THANKFUL

Monday, April 01, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

. . . and forgive our transgressions against You as we also have forgiven those who have transgressed against us (Matthew 6:12).

Thank you, Lord God, for Your incredible grace to forgive our sin when we place our faith in Jesus. Our sinful record is wiped clean, our transgressions against You are forever removed as far as the east is from the west. In Your eyes, we’re a new creation, no longer the person we once were. You didn’t leave us on our own to follow You but sent Your Holy Spirit to reside within us as our constant helper.

We acknowledge You are the new boss of our spirit, but our soul is a work in progress, trying to adjust to this new arrangement. We want to do Your will. And immediately, You ask us to do what! Forgive those who have transgressed against us!

That is contrary to our soul’s will. It’s no big deal to forgive those little offenses, those daily slip-ups that we all do. But the big offenses, the back-stabbing, betrayals, the lying, the deceptions and so forth, in our own strength, forgiving these is a most difficult task. But when Your love so fills our heart, and Your Spirit transforms us more into Your image, forgiveness becomes second nature. May we never forget what You did for us. When we release these offenses into Your hands, we’re free to trust You to deal with the offenders according to Your Word.

Thank You for Your forgiveness. May we do the same.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Friday, March 29, 2019

Good morning, Jesus

“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).

Oh, Lord, You are our source of provision. You meet the daily needs of Your people from Your riches in heaven (Philippians 4:19). Thank You for our jobs that You use to meet our needs. You demonstrate Your faithfulness when you bless our cups to overflowing, more than meeting our daily needs. Teach us to be good stewards of our blessings and so bring You honor. We can also testify of Your faithfulness as You walk with us during lean times. When work is slow, or hours are cuts, or worse, layoffs happen, Your faithfulness remains to meet our daily needs. Our experiences in these lean times are not in vain. They demonstrate Your faithfulness. Help us do what we can, set aside our pride and allow Your grace to build Your character in us. Open our spiritual eyes to see You meeting our daily needs as only You can. We’re amazed how often You come through in unexpected ways. May we always be grateful for all our blessings, no matter how humble they may appear to us. You promised to meet our needs when we seek You first in all things. Keep us aware of Your presence as we seek Your kingdom here on Earth (Matthew 6:33–34).

Thank You for meeting our daily needs, Jesus. Amen.

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed [holy] is Your name, Your Kingdom come,Your will be done, in Earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:9–10).

In our fallen state, our priorities are not aligned with heaven’s priorities. Every generation’s desires, i.e., our will, seem to be at odds with heaven’s will. As Christ-followers, when we pray Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven, we’re praying against the selfish nature of this fallen world. You’ve given us free will to choose like we please. May we choose to order our wants and desires that allows You to reign over our will when our will is contrary to Your perfect will. As all Heaven is submissive to Your sovereign will, use us to accomplish Your will here below. When we strive to do Your will, we acknowledge Your way is better than our way, even if we do not fully understand Your ways. And You show how much You care for Your creation in that You only want the best for us. May Your will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven.

May Your will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.  

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed [holy] is Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:9–10).

Help us, oh, Lord, to put aside our desires and do the things that You desire. By ordering our lives according to Your will, we acknowledge You have our best interest in mind. When we ask for Your will to be done in our lives, we give You have the right to reign over us. Keep us from selfishly praying for My will be done. Instead, may we sincerely pray, Your will be done as we make You Lord over all our lives. We may verbalize to You our desires, but may we always defer to what You want. You are God and Your ways are always perfect. We pray You make Your will clear to us, so we can walk confidently with You, But when we do not see clearly nor understand what Your will is, Your Holy Spirit living within us will give us peace in our souls as we wait on You. In faith, we trust You, our abba Daddy, to make the best of every situation we find ourselves in.

May Your will be done in our lives, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Good morning, Jesus

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed [holy] is Your name, Your Kingdom come,Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:9–10).

Let Your spiritual kingdom be established here on Earth. We are Your kingdom here on Earth. Luke 17 tells us the kingdom of God is within us, meaning God the Father has set up his righteousness in all Christ-followers. We pray more people will come to know You as their Savior and place their faith in You, Lord Jesus. May Your kingdom be unlimited to its expansion. Consciously or unconsciously, in our fallen nature we behaved like the-universe-revolves-around-me. In Your mercy, You showed us how far off-track we were. Once Your grace opened our spiritual eyes, we saw our need to reject ourselves as the center of everything and make You, Lord Jesus, the center of our lives. According to Your great sermon recorded in Matthew 6, in our obedience, let our lives will be an example of Your grace that everyone is our world will see. Only You could transform our lives. You gave Your Holy Spirit to live within us, so that we can unconditionally love others, just as You love us. As we walk with You through this life, give us a holy boldness to willingly participate with You in furthering Your kingdom of Christ-followers

Let Your kingdom come within us, Jesus. Amen.

Good morning, Jesus

Our Father, in Heaven. Holy is your name. Your name is holy because Your name represents all the authority and power of the universe that You possess. We honor and respect who You are, Lord God, since Your attributes are sovereign over all creation. You are all powerful, all knowing. There is nowhere in creation where You are not present. Your wisdom is perfect. Your righteousness is holy. Your justice is true. Your holiness can never tolerate any sin whatsoever, regardless if we call it a big sin or little sin. All sin must be punished by Your holy wrath. In Your holy love for us, You poured out Your holy wrath against sin on sinless Jesus, but who willingly bore the brunt of Your wrath that should have been on us for our sin. Your mercy is holy to those who call upon You and believe what Jesus did for us. Your grace is holy. Knowing all You’ve done for us, may we always speak Your holy name with respect. Yes, You are our abba Father, but You are also our holy God. Your inexpressible love for us is holy. And in humility, for those who have placed their faith in Jesus, according to Your holy Word, You call us holy (2 Timothy 1:9), not because of what we did, but because of what You did.

Give comfort and peace for the families and friends of the 300 plus Christians slaughtered over the past three weeks in Africa and Mali by Islamic extremists. Give Christians the courage to boldly speak the truths of Your Word and share the grace You offer to all who call upon You. Bless and protect Your followers around the world who are being persecuted for their faith. Strengthen those wrongly imprisoned in hostile countries for speaking the love of God poured out for the world through Jesus Christ. We see western societies beginning to persecute believers, trying to stop Your message. Give all Your followers the courage to live out their faith publicly and thus honor You.

Forgive our sins. Heal our nation. In Your holy name, Jesus, Amen

Friday, March 22, 2019

Good afternoon, Jesus

“Our Father, in Heaven. Hallowed be your name.” Lord God, You are holy and reign sovereignly over all creation and peoples. You also tell Your children to come to You as You are our heavenly Father. You even said in Romans 8 we may call You ‘abba’, i.e., ‘daddy’. You’re our loving Father who always welcomes His kids in to His presence. When we’re wounded in spirit, when this fallen world disappoints us, when illness and disease appear in our lives, when we’ve stumbled—again—You call us [me] to sit in Your lap and tell Daddy all about it. And You never reject us.

Thank You, Lord, for the gift of prayer. You gave us a way to be in constant communication with You, regardless of where we are or what we are doing. Our circumstances do not hinder our prayers. Usually, our circumstances enhance our prayers. You taught Your followers that prayers are not just prose, prewritten by someone not in our shoes, and repeated aimlessly, hoping You will respond. You desire to hear our words that come from our grateful hearts. You know what we need even before we speak a word, so we will follow Your example for prayer (Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:1–4).

Only You can forgive our sins and change our hearts, Lord God. Thank You for welcoming us to sit in Your lap. Amen.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Good morning, Jesus

Give us a more compassionate heart today, Lord. In this fallen world, we’re tempted to keep ourselves number one, and then if we can, or if we have time, we’ll help others. But Lord, that’s not like You. Your Word tells us that to be Your follower, we need to put what we want at the back and look to the needs of others first. You warned us how easily we fall into temptation in what Your Word says is “vain conceit,” where the world revolves around us. If we’re honest, we should be the humblest people on earth. We recognize that we have what we have, and we are who we are, only by Your grace alone. According to Your Word in Philippians 2, let us value others and their needs above ourselves and our needs. In all our relationships, help us develop the mindset of our Lord Jesus Christ. As He came to serve others and show us the Father, may we do the same. Let Your compassion be our compassion, Your love our love, Your grace our grace in all our dealings. Help us be a friend to the lonely, a listening ear to the wounded in spirit, a divine kindness to the rejected. And in Your miraculous way, when we’re obedient and put others first, You bless us, and all our needs are met

Serving others as we serve You, Jesus, Amen.

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Open our eyes to see Your goodness all around us. As Your followers, develop in us an attitude of rejoicing, regardless of our circumstances. Your followers are not immune from troubles—far from it. Today, we pray as Your servant King David prayed: Even though I am the righteousness of God [through Christ], in this fallen world, I still have many troubles. But You, Lord God, have promised to deliver me from my troubles because I seek Your will and have made You my refuge. Therefore, Lord, I am never condemned with the unrighteous. You surround Your people with favor. You bless those who seek You and You will never turn Your back on the contrite. Those who oppose You, who in their arrogance boast of their self-righteousness, will fall and be put to shame, but You will withhold no good thing from those who seek You (Psalm 34).Let us see Your goodness in ways we have never seen before.

May we seek You with all our hearts, amen.

Attitude of Gratitude Prayer

Good morning, Jesus.

Today we choose to honor You, Lord, in all we do. Regardless of our conditions, we can choose our attitudes to be one that honors You and that reflects You working in our lives, or we can choose an attitude of selfishness and self-centeredness, demanding our own way, our will, like a prima donna. We can either attract people to us and thus to You, or we can repel them with our self-centeredness.

Today, we [I] give permission to the Holy Spirit to wander through our [my] heart, to search for anything that displeases You. Show us what we need to do to align our will with Your will. As Your follower, Your Holy Spirit will always warn us when we are doing wrong and do everything possible to correct our actions. Forgive us for any ingratitude we may have in our hearts, or worse, have spoken in the presence of non-believers and thus dishonored You, Lord God. May our words always be of gratitude and graciousness for all You’ve done for us.

Forgive our sins. Heal our nation. May our hearts turn toward You, Lord God.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.