As a child of God, I consider reading and studying the Bible to be very important. I attend church regularly to hear the preaching and teaching of the Bible. James 1 reminds us that we shouldn’t only “hear” (or read) God’s Word; we should put action to what we hear. James 1:25 tells us that if we act on what we are told, we are blessed in that action. God never lies.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the many instructions You give us in Your Word. Please guide us to hear and act on Your commands.
The last three weeks I have had to fight fear over a “lump” that I found. This felt similar to what I had 2 ½ years ago. I had visions of surgery and potentially other treatment. As I made diagnostic appointments (and waited about 1 ½ weeks to go to the appointments), I chose this verse. There is worry involved in medical issues. I had to pray my way through allowing God whatever He chose.
Praise the Lord, he allowed me to only have 2 cysts and a non-malignant spot. No surgery or medical treatment needed. I am grateful for God’s kindness in allowing this news.
I have prayed many times in recent years that I am willing and able to endure whatever God asks of me. I was wrestling with that prayer before finding out the prognosis. I appreciate these verses. Seeking God helps deliver us from our fears. I know that I can feel shame as I wrestle with my fears – verse 5 reminds us that we can be radiant and unashamed as we look to God.
The simple reminder is to seek God and I can be delivered. The difficult reality is that I need to keep working hard to give my fears and worries to God and leave them there. I am glad God is patient and kind in providing for my weakness.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for closing this chapter in health issues. Please help me to continue to give all of my fears to You. Please help me to encourage others to do the same.
The apostle Paul wanted the Philippian believers to increase in their love. Sadly, we have seen culture misuse this concept. Society wants to define love their own way. I’m confident that is why the apostle Paul said that the love should abound “with knowledge and all discernment.” Verses 10 and 11 continue the concept, “so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Our love needs to be directed by the truth in the Bible (the only source for truth). The only way we can know the truth is to read and study God’s Word. The pursuit of Biblical knowledge is very rewarding.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us absolute truth in the Bible. Please give us an insatiable desire to read and study Your Word. Help us to have discernment to know the truth.
This life is incomplete. We face challenges and often don’t feel like we get to where we want to go (wherever that is). Sometimes in our pursuit for identity, we put God in second place (or later). Family, friends, job, and other pursuits are good. We gain much enjoyment from them. However, those things are not done well if God is not in first place. I believe we will receive more blessing from those things as we submit to God’s plan to bring us to completion.
Dear Heavenly Father, we ache with the desire to be complete. Please help us to be patient as we wait for Your timing in bringing the good work to completion. Please help us to submit to Your plan and put You first.
I have talked about different verses on peace. This verse reminds us that we need our mind “stayed” on God. According to Step Bible stayed means “to lean, lay, rest, support, put, uphold, lean upon”. I like the sound of that. Life can be hard. We need a lot of help. We gain much of that support through our Heavenly Father – through reading and studying His Word, praying and spending time with other believers.
We need a lot of help to keep our minds fixed on God. There are so many distractions. However, the more we work on keeping our focus on God, the more peace we will have.
Dear Heavenly Father, please help us to keep our minds fixed on You. We need Your strength to fight the distractions. Thank You that we can trust You.
Pleading in Prayer 