Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 63:1-5
Ps 63:1-5
1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
1 Thess 3:12-4:2
12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 4:1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
Feigned humility or pretend piety is useless. God knows our hearts. To serve the Lord is so much more than going to church or reciting some ritual of prayer or praise. We are to pray, regularly and sincerely. We are to praise him from the depths of our hearts, both in public worship service as well as in the way we live our daily lives. Nothing we do honors God more than just following his word. To show Jesus as our Lord, we obey him and his will for our lives.
As we get caught up in the greatness of God and in our relationship with him as his redeemed children, it is easy for us to begin to think of ourselves as above those who do not serve him. While we are special to God, we are not inherently better than anyone else. We have been forgiven while some others have not, so our worth, our virtue and our righteousness are not our own but are based on what God has done for us – his grace. This leaves no room for pride.
God’s love is better than life. Because of his love for us, even when we don’t deserve it, we praise him with our lips and with our lives. How wonderful to be washed clean and made pure by the blood of Jesus our Savior!
Our Father in heaven, holy above all is your name in all the earth. You have shown your wisdom in giving your Son as the Savior of the world. But Father, not just the Savior of the world but my Savior as I truly allow him to be my Lord. It is with joy that I serve him and live for him. I always need your wisdom to be able to know how to apply the things I learn from your word. I need your strength to be able to overcome every temptation. I must have your continued forgiveness, as I know I fail to be all you want me to be. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
