Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

 Welcome to another day of life on planet earth. No matter what happened yesterday, today is a new day and hopefully you’ve put yesterday’s worries and troubles aside to face the new challenges that will come. How you prepare for each new day determines your response to things, situations, and news you’ll have to deal with.

 The author of today’s verse starts with a plea from God to clean up his heart and renew a steadfast spirit within. Steadfast isn’t a word we use much in today’s language, but it has a powerful meaning; determination and unwavering are two words that describe steadfast. Asking God to sustain you through the daily grind will ensure you can run today’s race with endurance and assurance you’ll cross the finish line in good standing. Left to your own strength and wisdom will lead you through a day of emotional highs and lows that will totally exhaust you by days end. Who wants to live that way?

 I encourage you each and every day, take about 15-20 minutes before the wheels really get spinning and spend time with God in prayer, recite today’s verse as you seek His strength and wisdom for the day’s challenges. Find a good devotional to accompany your prayer time so you’ll have a nugget of wisdom to keep your mind focused on what’s really important, your relationship with Jesus Christ and your impact on the world around you.

God bless!  

 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8

 Several years ago, I went out on a long motorcycle ride up through Alabama. There are plenty of beautiful country roads that make riding a motorcycle enjoyable. After many hours of riding, time had escaped me and I needed to get home rather quickly. I decided to part from the 2-lane road and get on the interstate to make up some time. My GPS kept telling me to turn off onto a 2-lane road, but I kept going. Eventually I ran into a very long line of cars, slowly creeping along the interstate due to a semi-truck accident 2 miles ahead. It was about 90 plus degrees and I was a sweating mess. If only I had followed my GPS, I would have gotten home sooner than my experience on the interstate.

 Do you ever wonder why God waits so long to answer your prayers or receive His blessings? We get it fixed in our minds how we expect things to go when we call upon God, and head in that direction, totally missing His still quiet voice telling us another path towards His answers, His blessings. The truth is, we are the reason for delayed answers, because we fail to follow Him closely.

 Prayer and focus on God is essential to keeping in step with His wisdom and guidance. He sees what’s up ahead and will redirect your steps to keep you from disaster. He promised to always provide us His best. Sometimes it takes a lot of faith in God to let Him direct your path, but essential if you want His very best for your life.

 Maybe you are on a pathway, seeking God’s wisdom. Are you staying prayed up, are you looking for signs that detour your current direction? Be ready and willing to do everything He says in the process of answering your request and you’ll soon recognize His promised delivery came at just the right moment. Follow Him in faith and He’ll get you there on time, every time! God bless!

 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for Judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:16-17

 Today’s verses provide encouragement for anyone who suffers as a Christian. You might be thinking that being a United States citizen shields you from suffering for your faith, as we have freedoms to worship and openly express our views. But truthfully, living a life of ease should make you question your faith. Is it genuine, are you living boldly for Christ, or are you hiding your “light” under a bushel, only exposing it when comfortable?

 In 1999, there was a tragic shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. As the shooters were killing people, they came upon a teenage girl who was calling out to God. One of the shooters asked if she believed in God, she responded “yes”. She had a choice to make, either hide her belief or suffer the consequences of being truthful. Under the threat of her life, she did not hold back her beliefs. That is true suffering and God was glorified in that moment.

 Although you might never have a gun held to your head with life threatened over your beliefs in God, you should not be ashamed to live out your Christian life for others to see. Yeah, you might have moments of ridicule, feel the pressure of keeping your job, maybe even shunned by others. That’s ok, because in the end, God will judge those who brought suffering into your life. God will also judge His children for the moments when they keep their faith hidden. Read the following verses and ask yourself, “am I being a true witness for God”?

 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33

 1 Corinthians 13:8 NLT Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 

You might not feel qualified to be a Christian. Maybe you are apprehensive about talking to others about Christ, you have fears that hold you back….there can be many things you want to do for Christ, but feel limited. 

I encourage you to keep the faith! In today's verse it says “love lasts forever”. I've heard it said, people will remember you by how you treated them. It doesn't matter how smart you are, capable of doing great things….none of that matters except your love for others. 

While on planet earth, Jesus instructed people to love others as yourself. Love has many redeeming features and can change a person's direction in life by simply being loved by you!  

Don't miss the greatest opportunity in the world by being a follower of Christ. Love others, just as He loved you, and you'll see the Christian life is more rewarding than anything else you'll experience this side of Heaven. 

 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed? John 4:12

 There are many people today who have no interest in Jesus Christ or becoming a Christian. The list of excuses is long, but I believe the center of their resistance is they don’t believe Jesus has anything better to offer them than the life they are currently living.

 Today’s verse is part of a conversation Jesus had with a woman who was retrieving water at a deep well (John 4). He offered her “living water”, which she found difficult to understand because He had no rope or bucket to drawl the water, and He said His water is eternal. She had no idea who she was talking to, until He revealed her life and it opened her eyes to the truth of God. Because of her encounter, others in her village came to believe in Jesus Christ and what He offered, eternal life to those who believed He was the Son of God.

 Maybe you are on the fence about what Jesus Christ has to offer your life. You might have ideas that a Christian lives a boring and restricted life, and quite frankly you don’t want to give up your pleasures. I can assure you this is not the kind of life Jesus offers. He offers you a life of love, forgiveness, wisdom to make right decisions, conviction that holds you accountable to live a better life and pleasing to Him, and a fellowship with other believers that welcomes you as a family member, not just a friend. Looking back over my life as a Christian, I can tell you God has helped me navigate challenges and experiences that I otherwise would have failed, doing it by my own strength and wisdom.

 Jesus Christ offers you “living water”, an eternal relationship with your Creator, who will take care of your every need and desire, by simply believing in Him, asking Him to come into your heart and seek forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven. Nothing on earth can compare to what He can offer you today. God bless!

 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. Psalm 50:15

 Here lately it seems our country has a daily crisis that impacts a multitude of people. Yesterday we watched the news about multiple shootings in different states where people were severely injured and killed. In downtown Manhattan, a man leisurely strolled down the sidewalk with a semi-automatic weapon, entered a building, shot several people and killed a young police officer, father of 2 with one child on the way. Earlier this month we saw horrific floods that took the lives of many young children. When first responders came upon the scene they radioed to dispatch, “send everyone”. That cry for help I think pretty much sums up the world in which we live.

 In Psalms, God instructed His people to call upon Him in the day of trouble and He would deliver them. As a nation of Christians, need to pray to God for His help. Evilness and natural disasters are on the increase. Ironically some leaders in charge of certain communities and states want to reduce budgets for police and first responders. Satan has blinded the minds and hearts of those outside the faith. According to the book of Revelation, it’s only going to get worse.

 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

 Whew, enough of the bad news. The good news is Jesus Christ is on the throne and He has more power than the evil presence trying to saturate our world. Crying out to Him in prayer can and will change things. Faith in God is the essential ingredient to changing the world around you.  “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6  It’s time to get on your knees and pray to God for help. Your prayers won’t go unheard if you have faith and believe in God! Blessings!

 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

 We live in a “throwaway society”, if something stops working you toss it out and buy a new one. Many companies might offer an excellent warranty, in hopes that 3 years down the road when something fails, you’ll forget the coverage you purchased, and buy new.

 As a child of God, you were created by God for a specific purpose. He gave you special gifts to ensure your life’s purpose is fulfilled. God paid for your talents through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, who made you eternally secure. Are you using those gifts and talents effectively, or are you bumping your way through this life with an occasional “atta-boy”? God doesn’t demand that you align your life with His will; He gives you the opportunity to decide the path you choose.

 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. John 15:16

 Are you bearing fruit for the Lord? What some Christians often forget is God choose them for the Heavenly Father’s kingdom work. Yes, you might have made the decision to accept Jesus Christ into your life, but it was God who called you, He put that need, that desire to be saved in you, and you responded. Now to complete your part of the commitment, you need to ensure your life is a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. John 15:6

 God loves you and wants you to be the best servant to Him. Unless you live a life committed to Him, John 15:6 tells what happens in your unwillingness to serve Him as you were called. Don’t be one of those throw-away Christians! You’ve got a purpose in this life, seek and serve Him. Your warranty is eternal! God bless!