A New Grip

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

—Hebrews 12:12-13 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Strengthen me to continue to press on to victory—down this path that You have set before me—that I might give You glory with my life.

Help me daily to take a fresh hold on Your plan for my life, with renewed strength and purpose, and move forward through those fears that would weaken my knees and immobilize me—by courageously facing the unknown with the confidence that You are here with me, to uphold me in Your strength.

Help me to follow after that straight path of willful obedience to You in all things, as I keep my eyes focused on You—the One who loves me most.

And let those who are weak and have been injured in this good fight of faith see You at work—in and through me—and not fall, but be encouraged, healed and made stronger, as I give You all the glory for what You have done in me.

So, grant me the wisdom to grasp Your plans for me—and the strength, courage and resolve to follow You all the days of my life—as I submit my will to Yours and put all of my trust in You.

Strengthen me to continue to press on to victory—down this path that You have set before me—that I might give You glory with my life.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Alive And Powerful

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

—Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Thank You that Your Word is so much more than just an assortment of random letters, arranged into dead words, written on some paper.

Thank You that Your Word carries Your very own life and power as the Almighty God, the One who created us and the only One who can save us and sanctify us—as we allow Your Word to wash over us and make us whole.

Thank You for giving us Your Word, so that we can enjoy an abundant life of joy and peace—by first receiving into our hearts the Truth that is contained within its pages, and then by applying that Truth to our lives, in loving obedience to You.

Thank You that Your Word is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword—that it plunges deeply within our beings to separate and expose our innermost thoughts and desires and has the power to bring to light anything within us that does not agree with the Truth.

For only through its life-giving power we can come to know who You are, see ourselves as we truly are, and find hope—as we discover who we can be when we allow Your Word and Your Spirit to mold us into the people You have created us to be.

Thank You that Your Word is so much more than just an assortment of random letters, arranged into dead words, written on some paper.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

What Real Love Is

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

—1 John 4:10-12 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me to fully understand what real love is, so that I would love more like You love—knowing that as I sacrificially love others, it is You that lives in me and Your love that is brought to full expression in me.

I know that my love for You will never match the love You have for me and for each and every other soul You have created—a love demonstrated by the sacrifice of Your only begotten Son for all of our sins.

But still, help me to love You more each day—and help me to demonstrate that love for You by loving others, as I ought to, with Your love, that they might see You in me.

For no one has ever actually seen You.  But if I truly love others, You are alive in me, and Your love will be revealed in full expression through me—so that not only would those I love come to know You more, but I would experience who You are in me more deeply and intimately, as well.

Help me to fully understand what real love is, so that I would love more like You love—knowing that as I sacrificially love others, it is You that lives in me and Your love that is brought to full expression in me.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.