Prayer Focus - Dreams
Day 3
Pray for:
One dream you have for yourself
One dream you have for your family
One dream you have for your spiritual life
Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear Your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey.
Psalms 102
"For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their plea.
In the course of my life He broke my strength; He cut short my days. So I said: 'Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; Your years go on through all generations. In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. The children of Your servants will live in Your presence; their descendants will be established before You.'" ( vs. 2 - 7 )
Everything changes except for God. We all grow older, and tired, and weary, and eventually we give out. Even the earth someday will perish. It will wear out like an old garment and be tossed aside. It will be changed. Everything changes; this fact and God are the only constants. Day by day, the situations of our lives evolve. In one instant everything we have ever hoped for and dreamed of can be gone; swept away by a natural disaster or some other tragedy.
God alone is consistent. God alone will remain in the end. He brings down and lifts up. His power is amazing. It we look to creation and the earth and heavens, the vastness of His being is overwhelming. Who are we that He should even pay attention to us. Yet He does. He cares immensely for us. And He will in the end rebuild us if we let Him; no matter how far we have fallen. He will rebuild His kingdom as well. His plans will succeed as they always have. And He will listen to us if we call. We are all "the destitute" at one point or another in our lives. We all hit the bottom sometime, and it is there that God will be, waiting for us to turn to Him. In the end it is God and God alone.
Prayer for the Day
Dear Lord,
Rebuild us. We rise and we fall. We have good days and we have bad days. We have dreams and failures. We cling to our existence here and try to make something of it. We desire to have consistency and eternal things. What we are often desiring and do not know it, is You. Help us to find You as You are all around us. You will remain when all else fails. We turn our eyes to You.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
QFT
1. What in my life needs to be rebuilt? Why?
2. Do I feel destitute in any way? Why? If not now, when have I felt this way? Did I turn to God or to other things for comfort?
3. Do I ever think about the creation of the earth? What do I believe about this? Why? Do I see God's hand in creation and nature?
4. What do I believe about God's eternal existence? Do I ever contemplate the end of time? What can I gain by thinking about these concepts?
5. What do I think it means to live in God's presence? Do I want this for my children and myself? What would it look like if my descendants were established before God? What can I do personally to ensure this?
Showing posts with label God's character. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's character. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2015
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Daily Devotional - 10/3/15
Prayer Focus - Needs
Day 1
Pray for:
One thing that you need to be grateful for but find it difficult to be
Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear Your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey.
Psalms 93
"The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity
The seas have lifted up. O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, O Lord." Psalm 93
God is in charge. God is majestic, and God is strong. The earth runs on fixed principles. It is more ancient than we are. It is established. This psalm speaks to me of how life is so much more than we are. We get caught up in our lives and our struggles and it is hard to have a true perspective of how small we really are. If we can think about all the people that have come and gone through all generations, it helps a little. If we stand by the ocean that helps as well. When I am near the ocean, it calms me. I look at the wide expanse in front of me and am amazed that this is only a small fraction of the water that covers this planet. This planet is truly immense and we like tiny ants run around as if we control it. How funny and sad we are at the same time. We control nothing.
I love the comparison of God and the ocean. The psalmist stresses the power of the ocean, its magnificent waves and the thunder they produce. Waves can truly destroy as we saw with all the tsunamis in recent years. It is amazing the power that is with in the ocean and yet the psalmist closes with God. God is mighty. God is mightier than the strongest things we see on our planet. And God is consistent. His statutes, His word doesn't change. He does not change. He is always holy and always good. He is the only thing that we can trust in. He is all we need.
Prayer for the Day
Dear Lord,
We are grateful that You are unchanging. We are grateful that Your creation runs on fixed principles so that we can have consistency. We are grateful for the cycles of life and we are grateful that You allow us to see the beauty of nature around us. Nature speaks to Your power and glory. It points out Your magnificence because it is powerful, and glorious, and magnificent. You have created all of this. We can not fathom You and all that You are but we are grateful for You anyway, and we are grateful that You allow us to serve You. We rest in You.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
QFT
1. How do I feel about God reigning? Do I have issues with authority? Why or why not? How can I come to appreciate authority?
2. How do I view God? Do I think He is majestic, holy, and strong or do I have conflicting views? Why do I see God as I do? Does it have anything to do with how I see my father?
3. Do I see God in the world around me? How do I feel about nature and science? Do I see God's hand in the laws of nature? Do I see God's hand in science? How can nature increase my love for God?
4. What helps me to put life in perspective? Am I tempted to view life from a narrow viewpoint and think it is all about me? Do I see how not in control we are? Does this turn me to God or just stress me out? How can I turn to God more and let go of my desire to control everything? How can I have a whole world perspective?
5. How do I feel about God's statutes? Do I see them as consistent? Do I see them as valuable? Am I following them and putting them into practice in my life? Why or why not? How can I do this and what do I think I will gain from it?
Day 1
Pray for:
One thing that you need to be grateful for but find it difficult to be
Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear Your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey.
Psalms 93
"The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity
The seas have lifted up. O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, O Lord." Psalm 93
God is in charge. God is majestic, and God is strong. The earth runs on fixed principles. It is more ancient than we are. It is established. This psalm speaks to me of how life is so much more than we are. We get caught up in our lives and our struggles and it is hard to have a true perspective of how small we really are. If we can think about all the people that have come and gone through all generations, it helps a little. If we stand by the ocean that helps as well. When I am near the ocean, it calms me. I look at the wide expanse in front of me and am amazed that this is only a small fraction of the water that covers this planet. This planet is truly immense and we like tiny ants run around as if we control it. How funny and sad we are at the same time. We control nothing.
I love the comparison of God and the ocean. The psalmist stresses the power of the ocean, its magnificent waves and the thunder they produce. Waves can truly destroy as we saw with all the tsunamis in recent years. It is amazing the power that is with in the ocean and yet the psalmist closes with God. God is mighty. God is mightier than the strongest things we see on our planet. And God is consistent. His statutes, His word doesn't change. He does not change. He is always holy and always good. He is the only thing that we can trust in. He is all we need.
Prayer for the Day
Dear Lord,
We are grateful that You are unchanging. We are grateful that Your creation runs on fixed principles so that we can have consistency. We are grateful for the cycles of life and we are grateful that You allow us to see the beauty of nature around us. Nature speaks to Your power and glory. It points out Your magnificence because it is powerful, and glorious, and magnificent. You have created all of this. We can not fathom You and all that You are but we are grateful for You anyway, and we are grateful that You allow us to serve You. We rest in You.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
QFT
1. How do I feel about God reigning? Do I have issues with authority? Why or why not? How can I come to appreciate authority?
2. How do I view God? Do I think He is majestic, holy, and strong or do I have conflicting views? Why do I see God as I do? Does it have anything to do with how I see my father?
3. Do I see God in the world around me? How do I feel about nature and science? Do I see God's hand in the laws of nature? Do I see God's hand in science? How can nature increase my love for God?
4. What helps me to put life in perspective? Am I tempted to view life from a narrow viewpoint and think it is all about me? Do I see how not in control we are? Does this turn me to God or just stress me out? How can I turn to God more and let go of my desire to control everything? How can I have a whole world perspective?
5. How do I feel about God's statutes? Do I see them as consistent? Do I see them as valuable? Am I following them and putting them into practice in my life? Why or why not? How can I do this and what do I think I will gain from it?
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