Jesus Wants You To Know...

"Stop worrying, and listen carefully for My voice. But remember that I speak softly. If your own thoughts are too noisy, you will not hear Me. . . That is why I gave you a special gift - My Spirit inside you. Ask My Spirit to quiet your thoughts so that you can hear Mine. Then sit peacefully in My Presence - letting My thoughts become yours."

"...love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice,

and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life..."

Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)

Excerpt from "Jesus Calling for Kids" by Sarah Young

My Praise Is A Weapon

I lift my voice in victory before the walls even move.

Lord, I celebrate Your power today, knowing that my praise is a weapon that clears the way for Your glory.

My heart trusts in Your promises, and I find such gladness in Your presence.

Father, You are my strength and my song.

I shout to You with cries of joy because
the victory is already mine in You.

I choose to delight in Your goodness right now.

Psalm 47:1
Provided by "Word of Encouragement"

Prayer: Lord, Be My Peace...

Lord, be my peace today, not just in the quiet moments but in the middle of everything.

When the phone rings with unexpected news, be my peace.

When conversations feel tense, be my peace.

When my thoughts begin to race ahead of reality, be my peace.

I know this day may not unfold the way I hope. There may be interruptions, pressures, disappointments, and small frustrations that try to chip away at my calm. But none of them are bigger than You.

You are not surprised by anything I will face today.

You are not anxious about my future.

You are not unsettled by what feels overwhelming to me.

So when I feel my heart tightening, remind me to pause. When my mind begins to spiral, draw me back to truth. Help me breathe deeply and remember that You are near.

Peace is not found in perfect circumstances. It is found in Your presence.

Anchor me in that truth. Let Your Spirit steady my reactions, soften my words, and guard my thoughts. Give me a calm that does not depend on good news or easy outcomes, but on the unchanging reality that You are with me.

You have already overcome the world. That means nothing I encounter today is outside Your authority. Nothing can separate me from Your love. Nothing can shake the foundation beneath my feet.

Help me walk slowly, speak gently, and trust fully.

Let my life reflect a quiet confidence that comes from knowing I am held. Even if the day feels busy, let my soul remain still. Even if challenges arise, let my heart remain secure.

Be my peace in every moment, Lord.

And when this day is over, let me look back and see that You carried me through it all.

Amen.

Provided by "God's Grace"

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

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"I am training you to thank Me not only for obvious blessings but also for situations you would never have chosen - a wayward child or spouse; loss of health, home, or employment. This is counterintuitive thankfulness, and it is possible only to the extent that you trust Me at a deep level. It is also a matter of self-discipline: willing yourself to thank Me even when your circumstances are screaming at you to find a way out.

Though it is wise to look for ways to improve your situation, you cannot force My hand - or My timing. Just keep coming into My Presence with thanksgiving. Your persistent thankfulness may actually provide the long-awaited key I will use to unlock major difficulties in your life. Giving thanks to Me can open doors in ways that transcend your understanding." - "Jesus Today" by Sarah Young

God Is With You

You may not understand why the burdens press so hard or why the world seems louder than your prayers. Yet God sees every tear, He hears every sigh, and He is gently holding you in His presence. Let your mind rest on Him, not on the chaos around you, for He is your peace.

Do not measure your worth by what you accomplish or how others respond to you. God loves you simply because you are His. Bring Him your confusion and your doubts and let Him whisper truth into your heart. When you feel small and insignificant, remember that He is working through you in ways you cannot yet see.

Take a deep breath and feel His Spirit breathe life into your weary soul. God is your refuge, your comfort, your constant companion. When you feel alone, He is closer than your next heartbeat. Trust Him with the parts of yourself you are afraid to show. Let Him transform your fear into faith, your sorrow into hope, and your doubt into trust.

Rest in His love today. You do not need to rush to fix everything or make sense of all the pain. He is enough for every moment and He is enough for you. Walk slowly with Him, trusting that He is guiding your steps even when the path feels uncertain. Let your heart stay tender and open, for His presence is your true home.

Life has a way of wearing you down. The days are long and the nights can feel even longer when you lie awake wondering how things will ever change. Yet God’s presence is not measured by the brightness of your circumstances or the ease of your path. His nearness is not dependent on what you do or how much you accomplish. He is present in the ordinary, the mundane, the unnoticed moments. When you pour a cup of coffee, when you fold laundry, when you take a quiet walk outside, God is with you. When you feel invisible, when the world seems to pass by without notice, God is noticing. Every heartbeat, every breath, every tear is precious to Him.

You do not need to carry everything on your own. The world tells you to be strong, to hide your pain, to keep going no matter how heavy the weight feels. But God calls you to something different. He calls you to rest in Him. He calls you to come as you are, not as you think you should be. He calls you to trust Him with what you cannot fix and to surrender the parts of yourself that feel broken or unworthy. This is not weakness. It is courage. It takes courage to admit that you are not enough on your own to place your burdens in God’s hands and to allow Him to lead you through uncertainty.

Jesus Wants You To Know...

When you share your struggles with Me, I’ll hold you close and fill you with My sweet Peace. You don’t have to pretend that everything is okay. You can be real with Me - and with yourself. Then you can rest in the safety of My Presence, trusting that I understand you perfectly and that I love you with an everlasting Love.

"People, trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems. God is our protection." - Psalm 62:8 (ICB) - "Jesus Always for Kids" by Sarah Young

Life Seasons

Life has seasons where everything feels flat, where nothing seems to bring joy, and those seasons can feel endless. But they don’t define your worth, and they don’t define your future.

Even the people we read about in the Bible had moments like this. David was called a man after God’s own heart, yet he cried, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” (Psalm 42:5). Elijah, after doing incredible things for God, sat under a tree and said he wanted to give up. These were not losers. These were people caught in deep valleys, and God met them there.

Joy isn’t gone forever. Sometimes it goes quiet, buried under the weight of exhaustion, grief, or disappointment. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means you’re in a tender place where God wants to meet you differently. You don’t have to make joy happen on your own. Joy is a gift, and it will come again, even if right now all you can do is breathe and take the smallest steps forward.

Your life is not over. You are not behind. You are not worthless. You are in the middle of a story that God is still writing, even if the page you’re on feels blank. And sometimes, in those blank chapters, He’s planting things you can’t see yet.

If nothing is sparking joy right now, maybe the invitation is not to chase joy but to rest in God’s presence and let Him hold you until joy returns. You are loved, seen, and not forgotten. - Ellie Mont

When God Comes To Heal What Hurts

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 147:3 (NIV)

It was such a small moment - insignificant to most. A little girl was spinning and dancing while her dad smiled and clapped. But as I watched her, a sob caught in my throat.

She was unapologetically herself and so free in her father’s delight. And something about it broke me.

In that moment, I realized I had once been that little girl. But somewhere along the way, I replaced freedom with striving and took on shame in the areas that once brought me joy.

I was surprised by the sadness that hit me, but I knew deep down this wasn’t just a tearful moment. It was an invitation to heal something that had long been hurting.

Maybe you’ve been carrying your own quiet grief.

You’ve learned to ignore it - all those times you believed something was wrong with you when you were left out. Or the pain of carrying a shattered heart that has left you broken. Or perhaps you’re weary of trying to be so faithful yet still feeling so invisible.

Then comes a moment - or a whole season - when you can no longer ignore what you’ve been tolerating. The pain surfaces in a new way. And suddenly, you sense God inviting you to look at it. But how do you even begin?

Oh, friend. You’re not alone. What I’m learning is that when the Lord asks us to step into a season of healing, it’s never to shame us but to restore us.

Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It’s His job to heal. Ours is simply to come. God is committed to restoring every part of us, even the quiet, hurting places in our souls. He is asking us to trust Him with our broken hearts and our wounds.

Healing isn’t always a one-time prayer or a single moment. It’s a continual walk with God, a process of bringing Him what hurts, letting Him replace lies with truth, and surrendering to His timeline, not ours.

Watching that little girl delight in who she was, fully at home in her father’s love, opened a window to the healing God was inviting me to experience. It moved me deeply because in that moment, I remembered that’s still how He sees me. And I realized just how much I missed that version of myself.

Friend, you and I are like that little girl. And our heavenly Father wants us to live in that same freedom.

God is not asking for us to give a better performance but for us to come into His presence. He invites us to walk bravely with Him and let Him do the healing, one step at a time.

Lord, I bring You the pain I’ve learned to tolerate, and I ask You to heal me. I have been hurting for a long time, but I know Your heart for me is always good. Help me take the next step toward You. You are my good Father, and I will keep running into Your safe arms. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Ashley Morgan Jackson
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

The Miscalculation of Joy

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
James 1:2-3 (ESV)

I thought I had it figured out: Walk closely with God, make wise decisions, pray fervently, and then joy will naturally follow.

But instead, I found long waits, unanswered prayers, and moments that didn’t feel joyful at all.

It didn’t add up.

Maybe you’ve been there too. Times of doing all the “right” things - being faithful, serving, consistently praying - but joy still feels distant. You start wondering: Where did I go wrong? Shouldn’t things be different?

That’s when God gently interrupted my thinking with a truth I’d overlooked.

I had been measuring joy by how comfortable life felt. I didn't think of it as something that could exist in the middle of the struggle. But then James 1:2-3 came alive to me: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

“Count it all joy … when you meet trials.” Not just when things make sense. Not just after prayers are answered with a breakthrough. In all of it. Even the hard stuff.

James wasn’t saying trials are fun - he was saying they’re meaningful. They’re not wasted. God uses them to strengthen and refine us. He gives us more than fleeting joy - it’s the kind that lasts.

At first, I wrestled with this. I wanted joy to come after the hard part. But then I remembered what Nehemiah 8:10 says: “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (ESV). True joy doesn’t depend on how life looks - it’s rooted in knowing God is with us, even in uncertainty.

Galatians 5:22 reminds us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. That means God grows it in us. We don’t have to fake it or force it. And often, that growth happens in quiet, unseen, less-than-joyful places. When we love those who are hard to love. When we trust God without knowing the outcome. When we choose to keep going with heavy hearts. When we do these things, heaven notices.

If joy feels out of reach, it doesn’t mean your faith is broken. It might just mean God is growing some deep and lasting fruit in your heart. Abide in Him. Trials aren’t proof He’s abandoned you; they’re part of how He cultivates your endurance.

A farmer plants, waters, and waits. He doesn’t see results right away, but he trusts the process. I’m not a farmer, but I know what it’s like to stare at the ground of my circumstances and wonder if good can grow from this.

Yet even in the wondering, the joy God gives is steady, rooted in His presence and not in perfect circumstances. Let's keep pressing forward. God is working in our struggle.

Joy isn’t a finish line - it’s fruit that grows as we walk with Jesus.

God, when I miscalculate joy by measuring it through ease and comfort, remind me that true joy is found in Your presence, even during trials. Help me see the fruit of deep joy that You’re growing within my heart. Strengthen my trust in Your process. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Jackie Smith-Bell
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

Jesus Wants You To Know...

I am the firm Foundation on which you can dance and sing praises and continually celebrate My Presence - just as you long to.

"You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." - Psalm 16:11

- "Jesus Lives" by Sarah Young

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"Come to Me, and I will ease, relieve, and refresh your soul. Approach Me confidently, dear one, knowing that I have perfect understanding of you and everything that concerns you. Tell Me your troubles candidly; let the Light of My Face shine on them and illuminate your thinking. Then rest with Me, slowly inhaling the beauty of My Presence. You can feel safe and secure in My everlasting arms. As you spend precious time with Me, let Me ease and relieve your soul."

The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, And will say, ‘Destroy!’' - Deuteronomy 33:27 (NKJV)

- "Jesus Always" by Sarah Young

Prayer: Grace To Get Through It All

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"Look carefully for evidence of My working in your life circumstances. Do not grow weary in your waiting; trust that indeed I will hear you. In fact, I always hear your prayers - and also the Spirit’s groanings for you which cannot be uttered. Believe that I am with you in the midst of your circumstances and that I am working on your behalf. Breathe in deep draughts of My calming Presence; fill yourself up with My Peace."

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." - Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

- "Jesus Today" by Sarah Young