On many occasions You teach us not to be anxious about anything. Given the number of deep sighs, hands wringing, and perplexed looks we manifest, it seems anxiety and stress are more common than not. But what do You say Jesus, about anxiety? You say, repeatedly, “don’t worry” and then You teach us why.
The perfect Independence Day; freedom from guilt!
Father, we celebrate Independence Day in the United States as a way of marking our freedom from the control of others. When we accept, by faith in Jesus, Your grace and salvation, we celebrate a different kind of freedom. We believe that freedom from dominance by Satan marks that day as the most important day in our existence.
Did you say that God knew me before I was born?
You ordained John before he was born. You set him apart and Father, when he proclaimed the coming of Jesus, You had already seen the entire scene. It is Your omniscience, Your knowledge of the beginning, the process and the end that we are witnessing.
Have I unknowingly been in the presence of an angel?
Father, are angels for real? Your words confirm that angels are indeed real and that we interact with them and are observed by them more than we know. It is sort of a scary thing, at first, because we don’t know whether we just entertainied an angel or if we are in the presence of a person that seems a little more interested in us than we would expect.
My sin grieves me. How can I be cleansed?
Most of us have not sought You with our whole heart because that would mean a level of pursuit to which we aspire and but have rarely achieved. We are told to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, something we want to do. What holds us back from a total committment to You?
Can the wicked record of my past be erased?
Father, you, under the Old Covenant, made the same type provision You have made under the New Covenant. The faith Your people had in You and their obedience to Your laws brought forgiveness. Under the New Covenant, Jesus changed things forever by inscribing Your truth on the heart of every person.
How on earth could I ever be called a saint?
Help us, this day, to grasp the fact that we cannot enter into Your presence as sinners and that our only hope for salvation is in Christ Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, who stands before You proclaiming our worthiness, in Him. What a perfect advocate You have sent Father. Our sins are as separate from us as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against us, ever again.
Anxiety? Happy are the people whose God is the Lord
Your blessings, both small and large give us joy. May we spread that joy among Your people. Lift from us those temporal worries and anxieties that prevent our joy from being fully realized.
The path to strength and wholeness…a broken heart.
We read that You draw near to those whose spirit is humble and contrite. Keep us this day from prideful behavior and self-serving attitudes.
Rich and without joy?
Father, we learn from these verses that spiritual poverty makes us ineffective in fulfilling Your will. Yet, when we are full of the Holy Spirit, no matter what our economic situation by worldly standards, we possess all which You intended and by giving it away, we see others inherit the wealth, the Spiritual wealth that You desire for each of us.