Take a deep drink of living water

You have a role in maintaining a healthy mind and heart. Invite God to help you guard the wellspring of your soul.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Father God, I confess that I have not paid enough attention to what is going on in my heart and mind. I realize I have not been guarding my heart and what has been bubbling up from my wellspring is often fearful and negative.

I’m sorry for the sour reactions this often causes me to have.

Please help me to be aware of what I allow to settle into my heart. Remind me, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, to guard my heart today. Help me to choose to pay attention to what parades through my thoughts.

Fill me with Your peace and joy, as I trust in You. May the overflow of my heart be filled with the confident expectation that You are with me and You will guide me and help me so that Your name gets all the praise.

I pray this in the name of Jesus, my Savior and my Lord. Amen.

Questions: Have you been guarding your heart? What are some of the results of neglecting to guard your heart?

Searching for meaning to existence? Tell us your thoughts.

“Don’t you know that YOU YOURSELVES are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16)?

Some of the first ways we identify who we are is by our name. As a child, one of the nicknames my parents gave me was Sunshine…that always made me feel special. Then as I grew I retained other identities. When I entered school, I was many times referred to as Bert and Mark’s little sister. When the teachers made that reference, it was never positive because it was always followed up with, “But you are much more talkative than they were.”

In high school, I played the piano for the singing groups and for most every one who sang solos, so people would identify me as the person who played the piano. Time went on; I became a wife, a mom. You get the picture, many times the way we view ourselves comes from external sources. Positive and negative.

My son made the proud and excited proclamation that he loved math!!! This was immediately followed up by his sister calling him stupid. You could see on his face that he was processing that comment. If I like math, I’m stupid….hmmmm. It had an impact on his identity.

So, who am I? Who do I believe? Some ways that others identify who we are, are in fact true. I was quite talkative in school, I was the piano player, however, my son is in no way stupid, as his sister would quite strongly suggest. Who do you seek to confirm your identity? Do you look to what society tells you, what your friends tell you, what your parents tell you? Where do you look in order to confirm your identity? Even sometimes when we look within it’s not positive.

It can be confusing, can’t it? For as many people that would say positive things about me, there are just as many that wouldn’t. Who is right, who is wrong? Is there some truth to all of it? None of it?

Well, as usual for the absolute truth we must go to the scriptures. Here are some things to reflect on when you are having a “beat-yourself-up” day:

1 Cor. 3:16 says: “Don’t you know that YOU YOURSELVES are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” Please read that one a couple of times. If that verse does not have weighty implications, I don’t know what. It begins by saying Don’t you know!!! Wow, don’t you? Read and reflect on that, several times, each time I do it has a greater impact on me.

John 15:5 says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Ok, so we are branch, a part of the vine. We are not alone, we are the branch connected to the vine.

Eph. 2:10 says: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are God’s workmanship, do you think of yourself in that way when others tell you that you have failed? Created in Christ Jesus?

Gal. 4:6, 7 says: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, [Abba, Father].” Not only are we sons of God, but we have God’s Son in us also!

Once again, let me ask who am I, who are you? When the world tells, you any different, when you think any different remember this: YOU are God’s temple with His Spirit IN you, YOU are a branch connected to the ever living vine, YOU are God’s workmanship created IN Christ, and YOU are a SON (or DAUGHTER) of God with His Son living in your heart. God is not a liar; do not accuse Him of that by acting any other way.

“Don’t you know that YOU YOURSELVES are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16)?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: What does God see when He looks at you?

Questions: Where do you look in order to confirm your identity? How do you interpret the comment “you are God’s temple with His Spirit in you”?

Are you making the choice to let anger define your relationships? Talk to us.

The radio played as I drove home sifting through the thoughts of my day. Suddenly a quote caught my attention. I missed who it was credited to but it was good. “No one is born a winner or looser, but each one is born a chooser”.

“How true,” I thought as I maneuvered through the traffic. I was a chooser…in every area of my life. Oh, I may not always choose my circumstances, but I would always be in charge of choosing my responses to those circumstances.

God gently nudged my heart and I began to think about some of the thoughts I was choosing to entertain about circumstances in my day. He reminded me that a response in life always begins with a thought. Some of my thoughts toward people and circumstances in my day were rather negative, critical and impatient. Left alone these thoughts would surely spiral me down and impact my responses in the same way. The choice was mine. God’s Word came to my mind.

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b).
God is so good to remind us that we need to take stock of our thoughts. Thoughts are the seeds in our lives that result in actions and responses. We choose to let them stay or to take them captive and throw them out.

I realized the events of the day were sowing seeds in my mind and heart of things I did not want growing in my life. God used that quote on the radio to remind me that I was a chooser. I knew the kind of responses I wanted in my life and these thoughts would not get me there.

God’s Holy Spirit is our helper. He draws us on to be what we, in our own strength, cannot be. He helps us toss aside the seeds that would bear sour fruit if left unattended.

Where are your thoughts today? Be aware of what you are choosing to dwell on from your day or even your yesterday.

Seeds always grow up and bear fruit. Paying attention to what parades through your mind puts you in a pro-active position. Before thoughts of irritation and frustration grow into angry, bitter roots, choose to ask God’s Holy Spirit to help you take those thoughts captive and to respond to your circumstances with His grace and love and His wisdom.

Father God,
Thank you that You have equipped me with Your Holy Spirit to live day by day. Today I ask You to help me take captive thoughts that will spiral me down and cause me to react in ways I don’t want to. Help me to remember I am a chooser. Where I have neglected to choose in the past and roots have grown that I wish hadn’t, help me to have wisdom to know now how to weed them out. I look to You today to help me tend the seeds that come into my heart and mind and to choose what I will let grow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Questions: Are you paying attention to what parades through your mind? What are you choosing to dwell on? How does your choice affect your actions/your relationships?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

Are you facing a “giant” today? Take this online Bible study to help you.

Get out of here so I can work!  Oh, how we hate distractions and noise, both things that pull our concentration away from the task at hand. In our passage today, the ruler had sought out Jesus and told him his daughter had died, but he believed Jesus could bring her back to life.  “Jesus, come into my house and do the impossible,” he asked.  But the crowds would not believe. It wasn’t until they were turned out that Jesus chose to perform this miracle. Why?  We can only speculate, but I see an analogy here.

There are times I call on Jesus. I want him to come fix my life, or my thoughts, or revive a new spirit within me. I open my heart and ask Him to come in and heal me. Perhaps my spiritual house is full of other distractions – hurt, anger, frustration, pain. The nagging is still in the back of my mind – things can’t change, this is the way it is, why hope? Maybe it is coming from well meaning friends, or the TV, or my own desperation. Maybe these negative thoughts come from a more evil force that trembles at the name of Jesus?

All I know is before I can see Jesus in my life reviving me, I need to clear that ruckus away.  I must give Him control over the situation so I can concentrate on His healing power alone. He stands patiently, knocking on the door of my heart. I am here. Waiting. The beauty of it is I can also see Him helping to clear all the garbage away. His Truth is the broom to sweep away all that doesn’t honor Him.

Can’t you just see Jesus at the ruler’s house calming him, saying it is okay, showing the hecklers the door? Even when we have barely enough strength to call on Him, He will come and do what is necessary to prepare us for His change in our lives.  If you need a miracle, if you need revival, ask Jesus to help you clear away the obstacles that are preventing you from receiving it. It may take time, but His timing is perfect

Question: What have you swept under the rug that you need to get out of your “house”? What do you need Jesus’ help to clear away so you can receive His healing in your life?

About the Author Julie Cosgrove

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30am EDT.

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18,19).

Why do we have such a hard time accepting God’s love? We often use the wrong measure in evaluating God’s love. We ask, “If God really loves me, then why is this happening to me?”

A young girl wasn’t sure if her boyfriend really loved her. She picked a daisy and began picking off the petals, chanting, “He loves me…he loves me not.” Silly, isn’t it?

Wayne Jacobsen, in his wonderful book, He Loves Me!, writes “How we play the daisy petal game with God”. (1)

I got a raise. He loves me
My investments took a terrible hit. He loves me not
Something for which I prayed actually happened. He loves me.
My car needs a new transmission. He loves me not.
The medical tests were negative. He loves me.
The doctor says there is no cure. He loves me not.

We cannot measure God’s love using our circumstances. It’s the wrong measure. When you are baking a cake you use measuring cups and measuring spoons, right? What would happen if you decided to use a ruler instead?

If circumstances are the wrong measure of God’s love, what is the right measure?

The Cross of Jesus Christ

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1John 4:9,10).

Dear God, thank you, that You are always acting in love towards me.

Question: How can you remind yourself that God loves you the same on bad days as on good days?

(1) Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me! Windblown Media, copyright 2007

About the Author Helen Grace Lescheid

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, You Cannot Outgive God, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

It’s easy to be negative about it. That calendar flips over and suddenly humanity swells with good intention. Intention that rarely ever sees February.  But maybe this year, instead of making a top 10 list of vague resolutions – lose weight, pay off debt, quit smoking – you could sharpen your pencil, get real, and ask yourself one question.

What is it that I want?

You want to play guitar, swim off the island of Santorini, Greece, help protect leatherback sea turtles or learn Spanish? Well how much do you want it? Because you are the only one who can take the necessary steps to make it happen. You can decide to do these things on any day of the year, but what better time than at the brink of a fresh, clean slate.

Instead of moping about new year’s resolutions, take some advice from H.L. Hunt,

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.”

What’s on your list of things you want to accomplish, places you want to see, people you want to meet? Are you trying to tackle that list proactively or are you whining at the thought of resolutions?

Image credit: moni

But when I read this Q + A with Michelle Obama, wife of senator Barack Obama, it reminded me of the greater accomplishment that seems to have been buried at the starting line. As Michelle was snuggling with her 2 young girls the morning after Barack was officially named the Democratic nominee, she asked them if they knew how big a deal it was.

“Malia, who is 10, said, “Yes, because African-Americans couldn’t even vote for a long time.” And then she said, “But it would have been a big deal if Hillary Clinton had won. Because women couldn’t vote for a long time, either.” I thought, They get it. This election has changed everything for girls like mine. Now they know that they really can do anything.”

As much as I can’t wait for it to be over, it is historical. This election has defined our times and at least some fundamental good will definitely result regardless of who wins.

What are you taking away from this presidential election? How do you feel as the Obama and McCain campaigns wind down?

To read more political Q + A’s, see GQ’s list of articles titled “What they’re fighting for“

Image credit: Kyle Wegner