Daily Devotional

Scripture Psalms 20:4 May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose.

Observation: Before I was saved my heart’s desires always were of this world, a car, home, some new gadget, etc. Since my Lord is in my life it has changed, I want God’s purpose for my life. I need to do to fulfill my purpose in this life. I struggle trying to figure it out, but this scripture tells me what to do to ask God to fulfill the purpose He has created me for. We always want to work things out in our own strength until we realize we have none. God wants complete surrender and when we can give it, He controls how things are going to go, but if we don’t God will allow us to stumble through life on our own until we realize He is the Master.

Application: I need to follow God’s laws and be obedient each day. I need to allow God to take full control of my life and listen to His directions. I need to pray each day for Him to fulfill the purpose He has created me for and stop second guessing what I should be doing. I need to completely surrender my life to my Father’s will and honor Him with this life He has given me. I feel there is so much to do, but maybe He has just one thing that He wants to accomplish in my life. I need to realize He doesn’t need me to accomplish His plan, I need Him.

Prayer: My Lord I surrender this life to you. May it be a living sacrifice to you that You will use it as you desire and that you will fulfill the purpose you have created it for. Help me release the desire I have to control my life and listen to You each moment of every day on what You want me to do. I love you my Lord, help me show you.

Scripture Psalms 19:13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Observation: A day doesn’t go by that I don’t sin, whether I’m looking at something I shouldn’t be looking at, thinking sinful thoughts doing or saying something that doesn’t honor God. The devil must laugh all the time at me the way he is able to make me look the wrong way. I blame Adam and Eve from succumbing to Satan’s lies and temptation, but I’m no better. Even when I know I’m about to sin, I still do it, just because I want to. I tell God each morning how much I love Him and how I want to do His will in my life and only a short time will pass before I’m proving myself a liar.

Application: Stop sinning!!! I need to get my priorities straight, I’m either a child of God or a friend of Satan. I need to work harder in being righteous and need to overcome this laziness so that I will be doing things that honor God and not myself. I need to stop putting my own desires ahead of God and that the desires I do have most be God honoring. It’s time to stop and I’ll need the help of the Holy Spirit to accomplish it.

Prayer: My Lord how many times have I come before you asking for forgiveness for the same sin. I need, I want to stop and live a righteous life, but I can’t do it as this sinful servant of yours, I need to change, so please change me and make me better. Help me righteous for you. I do love you and want to honor you for the rest of my life.

Scripture Psalms 18:6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

Observation: I’ve done a lot of crying in my life, even before I knew the lord. I’ve been in distress most of my life and tried to depend on my own strength to get out and failed miserably. I still find myself in distress at times and now when I cry out my Lord hears me. He’ll use the pain of experience to make me stronger and more useful to Him. He comforts me and guides me. He always knows where I am and where I’m heading. No matter what I have done He still is there for me, listening, protecting and teaching me what I’m to do next. Why does He bother, because for some reason He loves me.

Application: I need to be speaking to my Lord at all times whether good or bad and come to Him with thanksgiving no matter what. I shouldn’t wait until I’m in desperate need, but I should be crying out for joy, knowing that He loves me. I need to put God first in my life and there should be no one or nothing that should occupy my thoughts as much as Him. I’m going down the final lap of life and I won’t have too many more opportunities to do it right and I need to start now, putting my Lord and Savior on top. My life should evolve around Him in all that I do, think and say, He needs to come first.

Prayer: My Lord forgive me for not putting you first all of the time. You deserve to be on the throne of my life and the first thing I think of when I get up and the last when I go to bed and all throughout the day. I do love you, but I want to live my life in such a way there would never be a doubt that you are the most important thing in my life.

Scripture Psalms 17:3 You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

Observation: There are things in the Bible I wish I could say to God. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to tell God you checked my heart and found nothing wrong and that I make sure that I don’t say anything wrong. I wish I was that kind of man, because I know my heart and the stupid things that I say and I know they don’t honor God. I would be afraid to tell my Lord to check my heart and to test me. I wish even a day would go by that I don’t say something that isn’t righteous or hurtful, whether joking or not.

Application: I need to be that man whose ultimate goal to be righteous before God and that He can check and test my heart and find nothing wrong. That every time I speak, I encourage others or that they may see Jesus in my words and actions. I haven’t come close yet, but I can’t give up. I need to at least get better each day and to draw close to this goal and to never give up.

Prayer: My Lord I will never be able to do this without you. I need the Holy Spirit to take charge of my life and show me how to be righteous before you. I need His guiding to make me more like Jesus and that I will fulfill the purpose you have created me for. Please never give up on me, because without you I’m nothing.

Scripture Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Observation: Throughout the Bible it tells us that God will guide us and lead us on the path that He has chosen for us, yet so often we are out in the middle of the woods lost because we have followed our own path. Unless we are with God where He desires us to be we are lost and there is no joy in our lives, because we are apart from God. Hell is the total absence of God so it only makes sense that when we are apart from God just a little bit our joy is gone. God has pleasures for us that will last forever, our rewards in Heaven, but to obtain those rewards we need to follow Him on this earth and do what He calls us to do.

Application: I seem to be off the path much more than I’m on. God wants me to have a loving and kind heart and when I’m not focused on Him my mind goes to anger and hateful thoughts. I need to continue in prayer asking God to give me a kinder and loving spirit. I need to see His children as just that His children. I need to get these hateful thoughts out of my mind and to be patient and kind. I want pleasure on this earth but more important I want pleasures that will last forever.

Prayer: My Lord help me, fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me that heart that will honor You. Take this evil from me, rebuke Satan out of my life and show me how to be with you all day long, every day. I love you and desire your pleasure, but most importantly your company. I’m here to serve, show me how.

Scripture Psalms 15:2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;

Observation: These are just some of the qualifications to be a person after God’s own heart. We can’t do these things in our own sinful heart, we need God to change us, to change our heart to be more like Jesus. To walk uprightly we must be focused on God and our service to others. To work righteously we need to work for the Lord and not for man and to speak the truth we need to put aside our prideful ways and speak openly no matter what. Satan is the Father of Lies, which makes God the Father of truth. Who’s your daddy?

Application: I want to do all these things, but my sinful ways get in the way. As hard as I try, I can’t stop thinking evil things or stay focused very long on my Lord. If the truth makes me look bad, I can’t speak it or I’ll work my way around it. I need my Lord to change me and I really want to change. I start out okay for a few minutes and struggle all day long to control, my pride, anger and self centerness. I need to pray all day long constantly seeking guidance for my thoughts and my ways.

Prayer: My Lord I am weak and so disappointed in myself. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and change me completely, show me how to stay focused on you. I want to have a heart like Jesus’, but I’m so far from that. Draw me close so that I may hear what you want to say to me. I love you and I want and need to change.

Scripture Psalms 14:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.

Observation: Boy is this true for today our world is full of fools. God has been put aside by our society and they try to come up with ways that would eliminate God. With the Big Bang, evolution myths and just denying that God exists. When you see the lame theories that so called scientists come up with all you see is desperation. People want to explain away God so that they will not be held responsible for their actions. Instead of mending their ways they would rather come up with an excuse that what they are doing has no consequences

Application: My mission as all Christians is to tell this lost world about Jesus and how they can come to His grace and have eternal life. I need to be using the gifts God has given me along with my testimony to do just that. I’m almost finished reading the book, A Purpose Drive Life, and it confirms what God has been putting on my heart that I need to get busy fulfilling His plan for my life. No excuses there is a God and He is awesome and I’m in love with Him.

Prayer: My Lord and my God. Give me the wisdom I’ll need to spread your love and world to others. Put people in my path that you want me to touch and use what you have given me for your glory. I’m here to serve, fill me with the Holy Spirit and teach me what to do.