Daily Devotional Free

  Dear Heavenly Father, glory and praise to You, my God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The sun has risen again and it is morning! Thank You for filling me with life to live another day, for it is You who made me and not me myself. The trouble in this world can divert our eyes from You. Thank You for Your word that helps us stay focused. May we find our delight in Your love and share it with others today. Bless me in my endeavors today. If it may please You, send Your Holy Spirit to always remind and correct me when I stray from Your path. Let me honor You with my time, my love, my bounty, my word, and deeds, as I lay up my treasure in heaven. In Christ's name, I pray. Amen

Many of us make promises to ourselves to mark the beginning of a new year. We make pledges such as I'm going to save more, exercise more, or spend less time on the Internet. We begin the year with good intentions, but before long old habits tempt us to take up our old ways. We slip up occasionally, then more frequently, and then all the time. Finally, it's as if our resolution never existed. Instead of choosing our own self-improvement goals, a better approach might be to ask ourselves: "What does the Lord desire of me?" Through the prophet Micah, God has revealed that He wants us to do what is right, to be merciful, and to walk humbly with Him (Mic. 6:8). All of these things relate to soul-improvement rather than self-improvement. Thankfully, we don't have to rely on our own strength. The Holy Spirit has the power to help us as believers in our spiritual growth. God's Word says He is able to "strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner bei

  Dear Lord, like Your reluctant prophet, we are inclined to love only those who love us. Yet You loved us even when we cared only for ourselves. Please give us the grace to be more like Jesus. Take away from me the spirit of laziness, cowardliness, lust for power, and malicious and idle speech. But rather give me, throughout the day to come, an ample spirit of vitality and force in your service. This is for the benefit of your glory and the good of my fellow man. Let me act in humility, patience, and decency at all times, seeing my own error and overlooking the faults of others. And let me always know the presence of Your Holy Spirit, to remind me of what I have asked. This is all I ask, in the name of my savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

  My little girl stood apprehensively at the pool's edge. As a nonswimmer, she was just learning to become comfortable in the water. Her instructor waited in the pool with outstretched arms. As my daughter hesitated, I saw the questions in her eyes: Will you catch me? What will happen if my head goes under? The Israelites may have wondered what would happen when they crossed the Jordan River. Could they trust God to make dry ground appear in the riverbed? Was God guiding their new leader, Joshua, as He had led Moses? Would God help His people defeat the threatening Canaanites who lived just across the river? To learn the answers to these questions, the Israelites had to engage in a test of faith - they had to act. So they "set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before [them]" (Josh. 3:14). Exercising their faith allowed them to see that God was with them. He was still directing Joshua, and He would help them sett

  Dear Lord, we're prone to quickly forget Your goodness and care for us. May we trust You today and into the new year - whatever uncertainties we face. You are the God who can be trusted. Forgive the many errors, that I made yesterday. And let me try again to walk closer in Thy way. But I am well aware, I can't make it on my own, so take my hand and hold it tight, for I can't walk alone. O good shepherd, seek me out and bring me home to Your fold again. Deal favorably with me according to Your good pleasure, until I may dwell in Your house all the days of my life. And praise You forever and ever with them that are there. Amen

  In a letter to his son, Eduard, Albert Einstein gave this advice: "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving". The great physicist's advice is wise and practical. This wise counsel can apply to the Christian life. Many believers by faith keep moving ahead through painful and trying circumstances. But when they experience a personal moral failure, they lose their balance and fall. Their regret and feeling of unworthiness of God's forgiveness may then keep them down and they no longer move ahead in their spiritual life. The Bible gives us many examples of those who have experienced serious personal failure. Abraham lied to Pharaoh about his wife, Sarah (Gen. 12:11-17). Jacob deceived his father to acquire Esau's blessing (Gen. 27:18-29). Moses disobeyed God by striking the rock instead of speaking to it (Num. 20:7-12). Despite their failures, we are told: "all these. . . obtained a good testimony through faith" (Heb. 11:39)

  Dear Lord, You have brought me to the beginning of a new day. As the world is renewed fresh and clean, so I ask You to renew my heart with Your strength and purpose. Forgive me the errors of yesterday and bless me to walk closer in Your way today.  This is the day I begin my life anew. Shine through me so that every person I meet may feel Your presence in my soul. Take my hand, precious Lord, for I cannot make it by myself.  I pray that I may be blessed every step of my path this day by the great God of light. May Your sun shine upon me; as the moon moves the tide, may Your Spirit move my emotions with every grace and magic; may my heart sing with the voice of your angels and my heart be warm. And, may this and every blessed day You have given me be filled with joy. Amen

  In the frenzied early days of the Internet, Web developers were making up their own rules. The result was confusion. Among the problems was that what looked good on one computer was unreadable on another. This caused developers to refer to the Internet as the wild, wild Web, an allusion to the days of the wild, wild West in the US when law and order were pretty much nonexistent. To bring order out of chaos, Web developers started calling for others to agree on common standards. Their plea reminds us of why it was important for the Israelites to have laws to live by when they left Egypt (Deut. 4:1). Without them, there would be anarchy. With them, however, they would have a system that was so superior that it would demonstrate to other nations the greatness of their God (v. 8). Today, to bring order out of the chaos of our sinful, selfish world, believers submit to the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), who Himself is the fulfillment of the law (Matt. 5:17). When we submit to the standard esta

  Dear God, let Your Holy Spirit be powerful to direct my thinking today so that it be empty of self-pity, dishonesty, self-will, self-seeking and fear. Inspire my thinking, decisions and intuitions. Help me to relax and take it easy.  May I be like the Wise Men who were guided to You by the Star of Bethlehem. Give me the wisdom to seek You. A light to guide me to You, the courage and persistence to search until I find You, the graciousness to worship You and the generosity to lay my gift before You. You revealed Your Son to the nations through the guidance of a star. Lead us to Your glory in heaven by the light of faith. This I pray, in Christ's name. Amen

  In June 2015, the city of Paris removed forty-five tons of padlocks from the railings of the Pont des Arts pedestrian bridge. As a romantic gesture, couples would etch their initials onto a lock, attach it to the railing, click it shut, and throw the key into the River Seine. After this ritual was repeated thousands of times, the bridge could no longer bear the weight of so much "love". Eventually, the city, fearing for the integrity of the bridge, removed the "love locks". The locks were meant to symbolize everlasting love, but human love does not always last. The closest of friends may offend each other and never resolve their differences. Family members may argue and refuse to forgive. A husband and wife may drift so far apart that they can't remember why they once decided to marry. Human love can be fickle. But there is one constant and enduring love - the love of God. "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever", proclaims

Lord, thank You for Your presence. Thank You for breathing life into me and everything around me. Help us to become more aware of Your presence and experience the glory of Your goodness everyday. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit everyday, O God. I receive that inner freedom from Your hands. Let Your Holy Spirit also instil in my heart so that I can love You more each day. I will repent all my sins to You. I can feel that You are coming soon. I am excited to meet You face to face and be with You forevermore. Amen.

  Raucous laughter marked the guests in my father's hospital room: Two old truck drivers, one former country/western singer, one craftsman, two women from neighboring farms, and me. "...and then he got up and busted the bottle over my head", the craftsman said, finishing his story about a bar fight. The room bursts into laughter at this now-humorous memory. Dad, struggling for breath as his laughing fought with his cancer for the air in his lungs, puffs out a reminder to everybody that "Randy is a preacher" so they need to watch what they say. Everything got quiet for about two seconds, then the whole room exploded as this news makes them laugh harder and harder. Suddenly, about forty minutes into this visit, the craftsman clears his throat, turns to my dad, and gets serious. "No more drinking and bar fights for me, Howard. Those days are behind me. Now I have a different reason to live. I want to tell you about my Savior". He then proceeded to do just

  Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for my life and everything You have bestowed upon me and upon all people, this day and every day. I thank You for the good and bad, the understanding of forgiveness, and Your holy power, without which we would have nothing. I thank You this day for all Your blessings, Your gifts, Your never-ending love for us. Although we all are sinners, I ask You to forgive me every day for what I might have done wrong, that I might not have noticed. Even though we all come short of the glory of God, I thank You for the sacrifice of Your only son Jesus Christ for all our sins. You and only You know us Father and You know if our hearts are true.  So once again, I thank You with all my heart and soul. You are worthy to be praised and adored! In the name of Christ, I pray. Amen

  As my wife reviewed her day, she told me about an incident that took place with our granddaughter Eliana, who was visiting. Eliana had been playing with some toys, so when she wanted to go to another part of the house, Grandma told her, "Eliana, you need to put your toys away first". Without missing a beat, Elianna replied, "I don't have time". She was just 2 years old at the time, so she was definitely not running on a packed schedule! I wonder sometimes if God might be a bit surprised with us when He hears our responses to His commands. For instance, when Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28), and we say, "I can't go on. I have too many troubles and problems", I wonder what He thinks. When He says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10), and we say, "I can't fit You into my schedule", I wonder what He thinks. When He says, "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pet

  Dear God, I come to You today longing for Your presence. I desire to love You as You love me. May nothing ever separate me from You. Father of all, the darkness that covered the earth has given way to the bright dawn of Your Word made flesh. Make us a people of this light. Make us faithful to Your Word, that we may bring Your life to the waiting world. When I return to my everyday tasks, remind me that You are always there beside me. I need never despair. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen

  It was the buzz of our neighborhood. A famous professional football player had moved in just two houses down from where we lived. We had seen him on television and read about his great skills on the field, but we never thought he would choose to reside in our neighborhood. Initially, our expectations were that we would welcome him into the neighborhood and we would all become great friends. But his life was obviously far too busy for any of us to get to know him personally. Imagine this: Jesus - the Lord of the universe and Creator of all things - chose to dwell among us! He left heaven and came to this earth. As John says, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14). Jesus chose to become intimately involved with all who will come to Him. And, even more significant, for those of us who have received His redeeming love, the Holy Spirit has now set up residence in our hearts to comfort, counsel, convict, lead, and teach us. When you thi

  Dear Heavenly Father, we love You and we worship You this day. Help our hearts to know the love of Christ and to honor Him with our unyielding devotion in this and every season. Teach me to number my days aright, that I may gain wisdom of the heart.  Help me do today the things that matter, not to waste the time I have. The moments I have are precious, Lord, see that I count them, dear. Fill me this day with your kindness, that I may be glad and rejoice all the days of my life.  Now onto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory. You, who alone are able to do these and even greater good things for us, we praise through the high priest and guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through whom be the glory and the majesty to You both now and for all generations and forever and ever. In Christ's name, I pray. Amen

  On Christmas Eve 1914, during the First World War, the guns fell silent along a 30-mile stretch of the Western Front. Soldiers peered cautiously over the tops of trenches while a few emerged to repair their positions and bury the dead. As darkness fell, some German troops set out lanterns and sang Christmas carols. Men on the British side applauded and shouted greetings. The next day, German, French, and British troops met in no man's land to shake hands, share food, and exchange gifts. It was a brief respite from the war that soon ended when the artillery and machine guns roared to life again. But no one who experienced "The Christmas Truce", as it became known, would ever forget how it felt and how it fueled their longing for lasting peace.  In Isaiah's prophecy of the coming Messiah, we read, "His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). By His death on the cross, Jesus removed the "no m

  Dear Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. Let Your Holy Spirit guide me in my prayer and in thought, and grant me the grace to listen and hear Your Word. Soften my heart, that I may be directed by Your truth, and not the devices of my body and mind. I come before You in a humble sense of my own unworthiness, confessing my many transgressions of Your righteous laws. Look upon me, I beseech You, in mercy, and forgive me for all my transgressions. Make me deeply sensible of the great evil of them, and work in me hearty repentance; that I may obtain forgiveness at Your hands, who is ever ready to receive humble and penitent sinners. Finally, let me go forth in thanks for the victory I have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. May I be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and always remembering that in the Lord our labor is not in vain. In the name of Christ, I ask this. Amen