Day 241 of 365!

God is saying to you today,
“When you go through deep
waters, I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of
difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire
of oppression, you will not be
burned up; the flames will
not consume you.”
Isaiah 43:2

God is saying to you today,
“Be thankful for everything
that I’ve brought you
through. You may have
gone through more than
you wanted to, but it was
My grace, My mercy and
My hand that kept you.”

James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

“It is not easy for us to recognize the love of Heavenly Father when we look around with our temporal eyes, because we see inconvenience, loss, burdens, or loneliness first. On the other hand, we can see the blessings beyond when we look up.”

—Elder Yoon Hwan Choi

We need to loosen our grip on everything earthly because it is all temporal.
We need to loosen our grip on our prize possessions.
We need to loosen our grip on the love of money.
But we need to tighten our grip on everything eternal.
We need to tighten our grip on reading god’s word We need to tighten our grip on prayer.
We need to tighten our grip on our love for god.
We need to tighten our grip on Jesus Christ and hold on to him with a death like grip as if our lives dependent on it because our eternal lives do depend on it.
And he’s worth pursuing above everything else. Keep God first.
and you will lack for nothing. Let him rearrange your priorities, and he will rearrange your life.
Give god the throne to your heart, and he will change your desires and enable you to be truly satisfied in him.
Take a moment to think about what’s important in the grand scheme of things.
Everything on this earth temporary and fleeting. None of it will last. But god’s kingdom will never end.
For that reason, we need to build our faith on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ.
Mathew 22 verses 37 through 38.
The Bible reads, and he said to him, you shall love the lord your god.
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
All of Christianity can be summarized by 2 basic commandments. love god, and love others.
When you truly love the lord, he comes before anything or anyone else.
You place him above anything or anyone else.
when you love god, you put god first.
You put him first every day of the week. you put him first in every scenario.
Loving god seems like such a simple command.
and yet it can be so hard for many people. But why?
Well, for 1, It’s not something we can fake our way through, and it’s not something we can just do when it’s convenient for us.
A true love for god? It shapes our entire lives.
God doesn’t just want a halfhearted commitment. He wants our whole hearts.
He wants us to love him with everything we have. So what does that look like practically?
Well, it all comes down to priorities. Are you putting god first?
Are you prioritizing spending time with god through prayer and the study of his word?
Are you giving yourself time in the day to slow down and simply dwell in god’s presence?
All of these things help us develop a deeper love for the lord, but we have to make a conscious effort to do those things.
Matthew 6 verse 33 says, but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
often we make the mistake of putting secondary things first.
Things like career, family, hobbies, These are all good things, but we must not let them become the main thing.
To love god with everything you have, means to consider everything else as unimportant in comparison.
Our attention and our devotion must not be divided.
A couple of Bible verses that make it clear that we should be placing god above all are Luke 9 verse
62.
Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of god.
And John 14 verse 15 says If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
To love god with everything you have, means to faithfully obey him, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it’s painful.
It means loving our enemies, caring for the poor and marginalized, and spreading the gossed to the people all around us.
And as we do, these things will bring us true eternal joy.
There’s no room for regret or dissatisfaction in the kingdom of god.
Every day, we wrestle with our earthly nature.
We are tempted to love the desires of our flesh more than we love god.
But the Bible says that part of us has been crucified with Christ.
It has no power over us.
true devotion to god means we are so filled with his spirit that our desires and god’s desires become 1 and the same.
To love god with everything you have is to live fully on mission for him.
It means being willing to give your life for the sake of the gospel.
It’s the least we could do. for the one who gave his life for us.
Jesus loved us with everything he had. Now let us strive to do the same.
Now, pray with me.
Lord Jesus, thank you for setting the ultimate example of love.
Thank you for leaving the glories of heaven, taking on the form of a human being, and umber, laying down your life.
for my eternal salvation. You gave everything for me. You paid the ultimate price.
So lord, how could I ever repay you?
All I can do is offer my life to serve you master.
Lord, in your mercy, you have done everything required for my salvation.
All you ask is for me to love you with everything I have.
It’s such a simple command.
And yet because of the distractions, and temptations of this world and my carnal nature.
Following this command can sometimes be so hard.
I pray that you would give me the grace lord to put you first in every sense.
Give me the grace to have the presence of mind to ensure that I don’t get so distracted that I have no time for you on a day to day basis.
Yes. I have many things competing for my attention, but may the Holy Spirit help me to make the priority of my life?
you, lord Jesus. And when I seek you first, all these other things, they’ll be added to me.
So, father, help me to love you more.
help me to walk in agreement with your word in Galatians 2 verse 20, which says, I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me.
Father, please reveal to me any hidden idols that are taking your place in my heart.
Help me to gladly set aside anything that is hindering me from pursuing you fully.
Help me to take time for the important Let my habits be to pray more, to read the word more, to ship you and dwell in your presence more.
It’s through these things that I learned to love you more.
father, let everything I do be motivated by my love towards you.
Whether I’m at home all alone, or on a crowded street corner.
May your love overflow into my words, my actions, and my attitude don’t let my relationship with you become a chore, but let it be a delight.
I prayed that I would never lose that sense of wonder.
Remind me of the beauty of the gospel.
remind me of the price you paid to win my soul to your kingdom.
And if necessary, lord, intervene in my life in a dramatic way.
Do not allow me to be stuck in my ways, Jesus.
Do not allow me to be blind to the areas of sin and weakness in my life.
Holy Spirit Show me where I have misplaced priorities.
Show me where I’m spending too much time, too much attention, too much affection, on other things in my life and help me to redirect that energy towards following and obeying you.
convict me to spend less time chasing earthly things and more time seeking you.
serving you, getting to know you more.
Developing me the habits that push me to love you more.
Lord, I want to love you with everything I have. I want to hold nothing back from you.
I wanna give you my full attention because nothing else is more wonderful, more glorious, or more worthy than you.
Dear lord Jesus. Great is your faithfulness, lord. Great and mighty are you?
Have mercy on us, lord Jesus, as we seek to do better through the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Help us to be better disciples.
Help us to be better at forgiving others and loving others and giving to others.
Your word says in John 1526, but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father.
He will testify of me, I pray that the Holy Spirit would help us to do better.
Help us to improve in our prayer lives.
help us to have more of an urgency about spending time alone with you master.
Holy Spirit help us to do better in terms of meditating on the word of god day night.
Help us to do better as I strive to be obedient to your word, which says in Titus chapter 3 verse 1 and 2, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy.
to all people. I pray lord, that you would give us hearts that are ready and willing to do good always.
Give us hearts that love with the love of Christ.
Give us hearts that refuse to slander or abuse anyone, but instead, help us to be a kind people, humble, and peaceful people who demonstrate love to others.
Lord, we desire to grow in faith. We desire to grow in understanding.
We desire to grow in wisdom. help us to grow in all of these areas, master.
Through the power of the Holy Ghost we trust and believe that transformation can and will take place in our lives.
where we are weak through the strength you provide, we will be made strong.
We will be able to overcome I place my faith in what your word says, lord, in 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 9 to 10, but he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.
For my power is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardship, in persecutions in difficulties for when I am weak.
Then I am strong. I am thankful, lord, that your grace is indeed sufficient for me.
Indeed, your loving kindness and your mercy are more than enough for me Your grace and mercy is always available to me, regardless of the situation, and I truly am grateful, King Jesus.
may your power be perfected?
May it be completed and shown to be most effective in my weakness?
That way, you get the glory lord. You get the honor.
Father, your word says in 1st Chronicles 16 verse 34.
Oh, give thanks to the lord for he is good, for his mercy endures. Forever.
Your word, lord, tells me that I will praise the name of god with a song.
I will magnify him with Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for your love, King Jesus.
That even though you knew everything about me, you knew all of my shortfalls and all of my mistakes, but yet you still died in my place.
Opening up the way to eternal life for me. I thank you for listening to this prayer.
Be magnified law. in Jesus’ name, I pray.
Amen.