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"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." — Isaiah 41:10 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Fear saps our willpower and leaves us feeling depleted and hopeless. Feeling depressed, discouraged, and dismayed saps our emotional resources and takes the passion out of our spiritual service. Yet very few of us have ever experienced a defeat so complete and bitter as the one God's people faced when Isaiah shared this message of hope. The preservation of Israel through their horrors of defeat, humiliation, and loss from their times in exile until the time of Jesus is a many-centuries-long reminder of God's miraculous and faithful fulfillment of his promises and love. Later, when all appeared lost, the ongoing survival and triumph of Jesus' disciples through centuries of persecution and opposition powerfully remind us that underneath us are the everlasting arms ...

I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. — Psalm 119:7 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Praise is integrally connected with our character. For us to worship God properly, the intent of our hearts and the effort of our lives must show our determined desire to know and live his will as we reflect his holy character, gracious compassion, and faithful loving justice. While we will never do this perfectly, his grace covers us as we seek to live for his glory, and as the Holy Spirit is always at work transforming us into greater Christlikeness ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). However, we must never use God's grace as a pretense to excuse spiritual laziness, intentional weaknesses, and persistent sins. True praise comes from an upright heart and a life aligned with our Creator's loving purposes, and reflected in our knowing what he wants and obeying what he calls us to do. My Prayer... Holy God, I want to be more like you in character, even though I will never f...

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. — Ephesians 3:17-19 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Love that surpasses knowledge is truly powerful, but difficult to explain. However, when you have loved your spouse for decades, and he or she is as close to you as any bodily organ, you experience what this means. Love that surpasses knowledge. You know each other, and each other's faults and weaknesses, but your love is deeper than when you first fell in love. When you love a child and do for them what you never dreamed you could do for another human being, you understand this phrase. Love that surpasses knowledge. And when you stand before God, adopted as a full heir of all his great riches ( Romans 8:14, 16-17 ), a full sibling to Jesus Christ the LORD ( H...

Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. — 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Thoughts on Today's Verse... While Paul's exhortation here is excellent, it is the style of the exhortation we should especially notice. We live in an age where we are constantly pressured to emphasize the novel, new, or improved versions of things. But in our lives as Christians, our knowledge always exceeds our obedience - we very seldom live up to the truth we know, even though it is old truth and established truth. So, more often than we like to think, we need to remind each other of what we are doing that is right, good, obedient, and holy. Our words of affirmation and encouragement don't need to be elaborate or profound or novel or new. We can say, "Hey, you're doing well; just keep doing what you're doing! I know your Father in heaven is pleased with you!" Let's encourage each other and build each other up, as in fact some of us are already doing...

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. — 1 Chronicles 29:11 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Praise is the direct address of God that lets him know we recognize him for who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing. But more than informing God of his greatness, praise is rejoicing before him in his greatness, while recognizing that not only is his grace without comparison, his majesty and might and holiness and faithfulness and righteousness and mercy and love and forgiveness and justice... are all without comparison. The LORD God is God. My praise is my thankful celebration and recognition of him as God, my God, the one and only true God, and let's him know I rejoice in him! My Prayer... Great and gracious God, the Holy One who is without anyone to compare. You and you alone are truly worthy of my best words, deepe...

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. — Proverbs 15:1 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Why is it so hard to endure unjust and unfair criticism? Why do we feel that we have to defend ourselves regardless of how ridiculous or unfair the accusations against us are? Why do we have to have the last word in any argument, or look to get even if we don't? Often, the problems we have with others in an argument escalate because we do not choose "a gentle answer." So, why do we not choose "a gentle answer" ? These are the excuses I hear from others, and sometimes I make them myself: "I don't want to appear to be weak!" "I don't like to lose at anything!" "I don't want that person to have the last word!" "I resent the unfair things, the demeaning things, that person called me!" When I look at these excuses - some of them are my excuses - the same pronoun appears again and again: the pronoun, ...