learn the lessons that Jesus came to teach us all—about who You are, and who we should be—and then faithfully apply them to my life, that Christ Jesus might more perfectly shine through me.

 

Help me to follow the example of Jesus in the way that I live my life in this world—that my life would stand out in its uniqueness, rather than blend in with the “norms” of this world’s thinking, and would draw others to Christ.

 

And help me to learn to live a life of sacrifice—in order to represent well the life of perfect sacrifice that Jesus came to live, so that I could be saved to eternal life with You.

 

Thank You for Your perfect plan to send forth Your Word to become flesh—in the fragile form of a baby.  Thank You for sending Jesus to dwell among us—that mankind might see His Glory, be instructed in the uniqueness of all His ways, and experience the fullness of the grace and truth that He brought to us all, because of His great love for us!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.