The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.

Psalm 92:12 (NIV)

When we flourish, we develop in a healthy and vigorous way. This kind of growth is a promise to the righteous. The righteous are those who trust God and believe His promises. Through faith in Christ, we are viewed as righteous, meaning that God sees us as being in right standing with Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

A cedar tree can grow as much as a foot per year. Because of its rich foliage and beauty, it is a very desirable tree. This psalm promises that a righteous person will flourish and grow like a cedar. I love growth in God, and I delight in becoming more and more like Jesus all the time.

Our verse for today tells us that the righteous will be fruitful, healthy, and beautiful, and will flourish and show quick growth. This sounds good to me, and I am sure it does to you also. Keep these promises in mind as you press on to serve God with all your heart. You will grow today as you serve and love Him with all your heart.

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for growth in You. I want to be more like Jesus. You have given me the Holy Spirit to transform me into His image, and I want to submit to Him in all things. Please help me do so.

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However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)

Today’s verse is a very exciting scripture. God’s plans for us are so wonderful that we cannot even imagine them! Believing this allows us to live with hope—the aggressive expectation that something good is going to happen.

For too many years, I lived with evil foreboding, which is the expectation that something bad will surely happen. This type of thinking can easily take hold of someone who has had a lot of pain or misfortune in life. That was me. Because I had been abused during my childhood and married the wrong man at the age of 18, the first 23 years of my life were one long series of disappointments. I grew to expect trouble, but thankfully, God has taught me that He is good and is ready to do good things in my life, as He is in yours.

What is the most wonderful thing you can imagine God doing for you? Now remember that He can do even more than that. God has good things prepared for His children, and I encourage you to wait for them with expectancy.

Prayer of the Day: Father, You are good beyond anything I can describe, and I am grateful for Your blessings. I am excited to see what You will do in my future. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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I woke up this morning thinking about my prayer life and wondering if it is as good as it could be. In light of that, I spent some time studying prayer and was reminded of several things:

1. We may pray anytime, anywhere, about anything! As we pray our way through the day, we are praying without ceasing.
2. Prayer need not always be long. Short, sincere prayer filled with faith is sufficient.
3. In addition to praying your way through the day, having a special place where you like to pray is also good.
4. Ask in faith, believe you have received your request, and God will answer (Mark 11:24).
5. Pray according to God’s will, not your own will.
6. Pray at all times with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). No matter what we need, we always have much to be thankful for.
7. The fact that we pray is much more important than the methods we follow!
8. When you pray, be aware that God is definitely listening.

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for the privilege of communicating with You in prayer. Teach me to pray more effectively and to be led by Your Spirit in all my prayers.

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Then Jesus, knowing that they meant to come and seize Him that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the hillside by Himself alone.

John 6:15 (AMPC)

If the devil can’t convince you to be idle and passive, he will drive you to do too much. As soon as you are out of balance, he can devour you (1 Peter 5:8). The word disciple comes from the word discipline. To be a disciple of Jesus, you must discipline yourself to follow His ways.

Jesus spent a great deal of time going about doing good for people, but He balanced His time by getting alone to pray and commune with the Father. Time with God renews your strength to do good things that you want to do for others. Live a balanced life by spending time with Him.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me balance out my life by making time for You. Renew my strength through prayer so I can serve others with a joyful heart and disciplined focus. I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

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…For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7 (AMPC)

God is the God of hearts. He does not look only at the exterior of a person, or even the things a person does, and judge the individual by that criterion. Man judges the flesh, but God judges the heart.

It is possible to do good works and still have a wrong heart attitude. It is also possible to do some things wrong but still have a right heart on the inside. God is much more inclined to use a person with a good heart and a few problems than He is to use a person who seems to have it all together but who has a wicked heart.

It is very important that we get in touch with our inner life and our heart attitude, the way we feel and think about things (what the Bible calls the hidden man of the heart), if we want to hear from God and live in close relationship with Him.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, search my heart and reveal any wrong attitudes that You see in me. Help me align my heart with Your will, knowing that my heart’s condition is what truly matters to You, amen.

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Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.

Psalm 86:1-3 (NIV)

The psalms are filled with David’s taking his petitions (requests) to the Lord while at the same time praising Him for His goodness. Today’s scriptures show just one of many examples of this. Prayer is not a last resort; it should be our first course of action in every situation. We are told to pray with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6), and the combination of petition and praise is powerful beyond anything we can imagine.

Remembering and rehearsing all the good things God has done for us in the past invites Him to do even more in the future. I encourage you to take some time today and write down at least five prayers you recall God answering and praise Him for doing so.

You cannot ask God for too much, so pray about everything that is on your heart. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can dare to hope, ask, or think (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV). Life becomes exciting when we learn to pray in faith and wait and watch for God to answer. This is an aspect of life that I enjoy greatly.

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for hearing and answering my prayers. You are great, and I praise You for all You have done, are doing, and will continue to do for me. I love You.

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If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

Isaiah 1:19 (AMPC)

God tells us to obey Him, and we will be blessed. It sounds easy enough, so why do so many fail to do it? Because like children, we are often stubborn and want our own way even though our way is less than God’s best.

Just like children, it is important for us to learn the discipline of obedience—and as we’re learning, we can thank God for being patient. He sticks with us all the way through our childish attempts at getting our own way and believes in us even when we have a difficult time believing in ourselves.

God has a great plan for your life, but it is only possible if you’ll obey His Word and follow His guidance. Keep learning and growing and you will eventually enjoy the fullness of all God intended for you.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, help me obey Your Word and trust Your plan for my life. Thank You for Your patience and guidance as I learn to follow You more faithfully, amen.

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So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)

Learning how to pray prayers God can answer is very important. I spent lots of years in my morning prayers telling the Lord what I needed Him to do for me, but finally I learned to also pray: “God, what can I do for You today?” We are Christ’s ambassadors, His partners in helping people and bringing them to know Him. I would like to suggest something for you to add to your daily prayers.

Each day, ask God what you can do for Him. Then as you go through your day, watch for opportunities to do what you believe Jesus would do if He were still on earth in bodily form. He lives in you now if you are a Christian, and you are His ambassador…so make sure you represent Him well. Recently, I was asking God to help a friend who was going through a very difficult time. She needed something, so I asked God to provide it. To my surprise, His answer to me was, Stop asking Me to meet the need; ask Me to show you what you can do.”

I have become aware that I often ask God to do things for me when He wants me to do those things myself. He doesn’t expect me to do anything without His help, but neither will He do everything for me while I sit idly by.

God wants us to be open to being involved. He wants us to use our resources to help people, and if what we have isn’t enough to meet their needs, then we can encourage others to get involved so that together we can do what needs to be done.

I encourage you to pray prayers God can answer. You and He are partners, and He wants to work with and through you.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, show me how I can serve You today. Help me be Your hands and feet, sharing Your love and bringing others closer to You. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

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For I am the Lord, I do not change; that is why you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Malachi 3:6 (AMPC)

The closer you grow to God, the easier it is to develop a lifestyle of making the right choices. Philippians 2:12 says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. This means after your salvation when you are born again, you build your relationship with God by studying, learning, praying, and fellowshipping with God. You invite Him into every area of your life.

God is not willing to live in what I call a “Sunday morning box.” He wants to invade every day of your life and be involved in everything you do. Be grateful that God is your partner in life. He delights in helping you, and He especially enjoys just being with you! Acknowledge God in all your ways and He will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:6).

Prayer of the Day: Father, I desire to give every part of my life to You. I thank You that Your power is too great to be confined to any one part of my life. Today, I choose to submit every part of my life and everything I have—my time, energy, talents, finances, relationships, and emotions—to You.

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For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use, so we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah)…Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them….

Romans 12:4-6 (AMPC)

Just as our body parts are all different, we are also different from one another. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to be anyone other than who you are. God was able to do very little with or through me until I stopped trying to be some other person and became content with being me.

I tried to be the homemaker my neighbor was, but gardening and making my family’s clothes just wasn’t me. I tried to be soft-spoken like my pastor’s wife, but that didn’t work either. I tried to be more relaxed and easygoing like Dave, but that was difficult also. After years of frustration and failure, I finally realized that I had to be “me,” because everyone else was already taken! God wasn’t going to help me be someone else because He had created me the way He wanted me to be.

We all need to make improvement in some areas of our lives, but we must be the people God created us to be, and that means we’ll always be a little different than most of the other people we know. God obviously loves variety, and He wants us to enjoy ourselves and not compare ourselves with other people.

Prayer of the Day: Father, help me embrace the person You want me to be. Help me enjoy myself and live free from the tyranny of comparison.

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And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.

Mark 6:11 (NIV)

Feeling rejected or unwanted is difficult and painful, but it happens to all of us at times. As part of the human race, we have to realize that not everyone will always like us or accept us. When others reject us, we have a choice to make: We can let it hurt our feelings, make us feel bad about ourselves, and wallow in it, or we can shake it off and not allow it to bother us.

Today’s scripture is an instruction Jesus gave His disciples when He sent them to preach and minister in various towns. Knowing they wouldn’t be welcome everywhere, He prepared them in advance to deal with the rejection they’d face. In today’s language, He’d say to “shake it off!” He didn’t want them to let rejection upset them but to forget about it and keep moving forward.

Jesus’ advice to His disciples years ago is exactly what we need to follow today. When people reject us, ignore us, exclude us, aren’t pleased with us, don’t like us, or don’t accept us, we can shake it off and keep moving forward. We can do this because we are secure in God’s total and unconditional love and acceptance.

When an insect lands on your arm, you simply shake it off. You don’t keep thinking about it for hours, weeks, or years. But rejection can be so painful that we feel it for a very long time. Don’t let that happen to you. Next time someone rejects you, shake it off!

Prayer of the Day: When I feel rejected, Lord, help me shake it off, remembering that You love me and accept me unconditionally.

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And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for his victory His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!

Isaiah 30:18 (AMPC)

This verse has become one of my favorites, and it has often been a source of encouragement to me when I’ve had hard times. The Living Bible paraphrases the verse like this: “Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him, so he can show you his love; he will conquer you to bless you, just as he said. For the Lord is faithful to his promises. Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them.” Let’s think of the implication of the promise. God waits for us. As I think of that promise, it staggers my mind. The Creator of the universe and the Giver of all life has chosen to wait for us—waits for us to come to our senses, waits for us to respond to His love, waits for us to turn to Him for help.

That’s a staggering thought. God wants to show us love.

Perhaps as much as anywhere else, Satan attempts to build a mental stronghold right there. When we contemplate God’s love for us, many of us can’t take it in. We can only think of our failures, our shortcomings, and dozens of other reasons why God shouldn’t love us.

That reminds me of a kind man I’ve known for many years. One day he took care of a situation for me that he didn’t have to. I was surprised and deeply touched. “You are probably the kindest man I know,” I told him.

He stared at me in shock. “Me? Kind? Oh, I can be mean-spirited and cruel,” he said. For several minutes, he explained to me that he couldn’t possibly be a kind man. “I live with myself all the time, and I see all my defects.”

“Maybe that’s the trouble,” I told him. “You see your defects so clearly, you don’t see your caring, compassionate qualities. You discount all those things.”

He never could accept that he was kind. I also used the word gentle and that surprised him, too.

Perhaps that’s how it is with many of God’s people. We are so absorbed by our failures and all the wrong things we see about ourselves, it’s hard to believe that God wants to bless us. If we read, “God wants to punish you,” we wouldn’t have trouble saying, “Yes, that’s what I deserve.” But how would we answer if someone said, “God wants to bless you”? We probably would say, “I don’t deserve that.”

How many of us believe we are entitled to God’s blessings? We want the good things. We want God to love us, encourage us, bless us, and give us victory, but to say we deserve the blessings may be more than we are willing to accept.

Why do we struggle over the concept of deserving? Our tendency is to think that we have to do something to earn the blessings . . . that we have to be good enough or faithful enough. We miss the point of God’s powerful, gracious love. Our blessings from God are not a result of our goodness. They are the result of God’s goodness.

We are entitled to God’s blessings for only one reason: because we are His children. It’s just that simple. Those of us who are parents grasp that concept with regard to our children. We brought them into the world, and they deserve our love. We freely give them our love before they do anything good or bad. They deserve our protection and all the good things we choose to give them. They don’t deserve those things because they’ve done something to earn them, but simply because they are our children.

Satan loves to trip us up on this one. As soon as we think it is right for us to be blessed, he points to our weaknesses or our failures. God points to our relationship. That’s the difference.

Prayer of the Day: Gracious and loving God, thank You for being willing to bless me. Even though the devil tries to make me feel undeserving, please remind me that I am Your child and You are my Father. My relationship to You makes me deserving, and I thank You for that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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For as [surely as] the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring forth, so [surely] the Lord God will cause rightness and justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations [through the self-fulfilling power of His word].

Isaiah 61:11 (AMPC)

When a farmer plants a seed in the ground, that seed contains everything needed to reproduce a plant just like the one the seed came from. The seed has self-fulfilling power. All the farmer needs to do is water the seed and keep the weeds from choking the life out of it, and the seed does the rest.

The Word of God functions the same way. It has self-fulfilling power. When it is planted in our hearts and we water it with our faith and keep the weeds (sin) out of our lives, we will see amazing things develop simply from believing God’s Word.

Faith is amazing. It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV). God created everything we see in the world from nothing, and He will do the same for us as we believe and trust in His Word.

When we put a tomato seed in the ground, we will get tomatoes, and likewise, when we put our faith in God’s Word, we will get what it promises.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me plant Your Word in my heart and water it with faith. I trust in Your promises and believe You will bring them to life in me. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

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For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)

Like you, I have faced difficult times in life, and I have learned to tell myself, “This can’t last forever. This, too, shall pass.” When you are going through hardship, deep disappointment, or some struggle that seems impossible, it’s easy to be tempted to think, I cannot stand this for one more day.

The devil takes advantage of our hurts and wounds and tempts us to think several times a day that our trials are going to last forever, that we will hurt for the rest of our lives, or that the negative effect of our problems will be permanent. We think, and sometimes fear, our pain will follow us everywhere we go for as long as we live. The truth is, nothing on earth lasts forever. The only thing we have that is eternal is our life in Christ. In the context of eternity, the struggles that seem unending in this life are actually quite brief. God always wants to heal us, restore us, and deliver us.

Chances are, you can look back over the course of your life and remember other times you have been hurt. God has been faithful to bring you through those times; you can be confident you will make it through this current challenge again through Christ, who gives you strength (Phil. 4:13).

Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 is that seasons of difficulty always pass. They do not last forever. Going through trials is tough, but God is always with us—helping us, encouraging us, and fighting our battles for us. He never wants us to stay in pain. He always wants to heal us.

When you are tempted to become discouraged because you feel your journey to healing in your soul is taking a long time, remember: “This, too, shall pass.” Your afflictions may not seem “light and momentary” to you right now, but from the perspective of eternity, they are. No matter how difficult your situation may look, God loves you and has a good plan for your life. Your future is bright, and He is preparing you for something great.

Romans 8:28 says that we can “know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God can take even the hurts and wounds we endure and use them for good in our lives. They won’t last forever, and He will use them to strengthen us and to bless and help others.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me trust that my struggles are temporary and that You are with me, healing and restoring. Strengthen me to persevere, knowing this, too, shall pass, amen.

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Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.

Proverbs 3:25–26 (NKJV)

I once heard a story of a village where the children were told, “Whatever you do, don’t go near the top of the mountain. It’s where the monster lives.” One day, some brave young men decided they wanted to see the monster and defeat it. Halfway up the mountain, they encountered a huge roar and a terrible stench. Half the men ran down the mountain, screaming. The other half of the group got farther up the mountain and noticed the monster was smaller than they had expected—but it continued to roar and emit such a stench that all but one man ran away. As he took another step forward, the monster shrank to the size of a man. Another step, and it shrank again. It was still hideously ugly and stank, but the man could actually pick it up and hold it in the palm of his hand. He said to the monster, “Who are you?” In a tiny, high-pitched voice, the monster squeaked, “My name is Fear.”

If you follow God’s plan for conquering fear, you will find one day that the things that frightened you the most were really nothing at all.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to begin to confront the fears I’ve been running away from. I want to silence the roars that keep me from moving ahead with my life, amen.

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Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

Zechariah 9:12 (NKJV)

What are you hoping for today? What are you expecting in life? Are you looking for something good to happen, or are you expecting to be disappointed?

So many people are feeling hopeless these days. However, Jesus did not die for us to be hopeless. He died so that we could be full of hope.

The devil wants to steal your hope, and he will lie to you in order to do that. He will tell you that nothing good can happen in your life or that the good things you care about won’t last. But stay full of hope and remember that the devil is a liar. God’s Word is truth, and His promises bring hope.

Our Father is good, and He has good plans for you. So, refuse to give up hope and instead become a prisoner of hope! Start expecting God to do something wonderful in your life.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, fill my heart with hope and help me to trust in Your promises. I choose to expect Your goodness and refuse to let the enemy steal my hope.

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And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every able and wisehearted man in whose mind the Lord had put wisdom and ability, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.

Exodus 36:2 (AMPC)

Something powerful happens in your life when your heart is stirred up for action. It doesn’t do us any good to say, “Oh, I wish I felt that way.” We can decide to do something about the way we feel by stirring up our own hearts to do what God has called us to do.

How do we stir up our faith? I have discovered that the Word of God coming out of my own mouth in the form of prayer, praise, preaching, or confessions is the best way that I can find to fan the fire. It stirs up the gift within, keeps my faith and my hope active, and prevents my spirit from sinking within me.

Passivity, procrastination, and laziness are tools the enemy uses against God’s people. A passive person waits to be moved by an outside force before taking action. But we can be motivated and led by the Holy Spirit within us, not by outside forces. The best way to guard against passivity is to do whatever is before you with all of your might.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, stir my heart and faith to take action. Help me speak Your Word and be led by Your Spirit, and please help me keep my hope active and my spirit energized. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every able and wisehearted man in whose mind the Lord had put wisdom and ability, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.

Exodus 36:2 (AMPC)

Something powerful happens in your life when your heart is stirred up for action. It doesn’t do us any good to say, “Oh, I wish I felt that way.” We can decide to do something about the way we feel by stirring up our own hearts to do what God has called us to do.

How do we stir up our faith? I have discovered that the Word of God coming out of my own mouth in the form of prayer, praise, preaching, or confessions is the best way that I can find to fan the fire. It stirs up the gift within, keeps my faith and my hope active, and prevents my spirit from sinking within me.

Passivity, procrastination, and laziness are tools the enemy uses against God’s people. A passive person waits to be moved by an outside force before taking action. But we can be motivated and led by the Holy Spirit within us, not by outside forces. The best way to guard against passivity is to do whatever is before you with all of your might.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, stir my heart and faith to take action. Help me speak Your Word and be led by Your Spirit, and please help me keep my hope active and my spirit energized. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked privately, Why could we not drive [the demon] out? He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Matthew 17:19-20 (AMPC)

I sometimes hear people say, “I just don’t have enough faith for that.” The truth is we all have the faith we need to do whatever God’s will is for us, but the key to success is where we place that faith. If you put your faith in yourself or in other people, you will be disappointed. But if you put it in God, you will be amazed at what He can do through you.

Remember: With men, this is impossible, but all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26 AMPC).

Prayer of the Day: Father God, please help me to place my faith fully in You. I trust that with Your power, all things are possible. Strengthen my belief in Your ability to work through me, amen.

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But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.

Psalm 78:17 (NIV)

If you read all of Psalm 78, you will see that the Israelites had a bad attitude as they made their journey through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. I am certain that their bad attitudes started with negative thoughts. Thoughts lead to words, and words lead to emotional moods, attitudes, and actions. We know that the Israelites’ bad attitudes caused them to complain and speak negatively to and about their leaders, Moses and Aaron, which ultimately led to total rebellion.

We are wise to remember that our thoughts are the raw materials for our attitudes. If we think loving thoughts toward people, we will have an attitude of love toward them, and we will speak kindly and lovingly toward them. We will also express our love for them through our actions. This example of love and kindness is positive, but the same principle applies to negative thoughts, words, and attitudes.

In any situation, you can have a good attitude or a bad one, and it will begin with your thoughts. Choose positive thoughts today!

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me choose to think godly thoughts so I will have godly attitudes.

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