The Truth Of Your Word

The time will come when people won't put up with true teaching. Instead, they will try to satisfy their own longings. They will gather a large number of teachers around them. The teachers will say what the people want to hear. The people will turn their ears away from the truth. They will turn to stories that aren't completely true.


But I want you to keep your head no matter what happens. Don't give up when times are hard. Work to spread the good news. Do everything God has given you to do. 

--2 Timothy 4:3-5 (NIVR)

Heavenly Father,

Help me to always follow after the Truth of Your Word.

Don’t ever let me turn away from the true teaching of Your Word and go in search of teachers who twist the truth into something less, thinking I can satisfy my own selfish desires or justify a lifestyle that is not pleasing to You.

Help me to always follow after the Truth of Your Word.

Keep me from falling for the half-truths that false teachers would have me believe, turning me away from the Truth that sets me free and putting me in bondage to sin once again.

Help me to always follow after the Truth of Your Word.

Help me to keep my head straight and my discernment keen in every situation that You lead me through, no matter what it looks like, feels like or smells like in the natural, trusting in Your Truth to carry me.

Help me to always follow after the Truth of Your Word.

Give me strength to never give up as I work to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to do all that You have called me to do.

Help me to always follow after the Truth of Your Word.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

You Are My Strength

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable. 

He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.

--Isaiah 40:28-29 (NKJV)

Mighty God,

Remind me…when I forget…that it is You who makes me strong!

I know that You, my LORD, are the everlasting God who created all that there is. 

I need to remember that, unlike me, You don’t become weak or grow tired, nor do You ever even need to take a moment to stop to catch your breath! 

I need to remember that I can’t ever expect to be able to measure the depths of Your understanding, for Your knowledge and wisdom are without end.

I need to remember that You are the One who gives me power when I am weak and worn out…and that You freely and abundantly pour out Your strength upon me when I am powerless.

Remind me…when I forget…that it is You who makes me strong!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The Word Of Christ In Me

Let Christ's word live in you like a rich treasure. Teach and correct each other wisely. Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing with thanks in your hearts to God.

--Colossians 3:16 (NIRV)

Heavenly Father,

May the Word of Christ…and the hope that His Word brings…always have a home in my heart, giving life to my mind and wisdom to my thoughts, so that I might:

Correctly instruct…and openly receive wise instruction,

Demonstrate by my example…and learn from the example of others, and

Share from my experience…and consider and apply the experience of others to my own life,

Always willing and ready to kindly encourage and gently advise others with the Word.

And may there rise up from within me...by that same Word of Christ...a voice to sing psalms, hymns of praise and songs spontaneously inspired by Your Holy Spirit--out of an overflowing heart of gratitude to You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Reflecting Your Mercy And Love

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

--James 2:12-13 (NIV)

Merciful and Loving God,

Help me to always be a reflection of Your mercy and love.

May I always  frame all that I say and everything that I do, in the truth that I will be judged by that law of love that sets me free--that same law which calls me to love my neighbor as I love myself.

Help me to always be a reflection of Your mercy and love.

Don’t let me ever forget that I cannot expect to receive mercy, if I am not willingly and actively showing loving mercy to others--knowing that mercy wins out over judgment every time.

Help me to always be a reflection of Your mercy and love.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

God Who Listens and Can Be Found

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

--Jeremiah 29:12-13 (NKJV)

Loving Father God,

Thank you, that You are not some god who cannot hear me.

Thank you, that as I call out to You and I come to You and I pray to You, that You listen compassionately to me, giving Your attention to my prayers. 

Thank you, that You are not some god who cannot be found.

Thank you, that as I seriously set about finding You, that as I give myself over to passionately seeking You...as if my very life depended on it...You have promised that I will discover and experience You.

Thank you, that You are God, that You hear my cries to You, that You draw me close and show Yourself to me.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Help Me Be Faithfully Yours

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
      He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
 He guards the paths of justice,
      And preserves the way of His saints.

--Proverbs 2:7-8 (NKJV)

Forever Wise God,

Let me never stop walking with You!

You have stored up a rich treasure of sound and Godly wisdom that is available to me,

if I behave with strong moral integrity and stay in fellowship with You.

You will shield me and protect me so that I can walk in victory,

when I walk in Your ways.

Because You guard the paths of all who go forth justly,

and You keep the way safe, for all those who are faithfully Yours,

Let me never stop walking with You!  

                  

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Amazing Love

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 

–John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

Heavenly Father,

I stand amazed.

I stand amazed that You could love us this much.

I stand amazed that out of Your great love for the world and each of us in it, You gave us Jesus, Your one and only Son, to come live among us.

I stand amazed that all I need to do is to believe in Him with my whole heart...trusting and relying on Him completely in everything...and I will not have to suffer what I deserve, but will be given that which I don’t deserve...eternal life.

I am so thankful that You did not send Jesus to condemn us.

I am so thankful that You sent us Your Son to save us through His great sacrifice.

I am so thankful.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.