Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 119:9-16
Ps 119:9-16 Beth
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
James 4:1-3
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
The choice is clear. We can serve God and follow his word and be happy and find peace or we can serve ourselves and find bitterness and discontent. When we follow the word of God, we have his promises of blessing and protection. When we serve self our lives are filled with anxiety, worry and suspicion. Relationships are broken because life is about what we get and not what we give.
The one who made us has a plan for our lives. We are to live in a way that brings him honor and glorifies his name. In doing this we give up self and live for others, with God being first on our list. But we prosper because we work hard, we are honest, and we are peace loving, rather than contentious. We have friends who know that we care more about others and their good than our own.
Before the world began, God designed a plan for mankind. The whole purpose of our lives is to “fear God and keep his commandments.” This is not a “ball and chain” kind of life but is a freedom in Jesus Christ that fills our lives with joy and a peace that is unexplainable. We live for Jesus because we love him and know that his way is best for us now in this life and even more so in eternity.
Thank you, Father, for your love and for revealing your word to me. Keep me from being selfish. Fill me with your Spirit more and more each day so I will want to give of myself and my time to help others. Use me where you want me to be used and in the way that pleases you. Thank you for my family and my friends. Thank you for the opportunity to share your word with others. Thank you for all of the material things you have given me to enjoy and to make my life easier. Be with our nation and our leaders and give them wisdom. I pray in Jesus name.
Robert
