Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 66:16-20
Ps 66:16-20
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. 17 I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. 18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; 19 but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. 20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Phil 2:1-4
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
What a wonderful thing to be able to go to bed at night or awake in the morning with an assurance that all is right with God! This does not happen because we do everything right, never make any mistakes or never commit sin. This is because we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus that was offered on the cross for our sin; even when we didn’t deserve it or perhaps didn’t even know we needed it. Our forgiveness is because of the love of God and is by his grace.
Because of being made righteous by him, it is now our obligation to submit to his will and live for him in every way we can. As a result of his forgiveness, we offer praise to his holy name. Since we are now in Christ, we live each day with the commitment to bring honor to him and to lead others to him.
When we turn from God and we rely on ourselves or just live for our own desires, we are cherishing sin in our hearts and the Lord will not listen to our prayers. But as we walk in his light and his blood forgives us, we know he will hear our prayer, listen to our plea and provide our needs. When we face temptations so difficult that we feel we will fall, it is our God who hears our cry, holds our hand and lifts us up. When the trials and problems of life crash in on us so that we feel the world is coming down on top of us, he is ever with us and promises to sustain us as we trust in him. For when we are weak, he makes us strong.
Thank you Father God for loving me so much that you gave your Son who knew no sin of his own to become sin for me so that I might become righteousness in him. Keep me from being proud or haughty, thinking I deserve anything from you or that I am any better than others. I know that I am what I am by your grace so I praise you and your holy name. Use me in your service to help others with what I have and in every way I can do so. Take away any greed from my heart so I will use what you have provided to bring glory to you. I pray in Jesus name.
Robert
