Have you ever had to choose between two roads and wondered which one to take? I know that often, when I go hiking, there comes a point on the trail where it splits off to the right and then left, and I am not always sure which path to take. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, at that moment, a trail guide stood behind you, whispering what to do?

In today’s Bible promise, God says He’s right behind us and will tell us how to go. It is comforting to know we are not left to ourselves to figure things out. God has promised to walk with us and sometimes to carry us on our life's journey. There are times that I have a hard time hearing my Father’s direction, and I wonder if it is because there are so many other thoughts that are swirling around in my brain that I cannot hear His still small voice.

Experts say we all have tens of thousands of chattering thoughts in our brains on an average day. Perhaps all that noise is drowning out the gentle, quiet whisper of our heavenly Father, who stands behind us, willing to tell us where we should go if we will only quiet our minds to listen. This is why I think it says in Psalms 46:10 to “be still and know that I am God.”

The next time you need to know what path to take, why not quiet yourself (as best you can) from all the chattering and opinions that swirl in your thought life and listen for the still small voice behind you? God has promised that He will be there. He has promised that He will be the voice that guides you in the way you should go.

Prayer:

Thank You Father for Your Holy Spirit, who is always with me throughout my life journey, guiding me gently in the right path. I pray that You'll quiet the busy busyness of my active thoughts so I can hear Your still, small voice whispering and guiding me in the way I should go.

I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Do you ever feel that God is far away when you pray? We all have had the feeling at one time or another that our prayers were bouncing off the ceiling. There are times when we pray, yet we cannot seem to feel close to God, and I do not know why. In these times, we can put our faith into action and show that we believe in God, regardless of how we see things (Hebrews 11:6).

Though we experience seasons of isolation and distance, the truth is that God is not distant when we pray. God is much nearer than we might think, and today’s promise from Isaiah 65:24 is that He will answer us even before we pray! In Matthew 6:8, Jesus repeats this same promise to His disciples, telling them that their Father in heaven already knows what they need before they even ask!

My prayer for each of us today is that when we pray to our heavenly Father, faith will rise in our hearts because we know He is fully engaged with us and ready to answer even before we call out to Him!

Prayer: 

Father, thank You that You always listen to my prayers and are ready, willing, and able to enjoy answering them. I pray that You will empower me by Your Spirit to come to Your throne room with confidence—even when I am struggling to believe these words, for You are a gracious Father who loves to give good gifts to Your children.

I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Imagine that. It’s all ended; everything from your old life is gone. Everything’s become new. The Apostle Paul, in this passage of Scripture, is not talking about our natural life but our spiritual life. The gift of Jesus Christ in our lives has brought about a transformation in each one of us.

When we were baptized into the body of Christ, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead gave new life to our spirit. And that was the death of our old nature and the birth of our new life. This transformation is a beautiful picture of our salvation, but many of us still struggle with remnants of our old ways that seem to be alive and well in our souls.

Our minds are governed by old thought patterns, familiar false beliefs, etc. The fact is, these are real struggles, but they are only remnants of our past lives. We only have the power over them that we grant them when we agree with these thoughts. That is why we are called not to conform to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2).

Today may be the day our inner man, the new creation in Christ, rises up and speaks the truth of who we are! May God grant us the power to bring every thought into obedience to Christ and stand up and claim our destiny as joint heirs of Jesus. Our old life is over, and all things have become new in Jesus Christ our Lord!

​Prayer:

Thank you, Father, for creating me anew in Christ and leaving no footprints of the old me. From heaven’s view I am forever one with Jesus and an heir of Almighty God. Today I pray I will embrace my new heavenly identity, even when the old me tries to tell me otherwise.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is all-powerful, He is everywhere present, and He is all-knowing. The God who created the heavens and the earth by the power of His spoken word has a poor memory regarding our sins. Today’s promise: God says He will forgive all of our sins, and then He will forget each one of them.

Because of the blood of Jesus Christ, the limitless One in every way has purposely forgotten every mistake and failure. Sometimes I wonder if I am really living each day knowing that God has forgiven me so much that He can’t even remember a time when I have sinned.

"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." (Romans 6:15). If we let the full weight of this promise sink deep into our hearts, we won’t be forever repeating our sin over and over in our minds (and perhaps in our prayers).

Our Father in great mercy chooses to forgive and then forget. Let us today take up the words of Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 and choose to forget the things that God forgets: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14).

Prayer:

Thank You, Father, that though You know all things, You choose to forgive and forget my sins. I am in awe that the One who knows the end from the beginning would deliberately choose to forget even one of my transgressions. Not one of them. Remind me today of the truth of Your complete forgiveness in Christ, that I should forgive and forget as well.

In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.