Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 51:10-12
Ps 51:10-12
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Phil 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
When I go inside a Chic-Fil-A store and see all the happy faces and everyone is saying “it is my pleasure” it seems to be that all this joy has to be put on, it cannot be real. The other day I went in the store here in Athens and not only were the employees all smiling, but several of them were singing together as they worked! It was real joy in those people, coming from deep down within them.
If a sandwich shop can create this kind of joy and enthusiasm for its employees, surely as the Lord’s church we can be filled with joy and real enthusiasm when we come together to worship him. In fact, as a child of God, armed with assurance of my salvation, we should rejoice always! Even when we are having a bad day and things are sad in our lives, we can depend on God so we should rejoice.
As noted previously, we all sin. So when we ask God to create a pure heart in us and we seek the steadfast spirit we are on the way to finding joy and peace. We have the Spirit of God living in us and he is the God of peace. Nothing can happen in our lives that is not under the control of our Lord so we have nothing for which we should worry. He guards our hearts and our minds so we can give thanks for everything. Even what seems bad at the time, he uses for our good!
O Lord God, create in me a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. Fill me with your joy and peace that comes from giving you thanks as I put my unwavering trust in you to always take care of me. Help me keep my mind focused on you and on the things that are right and wholesome. Thank you for your wonderful promises and thank you for providing a way for my sins to be forgiven so that I am always in your fellowship. Thank you for the freedoms I enjoy in this nation. Be with our leaders so your people can live in peace. In Jesus name I offer this prayer.
Robert
