Daily Devotional - 8/22/15 (10/22/09)

Prayer Focus - Enemies


Day 1
Pray for:
One person who was mean to you when you were a child


Pray about:
Their physical needs
Their mental needs
Their emotional needs
Their spiritual needs
Your ability to offer complete forgiveness from your heart
Your ability to let go of the hurts and move on whether they will ever apologize or not


Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear and grant me the strength to obey.



Psalms 52



"Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long, ... Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit.  You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth, You love every harmful word, O deceitful tongue!... Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent;...'Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!'

 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever. I will praise You forever for what You have done; in Your name I will hope, for Your name is good. I will praise You in the presence of Your saints." (vs. 1a, 2-4,5a, 7-9)


The world is full of good, and it is full of evil.  There are good people and there are evil people.  I can see that so clearly as I look at the news every day.  It can be extremely depressing to see all the terrible things that are being done day in and day out.  I am not sure if evil is increasing or if it is just more noticeable.  Perhaps it is both. Whatever the case, it can make me despair.  I don't know what will happen in the future and this uncertainty can be frightening.  I want good things for my children but I do not know what they will find when they are my age.  I want to protect them from evil, but I know I am so limited.  Yet, God still calls us to hope.  God still calls us to trust and praise Him.  He promises we can flourish, not just survive.  In spite of all the evil in the world and all the bad people who seem to be succeeding in their evil plans, we can still do well.  But how?

One of my favorite scriptures holds some keys to help us.  It is as follows:

"Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you." (Phil 4: 4 -9)

So the first key is to "Rejoice" and to rejoice always!  We can do this, "rejoice in the Lord" because the Lord never changes.  He is good, always good.  God does not ask us to rejoice in the bad, that would be contradictory.  He calls us to rejoice in Him.  Then we are to be gentle.  How can we do these two things in the face of evil.  We need to remember the Lord is near.  This is what will enable us to rejoice and be gentle.  We don't have to take things into our own hands.  We don't have to yell or do mean things when we are upset.  We just need to look for God because He is near.  He can and will deal with the problem.  Next, we are to pray.  We are not to be anxious, but we are to pray and petition God.  Finally, we are to focus on what is good.  We are not to think about all the bad things and the bad people that are out there.  I shouldn't be pouring over the news for hours looking at all the negative. That will not solve anything at all.  I am to look for the positive, the noble, the pure.  I am to look for God! 

And if I look, I know that I will find Him. What an amazing idea.  I do not have to succumb to evil.  I do not have to become evil either.  I am called to rejoice and be gentle.  I am to not be anxious.  I know I fall so short of this but I keep trying to get up everyday and live this out.  I do not want to be anxious, and I want to praise, trust, and hope in God.  I can do this if I keep looking up!




Prayer for the Day


Dear Lord,

Thank you that You are here with us, that You are near.  Help us to continually remember this as we go about our days.  It is so easy to get overwhelmed with the evil we see and the evil people that we read about.  Fear can grip us as well.  Fear and anger can lead us to do evil also.  Help us to look up to You instead and remember that You are still in control, no matter how out of control the world seems.  Help us to be gentle and let You take care of what is bothering us. You can make us flourish.  You can keep us secure.  We praise You.  We turn to You.  Our hope is in You.


In Jesus' Name,
Amen




QFT

1. Do I ever boast of evil? What type of conversations occupy my time? Is my speech pleasing to God?  Am I honest?

2. Am I rejoicing always?  What situations are a struggle for me to rejoice in? How can I keep my focus on God so I can rejoice?

3. Am I anxious or at peace most of the time?  Why?  How is my prayer life?  How can I improve it?

4. What can I praise God for? Can I write a list of 25, 50, 75, or 100 things that I am grateful for right now?

5. Do I focus on good things or bad things?  Use Philippians 4:8 and make a list of the things in your life that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.  Try to read this list over to yourself several times a day.