Prayers After God's Own Heart: An Invitation to Enter Into a Deeper, More Personal Relationship with Your Heavenly Father

By Robert Alan McArthur

This one-year daily devotional is an invitation—an invitation to come on a fresh and exciting adventure into the Word of God. It is an invitation to enter into a deeper, more intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father—the One who made you, and wants you, and loves you like no other.

It is an invitation to enter into the peace, and joy, and protection, and provision, and purpose of an abundant life that can only be found by having a right relationship with the Father through Christ—a covenant relationship of surrender, trust and obedience. It is a call to live in Truth, and to allow that Truth to set you free to be everything that God has called you to be.

God’s Word has an answer to every situation and circumstance of your life, and this devotional explores many of those answers, as it moves you from fear to faith, from doubt to belief, from despair to hope, from darkness to light, from the lies of the enemy to the truth of God’s unrelenting, unending, unfailing, and passionate love for you!

Each day’s devotion focuses on a particular passage from the Bible, and uses the truth found in the passage to offer a prayer for God’s help in correctly understanding and rightly applying that truth to your life. As you move through the year, each new day will bring new insights into who God is and all that He has done for you. It will also reveal who you are in Christ—so you can courageously and confidently do all things that that He asks of you, knowing your strength is found in Him alone.

This devotional will change your life—because you cannot come to knowledge of the Truth of the Word of God and not be changed. The way that you allow it to change your life will depend largely on the choices that you make when confronted with the Truth. Use this devotional to help you choose wisely God’s very best path for you—and know that He always has your best interests at heart.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Nov 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781400327812

Robert Alan McArthur

In the fall of 2011, Robert Alan McArthur felt called to take an extraordinary journey with His Heavenly Father into His Word—to come to know God like never before, and in doing so, to discover that his true identity is found only in Christ. He is a writer, author, and speaker who is passionate about helping others see the Truth of God’s Word and apply that Truth to their lives, so they can experience God’s very best. He lives with his wife, Jesse, in the beautiful mountains of northern Georgia.

Book preview

Prayers

AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

Prayers

AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

An invitation to enter into a deeper, more personal relationship with your Heavenly Father

A Daily Devotional

Robert Alan McArthur

© 2019 Robert Alan McArthur

Prayers after God’s Own Heart

An invitation to enter into a deeper, more personal relationship with your Heavenly Father

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Elm Hill, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Elm Hill and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Elm Hill titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from the Amplified® Bible. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

(www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC). Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019912032

ISBN 978-1-400327799 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-400327805 (Hardbound)

ISBN 978-1-400327812 (eBook)

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

Dedication

This devotional book is written and published all for the Glory of God and is lovingly dedicated to my wife, Jesse.

My dear and precious Jesse,

You are an amazing and beautiful woman inside and out. I can’t even imagine what these last several years of my journey would have been like had you not been right here by my side—loving, learning, sharing, and growing along with me, as we have walked this path together toward a deeper and more personal relationship with God.

I love your zeal for Truth and your desire to search for the Truth of God’s Word—as well as your heart to apply that Truth to your own life—so that you might please God in everything you think, say, and do.

I love watching God work in you, through you, and all around you as you make God the Father your first and best love. I admire how you faithfully follow the example of Christ, carefully listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, and willingly act on His promptings in obedience to His plan and for His glory.

It is such a blessing to hear you speak of your own personal love relationship with your Heavenly Father—how He speaks to you, heals you, restores you to wholeness, and guides you gently and patiently along, calling you ever closer to Himself and showing you things you do not know in yourself.

You have been and continue to be one of God’s greatest gifts to my life. Thank you for sharing this journey and believing in me. But even more so, thank you for believing with me, the God we believe in.

Thanks for marrying me—for being one with me—joined as one forever by the only true and living God!

Love always,

Robert

Introduction

This one-year daily devotional is the product of a choice that God brought me to in the fall of 2011. After stumbling through life for over fifty-seven years, I needed to decide if I was going to continue down the path I had been on or choose the better path that God had in mind for me.

Was I content to continue a life that had often lacked real meaning, purpose and direction, had produced much heartache, and had resulted in multiple broken relationships? Or was I ready to give up on doing life on my own terms and finally go all in with God’s plan for me? Was I ready to learn to trust Him completely with my life? Was I willing to do whatever it took to stop living the lie that I had sold out to Jesus, when in truth I was still living a life of hypocrisy in many ways?

I was blessed to have been brought up in a Christian home and was saved when I was eleven years old. But my journey had been one of incomplete commitment to God’s plan for my life, incomplete surrender of my will to His will, and a hidden and subtle selfishness that wanted things my way more than God’s way. I was living much of my life in fear rather than in faith.

God had tried to get my attention on many occasions before. But this time, at this season of my life, something had changed in me. I was weary of not getting life right. I was tired of living a life of fear and uncertainty. I knew the answer would only be found in Him, and I was ready to make a change.

In Matthew, Jesus is quoted as saying, Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. (Matthew 22:29 – NLT). I know now that what Jesus said was certainly true of me at the time.

I had never actually read the whole Bible through—not even once! But if you had asked me then, I would have told you that I had a good grasp of the Bible. In truth, I had no idea of the vast richness of wisdom which it contains, nor a full understanding of its potential to bring change to my life.

And while I did know that God was a powerful God, I did not fully appreciate the power that is in the very pages of His written Word. I desperately needed to know the truth that it is alive with His power and His promises. I needed to experience personally how we are inevitably changed when we truly know and apply the Scripture to our lives!

It was at that time, and into those circumstances, that God invited me to join Him in a journey into His Word. He had me begin by writing a blog of prayers based on scripture passages from the Bible. The idea was for me to solidify the Truth of His Word within my heart and to apply that Truth, moment by moment, to every part of my life. He was inviting me to know Him in an intimate and personal way. At the same time, He was also inviting me to know myself through His eyes.

In order to ensure that I would remain consistent in reading and studying His Word, and writing these word-based prayers, I made a public commitment on the blog to make prayer posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Over 1,100 prayers later, I am continuing to write, God is continuing to reveal Himself, and He is continuing to grow me into the likeness of Christ.

My words are not enough to express the abundant life that I have stepped into as a result of God’s gracious plan to give me a heart after His own heart. It is a life filled with His incredible peace, faithful protection, uninterrupted provision, enduring purpose, and unexplainable joy. All this because of His unrelenting, passionate, pursuing love for me. And along the way, I have learned that the healthiness of all my relationships is in direct correlation to the intimacy of my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

Still, at times it seems that I have only scratched the surface of all that He has for me. So, my daily prayer is that I will continue to grow and learn to become more like Christ for the rest of my life.

I made the decision to publish this devotional as an encouragement to others to join me on their own personal journey into intimate relationship with God. I trust that you will discover that there are great benefits to praying prayers that are drawn from the Word of God, because His Word is His will for your life, just as much as it is for mine.

My prayer is that you would come to know God as He wants to be known, as you embark on the journey of a lifetime to develop your own deeper, more personal, and intimate relationship with your Creator and Heavenly Father.

— Robert Alan McArthur

A PERSONAL SUGGESTION

How to Get the Most Out of this Devotional

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

— Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

I would very much encourage you to read aloud the scripture passage for each day. By doing this, you will hear yourself speak the Word and it will help you to focus on the truth found within it. As that truth is revealed, allow it to work in you, to change you into the person God intends for you to be.

I would further encourage you not only to read each prayer that follows the scripture passage, but also to actually pray them from your heart and allow them to lift you into His presence.

Lastly, I would encourage you to spend some time after each prayer to quiet your mind and allow God to speak to you.

I have found that doing these things allows the Spirit of God to work in me to deepen my personal relationship with my Heavenly Father.

May God richly bless you on your journey with Him!

In the Strength of Christ Alone,

Robert

Table of Contents

January 1st To Know the Scriptures, To Know the Power of God

January 2nd Let There Be Light

January 3rd Your Word Lights My Way

January 4th To Keep on Asking, Seeking, Knocking

January 5th In Joy, in Peace

January 6th Blessed, Nourished, Strong, and Steadfast

January 7th I Am Not Ashamed

January 8th Listening to the Truth We Have Heard

January 9th Like a Treasure

January 10th The Path I Should Take

January 11th The One Who Rescues Me

January 12th Filled with Joy and Gladness in You

January 13th The God Who Knows My Every Sorrow and Collects My Every Tear

January 14th Servant Leadership

January 15th The True and Right Paths of the LORD

January 16th Loving God with Wholehearted Obedience

January 17th My Salvation, My Strength, and My Song

January 18th A Wise Hunger for Knowledge

January 19th Beautiful for Its Own Time

January 20th Finding Freedom in Surrender

January 21st Everything Working Together for My Good

January 22nd The Sense to Follow Your Commands

January 23rd The Foundation of Wisdom, the Path to Good Judgment

January 24th My Hope, My Help, My Strength, My Victory

January 25th Just How Far True Love Will Go

January 26th Secret Things and Things Revealed

January 27th Fixing Our Gaze on Things that Cannot be Seen

January 28th What the LORD Requires of You

January 29th And You Will Find Rest for Your Souls

January 30th Being Believers, United in Heart and Mind

January 31st The Infinite Reach of Your Thoughts and Your Ways

February 1st Joy in Every Storm

February 2nd Relationship Building Prayer

February 3rd Judge Fairly, Show Mercy, Be Kind

February 4th The Mercy, Compassion, and Unfailing Love of Our God

February 5th An Ambassador of Reconciliation

February 6th I Am Yours and You Are Mine

February 7th The Gift of Grace and Peace

February 8th Choose Carefully What You Search For

February 9th To Choose to Rejoice and Be Glad

February 10th To Walk Humbly in the Blessings of My God

February 11th Along the Riverbank

February 12th The Path Before Me

February 13th Know God, Know Love, Love One Another

February 14th What Love Is, What Love Is Not

February 15th Like Water Flowing Away

February 16th Not That Important

February 17th My Help Comes from the LORD!

February 18th You Offer Forgiveness

February 19th To Better Reflect Your Goodness

February 20th To Choose Not to Be Offended

February 21st The LORD is My Light and My Salvation

February 22nd The Armor and Protection of His Faithful Promises

February 23rd No Other God

February 24th Created Anew to Do Good

February 25th Knowledge Too Wonderful

February 26th My Portion Forever

February 27th Truly Free

February 28th To Keep Your Commandments, To Reflect Your Decrees

February 29th To Pay Attention to What God Says

March 1st The Good Work of Transformation

March 2nd My Hiding Place

March 3rd Our Hope Is in You Alone!

March 4th Don’t Think You Know It All!

March 5th To Walk in Wisdom

March 6th When You Go Through Deep Waters

March 7th To Willingly Submit and Obediently Respond

March 8th A Single Day in Your Presence

March 9th Before The LORD

March 10th You Hear My Voice, I Wait for Yours

March 11th Our Father’s Hallowed Name

March 12th A Living Sacrifice to You

March 13th The God Who Gives Me the Desires of My Heart

March 14th The Beginning of Knowledge

March 15th Don’t Be Angry! Don’t Be Afraid!

March 16th An Example to Follow

March 17th No Fear of Bad News

March 18th Thankfulness through Obedience

March 19th The Choice to Become a Slave

March 20th LORD Be My Rock Fortress, My Home High in the Mountains

March 21st Trusting the One Who Is Able to Save

March 22nd Comforted, So That I Can Comfort Others

March 23rd Giving Every Burden to the LORD

March 24th Show Me My Heart

March 25th Bringing No Sorrow by the Way That I Live

March 26th Words and Thoughts That Please You, LORD

March 27th The Blessing of Protection, Provision, Pardon, and Peace

March 28th The Truth that Is Found in Christ

March 29th As Long as I Live, To My Last Breath

March 30th Show Me, Lead Me, Teach Me, Save Me

March 31st Called, Equipped, and Empowered to be Holy

April 1st Hearing, Trusting, Walking—Giving Myself to You

April 2nd He Who Heals My Broken Heart

April 3rd The One Who Goes with You

April 4th Identifying the Enemy

April 5th Defense Against Those More Opportune Times

April 6th God Listens, When My Heart Is Right

April 7th The Perfect Peace of All Who Trust in You

April 8th Transform Me, Change the Way I Think!

April 9th You Are God!

April 10th Mark Out a Straight Path

April 11th Help Me to Watch and Pray

April 12th All of Us, Just Like Sheep

April 13th This Gracious Invitation into Your Glorious Presence

April 14th The One Who Leads into All Truth

April 15th In the Everlasting Grip of Your Unfailing Love

April 16th I Know My Redeemer Lives

April 17th Overwhelming Victory Is Ours through Christ

April 18th Walking in Paths of Joy

April 19th Expectantly Waiting for the Lord

April 20th Good News Worth Sharing

April 21st In This Time of Our Deep Need

April 22nd The Plans You Have for Me

April 23rd Joy, Peace, and Confident Hope - Because We Trust God

April 24th The Comfort That Gives Me Renewed Hope and Cheer

April 25th No One Like You

April 26th A Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound Mind

April 27th A Harvest of Joy and Blessing

April 28th Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High

April 29th To Live My Life in Christ, His Words Made Alive in Me

April 30th No Escaping Your Presence

May 1st This Amazing Book of Instruction

May 2nd United with Christ Jesus

May 3rd Sustained with Joy, Filled with Life

May 4th The LORD Who Rescues Me

May 5th To Let the Holy Spirit Guide My Life

May 6th Whatever Seems Right to Me...Or According to Your Truth?

May 7th Leading Me with Unfailing Love and Faithfulness

May 8th The Course of My Life

May 9th Loving God, Myself, and Others

May 10th To Really Love Others

May 11th Search Me, Know Me, Lead Me

May 12th To the LORD Who Saves

May 13th Guide Me, Advise Me, Watch Over Me

May 14th The Overcoming Power of Compassion

May 15th Your Amazing Grace

May 16th Return to Me, for I Have Redeemed You

May 17th Live Like Those Who Are Wise

May 18th Resolve to Not Hide These Truths

May 19th Never Changing That We Might Thrive

May 20th To Have the Light That Leads to Life

May 21st To Return, Rest Quietly, and Wait for His Help

May 22nd Teach Me That I May Live

May 23rd To Worship the Creator, Not the Creation

May 24th Your Unfailing Love, Better Than Life Itself

May 25th Never Too Short To Save

May 26th Throwing Out the Garbage in Order to Gain Christ

May 27th I Will Put My Hope in God!

May 28th Salvation from the LORD

May 29th Peace, Be Still

May 30th As for Me

May 31st Like a Father to His Children

June 1st For Everyone Who Believes

June 2nd Your Word Hidden in My Heart

June 3rd Your Will, Not Mine

June 4th The Perfect Instructions of the LORD

June 5th The Wisdom of Living in the Truth

June 6th To Be Strong and Fearlessly Walk the Path

June 7th Gifted for a Purpose

June 8th The Joy of the LORD is My Strength

June 9th The Work of Telling Others

June 10th You Must be Holy, Because I Am Holy

June 11th The LORD’s Command to Call and His Promise to Answer

June 12th Strong Nails and a Heavy Hammer

June 13th My Greatest Joy

June 14th Hidden Safely in Your Hand

June 15th Safely Kept In Christ

June 16th Let Your Soul Delight Itself in Abundance

June 17th To Choose to Rejoice Always

June 18th You Lift Me Up from the Depths of the Earth

June 19th The Kind of Sorrow that God Wants Us to Experience

June 20th This is the Way You Should Go

June 21st Abstain, Withdraw, and Keep Away

June 22nd Never be Fuel for the Fire

June 23rd The Indescribable Joy of Dwelling in Your Presence

June 24th The Wealth of True Godliness with Contentment

June 25th Pure Wisdom from Above

June 26th A Shelter for the Oppressed, A Refuge in Times of Trouble

June 27th Led by the Spirit, Children of God

June 28th As the Day Approaches

June 29th The Path That Leads to Your Very Best for Me

June 30th My Deepest Longing, My Most Essential Need

July 1st By the Way That I Live

July 2nd This Kind of Fruit in Our Lives

July 3rd When I Am Afraid

July 4th Doing My Part to Live at Peace with Everyone

July 5th To Have Life, and Have It More Abundantly

July 6th The Depths of Each Heart Around Me

July 7th Looking Out for Others

July 8th Loving Instruction

July 9th As I Wait for His Return

July 10th To Listen Closely, To Understand More

July 11th As I Enter God’s House

July 12th To You Who Are Willing to Listen

July 13th Obedience, Without Delay

July 14th When You Search for Me with All Your Heart

July 15th Faith Walking

July 16th Even Before God Made the World

July 17th If We Ever Forget the LORD Our God

July 18th Freedom through Truth

July 19th Nothing Can Ever Separate Us

July 20th To Seek You Now

July 21st Rest for My Soul

July 22nd Properly Clothed as God’s Chosen

July 23rd Maker and Giver of Life

July 24th To Please God

July 25th To Experience Firsthand the Practical Demonstration of Truth

July 26th Our Refuge and Strength, Always Ready to Help

July 27th Embracing Truth and Rejecting Myths

July 28th To Grow into a Full Experience of Salvation

July 29th Open My Eyes to See and Understand

July 30th The Greater One in Me

July 31st The Ultimate Healing

August 1st Constant and Unchanging

August 2nd Just as I Am

August 3rd To Answer the Call and Go

August 4th Being Quick and Slow

August 5th Called Out of Darkness into His Wonderful Light

August 6th Feeding on Your Faithfulness

August 7th No Darkness in Him at All

August 8th The Full Light of Day

August 9th The Greater Benefits of Training for Godliness

August 10th The Way that is Not Steep and Rough

August 11th To Love Others like Jesus Loves Me

August 12th Life or Death Decisions

August 13th As for Me and My House…

August 14th The Road That Leads to Life

August 15th Not Just a Lot of Talk

August 16th My Confidence in You Alone

August 17th Planting the Seeds that Lead to Life

August 18th God is Working in You

August 19th The One Who Sings Over Me with Joy

August 20th Waiting for My Lord to Answer for Me

August 21st Fully Convinced That God Is Able

August 22nd Loving in the Same Way Christ has Loved Me

August 23rd Into the Stillness and Peace of Your Presence

August 24th That Deep and Abiding Joy

August 25th Loving Others God’s Way

August 26th To Be a Child Who Listens and Watches

August 27th New Life with Christ

August 28th No Room for Pride

August 29th Trusting My Life to the God Who Created Me

August 30th Speaking Truth, Doing Good, Chasing Peace

August 31st The Things You Find in Me

September 1st Being Dead to be Truly Alive

September 2nd Ever-Existing Creator God

September 3rd I Have All That I Need

September 4th To Be Counted Among the Wise

September 5th LORD Over All Things

September 6th Living Honestly with Myself

September 7th That Once Dark Place of My Heart

September 8th Answering Softly

September 9th You, LORD, are My Strength

September 10th The Peace that Comes from Christ

September 11th What Does My Conduct Show?

September 12th Fervent, Joyful, Patient, Faithful

September 13th With Me Always

September 14th The Right to Become Your Child

September 15th In the Temple of the Holy Spirit

September 16th At Your Word

September 17th Worrying Does Not Lead to Life

September 18th With Every Word I Say

September 19th Boasting Only in Him

September 20th Not Worthy of My Love

September 21st A New Grip and Renewed Strength for a Straight Path

September 22nd The Sin that Pollutes the Course of My Life

September 23rd Where Wisdom and Soundness of Mind Are Found

September 24th Let Your Heart Take Courage

September 25th I Don’t Want to Be a Liar!

September 26th To Worship You in Spirit and in Truth

September 27th To Be a Follower of Jesus Christ

September 28th Like an Ever-Flowing Spring of Worship

September 29th The One Who Cares About Me

September 30th Just a Moment to You

October 1st The Path of Life in the Calm of God’s Presence

October 2nd The Cloud of Your Glorious Presence

October 3rd The Only Treasures that Satisfy

October 4th To Work the Works of God

October 5th Just Like You

October 6th Relying on Your Unfailing Love

October 7th Living in Freedom, Serving in Love

October 8th Power to the Weak, Strength to the Powerless

October 9th Practicing True Hospitality

October 10th His Words of Wisdom to Comfort the Weary

October 11th A Way Out

October 12th My Joy and My Heart’s Delight

October 13th The Flavor That My Life Brings to the World

October 14th That Which Will Define My Future

October 15th The Weapons We Fight With

October 16th Like a Bright Light of Hope

October 17th The Word of the LORD Holds True

October 18th The Richness of the Message of Christ

October 19th Forgiven: Cleared of Guilt

October 20th To Speak the Truth in Love

October 21st My Life Is Not My Own!

October 22nd To Become the Servant of Everyone Else

October 23rd Walking Closely After You

October 24th Inspired by God and Useful to Teach Us

October 25th To Give and to Receive God’s Mercy

October 26th To Be Glad and Rejoice

October 27th The Blessings of Living in Truth and Love

October 28th To Please Only You

October 29th When I Look and See

October 30th The Hope that Is in Me

October 31st Those Who Have Humble and Contrite Hearts

November 1st Following the Spirit’s Leading in Every Part of Our Lives

November 2nd Don’t Worry About Anything

November 3rd Life as a Continual Feast of Blessing

November 4th The LORD Who Watches Over Me

November 5th Healthy Interdependence

November 6th To Hear Your Voice and Follow

November 7th Expressing Faith through Love

November 8th Never Forget the Good Things

November 9th To Be the Light of the World

November 10th Ongoing Conversation

November 11th To Do All Things through Christ

November 12th The Work of Your Hand

November 13th With Grace, Truth, and Unfailing Love

November 14th For His Unfailing Love, For His Wonderful Deeds

November 15th Keep Me Always Connected

November 16th Teach Me to Overcome Evil with Good

November 17th To Tear My Heart with Grief and Repent

November 18th Alive and Powerful, Sharp and Cutting

November 19th In Your Own Image

November 20th Seeking the Kingdom of God, Above All Else

November 21st God’s Will for You Who Belong to Christ Jesus

November 22nd To Look at the Heart

November 23rd Come Before His Presence with Thanksgiving!

November 24th No Room for Divided Loyalty

November 25th Love, Obedience, and Victory for Those Who Believe

November 26th Doing Good with Christ as My Example

November 27th Clothed with Joy!

November 28th For the LORD Is Good

November 29th Alert to the Threat of Attack, But at Perfect Peace in God

November 30th Weary of the Heavy Burden, Let Me Find Your Rest

December 1st The Choice Between Life and Death, Between Blessings and Curses

December 2nd To Enter in Like a Child

December 3rd To Be Your Disciple

December 4th Blood Bought Peace

December 5th Keep My Lamp Burning

December 6th No Purpose of Yours Can Be Thwarted

December 7th Fully Armed

December 8th Clothed in His Presence

December 9th The LORD’s Purpose Prevails

December 10th The Joy I Find Down the Path of Life

December 11th Faith, Love, and Hope

December 12th Submit to God, Resist the Devil

December 13th Nothing Too Hard

December 14th God’s Rightful Place in My Heart

December 15th Fearing People Is not Trusting the LORD

December 16th Knowing What I Ought to Do

December 17th A Shield Around Me

December 18th Using the Gifting of God

December 19th Offering a Continual Sacrifice of Praise

December 20th A New Heart and a New Spirit Within

December 21st Great Joy, Deep Peace

December 22nd Our Great and Faithful Shepherd

December 23rd God with Us

December 24th For unto Us a Child Is Born!

December 25th Come with Haste, Then Go and Tell

December 26th Wise Enough to Seek a Worship-Worthy King

December 27th Brotherly Affection

December 28th The Life of Jesus Seen in Us

December 29th Serving Only Him

December 30th To Do Good

December 31st Press on to Finish Strong

JANUARY 1ST

To Know the Scriptures, To Know the Power of God

Jesus replied, Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

— Matthew 22:29 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Give me that deep desire to know and understand the Scriptures—so I would no longer live my life in ignorance, but would walk fully in the power of Your Word.

Show me how my lack of knowledge of what Your Word says—and my lack of understanding as to how it relates to me personally in the particular circumstances of my life—leads me down paths of sin and error; how it leads me away from You.

Grant me an insatiable hunger and thirst to understand everything You have for me in Your Word, so my path might be made straight—as I submit myself to Your amazing plans and purposes for me.

Help my faith in Your power to be enlarged as You open the treasures of Your Word to me by Your Holy Spirit—as You pull back the dark veil of my ignorance and show me the glorious Truth of Your Word.

And grant that I might personally experience more of Your power at work in me, through me, and all around me—as I seek to deepen my relationship with You and come to know You more personally and intimately through Your Word.

Give me that deep desire to know and understand the Scriptures—so I would no longer live my life in ignorance, but would walk fully in the power of Your Word.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

JANUARY 2ND

Let There Be Light

Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.

— Genesis 1:3–4 (NLT)

Creator of Light and Life,

Let every word I speak be birthed out of truth, seasoned with grace, spoken in faith and motivated by love—bringing light and life to anyone who has ears to hear.

You spoke, Let there be light, and light came into being from nothing—forever demonstrating for us the creative power of Your spoken Word.

Knowing that You have made me in Your image, may I ever be mindful that the words I speak also contain a power to create—either something that is good or something that is evil.

Forgive me, LORD, for too often my careless words have created doubt instead of hope; resentment instead of respect; discouragement instead of encouragement; hurt instead of healing; darkness instead of light; and death instead of life.

Just as You saw that the light was good, help me to speak in such a way that I might see good things created from the words that You give me to speak—that with every word, I would represent Christ well and bring You glory.

Help me to walk fully in Your light—so I can be the messenger of light, that You created me to be, to those who are lost and separated from You by the evil darkness of this world.

Let every word I speak be birthed out of truth, seasoned with grace, spoken in faith and motivated by love—bringing light and life to anyone who has ears to hear.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

JANUARY 3RD

Your Word Lights My Way

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

— Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me to take up the lamp of Your Word, discover the Truth that it holds,