True Strength

This Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Exodus 23:14-35:9
Matthew 24:29-27:31
Psalm 30:1-33:22
Proverbs 7:24-9:6

Next Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Exodus 35:10-Leviticus 9:6

Matthew 27:32-Mark 4:25

Psalm 34:1-37:29

Proverbs 9:7-10:5

Focus Verse(s): Psalm 31:4
"For You are my strength and my refuge, And for Your name's sake You will guide me and sustain me."

So often in my daily life I forget to lean on God and draw my strength from Him. It is then that I feel weak, overwhelmed and incapable...but when I open my heart, and realize I am drifting, I turn to our Father in prayer and He draws me to Himself and grants me the comfort and refuge I need. God wants to guide us and wants us to rely on His strength to sustain ourselves. If only we could completely let go of our egos which want to "do it all by ourselves" and take all the credit then we could remember this Psalm. Consequently, as we give credit to God for our strength He will continue to build His house through us and will be able to use us more and more to do His will. God has a perfect plan for our lives but sometimes He has to lead us through trials to refine us to be more like Him and through these trying times we can learn more and more to let Him be our true strength. But we have to be willing to humble ourselves to relying fully on God for all things, especially our strength! St. John Chrysostom said, "The Scriptures were not given to us only that we might have them in books, but that we might engrave them on our hearts." I urge you to engrave the above verse on your heart and cling to it in the face of any and all trials which God may be leading you through currently or in the future! Will you please pray with me:

Dear Lord,
I want to be able to truly say as David did, "You are my strength." Please soften my heart that Your spirit may dwell within me that I may let You guide me and sustain me and be my one and only strength and refuge. Lord, I want to thank You for all of Your leaders in Your world, Your countries and most especially in Your churches. Please continue to bless all of them and continue to grant them Your wisdom so that they may lead us, Your people, in the right direction. We also thank You for all of Your soldiers, young and old, present and past and we pray that You please bless and protect them as well as Your families which You surround them with today and always. Father, You alone can heal us, no matter what ails us. Please grant You extraordinary healing, be it spiritual, emotional, physical or mental, to all those in need but especially to Lee, Pam, Jeff, Helen, Larry, George, Karen, Mark & Lynn, Gary, Tim, Jeff, Joy, Ward, Jeff, Mamie's family and all those we each name to You now. God we know that Your will is perfect and therefore we ask that all these things be done according to Your wishes and not our own. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Have a blessed and awesome weekend and week ahead!!!

Love through Christ,
Niki