June 2 – We Have No Other

“You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ” – Psalm 73:24-25 (ESV)

Let’s take a moment and consider the first promise. We are guided by God and He does so according to His counsel which is without fault and prefect in wisdom. Understanding these verses really requires reading them in context with the whole psalm. He faces temptation and nearly slips into the evils of envious arrogance (v. 2-3). The author is in conflict inwardly (vs. 14-15) Embarrassed as to how to act, he finds deliverance from his dilemma (v.16). He ends up with this declaration. The Psalmist acknowledges that it is God who guides us and it is also God who sees to us being received in glory. He thus declares his allegiance to God. We truly have no one besides God who will guarantee, and assure our eternal future in heaven. Another promise is here in the next verse (v. 26) that God is the strength of our heart and His portion is our best possession. Hence, there is nothing on earth that should capture our desire besides God.  Let’s not buck against this but instead, with Asaph, the Psalms author, let’s make the Lord God our refuge and testify of all His works (v. 28).

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December 30 – Remembering For Purpose

“Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, Lord, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, and remembering You, is the desire of our souls.  At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments, The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” Isaiah 26:8-9 (NASB)

As the days on the calendar of this year tick off one by one, the favorite pastime of the media is to fill their time with memories of the year. This year has been challenging; we may find this activity less enjoyable than it has been in past years. For those of us who have put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, we can always count of the blessing of remembering that He has been with us on this rocky path. It is wonderful to have close fellowship with our Lord. This was the prophet Isaiah experience and he writes about it in today's verse. As we walk with the Lord we find that He satisfies the deepest desires of our heart. Those desires are those which come from Him and they are pure and good. When God created human beings He wanted to have fellowship with His creatures.  And God made us so that we would desire to be close to Him. So we find true satisfactions when we are close to Him. We are able to say that our inner being yearns for God night and day. Isn’t that a comforting promise we have been given today? 

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April 30 – Strong Bones

“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”  - Isaiah 58:11 (ESV)

"Be prepared." A lesson well learned long ago for many of us. Now it is time to prepare our world to recover from the shock that has shaken every country on Earth.  From global issues to the most local conditions' people are approaching and beginning the effort to “normalize.”  We want to restore a sense of equilibrium. We want fear to subside and anxiety to take a back seat, or get out altogether.  Is it not accurate to think we have experienced places that have been scorched?  But God promises to guide us throughout the process.  He promises to meet our desires and He promises to give strength to our bones.  We’ve been knocked about a bit and some have really been hurt by the effects of the Pandemic of 2020. Yet we have hope coming from our LORD God.  We will enjoy life as a watered garden enjoys fresh spring water.  Water that never fails to be available for our needs.  This is our promise that God is our fresh spring of water that will never fail to satisfy us. No matter how scorched the places we’ve gone through have been, God has always been with us.

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September 17 – Desire Milk?

“like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”  1 Peter 2:2-3 (NASB)

The Apostle Peter writes in his first letter to believers across the known world and gives them encouragement by suggesting that they behave like babies.  The picture that Peter uses in these verses is that of a baby who is so enthusiastic about drinking its milk.  It does not need to be forced to take its nourishment. In fact a baby will let everyone know when it is hungry and wants more milk.  Its body has found that this is just what it needs to grow.  That is how earnest we should be as believers of Jesus – we should have a passionate hunger for the Word of God.  So with our Christian lives, we have found the source of true spiritual nourishment in the word of God.  It is like pure spiritual milk and it does help us to grow spiritually – to become the people that God wants us to be. So, if we have tasted the goodness of God, we will want to know more about it.  Our faith will grow and increase in strength.

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September 16 – All Our Longings Laid Bare

“Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.” Psalm 38:9 (NASB)

As a song writer in his time, David produced many of our Psalms.  He was always very open about his trials and feelings, and the things that weighed heavy on his heart and mind.  Today we have a verse from a song that expresses his feelings of depression and anxiety.  We may sometimes think that no one knows the deep feelings of our hearts. Maybe we think that by not sharing our feelings with others we can keep them to ourselves and no one needs to know.  Yet we must remember that God does know how we feel.  What David says in this verse is that God is reading our feelings and our longings like an open book.  And when we breathe a sigh without saying a word, God gets the message. Doesn’t this encourage us to express our feelings to God?  He already knows how we feel so we might as well open up to Him in prayer and song.  When we express our longings He is ready to help. He wants us to turn to Him in faith and then He will act.

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July 15 – What Is In the Heart

“I delight to do Your will, O my God;  Your Law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8 (NASB)

The words in this verse were written by David, King of Israel at the time his son Absalom was trying to kill him and usurp David's throne and his rule over the Kingdom of Israel.  This is an expression of David's heart desire.  In Hebrews these words are also used and referred to as an expression of the desire of God's Son, Jesus Christ. (Heb. 10:7).  We believe though, that we can apply the lesson of these words to ourselves today.  If we were to look back two verses (v.6) we will understand it is not simply the “doing” of sacrifices and offerings alone that the Lord God delights in. Going through the motions and being a good person is not what God wants from us.   He asks for our heart's desire to do God's will and follow His instruction and that is what pleases God.  When we know what God wants us to do, the response that God desires is our willingness to obey and do His will.  Our promise is found a few verses later in this psalm (v.11). God's mercy will not be restrained and His steadfast love will faithfully keep us safe from evil influences.   

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July 3 – Loved From Before Time

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”   John 17:24  (ESV)

Jesus prayed this way for His followers on the night he was arrested and eventually crucified.  These words express His desire for those who had followed him during his ministry and had walked with Him.  We believe that He intended to and did include all who would follow Him from then on.  Yes, we believe this prayer includes us all and that Jesus is planning for us to be with him in heaven.  Our promise today is that one day, we will be with our Lord and Savior in heaven able to worship God and see Him in His full glory.  Jesus is in heaven now and He wants us to see it and to experience it.  He is also with us here and is helping us to prepare us for that experience.  If we all trust in Jesus as our Savior now, we can look forward to a glorious eternity.  All this was provided from before time, before the foundation of the world. 

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June 12 – Call, He Is Near

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.”  Psalm 145:18-19 (NASB)

The great Lord whom we serve is the great God of the universe.  We can say He is everywhere but now our promise in today's verse assures us that He is near to those who follow Him and who call upon Him.  We can take this as a promise that God does come close to us when we call to Him especially if we are truly praying to Him.  We have to be calling on God in truth and faith believing.  Our verse also assures us that God hears when we ask Him for His help in our lives and He fulfills our desires.  If what we want God to do for us is according to His will He will be sure to answer our prayers.  Even in time when we are in desperate circumstances He hears our cry for help and He will save us from evil.  Let's be sure that we expect this and that we thank our heavenly Father for His help each time.  

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June 2 – Press On

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  Psalm 73:26 (NIV)

This is the testimony of Asaph, the writer of this psalm.  He is expressing the promise that God's strength is his forever even in the face of extreme conditions.  This can also be our testimony as much as it was Asaph's testimony.  We will and we do face times in our life as Christians when we feel weak and we feel like giving up.  Our heart is no longer in the work we have been given and we are tired.  Some may call it 'reaching burnout' but our promise is that even in those times, we have from God the strength to we need to and we can take heart again.  And it is ours forever, as much as we need.  Reading the words in the previous verse is the affirmation we can declare, just as Asaph did.  “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”  Today, lets remember this promise and if we are on the verge of tossing it all in because of fatigue and/or discouragement, God has promised us the strength to press on.  Press On in His strength. 

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January 3 – Satisfied in a Scorched World

“And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:11 

We find our promises today in the book by the prophet Isaiah.  These promises were given centuries ago to God's people and they are good for us today because we who believe and have received the gift of salvation are God's people also. God's word never changes.  This verse shows how God helps us as we live Christian lives in a world that has turned its back on God.  This world can be like a sun-scorched land but our Lord meets our needs as we rely on Him.  And in this sun-scorched land we can be amply watered and become like spring fed waters for others. This supply does not fail.  We can trust this because the Lord makes us different from the world around us.  Our desires are different and our hope is in God.  Our desires will be satisfied and our bones will be strengthened as we turn to Him. 

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Please share your blessings with others. 

August 15 – Desire and Do

“...for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  Philippians 2:13 (NASB)

Each day that we wake up we have the opportunity to remember what a wonderful God we have.  He loves us and cares for us and wants the very best for us.  He does have plans for each of us.  There are certain things that are expected of us and we need to know how we are going to meet those expectations.  The answer to that question is given to us in today's verse.  God Himself is the one who is at work in each of us.  He it is who is helping us to be willing and to work for His good pleasure.  This is a good thing from our good and perfect God.  You can understand that God is working in us to make us want to please Him.  He gives us the desires to do what He expects of us – what He has created us to do.  Then, God works in us to help us do what He wants.  We do not have to do this on our own and on our own, we never could.  We need and have God enabling us to desire and do what pleases Him and we can trust Him for this promise today, right now, this very moment.   

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June 22 – Where We Are, He Is

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”  John 17:24 (NASB)

Remember that the evening before Jesus was crucified, He prayed a prayer which is recorded in the Bible by John in Chapter 17. Jesus was praying for His disciples as He was leaving them. He was also praying for those who would believe on Him through the message of salvation they would be telling the world. (v. 20*) These words in our verse reveal our Lord's great love for us. He wanted His followers to be with Him in heaven even though they had not be perfect as they had followed Him.  We remember how they had disappointed Jesus at times. They failed Him often but He still wanted them to with Him in heaven. We remind ourselves of this promise often that Jesus is continuing to pray for us in heaven. Even though we often fail Him He is still anxious to bring us through. Yes, we believe that He is still praying for you and me as He prayed to His Father in the verse we have selected today.  One day we will be with Jesus where He is and today He is with us where we are, and loving us.

* “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,”  John 17:20 (NIV)

May 1 – Complete Satisfaction

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”  Psalm 73:23-25 (NIV)

We may think about things we want to do or have or go to on this earth before the end of our lives.  Our verse today gives us a little perspective on this. God's promise to us is that He is always with us, he has a personal connection and he watches over us.  It also tells us that we each have a time when God will wrap up our lives and bring us to Him.  The psalmist was evidently living close to God. Isn't it wonderful to know that we as human beings can have such close fellowship with the great God of the universe. This close relationship  is available to us because it is what God wants. That's why He has made us and that's why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to bring us into His family. As the psalmist lived close to God he found complete satisfaction. He said that He didn't want anything on earth beyond that. He was fully satisfied when he sensed the nearness of God. If that is true in our lives we can also say that “earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

December 28 – Night and Day

“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.” Isaiah 26:8-9a (NIV)

It is wonderful to have close fellowship with our Lord. This is what the prophet Isaiah experience and writes about in today's verse. As we walk with the Lord we find that He satisfies the deepest desires of our heart. Those desires are even those which come from Him and they are pure and good. This is because that's the way He has made us. When God created human beings  He wanted to have fellowship with His creatures.  And God made us so that we would desire to be close to Him. That's why we find true satisfactions when we are close to Him. We are able to say that our inner being yearns for God night and day. Is that not a comforting promise we have been given today? 

July 31

“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:17 (NIV)

The great message of the gospel is that God offers eternal life to His creatures. This offer is given to all. But that does not mean that all of His creatures will live forever. The offer God has given is conditional. It is for those who do the will of God.  God does not impose eternal life on us. He offers it and, as is true with any offer, it must be accepted. The Bible tells us that God is not willing that any perish. He wants us to live forever but leaves the choice to us. So that is a part of doing the will of God – accepting His offer. And when we become His children our desire is to please Him, live as He wants, doing His will.