THANKFUL

Monday, July 15, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

We’re thankful, Lord, that Your love for us does not depend on our performance, or lack thereof. Many people struggle with the concept that people they want or need in their lives will love them depending on their behavior. Some children are taught by those who exert influence over them that, if they are “good,” then they will be loved, but if they are “bad,” they are not worthy and are rejected until they clean up their act.

Thank You, Jesus, that You don’t see us that way. You love for us does not depend on how we act, whether good or bad. If that were true, no one could be saved, for we all have sinned and fallen short of what You require for righteous living (Romans 3:23). But . . . Your faithful love never ends! Your mercies never cease! (Lamentations 3:22). Your love is the same for the unbelievers as for those who follow You and call You Lord. You extend an invitation for all people to come to You, regardless of what they’ve done or haven’t done. You offer Your grace to all who ask You for forgiveness and place their trust in You, Jesus. We’re still far from perfect and we will be Your work in progress until we are perfected with You on the other side. Pity the ones who think they don’t need You, Jesus.

Thank You for loving us like we are, Jesus. Otherwise, we don’t know what we would do.

In Your gracious name, Jesus, Amen!

Friday, July 12, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Lord God, we’re thankful for the peace we have with You. You have mercifully shown us Your grace when we placed our faith in Jesus for salvation. Fear of life or death is nonexistent since Your Spirit lives within us, assuring us of Your presence. We have Your peace, but life in this fallen world is not always easy. You said You would be with us in suffering, and suffer we do. But in our suffering and trials, we find You faithful to stay by us, carry us when we need carrying and drive away doubts about Your goodness. Use our suffering, our weaknesses, our afflictions to develop perseverance, and thus, more of Your character. And with Your character, we find eternal hope, since Your Spirit lives within us. Through every trial, Your faithfulness reaffirms our decision to follow You was the best choice we ever made, and we have no regrets (Romans 5:3–6). You came to our rescue at the right time, Jesus.

Thankful You are our faithful God when we suffer, always by our side.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Oh, Lord, Your Word states Your decrees that You expect of Your followers to obey. When I study these commands, and realize Your holiness, I see no way of humanly keeping what You require of Your followers. I’m not alone. The psalmist saw the same dilemma and poured his heart out to you about his powerless situation. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying Your decrees (Psalm 119:3–4). Thank You, Lord, for not leaving us in such a situation. After we placed our faith in Jesus’ work on the cross, You gave Your followers the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right path with You. In this fallen world, we still cannot keep all Your precepts. The battle of temptation to sin never ends, but the Holy Spirit is working overtime to eliminate our rough edges and replace them with Your grace and character. My prayer is for more of Your Spirit in my life to lead me in Your ways, and a lot less of me trying to figure out on my own what’s going on. Help me see You working in all things as Your love shines through me. And help us all to be real people, humbled knowing we are saved only by Your grace and not by our efforts.

Heal the sick in body, soul and spirit. Comfort those who mourn, whose grief seems to be unending. Raise the spiritually dead. Renew the spark in marriages that are barely glowing and nearly snuffed out. Give hope to the hopeless, let Your encouragement drive out despair. Be the companion the lonely desire, be the confidence the fearful need. Show the rejected Your acceptance of them as they are. For those who live in shame, assure them their actions and poor choices are not beyond Your grace and that salvation and redemption is available to all.

Thank You for giving us Your Spirit so we don’t walk this journey of faith alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Thank You Lord for sending us Your Holy Spirit to live within us, to guide us through this life, and to teach us about You. We’re thankful Your Spirit gave us the faith to believe in You for salvation (Ephesians 2:8), but Your Spirit also reveals Your attributes and reminds us of everything You say concerning Your followers (John 14:26). Increase our knowledge of You. Lord Jesus, and lead us to make wise choices and use good judgment when the enemy tempts us to do something foolish. Help us suppress our desires when they conflict with Yours, and may we do what You ask us to do. Your Word describes how You will equip the obedient to do whatever You ask of us, since we cannot do these things in our own strength (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Intensify our love for Your Word, build our faith, and give us the endurance to live as You called us to live. And Lord Jesus, we need Your grace to pray for those who offend us, who smear our character as hypocrites simply because we are flawed humans who have trusted in Jesus for salvation. We are far from perfect in this world, and boy, do we make mistakes. We are flawed, but You have forgiven us and declare us righteous. May we never forget the grace extended to us.

Heal the physically, emotionally and spiritually sick. Heal us in the areas that need Your divine touch. Heal our memories, our emotional traumas, our physical afflictions. Deal with us about our prejudices that we struggle with. Open our eyes to see the good in people and not dwell on their faults, the same way we want people to look at us. Hold the brokenhearted close to You. Show the lonely You love, the love they long for.

Following You Jesus as we follow the leading of the Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Because You are our Shepherd, Lord Jesus, we are safely in Your fold forever. You’ve promised that those who make You their Shepherd will safely dwell in Your house. Our eternal residence in the House of God began when You adopted us into Your family when we came to You in faith. After our race is finished here, we’ll transition to Your “big house” in Heaven. The joys and benefits of following You, Lord Jesus, are immeasurable. The peace You give in the storms, the safety we find in Your arms, and when we stray, like all sheep tend to do, You pursue us to bring us back. Your forgiveness is everlasting, Your discipline is always for our good. You carry us in our darkest hours and lead us to peaceful pastures, where we’re refreshed and re-energized and our spiritual cup overflows with Your blessings. You’re our strength in our weakness, our stability in an unstable world, our hope when the circumstances of life say otherwise. Lord, help us be the people You created us to become. May we reject what scoffers may call us, but instead embrace fully who You say we are, as children who dwell in Your house—forever! (Psalm 23:6)

Again, we pray for Your mercy, grace and provision for our friends in southern California suffering from the earthquakes. We can’t imagine the devastation they must feel, seeing everything they worked for suddenly gone. Be the peace, the hope, the stability they need. May we as fellow travelers in this world do our part to help alleviate their pain and suffering, and we know You will do Your part, Lord God, to minister to them in body, soul and spirit. Use this catastrophe to cause people to seek You.

Heal the sick, restore the lost, give hope to the hopeless. Create spirits of joy to replace spirits of despair. Forgive our sins and help us keep a clean heart before You and honor You in all things.

Dwelling in Your house forever, Jesus! Amen.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

We’re thankful You’re our Shepherd, Jesus, faithfully caring for Your flock. As we follow Your leading, the fuller our spiritual cup becomes. Everywhere we go, it’s the same. As Your character is manifested in our actions, we cannot contain these blessings. More blessings of peace and joy, forgiveness and reconciliation, faith and love spill from our filled-to-overflowing cup. Even in trials or persecution, the joy that You give Your people is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Despite our circumstances, Your song remains in our heart. Lord, let this be our prayer—that Your goodness and love follow us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23:6). We want to bless You, Lord God, and bless those You place in our path. Let our love be from a pure heart for You, sincere and without blemish. Give us Your compassion for those hurting and discouraged. Open our eyes to see what You see, Jesus. Let us feel what You feel, do what You ask us to do, even if it means getting out of our comfort zone. Give us extra grace when we’re tempted to stray and be our strength in our weaknesses. May we be like You, Jesus, slow to anger and tenderhearted like. After all, Your grace and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

May Your grace and mercy, in a tangible way, overwhelm our friends in southern California whose lives have been altered by the earthquakes. Your mercy is beyond amazing since not one life was in these catastrophes. Use these natural disasters to cause people to seek You and give their lives to You. Let Your peace be something they have never experienced. May we shed all the ugliness of politics, ideologies, preconceived conceptions, and in the name of all that is righteous and noteworthy, help one another. Use this crisis to unite our people to call on You. Be merciful to us, Lord, and forgive our sins. And may You oppose those who want to use these earthquakes to divide us further. And let the punishment for looters be severe.

Thankful no matter where I go, Your goodness and love follow me.

In our Shepherd’s name. Amen! 

Friday, July 5, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Thank You, Lord God. It is You who fills my cup of blessings to overflowing (Psalm 23:5). You’ve brought us through the dark valley, refreshed our spirit, restored our soul, healed our spiritual and physical wounds. You saw our nearly empty spiritual cup of blessings. Our dry souls longed for You as we wandered in the desolate valley. You heard our cries and intervened. You gave us the faith to believe You were always with us, even when we felt alone. But You were carrying us out of that darkness to a restful place to refresh our thirsty souls. You refilled our spiritual cup with Your Spirit, Your love, Your grace, Your hope, all Your spiritual blessings. You gave us new revelations of who You are and the awesome power You wield to save and deliver. Our cup is refilled to overflowing with Your blessings, but this filling is not only for us. May we never be selfish and keep these blessings to ourselves. Fill us, fill our souls with such an overflowing that these blessings pour over to those around us. Our prayer, Lord, is give us a bigger cup so we can be more of a blessing to others. You have anointed us with the oil of Your Holy Spirit to share Your message of grace and salvation.  As a result, we can show others the Your goodness, Lord God, for You called us out of the darkness into Your wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). One day You will send someone across our path who we can encourage. “I was where You are now, in what seems like a dark valley, but God carried me through that trial. He will do the same for you!”

Forgive our sins, unite and heal our nation. May we repent and turn back to You, Lord God. We pray for President Trump and his administration, but government and politicians are helpless to heal and restore. Our only hope is in You, Lord God.

Give us bigger cups so we can bless others more, Lord Jesus.

In Your name, Amen.

Thursday, July 04, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Happy Birthday America! Lord God, we fall on our knees and thank You for giving us this exceptional nation. Our great nation was founded on Your principles and values. We have not been a perfect people by any means, falling often and failing not to live up to Your standards, but we call on You for wisdom and guidance. You have led our people through trials that threatened to tear our nation apart, through great wars against evils that sought the destruction of freedom and all that is righteous, and even a great war between ourselves to make all men in our country free.  May we never forget the great sacrifices of those who came before us, how they put all on the line to build and keep this wonderful nation under God.

Forgive our sins, Lord God. May we, Your people, repent from our wicked ways, turn from our sins and seek You. Forgive our national sin of abortion, of the taking of our most innocents’ lives. Bring emotional and spiritual healing to those dear ladies who regret their decision. Hold them close to You, bring peace to their heart and may they know Your great love and grace. Help us be the holy people You created us to be.

We pray for our leaders that they will govern with honesty and integrity, that justice will be meted fairly. Bless and protect President Trump, Vice President Pence, and all his cabinet members and their families. We pray for all the Congressional leaders, the federal representatives and senators down to the state and local officials, to the city councils and school boards. May all leaders seek Your wisdom and speak Your truths.

May we always cherish our great nation and the bless You for all You’ve done for America. May we never have to echo the words of John Adams, our second president. “Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”

Lord, God, may we never squander this great blessings of a nation You have given us.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Thankful You are our good Shepherd, faithfully loving and caring for Your own. After carrying us through our dark times, You refresh and restore our souls as we feast at Your bountiful table of blessings. While our hungry souls find unexplainable peace in Your presence, Your blessings do not cease. Reclining at Your table, You anoint my head with oil (Psalm 23:5), as a reminder You have given us the oil of gladness instead of mourning (Isaiah 61:3). Although we remember the difficulties and heartaches we may have experienced in the dark valley, Your oil of gladness—the Holy Spirit, restores our soul and replaces the pain of those troubling times with Your peace. The pain of those memories no longer affects our spirit, no longer defines who we are, or who we were. Your anointing our head with oil commissions us to share Your message of salvation and deliverance to those who find themselves hopelessly mired in dark valleys in this broken world.

Forgive our sins, heal our nation as we turn from our sinful ways and return to You, Lord God. Let Your peace rule in our hearts.

Thankful the jar of Your oil of gladness never runs dry. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Lord God, we give You praise this morning for bringing us through our dark valley, where evil waited in the shadows, ready to attack. But You control every situation and strengthen Your followers to endure hardships and trials. How can we forget Your love and grace, Your incredible mercy, when we needed You most? In our humanity, we were overwhelmed, yet the enemy was helpless to stop Your workings on our behalf to bring good from bad situations. Safely in Your arms, as You carried us from the valley to rest in green pastures. what do we see waiting ahead but a table abundantly laden with every good thing You have for Your children. You prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies! (Psalm 23:5). I wanna laugh and dance, since the enemy is helpless to stop Your blessings. After the valley experience, You restore our souls, You refresh our spirits. Our spiritual eyes are open to see how You carried us when we couldn’t carry on (verse 3). With the valley is behind us, we shout triumphantly, It is well with my soul. What can compare with the joy in knowing You? Our praise cannot be silenced because You have shown Your faithfulness is everlasting. You keep Your promises to those who have placed their trust in Your Jesus for their salvation.

Thank You Jesus for Your bountiful table of blessings prepared for us. Let us feast daily on Your goodness.

In Your holy authority we say, Amen.