Sunday March 29, 2015 Psalm 119:37

Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word. (Psalms 119:37 NLT)
The world has always been filled with things that shout for attention. Bright shiny things that catch our eye and lure us in almost without our knowing. In this age of computers and smart phones and ceaseless connectivity through social media, it is more true than perhaps at any other time in history. Scripture tells us that just as we have a God who can and will work all things for our good (Romans 8:28) we also have an enemy who can and will seek our harm (Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 NLT). The enemy will use anything to distract us from our pursuit of God. This passage reminds us that the antidote for this is God's word, which will give us life as we fill our hearts and minds with it. We need His word to give life to our souls as surely as we need food to give life to our bodies. Do we spend as much time reading our Bible as we spend on Facebook or Pinterest or TV or fiction? If not, perhaps we need to make this prayer from the psalmist our own.
Prayer for today: O Lord, I love You and do so want to follow Your ways. Yet at the same time so many things in the world around me distract and lure me off course. Help me Lord! Speak to me through Your word and fill me with a desire for your word that burns brighter than the shiny things of this world which are truly worthless. I ask this in Jesus powerful name. AMEN!
Confession for today: I confess that as I fill myself with Gods word, the lure of worthless, worldly things that distract me from God's purpose for me will fade and lose their power over me. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Saturday March 28, 2015 2 Corinthians 1:4

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT)
I love this verse which is both a promise and a charge. The promise is that in times of trial, our Heavenly Father will be with us, not just watching or observing from afar, but offering comfort. But as with all the gifts He gives us, we are to use what receive to help others, comforting them in their trouble. That is how God's kingdom is built on earth: grateful people who have been blessed by God take their gifts and use them to bless others who will in turn do the same for yet others and so on it goes. People just like you and I, are often the vehicle God uses to answer the prayers of His children on earth. When we suffer we gain a new perspective or insight; an ability to see and identify with the pain of others. Compassion grows within us and we long to act to alleviate that pain. God wastes nothing. Every trial we endure, each tear we cry gives us a tool to love and support someone else who is suffering.
Prayer for today: Father God, you are so good and gracious. We give thanks that You are not a distant God viewing our suffering on this earth without compassion, but offer us Your own comfort. Lead and guide us we pray to reach out to others who are suffering and pay it forward by offering comfort and help in their trials great and small. We ask in the name of Jesus, who knew such great compassion that he laid down His own life for us. AMEN!
Confession for today: I confess that whatever I may be going through, my God is with me, offering comfort. I will lay claim to that life changing comfort and use it not just for myself, but to comfort others in need. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Friday March 27, 2015 Jeremiah 20:13

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 ESV)
This verse has been so true in my own life. Those times when I am focused on God have been my times of growth in my spiritual life. Those times when God seems distant have been the times when things other than God have loomed large in my life, distracting me. We were reminded  yesterday  that our God yearns to be in relationship with us. God does not change, he is the same yesterday today and tomorrow. We, unfortunately are far less  steady. We can be sure that if God seems distant the problem is on our end. Am I being consistent in spending quiet time studying His word, and in prayer? Am I worshipping and giving thanks? Do I have unconfessed or even unrecognized sin in my life? God stands patiently waiting for us to seek Him earnestly, with our whole heart and the promise here is that when we do we will find Him. Good news for us since we know He keeps every promise forever(Psalm 146:6)!
Prayer for today: Father God, we love You and are so grateful for Your love for us and Your desire to be in relationship with us. Help us we pray, to be so desperate to know You that we will seek You with our whole hearts, knowing that when we do, we will find You. We ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN!
Confession for today: I confess that I will seek after God with my whole heart so that I can claim the promise of finding Him. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Thursday March 26, 2015 Hosea 6:6

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 NLT)
If there ever was a question of what God desires of us, this passage should put that to rest. Stated loud and clear for us is God's desire to know us and have relationship with us. I find this humbling and amazingly encouraging all at the same time. Any question of each individual's sacred worth should vanish at the reading of these words. It is even more meaningful to me that we find these words in the Old Testament when people were still bound under a system of sacrifices and burnt offerings. If it was true then that the Maker of the universe desired relationship with His children, how much more so now that Jesus has sacrificed His own life to reconcile us? A dear friend recently reminded me that it really is true that God is love and experiencing that particular love personally is life's greatest joy. May that joy rise up in each of us and overflow into the world around us!
Prayer for today: God who is the source of all love, we are so amazed that you care for us as You do! Continue to draw us into closer and deeper communion with You we pray. Help us to openly express the joy of our relationship with You that seeing that joy, others would desire to know You and experience for themselves the love of Christ Jesus, in whose name we now pray. AMEN!
Confession for today: I confess that I am a child of the one true King and His love for me is so great that He gave His only Son that I might be saved and brought into relationship with Him. I will honor that relationship and work diligently to keep it vibrant. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Wednesday March 25, 2015 Psalm 118:24

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118: 24 (KJV)

I’m not a morning person.  I confirmed this a while back when I no longer had a child to get up or a time clock to punch.  I stay up late, and sleep late — when I can. So I am no longer out on the road at what most people would call a “decent hour”. Sundays are the exception.  I like the early service (I know it’s not the crack of dawn, but it’s early for me). And so on the way to church I can marvel at the early sun – especially in the winter when I drive into the rising sun on the way from Pine Island to Warwick.   Well, one spectacular morning I drove down our road, struck by the beauty of late winter, and found myself saying the above verse.  And the next couple of Sunday mornings I did the same. Until a dreary, yucky day came, and I consciously thought “Well, so much for a day to rejoice!”… and it belatedly struck me: oh, I guess God made this day, too.  And maybe I should still “rejoice”. So I made it my habit, not just on early mornings, but most of the time when I leave my home to go down my road and out into the “world”, to recite that to myself. Just an extra little prayer to send me on my way. On a good day, or a bad day, a happy day or sad, beautiful or yucky – it’s the day the Lord has made.

Actually, in the context of the Psalm, this short verse isn’t about creation or beauty, it’s about victory in battle, and in other translations it’s clear (the NIV says “The Lord has done it this very day!”).  And that’s good, too. Because just a few words later verse 26 says: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.  And as Palm Sunday approaches, we can hear the echo of the people shouting that verse as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. The Gospels proclaim HOSANNA!-- Marilyn McCarter
Prayer for today: God of all creation, we love You and offer thanks for this new day which You have given us. Help us use it wisely in a way that is pleasing to You. Lead us to greet whatever comes our way with a joyful heart as a witness to the many blessings You shower on us through Christ Jesus in whose name we pray. AMEN!
Confession for Today: I am blessed by God in countless ways. Today I will pause to notice the beauty of His creation around me and give thanks to the Creator. I am able to stand in awe and thanksgiving regardless of the circumstances in which I find myself. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Tuesday March 24. Isaiah 55:8-9

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT)
Many times in our life this side of heaven, we witness events or situations that we simply cannot understand. From our mortal point of view, we can see no possible way that they are just or fair nor can we see how God could possible work them for our good or indeed any good. This verse has been of great comfort to me at such times. It reminds me that it is not part of God's plan that I understand everything in this life. God does not expect that of me. Even the apostle Paul who himself had such great revelation from God, told us that his knowledge was only partial and He saw but dimly (1 Corinthians 13:9,12). Should we expect more? Instead, God asks us to trust Him while at the same time assuring us that His ways are far beyond anything we could imagine. As far as heaven is above earth. Hallelujah!
Prayer for today: Father God, we love You and ask for faith to trust You in all things. Remind us of Your sovereignty and Your goodness that we could be confident that even the things we cannot understand are safe in Your care. We ask in Jesus' name. AMEN!
Confession for today:  I confess that my God is for me and worthy of not just my praise and adoration, but of my trust. He is faithfully ordering all things and His ways are far above mine. I am safe in His care. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!

Monday March 23, 2015 Galations 6:9

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9 NLT)
I love this passage because it gives me an often-needed reminder to never give up. Life can be very discouraging at times. Circumstances test us and people often disappoint. Yet the author of Hebrews encourages us to run with endurance the race set before us (see Sunday March 15 post). The very next verse in the Hebrews passage reminds us that Jesus himself was able to endure the cross for the joy set before Him...the Joy of heaven of which he of all people, being fully God, had personal knowledge. While we as believers can look forward to that same joy, thanks to His sacrifice for us, I believe that God often uses our trials to bless us in some way right here in this life. However, we frequently miss the blessing He wished to bestow upon us by succumbing to spiritual  weariness and giving up too soon. In this passage, Paul reminds us to persevere in doing good and that God will shower us with blessing (a whole harvest) at just the right time. What good thing has God given you to do? Are you becoming discouraged? The Lord sees you and loves you and wants to encourage you to keep at it. Never.Give.Up!
Prayer for today: Most Gracious God, we love You and praise You and give You thanks for those exemplary ones you have placed before us to encourage us to persevere. Help us, we pray, to be ever faithful in our pursuit of doing good and see our "assignments" through so that we may reap that harvest of blessing You have prepared for us for just the right time. We ask in Jesus' name. AMEN!
Confession for today: I confess that I am able, with God's help, to overcome weariness and discouragement that sometimes comes with doing His will. God will not only empower and equip me to do good but will shower me with blessing for so doing, be it in this life or the next. I declare this by faith in Jesus. AMEN!