Like a Breath of Air

 

 

O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them,
    mere mortals that you should think about them?

For they are like a breath of air;
    their days are like a passing shadow.

 

—Psalm 144:3-4 (NLT)

 

 

 

 

 

O LORD, Our Father in Heaven,

Out the vastness of all that You have created, You choose not only to notice us, but to pour out over us Your mercy, grace, and love, in abundance!  Such things are too great for me to ever fully understand—and yet I believe!

 

What is it about human beings—mere mortals—that You should pay us any attention, that You should set Your thoughts on any one of us?  And why would a holy, righteous, and just God want anything to do with me?

 

The answer lies somewhere in the truth that though You are holy, righteous, and just, You are also equally merciful, gracious, and loving.  It is the completeness of Your perfect character that has chosen to call us into relationship with You.

 

You have loved us, chosen us, called us, and wanted us in this intimate relationship with You so that we could be made perfect in Christ—and so we would show forth the glories of our God to all the world with our lives! 

 

So, though I may not see or fully understand Your plans and purposes for my short life, may I submit myself to Your Will in all things—trusting in Your great love for me—and love You back as a reflection of all the love I have been given.

 

Out of the vastness of all that You have created, You choose not only to notice us, but to pour out over us Your mercy, grace, and love, in abundance!  Such things are too great for me to ever fully understand—and yet I believe!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Far Beyond

 

 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."

 

—Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)

 

 

 

Sovereign LORD,

 

How limited I am in my understanding—and yet, how gracious You are to show me things I could never come to understand on my own!

 

You are the Sovereign LORD—my infinitely powerful, infinitely present, infinitely wise, infinitely loving, Heavenly Father. How foolish it would be for me to depend on my own understanding, when Your thoughts reach infinitely further than mine!

 

Help me understand that I cannot ever fully understand Your thoughts and Your ways, because of the finite limits of my mind. My thinking can be distorted by the ongoing assault of the enemy’s lies, so help me remember that I am totally dependent on You to lead me into all Truth.

 

Draw me close and teach me to pursue a more personal and intimate relationship with You always—so I might learn to trust more completely in Your love for me and Your absolute knowledge of, and provision for, everything that I need to accomplish Your will and purpose for me.

How limited I am in my understanding—and yet, how gracious You are to show me things I could never come to understand on my own!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

Just Walk by Faith

 

 

 

The LORD directs our steps,
    so why try to understand everything along the way?

 

—Proverbs 20:24 (NLT) 

 

 

 

Heavenly Father,

 

When I don’t quite understand all that is going on, grant me the faith I need to trust You and the patience I need to wait and watch, as You unfold before me—according to Your perfect timing—Your plan to use all things to accomplish Your purposes.

 

Keep me in Your peace, by helping me to accept that the full impact of Your plans and purposes—for those things that happen both to me and all around me—is infinitely beyond my ability to fully comprehend, but still a part of Your plan.  

 

Don’t allow my days to be so consumed by my own “need" to understand the reason behind why certain things happen, that I miss doing the next good and right thing with the opportunity that You have placed immediately before me—a gracious and loving invitation to join in with what You are doing.

 

Keep me from the temptation to “make You in my image”—thinking I know best what You should do and how You should do it.  Rather be the Lord of my life—as the Sovereign God that You are—within my heart of hearts.

 

When I don’t quite understand all that is going on, grant me the faith I need to trust You and the patience I need to wait and watch, as You unfold before me—according to Your perfect timing—Your plan to use all things to accomplish Your purposes.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

The Blessing of the LORD

 

 

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

 

—Numbers 6:24-26 (NKJV)

 

 

 

Loving and Gracious LORD,

 

Let me fully receive Your blessing of pardon, protection, provision, peace, and joy with each new day!

 

Thank You for making Your blessing available to any person who opens his or her heart to receive it by faith, that they may be kept safe in every way, within that blessing.

 

Thank You for the way You make Your face to shine upon us, to smile on us, to enlighten us and give us comfort and life—just as the sun that You hung in space shines upon the earth and warms it to bring it life.

 

Thank You for lifting up Your countenance upon us in loving adoration—like a gentle and caring father who gazes upon his children with such amazing love that they are always at peace, assured of the special favor and unreserved acceptance that is theirs in Him.

 

Thank You that within Your blessing I am protected and provided for—by the power of the Creator of all things; I am pardoned for all my sin—by the gracious sacrifice of my Lord Jesus; and I have peace—because my Comforter, the Spirit of peace, lives within me.

 

Let me fully receive Your blessing of pardon, protection, provision, peace, and joy with each new day!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Love One Another

 

 

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

—1 John 4:7-8 (NLT)

 

 

 

Gracious and Loving God,

 

You are love!  May I receive all Your love for me and return that love by loving You above all others. May the proof of my love for You be evident in the way I love others, just as You have first loved me.

 

Show me how apart from You I cannot truly love—that I first must come to know You, through Your Word and by Your Spirit, and in doing so, learn to know, accept, and personally experience Your great love for me.

 

Remind me that I am Your child, made in Your very own image! And that as such, I was created to be a vehicle of Your love—to share with others that same love which I have experienced in my own life, through my personal relationship with You.

 

Continue to fill me to overflowing with Your perfect love—so that the same compassionate and merciful love, with which You have so graciously loved me, would overflow from me to others.

 

You are love!  May I receive all Your love for me and return that love by loving You above all others. May the proof of my love for You be evident in the way I love others, just as You have first loved me.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

As Far As It Depends On You

 

Never repay anyone evil for evil. Take thought for what is right and gracious and proper in the sight of everyone.  If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

 

—Romans 12:17-18 (AMP)   

      

 

Prince of Peace, 

 

Let Your peace remain in me, by helping me to be a person who resists the impulse of my flesh to repay evil with evil and chooses the better way—the way that is right and gracious and proper—so that my actions don’t diminish the possibility of me living at peace with everyone.

 

Help me to remember that any evil that I do to others, in response to evil they have done to me, will only breed more evil—and that if I choose this destructive course, evil will always have me in its ever-tightening grip.

 

Let me instead enjoy the freedom that comes from being one who walks uprightly before others—being careful to love others in the same way You have loved me—so that I might represent You well and sow seeds of peace wherever I go.

 

And while I know that it will not always be possible for me to live at peace with everyone, remind me that I must always do my part to be a peacemaker—by speaking only the truth, granting an abundance of grace to all, letting Your love guide my thoughts, and making that same love be the sole motive behind everything I say and do.  

 

Let Your peace remain in me by helping me to be a person who resists the impulse of my flesh to repay evil with evil and chooses the better way—the way that is right and gracious and proper—so that my actions don’t diminish the possibility of me living at peace with everyone. 

 

For the glory of Your Name, Lord Jesus, Amen.

My Strength, My Refuge, My God

 

 

O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
    for you, O God, are my refuge,
    the God who shows me unfailing love. 

 

—Psalm 59:17 (NLT)

 

Loving and Gracious God,

 

May I always sing praise to You, so all might know that You are my Strength and my Refuge—the God who shows me unfailing love.

 

I will sing praise to You for being my Strength. You are the power within me, the Holy Spirit by whom I am equipped and sustained for every good work that You have planned for me to accomplish in Christ.

 

I will sing praise to You for being my Refuge.  You are that safe haven against the evil of this life, where I find peace, protection, and provision for my every need under the shelter of Your Presence with me.

 

I will sing praise to You for Your unfailing love. You pour out Your unfailing loving-kindness, mercy, and grace over me, so that I can love others with the love of Christ.

 

May I always sing praise to You, so all may know that You are my Strength and my Refuge—the God who shows me unfailing love.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Tell the Godly

 

Tell the godly that all will be well for them.
    They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!
But the wicked are doomed,
    for they will get exactly what they deserve.

 

—Isaiah 3:10-11 (NLT)

 

Holy and Just, yet Merciful and Gracious, LORD GOD,

 

Thank You for being the God who sees His children and promises that all will be well for them—who promises that they will enjoy rich rewards for their godly actions.

 

Thank You that Your words—delivered through the prophet, Isaiah, to the people of Israel—remain true for Your children today.  Even though judgment may fall on this land—because we as a people have turned our backs on You—You will not forget the remnant of Your children who have remained faithful.

 

Neither will You allow any wicked person, intent on doing evil, to escape being held to account for that evil—but You will repay them according to their evil deeds, in order that justice would prevail.

 

Therefore, as Your children, help us to stand against the injustice of all things evil.  But let us also pray that the hearts of the wicked would be changed—that they would turn from their evil ways, surrender themselves to the lordship of Christ, and be saved, so they would escape eternal judgment. 

 

Thank You for being the God who sees His children and promises that all will be well for them—who promises that they will enjoy rich rewards for their godly actions.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

What are Human Beings?

 

O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them,
    mere mortals that you should think about them?

For they are like a breath of air;
    their days are like a passing shadow.

 

—Psalm 144:3-4 (NLT)

 

O LORD, Our Father in Heaven,

Out the vastness of all that You have created, You choose not only to notice us, but to pour out over us Your mercy, grace, and love, in abundance!  Such things are too great for me to ever fully understand—and yet I believe!

 

What is it about human beings—mere mortals—that You should pay us any attention, that You should set Your thoughts on any one of us?  And why would a holy, righteous, and just God want anything to do with me?

 

The answer lies somewhere in the truth that though You are holy, righteous, and just, You are also equally merciful, gracious, and loving.  It is the completeness of Your perfect character that has chosen to call us into relationship with You.

 

You have loved us, chosen us, called us, and wanted us in this intimate relationship with You so that we could be made perfect in Christ—and so we would show forth the glories of our God to all the world with our lives! 

 

So, though I may not see or fully understand Your plans and purposes for my short life, may I submit myself to Your Will in all things—trusting in Your great love for me—and love You back as a reflection of all the love I have been given.

 

Out of the vastness of all that You have created, You choose not only to notice us, but to pour out over us Your mercy, grace, and love, in abundance!  Such things are too great for me to ever fully understand—and yet I believe!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

My Thoughts, and My Ways

 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."

—Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)

 

Sovereign LORD,

 

How limited I am in my understanding—and yet, how gracious You are to show me things I could never come to understand on my own!

 

You are the Sovereign LORD—my infinitely powerful, infinitely present, infinitely wise, infinitely loving, Heavenly Father. How foolish it would be for me to depend on my own understanding, when Your thoughts reach infinitely further than mine!

 

Help me understand that I cannot ever fully understand Your thoughts and Your ways, because of the finite limits of my mind. My thinking can be distorted by the ongoing assault of the enemy’s lies, so help me remember that I am totally dependent on You to lead me into all Truth.

 

Draw me close and teach me to pursue a more personal and intimate relationship with You always—so I might learn to trust more completely in Your love for me and Your absolute knowledge of, and provision for, everything that I need to accomplish Your will and purpose for me.

How limited I am in my understanding—and yet, how gracious You are to show me things I could never come to understand on my own!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The LORD Directs Our Steps

 

The LORD directs our steps,
    so why try to understand everything along the way?

 

—Proverbs 20:24 (NLT)

 

 

Heavenly Father,

 

When I don’t quite understand all that is going on, grant me the faith I need to trust You and the patience I need to wait and watch, as You unfold before me—according to Your perfect timing—Your plan to use all things to accomplish Your purposes.

 

Keep me in Your peace, by helping me to accept that the full impact of Your plans and purposes—for those things that happen both to me and all around me—is infinitely beyond my ability to fully comprehend, but still a part of Your plan.  

 

Don’t allow my days to be so consumed by my own “need to understand” the reason behind why certain things happen, that I miss doing the next good and right thing, with the opportunity that You have placed immediately before me—a gracious and loving invitation to join in with what You are doing.

 

Keep me from the temptation to “make You in my image”—thinking I know best what You should do and how You should do it.  Rather be the Lord of my life—as the Sovereign God that You are—in my heart of hearts.

 

When I don’t quite understand all that is going on, grant me the faith I need to trust You and the patience I need to wait and watch, as You unfold before me—according to Your perfect timing—Your plan to use all things to accomplish Your purposes.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The LORD Bless You

 

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

 

—Numbers 6:24-26 (NKJV)

 

Loving and Gracious LORD,

 

Let me fully receive Your blessing of pardon, protection, provision, peace, and joy with each new day!

 

Thank You for making Your blessing available to any person who opens his or her heart to receive it by faith, that they may be kept safe in every way, within that blessing.

 

Thank You for the way You make Your face to shine upon us, to smile on us, to enlighten us and give us comfort and life—just as the sun that You hung in space shines upon the earth and warms it to bring it life.

 

Thank You for lifting up Your countenance upon us in loving adoration—like a gentle and caring father who gazes upon his children with such amazing love that they are always at peace, assured of the special favor and unreserved acceptance that is theirs in Him.

 

Thank You that within Your blessing I am protected and provided for—by the power of the Creator of all things; I am pardoned for all my sin—by the gracious sacrifice of my Lord Jesus; and I have peace—because my Comforter, the Spirit of peace, lives within me.

 

Let me fully receive Your blessing of pardon, protection, provision, peace, and joy with each new day!

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Love One Another!

 

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

—1 John 4:7-8 (NLT)

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Since You are love, help me to know You more and more each day—so that, as Your very own child, I would love You first, love You best, and love You always. Then help me prove my love for You by loving others as You have first loved me.

 

Show me how apart from You I cannot truly love—that I first must come to know You, through Your Word and by Your Spirit, and in doing so, learn to know, accept, and personally experience Your great love for me.

 

Remind me that I am Your child, made in Your very own image! And that as such, I was created to be a vehicle of Your love—to share with others that same love which I have experienced in my own life, through my personal relationship with You.

 

Continue to fill me to overflowing with Your perfect love—that the same compassionate and merciful love, with which You have so graciously loved me, would pour out from me in love for others.

 

Since You are love, help me to know You more and more each day—so that, as Your very own child, I would love You first, love You best, and love You always.  Then help me prove my love for You by loving others as You have first loved me.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Living at Peace

 

Never repay anyone evil for evil. Take thought for what is right and gracious and proper in the sight of everyone.  If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

 

—Romans 12:17-18 (AMP)         

 

Prince of Peace, 

 

Let Your peace remain in me, by helping me to be a person who resists the impulse of my flesh to repay evil with evil and chooses the better way—the way that is right and gracious and proper—so that my actions don’t diminish the possibility of me living at peace with everyone.

 

Help me to remember that any evil that I do to others, in response to evil they have done to me, will only breed more evil—and that if I choose this destructive course, evil will always have me in its ever-tightening grip.

 

Let me instead enjoy the freedom that comes from being one who walks uprightly before others—being careful to love others in the same way You have loved me—so that I might represent You well and sow seeds of peace wherever I go.

 

And while I know that it will not always be possible for me to live at peace with everyone, remind me that I must always do my part to be a peacemaker—by speaking only the truth, granting an abundance of grace to all, letting Your love guide my thoughts, and making that same love be the sole motive behind everything I say and do.  

 

Let Your peace remain in me by helping me to be a person who resists the impulse of my flesh to repay evil with evil and chooses the better way—the way that is right and gracious and proper—so that my actions don’t diminish the possibility of me living at peace with everyone. 

 

For the glory of Your Name, Lord Jesus, Amen.

I Sing Praises, So All May Know

 

O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
    for you, O God, are my refuge,
    the God who shows me unfailing love. 

—Psalm 59:17 (NLT)

 

Loving and Gracious God,

 

Let me always sing praise to You, so all may know that You are my Strength and my Refuge—the God who shows me unfailing love.

 

I will sing praise to You for being my Strength. You are the power within me, the Holy Spirit by which I am equipped and sustained for every good work that You have planned for me to accomplish in Christ.

 

I will sing praise to You for being my Refuge.  You are that safe haven against the evil of this life, where I find peace, protection, and provision for my every need under the shelter of Your Presence with me.

 

I will sing praise to You for Your unfailing love. You pour out Your unfailing loving-kindness, mercy, and grace over me, so that I can love others with the love of Christ.

 

Let me always sing praise to You, so all may know that You are my Strength and my Refuge—the God who shows me unfailing love.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

All Will Be Well

 

Tell the godly that all will be well for them.
    They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!
But the wicked are doomed,
    for they will get exactly what they deserve.

 

—Isaiah 3:10-11 (NLT)

 

Holy and Just, yet Merciful and Gracious, LORD GOD,

 

Thank You for being the God who sees His children and promises that all will be well for them—who promises that they will enjoy rich rewards for their godly actions.

 

Thank You that Your words—delivered through the prophet, Isaiah, to the people of Israel—remain true for Your children today.  Even though judgment may fall on this land—because we as a people have turned our backs on You—You will not forget the remnant of Your children who have remained faithful.

 

Neither will You allow any wicked person, intent on doing evil, to escape being held to account for that evil—but You will repay them according to their evil deeds, in order that justice would prevail.

 

Therefore, as Your children, help us to stand against the injustice of all things evil.  But let us also pray that the hearts of the wicked would be changed—that they would turn from their evil ways, surrender themselves to the lordship of Christ, and be saved, so they would escape eternal judgment. 

 

Thank You for being the God who sees His children and promises that all will be well for them—who promises that they will enjoy rich rewards for their godly actions.

 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.