10/01 I Thessalonians 5:6-8
So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be sober. Night is the time for sleep and the time when people get drunk. But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected by the body armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.
READY
We live in a dangerous world. Safety is always an illusion. But we are not beaten down and overrun by fear. We must always be alert to the activity of evil in the world especially today. Jesus is Lord. He will give us what we need to deal with the danger that we face every day.
10/02 I Thessalonians 5:9-10
For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. 10 He died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of his return.
SALVATION
Jesus brings us into God’s family. We belong in eternity and can live like it. The world cannot defeat us nor can it destroy us. We are just passing through.
10/03 I Thessalonians 5:11-13
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and warn you against all that is wrong. Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love because of their work. And remember to live peaceably with each other.
ENCOURAGEMENT
Say a word of encouragement to someone today. We will discover encouragement for ourselves as we value others and encourage them. What we do is an investment in our future.
10/04 I Thessalonians 5:14-15
Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else.
RESPONSIBILITY
I am responsible for the way I act. My hands and feet are to be dedicated to the activity of the Lord moment by moment each day. We are indeed our brother’s and sister’s keeper. I am to help each person that I come into contact with and to do the good that I can as I walk in Christ daily.
10/05 I Thessalonians 5:16-18
Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
LIFE
You and I are responsible for the way we respond to our lives. If we are in constant contact with Jesus we will be changed from the way we act to the way Jesus acts. Jesus wants us to be a part of His work on this earth. He wants us to know that we are loved and useable. I claim joy. It is our right.
10/06 Genesis 3:21
And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
SUFFICIENT
What we need is what Jesus provides. He loves us. He is seeking our willing commitment and usability. The question for me is am I seeking a relationship with Jesus? I am giving this day to the Lord. One day I will be with Him for eternity.
10/07 Genesis 6:5
Now the Lord observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.
LOST
Without Jesus we are dead in our trespasses and sin. In Jesus we have eternal life and the privilege of relationship and fellowship with the Lord.
10/08 Genesis 7:5
So Noah did exactly as the Lord had commanded him. He was 600 years old when the flood came, and he went aboard the boat to escape, he and his wife and his sons and their wives.
OBEDIENCE
Obeying the Lord is for our good. We may not see how it benefits us but the eternal truth is that it does. Every thought the Lord has towards us is a thought for good. God is love.
10/09 Genesis 11:4
Let’s build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies, a monument to our greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the earth.
MAN
Man’s plans are always self-focused. More, bigger, better are the mantras of a society without God. Jesus is focused on people. He is concerned that each one of us has an abundant life. He is willing and able to give anyone of us an abundant life. God is love and in Him there is no evil.
10/10 Genesis 12:1
Then the Lord told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.”
OBEDIENCE
Jesus is seeking to use us. When He calls us to service our response is to be yes. The greatest obstacles to joy in service is one’s insistence that they can’t, they don’t know how, they don’t have the money and they don’t have the time.
10/11 Genesis 14:19-20
Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed by God Most High who has helped you conquer your enemies.”
ETERNITY
The Lord is the fullness of perfection and of love. His blessing is valuable for our spiritual well being. He is worthy of all our praise. In Jesus we have the fullness of the Godhead bodily, bringing to each one of us peace for our life. We live in victory. His presence brings joy.
10/12 Genesis 15:6
And Abram believed the Lord and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith.
BELIEVE
We are to believe in Jesus. This belief will impel us to a changed life. In Jesus I can do all things. Those things I do are things that glorify the Father and bless all with whom I come into contact. The activity of my faith is service to others.
10/13 Genesis 17:1-2
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation.”
FAITHFULNESS
Christianity changes who we are and how we live. Our insides are different. It outfits us to have a relationship with the Lord High God. What we are inside equips us to do what we do in our daily lives. Our service is possible because of the faithfulness of our life.
10/14 Genesis 41:53
At last the seven years of plenty came to an end.
CHANGE
The world is always changing. Prosperity comes and goes. Tomorrow may be much different than today. Yet one thing remains the same-Jesus. Jesus never changes. He never forgets us. We will always belong to Him. In a fast paced world that never caters to the individual we have a solid anchor in Jesus.
10/15 Genesis 45:8
Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you!
CONTROL
We can surrender our lives to Jesus and gain control of our life. In Christ we are equipped to face our life. There is valuable and unique worth in each person’s life. We can find our value in Christ. When Jesus is in control we can see.
10/16 Exodus 2:15
And sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about it, he gave orders to have Moses arrested and killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and escaped to the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.
TIME
Doing the wrong thing puts us in the path of danger. Jesus is always on time. He will take us from where we are to where we need to be. In this crisis in Moses’ life the Lord guided him to the place where he would be trained to be useful. Do not fear, the Lord will do the same thing in each one of our lives. Jesus will use us if we will let him.
10/17 Exodus 3:7
Then the Lord told him, “You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.”
KNOWN
Jesus knows us. He knows what we are going through and His every thought for us is a thought for good. Accept His blessing today. Rejoice in your salvation.
10/18 Exodus 5:1-2
After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go….”
“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord that I should listen to him and let Israel go?”
JESUS
He is the great and mighty Lord, the creator of all things, our peace, our joy, our sustainer, the Holy One, who died for us and offers to us the gift of an eternal relationship. Jesus is Lord.
10/19 Exodus 8:19
“This is the finger of God!” the magicians exclaimed to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to them, just as the Lord predicted.
CONTROL
Jesus is in charge. He knows all things and can do anything. Ask Him to change you to be His perfect servant. He will change and equip you.
10/20 Exodus 15:27
After leaving Marah, they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the springs.
DESPERATION
We cry out in desperation, “Lord, Help.” At the point of our greatest failures we will find real victory in yielding to Jesus. And just down the road we will find the victory that we are longing for.
10/21 Exodus 20:2
“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.”
SALVATION
Jesus rescues us from the desperate life all mankind experiences without Christ. His salvation is a grace gift that restores us completely. In Christ I have everything I need to serve the Lord.
10/22 Exodus 23:1
“Do not pass along false reports. Do not cooperate with evil people by telling lies on the witness stand.”
HONESTY
Lying will put us in a bind. Not only is it wrong it will often line us up with evil people. Daily we are to prepare ourselves for battle being on the alert and ready to live like Jesus. Forgiveness is available. Strength to change is also available. We are never at the mercy of sin. Discipline in our spiritual journey and faith in the Lord Jesus will equip us to stand in the hour of testing.
10/23 Ephesians 1:1-2
This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is written to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. 2 May grace and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
GRACE
Jesus comes to us giving us what we need and cannot earn. He is with us every moment of every day. His love for us is an activity that is focused on us. His grace brings into our hearts His presence and concern for us. We can live each day knowing that He is with us.
10/24 Psalm 122:1-5
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” 2 And now we are standing here inside your gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is a well-built city, knit together as a single unit. 4 All the people of Israel – the LORD’s people – make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the LORD as the law requires. 5 Here stand the thrones where judgment is given, the thrones of the dynasty of David.
WORSHIP
Worship is a part of the normal Christian life. Jesus is worthy of all our worship. Worship equips us to face life’s great issues with an awareness of whose we are and to whom we belong. Focus on His majesty and glory. Jesus is Lord.
10/25 Ephesians 1:3
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.
JESUS
We are on mission for Jesus, sojourners in this world. Our mission is to believe that He has a plan for our life, that we are valuable and that Jesus will use us to achieve His plans. We are blessed in Jesus with everything we need to live an abundant life. All of our life we are either dealing with trouble now or going to be dealing with trouble. Jesus equips us to rejoice and live. His victory is available for our life.
10/26 Ephesians 1:4-5
Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
MINISTRY
Jesus equips each one of us for ministry. Our usefulness is rooted in His ownership. Our salvation is a gift. Our relationship is a gift. Our growth is a choice. We discipline ourselves to spend time with Him and to remember the lessons that He teaches us. Jesus would that each one of us lead abundant lives as members of the royal family of God.
10/27 Ephesians 1:6-7
So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.
OWNERSHIP
When we come into the family of God we belong to Him. He has shown us His love and commitment. We are no longer slaves to sin nor can this world defeat us. We are valuable and useful. Today is the day of victory and peace and joy. We can claim it.
10/28 Ephesians 1:8
He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
VALUE
We are the focus of God’s love. Where ever we are whatever we are doing we belong to Him. We can live with confidence and assurance that the Lord will be with us and will give us the wisdom we need to deal with our life. When our life is hard our Lord is close.
10/29 Ephesians 1:9
God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 10 And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.
CHRIST
Jesus is God’s everything. He is in charge. We become useable when we give Him control of our life. The Lord is able to use us where we are for His glory and honor. In Christ we partake of the victory of the Lord. In Christ we can deal with every obstacle that presents itself. When Jesus rules our life, joy and peace are present.
10/30 Psalm 122:6-9
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be with you.” For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
PEACE
Peace is in short supply in today’s world. You and I can have peace in Jesus. The Lord is coming back. When He does peace will reign.
10/31 Psalm 123:1-4
I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We look to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal. Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt. We have had our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.
FOCUS
We all face trouble every day of our life. Our call is to focus our minds and our hearts upon Jesus. When Jesus is the center of our life, we will be equipped to handle the onslaught of the world. We will not fail. We will not be irrelevant. We will be equipped and ready to face each obstacle as an opportunity. Focus on Jesus and He will give you what you need to live an abundant life.
