Daily Devotional

Scripture: Matthew 18: [3] And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Observation: A child believes something when their parent tells them, they trust and depend on them for everything. A child’s mind isn’t clouded over with wortry and planning, they enjoy the moment that was given them. A child is loving and enjoys being held and listens when you talk to them. A child is what we used to be until the world got a hold of us and we started to look to ourselves instead of our loving Father.

Application: I continue to depend on myself, but that needs to stop. My goal needs to be to please my Father and to spend quality time with Him and to listen. I need to get to know my dad better and to stop worrying and start doing what it is He has called me to do. I need to learn to enjoy being with Him as we walk together through this life.

Prayer: Dear Father draw me closer to you and speak to me. I’m so lost and afraid and I need to feel your embrace and know that I am yours. Please clear my mind and give me peace and guide me where you want me to go. I love you Dad.

Scripture: Matthew 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Observation: If Jesus stood in front of me that is what He could say, you of little faith. What is stopping me from having that mustard seed of faith? God has always come through and I don’t doubt is love, so why do I doubt that He will do what He said He would do? I should be moving mountain ranges with all that God has done for me, but I can’t even make through a day without worrying.

Application: I need to stand on God’s promises, knowing when I’m in His will things will be done as He desires and not the way I think it should be. I need to wake up with the joy of the Lord and that joy should be able to be seen by others. Live each day so if Jesus did come back He would address me as He did the Centurion and say He hasn’t seen such great faith.

Prayer: Dear Lord increase my faith and show me how to focus on You and Your love and plan for my life. Show me how to take the focus off of me and put it on the things that will please you.

Scripture: Matthew 16: [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Observation: What have I done on this earth that is worth rewarding? God has given me opportunities, gifts and talents to do things worthy of rewards, but I’ve used so little of them. I know I’m going to heaven because of the sacrifice my Lord has made, but I’m not looking forward to the day that I meet God face to face and He asks me what I’ve done for His glory and Kingdom.

Application: It’s not too late to finish this race well. I’m still breathing and there are plenty of people that need to be saved, God has given me a testimony to help others through depression and the talents and gift to talk to others to help get them through it by focusing on God. There are also so many opportunities to serve others in my Lord’s name, I just need to stop making excuses and get busy.

Prayer: Dear Lord show me how to build up rewards in heaven. I want you to be pleased with me. I do want to hear the words, Well done good and faithful servant.”

Scripture: Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Observation: That sounds like my life. So many times Jesus had to reach out to me and save me and you would think after so many times I would no longer doubt. My faith is weak and I don’t understand why I doubt God’s power and love. I so easily get worried or anxious about nothing and then forget about God’s love for me.

Application: I need to remember who I am in Christ. I’m a child of God and then think of all the times God has rescued me from so many different situations. I need to have faith and believe God loves me as much as He says He does and to know this is not my home, my home is with Him.

Prayer: Dear Lord forgive me for my lack of faith and I ask you to increase my faith. To show me how to look at this life through your eyes and to give me courage through all the trials and tribulations that I would come out as gold.

Scripture: Matthew 13: [22] The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Observation: I have received my seed and I know the Word of God, but where is it. Is it growing or stagnate just sitting in the thorns of my life. Do I let the worries of my life overtake the caring of growing my faith. This seed was not given to me for only my good but to nourish other that God surrounds me with. The fruit I should be bearing is to help feed God’s children, not just me.

Application: I need to remove the obstacles that get in the way of growing my faith and love for God and others. I need to put bearing fruit above anything else in my life. The worries of this world will soon pass away, but what I do for my Lord will last forever.

Prayer: Oh my Lord help me grow this harvest in glory and honor to you. Help me bear fruit in your name and set my priorities, putting you first in all things. I do love you, show me how to live this life in a way that shows you.

Scripture: Matthew 12: [7] If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

Observation: I keep thinking if I do more things for Jesus that is what will please Him and yet He asks me to live each day in obedience to the Father. I plan outreaches, pray each day and read my Bible and then I go out into the world and live my life the way I want to. I judge others, look at most as sinners and speak without regards that they are God’s children. If God had the same mercy as I do, I would be burning in hell at this moment.

Application: I’m a new creation in Christ the old Mark is gone and a new one is being created each day. God has changed my heart, but allows me each day to make decisions that result in the finished person He wants me to be. I need to take up my cross and live the life God wants me to live and stop trying to satisfy myself. I need to look at others as an opportunity to show God’s love through me that my Father would be pleased and have no regrets of the mercy He has shown me in my life.

Prayer: Dear Father may today be a day that you look down on your servant and it brings a smile to your face. That your child would treat others with such love and respect, that you may say in your heart, that’s my boy.