"But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved."  Hebrews 10:39

When faced with a choice, we can trust God or trust ourselves.  I am not that smart.

Lord, help me to be humble enough to know my limitations and choose You over me.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  Matthew 7:21

I had a mentor that used to say, "You can sit in your garage and go "vroom vroom" and call yourself a car but it doesn't make you a car.  Same thing is that you can call yourself a Christian but if that is where it ends, then you aren't a Christian".

Lord, help me to make the decision to follow You and then continue to make a decision each day to act out that first decision.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

There is no better way to show appreciation to others than by how we behave and how we respond or act.  Words are easy to say but actions speak volumes and we all appreciate it when others act like they are thankful.

Lord, help me to show thanks with my actions.

"Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2

Most people will never be physically paralyzed (praise Jesus).  All people have, are or will be paralyzed emotionally, mentally and/or spiritually during their life.  These types of paralysis are more challenging as they are less apparent and we often don't recognize them and then when and if we do recognize them, they seem more difficult or impossible to manage.  These types of paralysis don't require a doctor but the Great Physician.

Lord, help me to know when I am paralyzed by fear, doubt, discouragement and various other challenges and thank You for healing me.

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

Being scared is a human creation.  We are scared because we don't trust.  We don't trust ourselves when we are standing on a tall bridge and/or we don't trust what will happen if we fall.  We are scared of a little bug because we don't trust that we are bigger and stronger than the bug and feel that some how the bug is going to cause unknown pain or harm and we don't trust our ability to suck it up and deal with the little stinging feeling.  We are scared of public speaking because we don't trust our words and we are too consumed with what other people think and fail to realize most people are so self-consumed that they probably aren't paying attention to us anyway and if they do dislike our words, oh well, they'll forget about us 10 seconds after we are done and wonder if that zit on their face is getting bigger.  We are scared of the dark because we don't trust that the 'boogie man (or woman)' is hiding somewhere ready to devour us because we have seen all the 'boogie people' reports on the interweb and those are to be trusted.  We are scared of death because we fail to trust that God loves us enough to send His only Son so that we would have eternal life.

Lord, help me to trust in You and not be scared of things I make up in my head.

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  I Corinthians 10:31

Human decision making is inconsistent at best.  We would love to think that we are principled individuals who follow a strict set of decision-making policies, procedures, rules, laws, values and principles.  Unfortunately, we are selective and tend to make decisions by what "feels" right, instead of what "is" right.  

Lord, help me to seek You and Your wisdom as I am mostly wrong, and then when I am wrong, thank You for Your grace.

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.”  Romans 12:6

Unfortunately, in an attempt to encourage and show confidence in others, we have formulated this belief that "we can do everything".  The fact is that we can do a lot more than we think or believe that we can and we should never limit what we are capable of doing.  However, there are things we shouldn't do and there are things we are not meant to do.  The world is a big place with lots of people and lots of things to do and we area all individually equipped to do many but not all.  You are talented.  An exciting part of life is figuring out what we are able to do and not be deterred when we aren't initially successful at something or possibly never successful. There is always something else.  Find your talents and use those talents.

Lord, thanks for the gifts You have given me and don't let me waste them.

"In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."  Matthew 5:16

Before glasses and Lasix and huge fonts, magnifying glasses were used by older folks to help them to see words that were too small to read.  The magnifying glass is held up to words in a book to make the words bigger so that the words can be seen better.  The magnifying glass is not the center of attention and it is mostly ignored.  The words are the focus of all attention.  We are to be magnifying glasses that put God at the center of anyone's attention.  When we do anything worth praise, we are to be a magnifying glass and not the words.  No one marvels at a magnifying glass.  We marvel at the item the magnifying glass helps us to see better.

Lord, help me to be a magnifying glass so others can see You better.

"Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.” Hebrews 13:15

"Continual" means "without a break or ongoing".  Sunday to Sunday is about seven days.  There are seven days in a week so if our praise only occurs on Sunday morning, then we need to step up our "continuing game".  Even worse, the time between Christmas and Easter and then Christmas again, is a couple months so we are "breaking" more than "continuing".  There are lots of ways to praise God outside of church and holidays.

Lord, help me to find ways to remind myself to praise You more and also more often.

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus- the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”  Acts 20:24

It is upsetting to see so many people these days wandering around in a fog, acting as if they have not purpose or no hope.  The circumstances of their life have lead them to perceive that they are worthless because they are focused on their worldly expectations instead of God's plan for their life.  If our identity is wrapped up in our accomplishments or what we may perceive our value to the world, then it is easy to lose hope.  But when we focus on a life serving God and sharing His love to those we love, worthless is the furthest thing from our minds.

Lord, help me to pursue Your plan for my life and not be fooled into thinking the plans of this world are more important.