06/01/01 Psalm 33:8-9
Let everyone in the world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
God stood on nothing and created something. He did it according to his own council and power. I am a result of His creative act. He created me out of His love. He is wonderful and glorious. Awesome is my God. Love is His character.
06/02/01 Psalm 34:6
I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears.
Fear is a crippling emotion. It haunts us because we cannot control the unknown. It is promoted by our failures, hurts, rejection and impotence. It is running rampant in our society. The only cure for fear is Jesus. Christ brings me into the family of God. He deals with the things that cause fear in me.
06/03/01 Psalm 36:1-2
Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God to restrain them. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.
I have within my heart an oracle of evil. My wicked heart will promote selfish aims every chance it gets. My responsibility is to bring myself under the discipline and scrutiny of the Word of God every day. Without the Lord’s review I will twist blindly out of control. The end result is that I will find myself caught up in sin and not even realize it.
06/04/01 Psalm 37:34
Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Travel steadily along His path. He will honor you, giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed.
My patience runs short. My view of things is always measured in minutes and hours. The Lord is not limited or bound by time. He sees the end from the beginning and knows how things should work together. I am seeking to be a child of faith. For my faith to mature my patience must be under control.
06/05/01 John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Some people lead such difficult lives that the idea of eternal life does not appeal to them. Eternal life offered by Jesus is the kind of life that God lives. We receive this new life by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This new life enables us to evaluate our lives by an eternal perspective.
06/06/01 John 3:27
John replied, “God in heaven appoints each person’s work.”
One of the great tragedies of our age is that so many people want to be somebody else. We can only be ourselves. Our lives are worthy and valuable. God’s plan is good. Evil is life spelled backwards. When I begin to seek my own way without God’s direction or guidance, I destroy life.
06/07/01 Psalm 42:1-2
As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and stand before him?
Our fathers in the faith saw the world as a battleground. To often I find myself thinking of the world as a playground. I can go there and accomplish things. I am able to promote the aims of Christ and the Kingdom of God there. Travel, fame, fortune all desirable and acquired under the flag of faith but the Word of God calls me to account. I am to seek the Lord.
06/08/01 John 4:10
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
My souls deepest desire can find fulfillment in a relationship with Jesus the Messiah. He brings me into the family of God and restores my relationship with my Creator. Jesus is the way, the only way and in Him I can find life.
06/09/01 Psalm 56:8
You keep track of all my sorrow. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.
When the pain was so deep that that I could not feel anything else I discovered that God still cares. Jesus understood my sorrow. He knows the number of hairs on my nearly baldhead. He knows every problem I have and sees every tear I shed. Jesus walks with me as I struggle with faith and fear.
06/10/01 Psalm 58:11
Then at last everyone will say, “There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”
Decision-making is never easy. When I make decisions I must learn to take into account the eternal consequences of my decision. Will this decision glorify God or will it salve my ego? This helps me to work through my emotions as I look at the issue. I want to make sure that I don’t make a decision based on short-term values.
06/11/01 Psalm 62:2
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.
I am not at the mercy of my weaknesses. Ancient evil or current strife will not destroy me. Jesus is my foundation. He is actively seeking my best good. In Him I will be victorious.
06/12/01 John 4:10
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
Jesus is God. He is the creator and sustainer. When I ask Him into my life, surrendering myself to Him I am reborn. The giver of life, the Messiah, is my King.
06/13/01 John 4:34
Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing His work.”
I want to be valuable. For so long I thought that only those that accomplished great things were valuable. I have discovered that my creator valued me enough to die on the cross for my sin. When I turn to the Father and seek to live by His guidance and direction I discover how valuable I really am.
6/14/01 John 4:25-26
The woman said, “I know the Messiah will come-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”
Jesus is God. He knows everything about me. My heartaches are his heartaches. My victories are his victories. All that I am and have is a result of his creation of me. The Lord is God and there is no other.
6/15/01 John 5:2-6
Inside the city near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people-blind, lame or paralyzed-lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
I have habits that have been with me for more than thirty-eight years. I still struggle with them. Every time one of my bad habits kicks into leadership in my life, I hear Jesus asking me if I would like to be healed. Lord I believe you can heal me, help my unbelief.
6/16/01 Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
Loneliness is never far away. It can happen in a crowd or when by oneself. Sometimes I am lonely because I am reliving some childhood grief or failure. Other times I experience loneliness because of the active aggression of the enemy. I am seeking to conquer loneliness in my life in two ways. Step one involves an aggressive Biblical reading program. I lose myself in the Word of God. Step two occurs as I actively seek to help someone else.
6/17/01 Psalm 65:1
What mighty praise, O God belongs to you in Zion. We will fulfill our vows to you.
I asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of my life. My responsibility is to make sure every day that I permit Him to control my life. Oh it looks so easy, running one’s life. But, I can testify without any equivocation that only God can make my life work right.
6/18/01 Psalm 69:1
Save me, O God, for the flood waters are up to my neck.
I didn’t do a thing to cause the flood of difficulty in my life. I can’t even see around the corner of a building. But my Lord Jesus knows all things and when the world is at my door He stands there with me.
06/19/01 Psalm 71:1-2
O Lord, you are my refuge; never let me be disgraced. Rescue me! Save me from my enemies, for you are just. Turn your ear to listen and set me free.
I thought that as I got older faith would become an easy skill. I have learned as I have aged that life is willing to challenge me to the very limits of my strength every day. One of my prayers is “Lord don’t let me mess up now.”
06/20/01 John 6:19-20
They were three or four miles out when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”
I spend too much time wondering if God will act. The truth is that when I am living by faith I expect God to act. When my mind is set on Jesus, the waves of life never overwhelm me.
06/21/01 John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
I want to know the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord reveals truth to me. The in-residence Holy Spirit guides me where the Lord would have me to go. Renewal comes by His leading. My response is enabled by His strength. Jesus provides everything I need and makes it available through the Holy Spirit.
06/22/01 Psalm 75:1
We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your mighty miracles.
It took me a long time to begin telling others about the great things the Lord had done in my life. The miracles of His activity were carefully hidden away. One day I was overwhelmed by what the Lord had done in a friend’s life. In my quiet time the Lord reminded me that He had done the same thing in my life. What a joy it is to tell of what the Lord has done for me. It blesses me and encourages you.
06/23/01 Psalm 78:1
O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past.
God speaks to me about my lifestyle and daily walk as I read His Word. The experiences of the Biblical characters give me real guidance on how I should live. The activities detail what will happen to me if I do or don’t do them. The warnings and blessings reach out into my future to give me the wisdom I need to deal with my life right now. God’s Word is available and ready for building a Holy life.
06/24/01 John 6:59
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
He was here. He was here for me. He left a record so that I could read it over and over. Jesus came that I might have life.
06/25/01 John 7:14-15
Then midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. The Jewish leaders were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t studied everything we’ve studied?” they asked.
My life is in need of constant direction. When I spend time with Jesus, searching diligently through his Word, I find the wisdom I need to face all that life can throw at me.
06/26/01 Psalm 84:1-2
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
My church is the grandest of all places on the earth. Every time I go there the Lord meets me at the door. He fills our temple with the most beautiful of sounds and speaks with great joy and candor to my heart. The Lord is God and there is no other. What a joy to meet with him in the presence of His saints in His temple.
06/27/01 Psalm 86:3
Be merciful, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly.
The Lord listens to me mercifully in the midst of the awful way I treat him. He listens intently and gently working with me to help me change and grow. I am charged with the responsibility of being merciful. As I deal with those around me I need to be sure that I am treating them the same way I want to be treated.
06/28/01 Psalm 86:11
Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart that I may honor you.
I can easily say that I love the Lord. In a very human, fragile sense I can mean it from the depths of my heart. But, unless I am willing to begin a personal spiritual journey, seeking to be like Him, I am only talking. If I purpose to follow Him, it will cost me my life and give me real life.
06/29/01 Psalm 91:2
This I declare of the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him.
I have learned something about trust. I never do it until there is no other option. If I am serious about my relationship with the Lord, He will get serious about the experiences I need to develop that relationship. I only trust God when God is the only thing I can trust.
06/30/01 John 7:31
Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
The demons believe and tremble. This crowd put Jesus to death. Signs don’t save us. The demons believe and tremble. This crowd put Jesus to death. Signs don’t save us. Salvation is personal. Salvation comes when a person believes that Jesus is Lord. When we believe that Jesus is Lord and ask him into our life we become a child of God. That is Biblical salvation.
