Daily Devotional Free

  When the people of Israel came back from exile in Babylon, their spiritual appetite was weak. They had departed from God and His ways. To get the people back to spiritual health, Nehemiah organized a Bible seminar, and Ezra was the teacher. Ezra read from the book of the law of Moses from morning until midday, feeding the people with the truth of God (Neh. 8:3). And, the people listened attentively. In fact, their appetite for God's Word was so stirred that the family leaders and the priests and Levites met with Ezra the following day to study the law in greater detail because they wanted to understand it. When we feel estranged from God or spiritually weak, we can find spiritual nourishment from God's Word. "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:2). Ask God to give you a renewed desire for relationship with Him, and begin feeding your heart, soul and mind with His Word. Feeding on God's Word keeps us strong and

  Dear Lord, help me to kindle my fire this morning in the presence of Your Holy Spirit. Let that fire keep burning in my heart so that I can worship you truly in spirit and in truth. Increase our faith in You, Lord. We know there is nothing that we have that we own and inherited. It’s all Yours, God. Help us to have open hands and heart for You to give and take as You please. Thank You for Your Words where I can search and know the eternal life that You have given to us. Let us be inspired by it, and live with it, the total truth. Help us to preserve Your word so that every learning there will be applied in our lives.  Amen.

  January, according to many US calendars, is National Thank You Month. This, of course, is easily transferable everywhere, so perhaps it should be Global Thank You Month. In order to make the best use of this celebration of gratitude, let's begin by seeing what Scripture says about thankfulness. Once place to start is Psalm 136, which begins and ends with the words, "Oh give thanks" (vv. 1, 26). Again and again in this chapter, we are reminded of a single, overriding reason to bestow our gratitude on our great God: "His mercy endures forever". We could spend the whole month learning about gratitude from Psalm 136. The psalmist reminds us of God's "great wonders" (v. 4). He tells us of God's creative work brought on by His wisdom (v. 5). He moves on to rehearse the great exodus of His people (vv. 10-22). As we think through these pictures of creation and deliverance found in Psalm 136, we can easily find something to thank God for every day of

  Dear God, for this coming year, I have just one request to bring. I do not pray for happiness, or any earthly thing and I do not ask to understand the way You lead me, But this I ask: Teach me to do the thing that pleases You. I want to know Your guiding voice, to walk with You each day. Make me swift to hear and ready to obey. And thus the year I now begin a happy year will be — if I am seeking just to do the thing that pleases You. Make us to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward You; to the end we may establish our hearts unblameable in holiness before You. Direct our way to You. May praise Your all holy Name forevermore. Amen

  Sometimes, we will think that we can see the hand of God best in the rearview mirror. Looking back, it's easier to understand why He placed us in the home that He did; why He brought certain people and circumstances into and out of our lives; why He permitted difficulties and pain; why He took us to different places and put us in various jobs and careers. In spite of these, let us always remember that there is a wise and loving God. His ways are perfect. His works of His hands are perfect. See how often God has assisted, directed, and managed the outcomes so faithfully. Looking ahead, though, is not always so clear. Have you ever had that lost feeling when the road ahead seems twisted, foggy and scary? Before you move into next year, stop and look in the rearview mirror of the year gone by, and joyfully realize that God meant it when He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you". So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear" (Heb. 13:5-6).

  Dear God, as I come to you today, fill my heart and my whole being with the wonder of Your presence. Guide me always to do Your Holy will. knowing that your strength will carry me through.  Use me to tell others about You and what You have done. Your undeserved favor has made it possible for us to be saved from our sin. You have shown us amazing grace. Thank You for the gift You gave. You did the most wondrous of all things, You made us in Your image and You breathed life into us. I join those praying with me today in thanking you for our lives, and we pray that You continue to sustain us each day. From Your heavenly place accept our prayers and our praise. Amen

  We ask ourselves, what on earth am I here for? What is my purpose? Peter in the Bible is known to identify people, especially the Christians. This is how he identified us: We are a Chosen Race, We are Pitied, We are God's Possession, We are Holy and We are the Holy Priests. This can be found in 1 Peter 2:9-10. How did he came up this identity? It is through Christ. We got it from Him. We are chosen by GOD. We are pitied by GOD. We are possessed by GOD. We are set apart as holy by GOD. We are invested as royal priests by GOD. We are called from darkness into His light. We are God's Special People. We are precious and special in His eyes. Do not mind what other people will say or feel about you. If you are not special in their lives, well, you are special in God's eyes. You have a purpose, you are a treasure.

  Father, You are the craftsman who carved me, You are the one who knows what shape my life should take. Thank You for molding me into the image that You have planned. Help me to trust that the pieces and parts that You formed from me are the right ones. Help me to go about the tasks and duties of this day and the week to come with the remembrance that I am your servant. Make me an honest, painstaking, and cheerful person. Let that all I do and say may bring good to others and glory to your Holy Name. Support me all the day long of this life, until the evening comes, the busy world is silenced, the fever of life is over and my work is done. Grant me a safe lodging, and a holy rest and a peace. This is all we ask in Your most precious name. Amen.

  Let's be thankful for the assurance we can have that we will be with Jesus after we die if we have trusted in Him to forgive our sin. There is no greater hope. It is now our privilege to share that hope with as many as we can. 1 Peter 3:15 encourages us: "... always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." We have the opportunity from God, as David said, to "call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples" (1 Chron. 6:18). The stories of so many people we love are not yet ended. And, the privilege to tell them about the love of Jesus is a gift most precious. Let our days be filled with a longing - and the opportunities - to tell our story of Jesus.

  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. Free me from doubt and indecision. Guide me through this day and show me my next step. Show me what I need to do to take care of any problems. I ask all these things that I may be of maximum service to You and my fellow man.  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, who is my King and my God for ever and ever. Lead us to Your glory in heaven by the light of faith.  Amen

  During the last week of December, newscasters often look back at the significant events of the past year - the triumphs and failures of prominent people, natural disasters, economic challenges and the deaths of celebrities and leaders. The most surprising events usually receive top billing. If you reviewed the past year of your life, what would appear on the list? Has an unexpected event caused you to question God or to more deeply experience His goodness? Psalm 77 chronicles the lament of a person in distress who felt as if God no longer cared (vv. 7-9). "Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?" (v. 8). Yet, even in anguish, the psalmist said, "I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old" (v. 11). The result was a renewal of trust and hope: "You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples" (v. 14). As you think back over this past year, why not write down

  Dear God, as we look back and contemplate what we’ve been through this year, how can we say thanks for the things that you’ve done for us? We’ll praise You, Lord, for all You’ve done. Your faithfulness is clear. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Help us do today the things that matter, not to waste the time we have. The moments we have are precious, Lord, see that we count them dear. Fill us this day with Your kindness, that we may be glad and rejoice all the days of my life. I pray that You may lift up the light of Your countenance upon me, and give me peace. Through Christ, I pray. Amen

  Throughout history, Mary the mother of Jesus has been held in high esteem. And rightly so! She was singled out by God to deliver the long-awaited Messiah. But before we get lost in the significance of her life, let's take a look at what it meant for her to surrender to the assignment. Living in a small backwater Galilean village where everyone knew everyone else's business, she would have to live with the perceived shame of her premarital pregnancy. Explaining to her mother the visits of the angel and the Holy Spirit probably didn't calm things down. To say nothing of the devastating interruption that her pregnancy would bring to her plans to marry Joseph. And while we are thinking about Joseph, what would she tell him? Would he believe her? In light of these personal ramifications, her response to the angel who told her the news about her role as Jesus' mother is amazing: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1

  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. I confess that I become impatient and discouraged, wanting answers to prayer in my own time and on my schedule. Help me to wait patiently for Your timing in all things. I know You all make things beautiful in Your time. Amen

  A stable? What a place to give birth to the Messiah! The smells and sounds of a barnyard were our Savior's first human experience. Like other babies, He may even have cried at the sounds of the animals and the strangers parading around His temporary crib. If so, they would have been the first of many tears. Jesus would come to know human loss and sorrow, the doubts his brothers and family had about Him, and the pain His mother experience as she saw Him tortured and killed. All these hardships - and so much more - awaited the baby trying to sleep that first night. Yet from His very first moments, Jesus was "God with us" (Matt. 1:23), and He knew what it meant to be human. This would continue for over three decades, ending at His death on the cross. Because of His love for you and me, Jesus became fully human. And being human allows Him to identify with us. Never again can we say that no one understands us, Jesus does. May the Light that entered the world that night cast

  Dear Heavenly Father, we love You. Give us eyes to see people of all nations as recipients of Your grace and joy. Help our hearts to know the love of Christ and to honor Him with our unyielding devotion in this and every season. We find hope and strength in knowing that Your light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. I gather in all the goodness and light, in gratitude. I attend to the shadows and what they say to me, seeking healing, courage, forgiveness. Teach me to live in the knowledge that you who care for me today, will care for me tomorrow and all the days of my life. Continue to create me, guide me and shape me. This is all I ask, in Your Name, I pray. Amen

  If your physician called you and in a serious voice said, "Please come in as soon as you can. I have something to discuss with you", you would know he has bad news! Your first response might be, "No, I don't want to know". But you go because it is only when you know the diagnosis that you can learn the cure. God, our Great Physician, also has some bad news - about man's spiritual condition. When against His expressed warning Adam and Eve at the forbidden fruit, God told Adam that all mankind would die spiritually and physically, that's the bad news. But He also gave the solution. He promised a savior (Gen. 3:15). The apostle John tells us, "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). But how does that help? Jesus came that first Christmas to bring God's grace, something that none of us deserve because like Adam, we have all sinned. But Jesus also came to reverse what sin brought. He came to be the truth (John 14:6) that would

  Almighty God and Father of light, a child is born for us and a son is given to us. Your eternal Word streamed down from heaven in the silent watches of the night. And now, Your Church is filled with wonder at the nearness of her God. Open our hearts to receive His life and increase our vision with the rising of dawn. May our lives may be filled with his glory and his peace, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Give us eyes to see people of all nations as recipients of Your grace and joy. Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children. And, Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen

  For the last two thousand years, peace on our planet has been at best a rare commodity. Wars continue to ravage innocent lives, domestic violence is a growing calamity, divorce rates soar, churches split, and peace in our restless and wayward heart seems to be an elusive dream. Where is the promised peace? Actually, we can see that Jesus brought all that is needed for peace in our world. Jesus taught the principles of peace, calling for people to love their neighbors as they love themselves. And as He was leaving this planet, He promised, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you" (John 14:27). He told us to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, forgive offenses, reject greed, tolerate each other's weaknesses, live to serve and love one another as He has loved us. It seems that in large part, peace is up to us. Paul verifies that in Romans 12:18, "As much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." This Christmas, let's make peace our gift to

  Dear Jesus, You are the light of the world. As Christmas grows closer day by day, help us to be ready to welcome You now. We celebrate Your birth with all our hearts. As we celebrate Your birth, may we begin to see the world in the light of the understanding You give us. As You chose the lowly, the outcasts, and the poor to receive the greatest news the world had ever known, so may we worship you in meekness of heart. May we also remember our brothers and sisters less fortunate than ourselves in this season of giving. Teach me, Father, what it means to run to You. Let me have You as my sanctuary. Help me not to worry about the words I say, but just to express my heart to You and to nestle down close to You. Amen