Listen and Receive Instruction!

 

 

 

They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.

 

—Jeremiah 32:33 (NASB)

 

 

 

My Creator and my God,

 

May I never turn my back to You—and may I always listen with a heart that hungers to receive Your instruction!

 

May You always see my face, as I set my course to run to You alone—never turning to the right or the left, and never returning to that place from which you brought me.

 

As you look upon my face and see me as I am, may my faith be pleasing to You—and may You turn Your face toward me, that I may live in the protection, provision, and peace of Your loving presence.

 

May I abide with You, carefully listening to all You would teach me, so that I would receive, embrace, and obey Your instruction—and remain in Your love forever.

 

May I never turn my back to You—and may I always listen with a heart that hungers to receive Your instruction!

 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Deceitful and Desperately Sick

 

 

The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
“I the LORD search the heart
    and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

 

—Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV)

 

 

O LORD, who searches my heart,

 

Show me my heart and reveal the true motives in my mind, so that I won’t be led astray by any deceitfulness within me.

 

Help me to understand that to trust my heart is to trust in man—and that You have warned me against trusting in man. Help me to put all my trust in You alone!

 

Heal my heart and purify my mind, so that Your thoughts and ways will be made known to me and reflected in all my thoughts, words, and actions.

 

May love be my only motive for the choices I make—love for You and love for others—so that Your perfect will for me would be accomplished, and Your goodness and mercy would overtake me.

 

Show me my heart and reveal the true motives in my mind, so that I won’t be led astray by any deceitfulness within me.

 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Remain in My Love!

 

 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” 

—John 15:9-11 (NLT)

 

 

 

Loving Heavenly Father,

 

Help me to remain in the love of Christ, my Savior and Lord, by obeying His commandments—so that I will be continually filled to overflowing with the joy of Christ!

 

Thank You for the perfect love with which You loved Your Son, Jesus, who then loved me with that same perfect love—and gave up His life, so that I would find my life in Him.

 

Help me to remain in His love—in that ongoing and ever-growing love relationship with Him—proving my love for Him by my willing obedience to His every command.

 

For only there, in my complete submission to His instruction, will I find His joy, bubbling up from within me like an overflowing fountain—not only for my own benefit, but for the blessing of all those around me!

 

Help me to remain in the love of Christ, my Savior and Lord, by obeying His commandments—so that I will be continually filled to overflowing with the joy of Christ!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

No Greater Love!

 

 

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

 

—John 15:12-13 (NLT)

 

 

 

My Lord Jesus,

 

Help me to love others as You have loved me—to lay down my life for my friends.

 

Help me more fully understand and more completely receive Your love for me—so that same love will flow through me, in all my thoughts, words and actions, toward others.

 

Your love for me is not dependent on my love for You—for Your love continues constant, unchanging and unfailing, regardless of my faults and failures.

 

Your love for me is demonstrated in Your compassion for me—and poured out over me with mercy and grace, by Your goodness and kindness toward me.

 

Your love for me is evidenced in Your patience and gentleness with me—for Your love for me is perfectly genuine and never superficial.

 

Your love for me changes me and always points me to my Heavenly Father—back to the love relationship I was made to have with Him.

 

Your love for me is sacrificial. You laid down Your life for me, so that I could have life—so I could then follow Your example, by setting aside my will, so that the Father’s will would be done through me.

 

Help me to love others as You have loved me—to lay down my life for my friends.

 

In Your compassionate and loving Name, Lord Jesus, Amen.

This is God's Will for You!

 

 

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

—1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)

 

 

 

Good and Gracious Father,

 

Help me always be joyful, never stop praying, and remain thankful in all circumstances—knowing that this is Your will for all of us who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Beyond any emotions that I may be feeling, may my joy—that deep and abiding happiness that I find only in my close, personal relationship with You—remain constant and unchanged.

 

Regardless of how busy and disordered my day might become, may I continue unceasingly in prayerful conversation with You—the only One who brings order to my chaos and peace to my heart.

 

No matter what circumstances I may find myself in, remind me to remain thankful—to continually express my gratefulness to You, both by my thoughts and with my words—with the assurance that You are working all things for my good.

 

Help me always be joyful, never stop praying, and remain thankful in all circumstances—knowing that this is Your will for all of us who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Way, The Truth, and The Life!

 

 

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

—John 14:6 (NLT)

 

 

 

 

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Thank You that I can come to You and call You my Father because of the redeeming sacrifice, of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, for me.

 

When I lose my way and I find myself separated from You, remind me that Jesus is the Way—the only way—to You. Help me not to seek some lesser path back to You, but only seek the person of Jesus Christ.

 

When I am confused and unsure of what is true, help me not to merely seek what is true. Help me seek the One who is not only faithful and true, but is the very embodiment of Truth.

 

When I am feeling like my life is draining from me, help me not to seek to save my life. But rather, help me to find my life in the One who is everlasting life Himself.

 

Thank You that I can come to You and call You my Father because of the redeeming sacrifice, of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, for me.

 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Wait Quietly Before God

 

I wait quietly before God,
    for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will never be shaken.

 

—Psalm 62:1-2 (NLT)

 

 

 

Almighty God,

 

No matter what dangers or difficulties I may face in this life, let me always wait—with confident and quiet expectation—for that glorious and saving victory that can only come from You.

 

Help me always remain in right relationship with You—willingly submitting to You as my Sovereign God and looking to You for help—as a child looks to a good father either to deliver him out of trouble, or to carry him through that trouble in complete safety.

 

Help me not to complain against what You do—as if I could know better than You.  But help me to embrace Your will as my own, choosing to make You the firm and immovable rock upon which my life is built—to make You my only salvation.

 

Let me live in the truth that You are the only strong fortress where I can find quiet shelter from the storms that rage against me—the only place I can hide myself and not be shaken by their fury.

 

No matter what dangers or difficulties I may face in this life, let me always wait—with confident and quiet expectation—for that glorious and saving victory that can only come from You.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.