December 2021 Week 4

Verse of the Day for Friday,

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. — 2 Corinthians 4:17

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

Life can be very tough. Eventually, our body is going to die. In the process of living, we’re going to face some very difficult circumstances and going to experience some awful pain. But, as bad as life’s hard realities can be, we are headed for an eternal glory beyond our imagining. Life’s difficulties simply can’t compare to this glory that awaits us. Our pain is temporary. The things that cause our pain are temporary. The treatments, the prescriptions, the therapies, the surgeries, the setbacks are all temporary. All these things that we have seen and experienced are passing. But our eternal glory, our indescribable bliss, that wonderful future that we cannot yet see, is eternal… forever… incorruptible… and reserved for us, God’s precious children!

My Prayer

Dear God, my Abba Father, please be with me during the painful and difficult passages of my life. Help me keep my heart fixed on what is unseen. In addition, dear Father, I want to pray that you please be present in the lives of the following people I love… Please grant them healing. If not healing, dear Father, please pour your love into their hearts through the Holy Spirit and give them rugged perseverance and indestructible hope. Help them see your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Thursday,

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. — 1 Thessalonians 5:6

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

So many sleep walk through life. They never are awake enough to really live. But we are not going to do that with our lives! We are alive because we know Jesus has come and not only brought us life, but he has also showed us how to live. So we are going to be alert. we are going to be self-controlled. We’re going to be fully alive, because we know Jesus’ return is imminent and our day of salvation and deliverance is near.

My Prayer

Forgive me, Heavenly Father, for the times that I have lost my sense of urgency to live for Jesus. Use the Holy Spirit within me to arouse my passions to serve him with my eyes wide open and heart set on great and heavenly things. I know you can, and will, do more than I can ask or imagine, but please, awaken me to dream great dreams and imagine great things for your glory. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Wednesday,

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:14

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

Jesus is God’s message. It wasn’t a message contained in a book or given in a vision, or revealed on a mountain to only a watchful few. No, God’s message was human flesh, bone, and blood. God’s message came and lived among us. He faced our hardship, got our dirt between his toes, felt our disappointments, struggled with our temptations, suffered our treachery, and bled our blood. Yet living in our world, God’s message brought us more than truth; he delivered us from death by God’s grace.

My Prayer

Almighty God, thank you for speaking in the past through your prophets. Thank you for inspiring godly men to give us your Scripture. Thank you for making the proclamation of your Word powerful today through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. May I hear you truth in each of these areas. Most of all, Father, I praise you for speaking your clearest, more profound, and most accessible message in Jesus. Because of Jesus, I know you love me, I know you have cleansed me, and I know I will share heaven with you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and may my gratitude be seen in the quality and character displayed in my life. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

Verse of the Day for Tuesday,

One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. — Romans 14:5

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

So often we let personal preference, peer pressure, and concerns about the celebration of certain days, especially holidays, have a divisive effect on our Christian relationships. Bottom line, we’re not to try to press our opinion or position on anyone else. We’re not to judge another because he doesn’t celebrate a special day to the Lord and we’re not to judge another because she does celebrate special days. This is a matter of personal conviction that revolves around our desire to please the Lord and to honor him in ways we feel are appropriate. Let’s not be so insecure that we have to do what everyone else does or force anyone else to do as we prefer. Instead, let’s remember the right angle to take with all things: honor God with everything we are and to consider the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

My Prayer

O Father, please forgive us for fracturing the fellowship of your people based on human observances and our preference about those observances. As for me, Father, please give me courage to honor Christ according to my convictions, but also please give me the wisdom to do so in ways that bless your people and that do not cause division. I know I will never fully succeed at this goal, but I do believe with your help, I will find ways to bring you the glory due you and to also maintain my fellowship with your children. Purify my heart in this matter and guide me in the way I need to go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Monday,

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 8:38-39

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

Nothing could keep Jesus from coming to save you — not the distance between heaven and earth, not the difficulty of an unexpected pregnancy, not a city fully of travelers and parents tired from a long journey, certainly not a maniacal king who sought to snuff out his life, not jeering mobs crying crucify him, not disciples that abandoned him, not soldiers that mocked him, not a whip that raked his flesh, and not a cross that claimed his physical life. So what makes you think he would let you go or give up on you after his love has captured your heart?

My Prayer

Abba Father, help me understand your love more fully. Give me strength to overcome the doubts Satan has tried to plant in my heart. Bless me with your gracious power and transform me out of my own weakness into a useful tool for your service. Keep my eyes fixed on the Lord whose hand will not let the waves claim me nor let my own doubts detroy me. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen.

Min. Jean