Thankfulness Through Obedience

As I learn your righteous regulations,
    I will thank you by living as I should!
I will obey your decrees.
    Please don’t give up on me!

—Psalm 119:7-8 (NLT)

Merciful and Gracious LORD,

Please don’t give up on me!  Don’t leave me to my own limited understanding and imperfect wisdom—but continue in Your unrelenting, passionate, pursuit of my heart, as You patiently guide me into all Truth.

Let the commandments of Your Word permeate my heart, as I listen for Your Spirit to reveal how every commandment plays a part in protecting, providing for, and preserving my life—according to Your perfect plans and purposes.

By that same Spirit within me, strengthen me to live as I should—to fully understand and apply Your righteous regulations to my life—that I might live the abundant life that is available to those who choose to follow after Truth.

And help me to be grateful—not only in my thoughts and words, but even more so in the way I live my life—so that my entire life might become a continuous offering of praise to You!

Please don’t give up on me!  Don’t leave me to my own limited understanding and imperfect wisdom—but continue in Your unrelenting, passionate, pursuit of my heart, as You patiently guide me into all Truth.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Your Offer of Forgiveness

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.

—Psalm 130:3-4 (NLT)

Gracious and Merciful God,

Thank You, that for my sin You offer me Your forgiveness—You completely remove my sin from me and remember it no more—so that there is nothing left between us to keep me from You.

If You kept a record of my sins, how could I ever survive?  For my sin would be an ever-enlarging, impenetrable wall of judgment that kept me separated from You—that kept me from the strength of Your presence and left me to face this world on my own.  How could I live without You?

But You, LORD, hold no grudge against me—when I sincerely repent of my sins—when I turn my back on my sinful behavior, ask for Your forgiveness and pursue the ways of truth and life. 

You remove my sin—the wall of separation—and You look upon me as if I had never sinned, so that I can continue in fellowship with You, being strengthened by Your presence, so I can offer You the reverential respect and awe that is due You.

Help me to use Your model of complete forgiveness, when I forgive others—by not keeping a record of wrongs—so that the walls between myself and others may be torn down and I can live at peace with all men.

Thank You, that for my sin You offer me Your forgiveness—You completely remove my sin from me and remember it no more—so that there is nothing left between us to keep me from You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Living in Freedom, Serving in Love

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

—Galatians 5:13 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for calling me to live in the freedom that was bought for me by the redeeming sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, for my sin.

Help me never forget that the freedom that was purchased with the blood of Christ was not freedom to sin, but a freedom from sin’s power to control my life.

Help me to understand that there is no “freedom” in the suggestion that I have freedom to sin.  It is a lie from Satan designed to enslave me to himself, to others, and to my own sinful nature—making me a participant in his plans to kill, steal and destroy.

Therefore, help me glorify You, and the work of Christ in me before others—by exercising my freedom to do what is right in loving service to both my brothers and sisters in Christ, and to those who are lost and enslaved by their sin.

Thank You for calling me to live in the freedom that was bought for me by the redeeming sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, for my sin.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.