To Choose To Rejoice And Be Glad

This is the day the LORD has made.
    We will rejoice and be glad in it.

—Psalm 118:24 (NLT)

One and Only Creator God,

You have made this day!  So, I choose to rejoice and be glad in it!

Before You created everything there is—before You placed it all in order and set it all in motion—You knew this day would come, You knew the good plans You had for me today!

Today, I get to choose whether to embrace Your plans with joy and gladness, or to resist Your plans—as if to think that I would know better than You what is best for me—and only reap a harvest of trouble and hardship for my efforts.

So, help me open my eyes to all that You have done for me, to rejoice, and gladly and obediently submit my will to Your sovereign plans for me.  Help me to see that You have called me and saved me for such a time as this. 

Grant me the faith to believe that You have already arranged to supply me with everything that I need to accomplish Your will for me today and that, in doing so, You have made it possible for me to live this day with deep peace and enduring joy!

You have made this day!  So, I choose to rejoice and be glad in it!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Of Choice and Consequence

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.  Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.

--Galatians 6:7-8 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me live to please Your Holy Spirit, so that I may enjoy that joy, peace and everlasting life that can only come from You.

Don’t allow me to ever forget that there are consequences to everything that I do—for You are a just God.

Keep me mindful that for every bad thing I do, there are bad consequences, just as for every good thing I do, there are good consequences.

By the choices I make—the seeds that I plant by my actions—I decide the harvest I will reap.

Caution me with the knowledge that while there is forgiveness, mercy and grace when I repent of my bad choices, there are always consequences of that sin which still remain.

Help me live to please Your Holy Spirit, so that I may enjoy that joy, peace and everlasting life that can only come from You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.