O1/18 Psalm 119:33-40
33 Teach me, O LORD, to follow every one of your principles. 34 Give me understanding and I will obey your law; I will put it into practice with all my heart. 35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found. 36 Give me an eagerness for your decrees; do not inflict me with love for money! 37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word. 38 Reassure me of your promise, which is for those who honor you. 39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; your laws are all I want in life. 40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.
O LORD
I cry out from the depths of my heart, O Lord change me. Remove that evil bent from my heart. Make me the kind of person that will glorify you.

01/17 1 Thessalonians 2:15-20
For some of the Jews had killed their own prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us and driven us out. They displease God and oppose everyone by trying to keep us from preaching the Good News to the Gentiles, for fear some might be saved. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last. Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again. We wanted very much to come, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus when he comes back again. For you are our pride and joy.
YOU
You count with Jesus. I am grateful to the Lord Jesus for you. My prayer is that the Lord will equip you for service day by day. Come Lord Jesus.

01/16 Leviticus 19:11-18
11 “Do not steal.”Do not cheat one another.”Do not lie. 12 “Do not use my name to swear a falsehood and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13 “Do not cheat or rob anyone.”Always pay your hired workers promptly. 14 “Show your fear of God by treating the deaf with respect and by not taking advantage of the blind. I am the LORD. 15 “Always judge your neighbors fairly, neither favoring the poor nor showing deference to the rich. 16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. “Do not try to get ahead at the cost of your neighbor’s life, for I am the LORD. 17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. “Confront your neighbors directly so you will not be held guilty for their crimes. 18 “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
DIRECTIONS
Think on these things and you will have good, solid directions for daily living. What is it that messes us up? Our unwillingness to bend the knee to the Lord. He is with us and He will guide us but we are filled with pride and selfishness that pull us away from the Lord. Ask the Lord to give you the strength, wisdom, mercy and grace that you need to stand and serve Him.

01/15 Leviticus 19:1-10
1 The LORD also said to Moses, 2 “Say this to the entire community of Israel: You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must show respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest, for I, the LORD, am your God. 4 Do not put your trust in idols or make gods of metal for yourselves. I, the LORD, am your God. 5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, offer it properly so it will be accepted on your behalf. 6 You must eat it on the same day you offer it or on the next day at the latest. Any leftovers that remain until the third day must be burned. 7 If any of the offering is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 If you eat it on the third day, you will answer for the sin of profaning what is holy to the LORD and must be cut off from the community. 9 “When you harvest your crops, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop — do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners who live among you, for I, the LORD, am your God.
YES
Yes, the Lord did give us specific directions for living. Can we live that way? Yes. In Jesus we find the wisdom, mercy, grace and understanding that we need to follow the directions of the Lord God.

01/14 1 Thessalonians 2:10-14
You yourselves are our witnesses — and so is God — that we were pure and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. 11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you into his Kingdom to share his glory. 13 And we will never stop thanking God that when we preached his message to you, you didn’t think of the words we spoke as being just our own. You accepted what we said as the very word of God — which, of course, it was. And this word continues to work in you who believe. 14 And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews.
WITNESSES
Remember that the Lord is always a part of the crowd that witnesses your life. At the times when you are alone the Lord is the witness. Our struggle is not against flesh and bones but against the powers of darkness. The Lord is with us and He will not leave us alone.

01/13 Matthew 3:16-17
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him.”
SON
What have you done about the Son of God? Have you ignored Him? Have you asked Him into your life? Your choice but understand that failing to choose is a choice against the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

01/12 Mark 1:5-11
5 People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea traveled out into the wilderness to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 6 His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. 7 He announced: “Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am — so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!” 9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10 And when Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with you.”
SON
Jesus is the Son of God. He is Lord of all things and His death and resurrection by the hand of God provides what we need and cannot earn, forgiveness for our sin.

01/11 Mark 1:1-4
1 Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. 2 In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God said, “Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way. 3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming! Make a straight road for him!’ ” 4 This messenger was John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness and was preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
LORD
Jesus came to a world desperately in need of a savior. He came for you and me. He came that we might have life and light for living. Jesus is Lord. Ask Him to come into your heart and give you life in His family.

01/10 Acts 19:1-7
1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior provinces. Finally, he came to Ephesus, where he found several believers. 2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we don’t know what you mean. We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later.” 5 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
TURN
Turn to the Lord. Give Him your heart and surrender you life to Him. He is worthy of all of our devotion, love and worship. Serve the Lord with gladness and He will care for you. He loved us where we were and now He calls us to follow Him.

01/09 Psalm 29
1 A psalm of David. Give honor to the LORD, you angels; give honor to the LORD for his glory and strength. 2 Give honor to the LORD for the glory of his name. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. 3 The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The LORD thunders over the mighty sea. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf and Mount Hermon to leap like a young bull. 7 The voice of the LORD strikes with lightning bolts. 8 The voice of the LORD makes the desert quake; the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!” 10 The LORD rules over the floodwaters. The LORD reigns as king forever. 11 The LORD gives his people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace.
WORSHIP
We have a wonderful, Holy God and we can worship Him. He knows all things and is able to guide us through our life. He is a glorious, gracious, magnificent and loving Lord and we can worship Him.