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Practicing Thankfulness

We all know that we should be grateful for our many blessings. God tells us in His Word to be thankful, and we know from our own experience that once we seriously start praising God, our burdens and troubles seem to weigh less heavily on our shoulders.

David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:1,19 AMP).

That’s the power of thankfulness. Not only does it help set us free, but as we pause to give thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy in our lives, we actually begin to find more blessings, even more to be thankful for!

I encourage you to take time to practice being thankful. There is so much for us to be grateful for, and we need to focus on it, every single day. Keep in mind the admonition of the psalmist, “Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!” (Psalm 100:4).

Dear God, the power of thankfulness is truly incredible. Thank You for blessing me daily and working in my life. I know that without You, I have nothing, so I thank You for the goodness that You have shown me.

Managing Your Emotions

Dealing with emotions is a fact of life. As long as we live, we will experience a variety of emotional feelings and reactions, and we must not deny their existence or feel guilty because of them.

However, we do need to learn to manage our emotions. This is easier when we understand that we cannot trust them. In fact, they can be our greatest enemy. Satan uses our emotions against us to keep us from walking in the Spirit.

It is so important to know that the Lord our God who resides within each of us is mighty. His might within us enables us to overcome our emotions and be led by His unchangeable Word and Spirit instead of our unstable feelings and emotions.

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Spiritual stability and emotional maturity don’t come naturally. You must desire it with all your heart and be determined to get it. When you make emotional stability a priority, God is more than willing to help you manage your emotions.

I encourage you to pursue that today. Enjoy emotional stability and a joyful, victorious life!

God, I choose to pursue emotional stability. I don’t want to be controlled by my emotions, but I want to learn to manage them properly. Thank You for living in me and helping me with Your great strength.

Understand Grace, Walk in Faith

Most of us are aware that it is by grace that we are saved, but I wonder how many people truly understand the power of God’s grace.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (Ephesians 2:8)

Everything we receive from God must come by grace through faith. But all knowledge of faith must be built on a clear understanding of grace, because even faith comes to us by grace, as a gift.

When you understand grace, you can walk in faith and receive God’s blessings.

God’s grace isn’t complicated or confusing. It is simple, and that’s why many people miss it. There is nothing more powerful than grace. Everything in the Bible, salvation, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, fellowship with God and all victory in our daily lives, is based on it. Without grace, we are nothing, we have nothing, we can do nothing.

Today, don’t just hear about grace, but understand that everything in our lives depends not on our merits or abilities or works, but on God’s willingness to use His infinite power to meet our needs. This is grace.

Focus on that truth today, and watch your faith grow.

God, I don’t just want to hear about Your grace without grasping its real power. Help me to understand how wonderful Your grace is so that my faith in You can grow.

God Isn’t Glorified Through Our Suffering

Many Christians live under the false idea that God wants them to suffer. This creates a nonstop victim mentality.

Suffering is inevitable, but God is not glorified through our suffering. He is glorified when we have a good attitude during our suffering - and He wants us to be victorious!

So why would we choose to remain bitter, angry and wounded or depressed?

There’s one surefire way to overcome suffering with the right attitude: Set your mind, and keep it set, on things above, not on things of the earth. You must be armed with right thinking, or you will give up during hard times.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)

Set your mind and be fully aware that moving from being a victim to being a victor will not be a quick process. It will take time, but your experience will make you stronger and enable you to help others who are facing similar battles.

Get excited about your future and realize that going through something with God means that you will come out on the other side with a victory that cannot be taken away from you.

God, I need Your help to overcome a victim mentality. I choose to set my mind on things above so that I can have the right attitude. With Your thoughts and truth inside me, I know I can overcome.

Sickness Isn’t Only Physical!

The Bible teaches that Jesus came to heal our wounds, to bind up and heal our broken hearts, and to give us beauty instead of ashes and the oil of joy instead of mourning (see Isaiah 61:1-3).

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Many Christians read this scripture and know that God wants to heal us from physical and spiritual sickness, but there’s more to it than that. The truth is that our emotions are part of our makeup and they can become sick like any other part of us.

The world today is full of people who are suffering from emotional pain. The cause is often abuse, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, disappointment, judgment, criticism or other negative behavior by others. This emotional pain can be more devastating than physical pain because people feel that they have to hide it and pretend it isn’t real.

If you have an emotional wound in your life, you need to know that Jesus wants to heal you. Don’t make the mistake of thinking He is interested only in your spiritual and physical life. Take your wounds to Him. Jesus wants to heal you everywhere you hurt!

Lord, thank You for caring about every part of me, including my emotions. Any emotional pains and wounds that I have, I bring to You. I know that You can heal and restore me.

Make God Your Source of Approval

An epidemic of insecurity is stealing the joy of life from many people in our society today and causing major problems in their relationships. I know the effect insecurity can have on lives because I experienced it myself. I know what it does to a person.

Those who are insecure, often seek the approval of others to try to overcome their feelings of rejection and low self-esteem. They are approval addicts.

When we struggle with insecurity, only one thing will set us free, and that is God’s truth. The truth is that we don’t need to struggle to get from man what God freely gives us: love, acceptance, approval, security, worth and value.

He is our Refuge, our High Tower, our Strength, our Stronghold in times of trouble and our Hiding Place (see Psalm 9:9; 31:4; 32:7; 37:39; 46:11). Our worth, value, acceptance and approval come from Him. As long as we have those, we have the most valuable things in the world.

As you look to Him, you will be lifted to new levels of freedom, becoming the confident, mature person you were created to be.

Lord, I look to You for security. I focus on the truth - You are my refuge and strength. You give me love and acceptance. In You alone I am completely confident.

Love Everyone Differently

The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14) God spent time and exercised His creativity with each of us, so it would stand to reason that He didn’t create us all exactly the same, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, we Christians sometimes try to love others as if they are all the same.

You’ll find that not all people need the same thing from you. One of your children, for example, may need more of your personal time than another does. One friend may need more encouragement on a regular basis than another. Some people just need different forms of love.

Respecting individual rights is also very important. Selfish people expect everyone to be like they are, but love respects the differences in people. If God had wanted all of us to be alike, He would not have given each of us a different set of fingerprints. I believe that fact alone proves we are created equal but different.

We all have different gifts and talents, different likes and dislikes, different goals in life and different motivations. A loving person respects and encourages the differences in others.

God, help me to appreciate the differences in others and then love them accordingly. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank You for the amazing creation of each individual You have placed in my life.

The Trademark of a True Christian

“One of the most important facets of love is unselfishness, which is characterized in Romans 12:16 as the willingness to adapt and adjust to the needs and desires of others.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:16)

People who have grasped the meaning of this Scripture and applied it in their lives have learned what it means to be reduced to love. They are not selfish. They have learned to be adaptable and to adjust to others.

On the other hand, people who think more highly of themselves than they should find it difficult to adjust to others. Their inflated opinion of themselves causes them to see others as “little” and “unimportant.” They selfishly expect others to adjust to them, but they are often unable to accommodate others without becoming angry or upset.

Which type of person are you? I used to be so selfish, but now, I can tell you from experience that living unselfishly is a much more satisfying way to live.

The trademark of a true Christian is the ability to adapt to others. Will you unselfishly adapt to someone else today?

God, show me daily how to lovingly adapt to others. I don’t want to be a selfish person, so I choose to be unselfish and adaptable, loving others as a true Christian.”

Develop Your Potential and Do Something Now

You may know that God’s created you with great potential, but you can’t stop there. You have to develop your potential.

I believe that many people are unhappy because they aren’t doing anything to develop their potential. If you want to see your potential developed to its fullest, don’t wait until everything is perfect. Do something now. Start laying your hand to whatever is in front of you!

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…” (Colossians 3:23)

You must give your potential some form by doing something with it. You will never find what you are capable of doing if you never try anything.

Don’t be so afraid of failing that you never take a chance. Don’t stay in the safety zone. You may feel safe, but you will never succeed at developing your full potential or being fulfilled in what you are doing. Step out into what you feel God is leading you to do, and you will soon discover what you can and cannot do.

You are full of God-given potential, and He wants to do more through your life than you could ever imagine, but it requires your cooperation. Step out and serve Him wholeheartedly today!

Lord, in everything I do, I want to serve You wholeheartedly. Thank You for encouraging me to step out and take action, developing the great potential You have given me.

What Is God’s Love Like?

Why does God love us as imperfect as we are? Because He wants to, it pleases Him. It’s in His very nature to love us, no matter how sinful our actions may be.

God conquers evil with good. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). He does that by pouring out His limitless grace upon us so that when we sin, His grace becomes greater than our sin. And just as it is impossible for God not to love, so it is impossible for us to do anything to keep Him from loving us.

God loves because that is His nature. He is love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8). He may not always love everything we do, but He does love us. God’s love is the power that forgives our sins, heals our emotional wounds and mends our broken hearts. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3). God’s love is unconditional; it is based on Him, not us! Once you realize that God loves you regardless of what you have or haven’t done, you can experience incredible breakthrough. You can quit trying to earn His love and simply receive it and enjoy it!

God, Your love is incredible! Focusing on Your love reminds me that it’s based on Your goodness, not my actions. Help me to receive Your love for me.