The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving- kindness. Psalm 103:8

The promise that God is not mad at us is the most freeing truth we will ever find. God knows that we will sin, but He provided the forgiveness of our sins in Jesus. The beautiful truth is that when we no longer focus on our sin, we find that we do it less and less. As we focus on God’s goodness, we become more and more like Jesus.

God, through Christ, has totally taken care of the problem of sin—that’s something to be thankful for! God urges us not to sin, but He knew we would due to the weakness of our flesh, so He took care of the problem by sending His Son as the sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus paid for everything that we have done and ever will do wrong, and He opened up a new way for us to live and serve God. Not in fear or guilt, but in freedom, love, and intimacy. Receive God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness today and be thankful for it!

Prayer of Thanks Father, I am so grateful that You are not mad at me. I am thankful that You still love me even when I sin. And thank You for the sacrifice of Jesus, making it possible for me to be in relationship with You today.

The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord—they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever! Psalm 22:26

Many people constantly seek the thrill of a new experience, but every new thing eventually becomes an old thing. Sooner or later, people have to be happy with old things too, or they will never reach God’s higher goal of contentment (see 1 Timothy 6:6).

In Philippians 4:11–12, Paul said that he had learned how to be content and satisfied to the point where he wasn’t disturbed or disquieted, no matter what state he was in. He could live in humble cir¬cumstances or enjoy plenty. He had learned that the secret of facing every situation, whether well fed or hungry, was to be content. Seek contentment in God today, and you will be satisfied.

A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7–8 NIV 1984

We can quickly ruin a day with wrong thinking. Friendships are destroyed because of wrong thinking. Business deals go wrong. Marriages fail. It’s so easy to concentrate on everything that is wrong with your spouse instead of what is right, and soon you want to get away from the person you are married to, when what you really want to escape is your own negative mind.

Replace suspicion and fear with trust. Trust breeds trust. Trusting others, and especially trusting God, helps keep us healthy. When we trust, we are relaxed and at rest.

This is good-old common sense. Consider the following case: You are walking down an unfamiliar street and a man comes out of his house with his pit bull growling on a leash and mutters, “What are you doing in my yard?” You think, Who is this nutcase? and act angry and suspicious right back. His unfriendliness boomerangs back to him (and probably makes him more unfriendly still). On the other hand, if you are somehow able to look beyond his suspiciousness (maybe he was recently robbed?) and act extremely friendly and relaxed toward him, more often than not he will relax, too, and you’ll have a friendly interaction that improves his day and yours.

Call this the “boomerang effect.” Or follow the Bible and call it “reaping what you sow.” Whatever you call it, the saying is true: you get what you give.

Trust in Him Consider all the relationships in your life—where can you replace suspicion with trust?

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:2 NKJV

Years ago a blind couple wanted to come to our Wednesday night teach¬ing sessions in St. Louis. They normally took the bus, but their usual route was canceled, and they could only continue coming if someone would pick them up and take them home. Nobody was willing to do it because the people lived in an area considered “out of the way.”

In other words, providing transportation for this couple would have been inconvenient. Eventually we had to get one of our employees to do it, which meant we had to pay that person. We should not allow money to be our main motivator.

We all need money, but we also need to do things for other people without being paid to do it; in fact, often, such opportunities are “testing times” from God. If you are willing to do something kind for someone else with no pay and perhaps no credit, that’s a positive sign that your spiritual heart is in good condition.

When God wanted to see if the Israelites would obey His commands, He led them the long, hard way in the wilderness. He sometimes does the same with us. He may ask us to do something inconvenient. God may be using these things to test us. He may be looking to see what’s in our hearts and to give us a chance to prove how much we love Him.

Love God Today: Next time you feel called to do something you don’t really want to do, remember, it could be a test.

Some trust in and boast of chariots and some of horses, but we will trust in and boast of the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “It’s a man’s world, and if you want anything in this world, you have to fight for it.” I choose to believe it is my world also, and I don’t fight—I trust God that He will help me be all I can be. I don’t have to compete with a man for his position; I have my own position, and I am comfortable with it. I like being a woman, and I don’t want to be a man. But I must admit there are mornings when I wish all I had to do was comb my hair and shave instead of doing my skin care routine, putting on makeup, curling my hair, arching my eyebrows, and trying on three outfits before I finally feel it is safe to go outside.

Some women have such a competitive spirit with men that they forget to be women. Recently a minister whom I greatly respect said, “Joyce, you are a woman in ministry who still knows how to be a woman. You are not trying to act like a man or preach like one.” You can be strong but feminine, and if you try to act like men, it will lead to failure and rejection.

Lord, the competition factor has been drilled into me since childhood. I choose to trust in You and to be content in the position You have for me. Amen.

[You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Understand that every time you are tempted to be offended and upset, your faith is being tried. Peter was saying, “Don’t be amazed at the fiery trials that you go through, because they are taking place to test your quality.” Every relationship test is an opportunity to glorify the work of God in you as a testimony to those watching you endure the offense.

There is a right and a wrong way to handle the storms of life. But until I was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to learn about the power that is available to me as a believer to do the right thing, I never handled offenses right.

Jesus’ economy is upside down from what the world teaches us. He says that we can have peace in the midst of the storm. Now just think about how awesome that would be, if no matter what happened, you could remain full of peace.

Jesus said that He gives us power even “to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses].” (Luke 10:19) He promised that nothing will harm us in any way. If we have the power over the enemy, surely we can overlook the offenses of others. He gives us the energy we need to treat people right.

All things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. Romans 8:28

Life is full of unjust situations that create a great deal of pain for you, especially in your relationship with other people. You will experience some hurt and pain, but you don’t have to allow these experiences to destroy your happiness. You can’t always choose what happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to it.

If you’ve been hurt, God can take your bad experiences and make them work for your good. Believing this truth is a positive decision that can help stop your pain.

Choose to learn from the hurtful experiences instead of wasting your pain by allowing them to make you bitter. One way to do this is to overcome evil with good by making sure you don’t hurt others. It’s a good place to start!

Having eyes, do you not see [with them], and having ears, do you not hear and perceive and understand the sense of what is said? And do you not remember? Mark 8:18

I have often said I think we forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget. Jesus chastised the disciples on one of their journeys because they had forgotten about a miracle He had done. They had started out on a trip and suddenly remembered that they had forgotten to bring enough bread. They had only one loaf, and that would not be nearly enough.

In a short while Jesus began to teach the disciples to beware of, and on their guard concerning, the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. Jesus of course was talking about being on their guard against deception, but the disciples reasoned among themselves that He was talking about the fact that they had forgotten to bring bread, as if that would have concerned Jesus at all. He then began to chastise them, asking if they had forgotten when He fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread. Had they forgotten another amazing miracle when He fed four thousand with seven loaves? Had they remembered, they would not be worried about going hungry because of not having brought enough bread with them.

If we would remember the miracles God has done in our past, we would not so easily fall into worry and fear when we face new challenges. When David was facing Goliath and nobody was encouraging him, he remembered the lion and the bear that he had already slain with God’s help. Because of remembering the past, he had no fear of the current situation.

Trust in Him Take time to remember a specific instance in which God provided for you. Celebrate it. This will increase your ability to trust Him.