A Perfect Plan

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

PROVERBS 19:21 NIV

Heavenly Father, as this year begins I am setting new goals and making plans. Both of these things I am doing with expectations of what this year will hold. Each year when I reflect on the past one, it is not my goals or plans that prevail, it is yours. Father, I am thankful that I have no control over what is to come in this new year but that you have full control. I know the story you are writing for me is far better than any story I could ever write for myself.

Help me to set aside selfish desires and seek to understand what you desire for me. Purify my heart. Transform it to be more in sync with your Word. Whatever you have planned for me in this new year, I pray that I would trust you through it all. I know that you will use the hard, the challenging, and the good times in ways far beyond what I can imagine to draw me closer to you. God, help me to lay down every expectation I have of what this year might hold. I give it into your hands so I can lean on you alone to guide me through this new year.

What would you like to see change this year?

Choosing Well

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

PROVERBS 3:5-6 NKJV

Father God, you are omniscient and sovereign over all the earth. You have full control over every wave in the ocean and bird in the sky. I know the truth of who you are, yet I continue to rely on my knowledge and understanding to get me through life and I fall short every time. Why do I fail so often to trust you when I see that you have full control over everything in the universe? Why do I let my fears creep in when I know that you hold me?

Help me to commit each day to you, trusting that you will lead me. When my fears and worries start to overwhelm me, I want to seek your wisdom and counsel. It is through your perfect understanding that you guide me. As I trust you with my life, fill my heart with an unexplainable peace that comes from knowing you are in control. When life feels uncertain, you remain certain.

Are you ready to trust God completely with your life?

Work that Matters

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

COLOSSIANS 3:23 ESV

God, thank you for renewing my strength each day so I can complete what you have set before me. You are faithful. Teach me to be faithful in all things big and little. Sometimes in life, the small tasks can start to feel so pointless and it is easy to question if they truly matter. When lies and doubts begin to fill my head, remind me that you have a purpose in all things. I want to show up for the everyday realities of life.

Teach me to be faithful in doing the simple and ordinary things well. You use the seemingly insignificant tasks. You use the unseen moments. Father, as I go through life faced with daily tasks, I pray that you would remind me to be faithful because you are a God that uses ordinary things in significant ways. I pray that you would change any self-centered motives I have. Help me live in a way that is not about getting the praise of man, but about bringing glory to you, my creator.

What is your reason for doing all your tasks?

Positive Influence

“Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

MATTHEW 5:16 NASB

Heavenly Father, I confess I so frequently fail to live my life in such a way that brings glory to you. I am so incapable of reflecting your heart with my actions, yet it is through empty vessels that you work. Thank you for the ways you meet me in my shortcomings. I am thankful to serve you, a God who takes imperfect people and uses them in your perfect story. You take the broken and make it new.

Father, as I seek to glorify you with my life, I pray that you would continue to point me to your Son, who set a perfect example and loves me with a perfect love. Today I am choosing to believe that in my weakness, your strength is made perfect. In knowing the truth of who you are, I pray that you would use me in ways far beyond what I could ever think to ask. Father shine your light in and through me so that my life may glorify you.

How do your actions reflect the heart of the Father?

Friends Matter

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

ECCLESIASTES 4:10 NIV

God, you are the giver of every good gift, and I am so grateful for that. As my heart reflects on the endless amount of grace-filled gifts that you have given me, I continue going back to the sweet gift of friendship. Friendship is a beautiful thing. You created people with a need for friendship. I pray that I would not take any friends for granted, knowing that each one is not promised but is a special gift from you. Help me treasure my friendships.

Teach me how to love and care for my friends selflessly, to celebrate them without hesitation in their little wins and their significant victories. Show me how to be there for them on the hard days, not having all answers but pointing them to you, the answer. When the enemy attempts to break apart my friendship with his schemes, I ask that you would protect us. Thank you for providing the precious gift of friends.

Who are your true friends?

Rescue from Trouble

When holy lovers of God cry out to him with all their hearts, the Lord will hear them and come to rescue them from all their troubles.

PSALM 34:17 TPT

Heavenly Father, I come to you today with a weary soul. I am so broken. It is in the brokenness that I feel all the more thankful that I can cry out to you, and you hear my prayers. I am grateful that you do not distance yourself from me during hard times, but you draw even closer. It is such a comfort to know that you not only hear me but also see me and know my heart.

When I face troubles, point me back to your promise that you will never leave me. I am not alone. Through every trial, you are with me. Remind me of the hope that is found in you even when tragic news rocks my world. When I can’t do anything but weep. When my heart shatters in a million pieces. There is hope even in the darkest of days. What a blessing and comfort it is to know that you not only want me on my best days, but you want me on my worst. Thank you, Father!

What help do you need from God today?

Abide

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

JOHN 15:4 ESV

Jesus, apart from you, I am nothing. I ask that you would continue to open my eyes to how disparately I need you. Your grace is on display in my life. There are days when I wake up, and I do not want to read your Word. Change my desires. I will starve if I am not feeding myself with your truth. Help me to fight the distractions that hinder me from you. I pray you would give me a new desire each morning that longs to abide in you and your Word.

Father, grow in me godly discipline. Convict me of areas or things in my life that are pulling me away from you. I do not want to be deceived by things that cause my heart to drift from you. Guard my heart. Teach me to value your Word. There are so many people in the world that do not have the privilege of reading the Scriptures; I pray that I would never take it for granted. Instead, teach me to treasure it. Be my all. You are the one true source of life. Thank you for being gracious toward me.

What can you let go of today that keeps you from resting in the knowledge that you are abiding in God?

Fully Committed

“Devote yourselves completely to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

1 KINGS 8:61 NRSV

Father, this world is full of distractions that fight for my attention. Daily I consume the ideas of the world. So many things claim to be worthy of my time and devotion. In all the noise, I pray that you would keep my eyes fixed on you. Remove from my life the distractions and temptations that are keeping me from devoting myself entirely to you. This life is so short and getting caught up in doing the wrong things is too easy. Convict me of idols in my life that I’ve placed above you.

Father, I do not want to waste my time on things that have no eternal value. I pray that you would guard me against being consumed by everything this world has to offer. Focus my mind on you. You alone deserve my full devotion. Show me what it looks like to live in devotion to you completely. Set a fire in my heart that burns with a deep passion for you. Father, be my everything!

What has been holding you back from being...