Jesus Wants You To Know...

"Be still in My Presence, and wait patiently for Me to act. Spending quality time with Me is so good for you, beloved. I rejoice when you push back the many things clamoring for your attention and focus wholeheartedly on Me. I know how hard it is for you to sit quietly with Me, and I don’t expect perfection from you. Instead, I treasure your persistence in seeking My Face. My loving approval shines on you as you seek Me with all your heart. This intimate connection between us helps you wait trustingly for Me to act."

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; - Psalm 37:7a (NIV)

- "Jesus Always" by Sarah Young

Quote: C.S. Lewis

Lord, I'm learning that relying on You has to begin all over again every day, that yesterday's faith doesn't automatically carry me through today.

Each morning I wake up with a choice, to depend on You or to fall back into the illusion that I can handle life on my own, and I confess how easily I forget.

Teach me that relying on You isn't a one-time decision but a daily surrender, a constant returning to the truth that I need You as much today as I did yesterday and will tomorrow.

Help me start each morning by acknowledging my need for You, by consciously choosing dependence over independence, by asking for Your strength before I try to manufacture my own.

Remind me that this isn't failure or weakness, it's the rhythm of faith, that even the most mature believers have to wake up and choose to lean on You all over again.

Give me grace for the days I forget and try to go it alone, patience with myself as I learn this daily practice of surrender, and wisdom to recognize when I've drifted back into self-reliance.

Let relying on You become as natural as breathing, a daily habit that shapes every hour, every decision, every moment, knowing that I will always need You and that's exactly how You designed it to be.

Amen.

Provided by "Faithful Grace"

When Guilt Won’t Let Go: How God Restores a Heart That’s Been Broken by Sin

We all have moments we wish we could erase, right? Words spoken in anger. Choices made in weakness. Opportunities missed because of fear or pride. The memories fade, but the guilt lingers. Like a song you can’t stop hearing, playing on repeat in the back of your mind. King David knew that feeling well. He had fallen hard. The leader who once sang of God’s faithfulness had given in to temptation, committed adultery, and arranged a man’s death to cover it up. When the prophet Nathan confronted him, the truth broke through like a flood. 

 

Out of that heartbreak came one of the most powerful prayers in all of Scripture: 

 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12). 

 

Psalm 51 isn’t the cry of a man making excuses. It’s the cry of a man who finally stopped running. 

 

The Weight of Guilt 

Guilt can be both a gift and a burden. When we sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us; He pricks the conscience to draw us back toward God. But once we’ve confessed and received forgiveness, the enemy often twists that conviction into accusation. Instead of prompting repentance, guilt becomes a prison. 

 

You know the voice: You’re not really forgiven. God’s done with you. You’ve gone too far this time. 

 

Those lies have destroyed countless lives. They sound spiritual, but they’re not. Scripture tells us that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Conviction leads to restoration; condemnation leads to despair. The difference lies in what we do next. 

 

When guilt drives you away from God, it’s toxic. When it drives you toward Him, it becomes grace. 

 

The God Who Cleanses, Not Cancels 

David didn’t try to manage his guilt with good deeds or pious words. He asked for something only God could do: “Create in me a clean heart.” The Hebrew word for create here is the same one used in Genesis 1 - it means to bring something into existence out of nothing. 

 

David wasn’t asking for a tune-up. He was asking for a miracle. 

 

And that’s exactly what God offers us in Christ. When we confess our sins, we don’t get a partial pardon; we get a brand-new heart. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead breathes life into our spiritual failures and makes us clean again. 

 

That’s not sentiment. It’s Scripture. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jonn 1:9). Notice that last phrase: all unrighteousness. Not some. Not most. All. 

 

God Walks Beside You

Some of the most important healing I have ever done happened in seasons where I could barely move forward. I thought I was failing. I thought I was too slow. I thought God was disappointed with me for not being the strong one.

But He didn’t rush me.

He met me in the middle of my shaking hands and tired bones. He walked beside me at the pace of my slow, trembling steps and called that progress. He whispered that every small breath, every tiny decision to keep going, every moment I chose Him instead of giving up was already a victory.

And maybe you need to hear that today. Maybe you are taking baby steps and calling them nothing. Maybe you are breathing through pain no one knows you carry. Maybe you are trying again after days where you felt like you were sinking.

God sees that as movement. God sees that as courage. God sees that as progress.

You don’t have to sprint for Him to stay. You don’t have to be unbroken for Him to love you. You don’t have to be healed for Him to call you His.

He will walk at the pace of your healing and never once shame you for the time it takes.

“He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber.” - Psalm 121:3

Provided by "Little Sparrow Loved"

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"I want you to learn to be joyful always by connecting your Joy to Me first and foremost. One way of doing this is to remember that I love you at all times and in all circumstances. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, My unfailing Love for you will not be shaken. So don’t give in to the temptation to doubt My Love when things don’t go as you would like or when you have failed in some way. My loving Presence is the solid rock on which you can always stand - knowing that in Me you are eternally secure."

- "Jesus Always" by Sarah Young

Scripture: Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 (NKJV)

The Danger of the Drift

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,

so that we do not drift away.”

Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)

Sitting at the beach, I watched my grandnieces ride the waves. Wade out. Ride in. Wade out. Ride in. The water came in to the shore at a wind-driven angle, so each time, the waves carried the girls just a little to the left. Then a little more. Then a little more.

I watched as the ocean spilled them further down the beach with each ride. They were oblivious to the potential danger of drifting away from the safety of where they began, but finally I walked down shore and waved them back to where our family was.

Like the girls’ subtle, slow drifting, we can be happily riding the waves of everyday life when one unwise decision spills us back onto the shore a little left of where we started. Then the next poor decision takes us a little left of that one …

Before we know it, the tide has taken us far from the safety of where we were once planted in God’s Truth, and we struggle to find our way back.

Hebrews 2:1 warns us about this: “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

The Greek word for “pay the most careful attention” is prosechein, which also means "to give heed, to be cautious, to devote oneself." We’re called to pay attention because the progression of one small temptation can lead to one wrong decision, and then another wave can lead to another wrong decision, which takes us further away from the intimacy we crave with Jesus.

For instance, if I don’t pay attention to what I’m watching on TV, I’m more likely to view something slightly offensive. Then I might watch something more offensive next time, and if I keep drifting, it becomes difficult to imagine Jesus watching beside me on the sofa.

Sometimes we ride so many waves that Jesus seems distant or far from view. But here are two words that bring us back from the drift: repent and return.

To repent means to have genuine remorse, turn away from sin, and go back to God. When we repent, God forgives: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And “all” means all.

Oh, friend, I want you to envision Jesus standing on the shore of where you are right now. He’s waving for you to come back to His safety - just as surely as He waved Peter to the shore even after he denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62; John 21:1-25). Christ is always waiting to lead us back to intimacy with Him, no matter how far we’ve drifted.

Heavenly Father, help me recognize when my decisions could cause me to drift in my relationship with You. Thank You for standing on the shore and always welcoming me home when I repent and return. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Sharon Jaynes
(Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries")

Scripture: Proverbs 4:23

 

Music: "My Heart"

Lord Help Me..

There are days when strength runs out… and all you can do is whisper, “Lord, help me.”

And that whisper is enough.

My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

God isn’t asking for perfection,

He’s asking for surrender.

Let Him be strong where you can’t.

- Provided by "Word Of Encouragement"