Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 43:1-5
Ps 43:1-5
1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
1 Thess 3:11-13
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 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.
We can fill our hearts with all the problems in life, in our society and in the nations of the world or we can fill up on Jesus and his goodness. We can dwell on the many ways and times we fail to be all that God wants us to be or we can accept his grace and think on things that are good and wholesome. We can see the faults of others or we can choose to look for the good in everyone. How we face life will determine what we get out of it, joy and peace or turmoil.
But when we face each day with a positive attitude and determination to find joy, we can put our trust in Jesus and find his peace that surpasses comprehension. He alone can give us true joy, a joy that transcends the circumstances we face or the trials that beset us. He is ever near to us, even when we are surrounded with hatred, bitterness, sorrow, grief or stress. He is the Prince of Peace.
We then can use the joy of Jesus to lift the burdens of others and we can use what we learn from our burdens to help them carry their load. As we share his love with those around us, it is like a soft summer shower that brightens the landscape of their lives. It is with this servant attitude that we will find ourselves putting his will ahead of our own and trusting him in all things.
Heavenly Father I am so thankful for your wonderful grace that gives me the strength I need each day to carry on in a world of turmoil and sin. Help me keep my eyes focused on you and on the things above. Increase my faith so I will know that you will use everything that happens to me for my eternal well-being. Use me to help others carry their load and to brighten the corner of the world where I live. Replace sickness with health and grief with peace. In Jesus name.
Robert
