“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
– Psalm 51:12

This is a great prayer whenever you’re struggling! Struggling with the blahs. Struggling with sin. Struggling with discouragement. Struggling with failure. If you’re a follower of Jesus, your struggles and failures don’t define you in God’s eyes. The triumph of Jesus, His holiness, and His righteousness define you. Unfortunately, when you’re in the valley it can be hard to feel or remember that. So pray like David did here…

Pray for God to renew your joy in your salvation. Pray that He would encourage you with the knowledge that your sins have been completely forgiven. Pray that He would lift you up in the confident assurance that He has chosen and adopted you, embracing you in love. Pray that He will give you contentment in knowing that His Spirit lives in you and that you are in ongoing union with His Son, Jesus. Pray that He will refresh your joy in your exalted status in His Kingdom and renew your satisfaction in being able to enjoy fellowship and friendship with Him. In Christ, you are a blood-bought, beloved child of God and co-heir of creation alongside your adopted brother Jesus!

Pray too for God to give you a spirit willing to obey and follow Jesus. Pray for God to break down any stubborn strongholds in your heart, mind, or soul that keep you in sin and interfere with your spiritual health. Pray for God to break down distractions and diversions that hinder your spiritual growth and maturity. Pray for God to strengthen you to do whatever you must to pursue your relationship with Him more fully and walk in step with His Holy Spirit. Pray for God to help you crucify “the works of the flesh” and produce in you “the fruit of the Spirit” – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. #FollowJesus

“Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool,
but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.”
– Proverbs 10:23

We live in a culture that’s turned almost every sin into a joke. Our culture laughs and scowls at the idea that God has standards and that there is an objective, unchanging right and wrong. Right has become wrong and wrong has become right. We have become, by and large, a nation of fools. We think nothing of sin, promoting and celebrating it across every type of media while despising and rejecting God’s way. That is the way of the fool. Reject this path, it leads only to ruin!

For those in Christ, we must never be the fool. Don’t envy the carefree ways of the fools you see, they only lead to suffering now and forever. Understand and appreciate God’s wisdom. It is unchanging. It is always fruitful. It is for you! Take pleasure in living by God’s standards and in obedience to God’s Son, Jesus. Feel God’s love and pleasure and let that lead you to higher holiness and deeper relationship with Him. Choose this path, it leads to unending joy!

Many times each day, you will be offered the choice between the way of the wise and the way of the fool. As enticing or entertaining as the fool’s way looks, find peace, contentment, and happiness in God’s will and way. Always #FollowJesus

“So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.” – Joshua 9:14

At a crucial moment during their conquest of the Promised Land, Joshua and the Israelites made a foolish mistake that remains all too common today. They relied on their analysis and reasoning about the situation rather than seeking God’s input. They’d been told not to make treaties with local groups, but when the Gibeonites claimed to have traveled from far away to make a peace treaty, Joshua was content to just review their fabricated evidence. He and the other Israelites spent absolutely no time in prayer.

Christians often do the same thing today! We can be so sure of our gut, the evidence of our eyes, or our brilliant reasoning that we forget to consult the all-knowing, all-wise God of the universe. Does that describe you? When presented with a difficult decision or complicated situation is your first instinct to start praying about it or do you primarily trust your instincts and ability to sort through the evidence and arguments? It isn’t wrong to carefully look at the data, review everything available, and think about it. However, you must also cultivate the habit of then laying all that before God in prayer. Review Scripture relevant to the situation and see if God’s answer is different from yours, talk to God, and listen carefully.

God can make sense of things that don’t make sense. He can also reveal truths that we can’t see. Whenever you’re presented with an important decision or confusing conundrum, make time for prayer, meditation, and Scripture reading. Don’t be afraid to call time out and take the matter to the Lord. Be confident in doing so. Don’t make the mistake Joshua did and foolishly rely only on yourself and your analysis. #FollowJesus

“And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – Luke 22:44

Can you picture this moment? Can you see your Savior praying in such profound agony shortly before He was arrested? Jesus was praying about what He was about to do for you! In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was praying about the suffering He would soon endure on the cross. He prayed about the physical agony of being nailed to a cross to slowly, painfully suffocate. However, that wasn’t what weighed most heavily on His mind in the light of the full moon…

There in the garden, Jesus was agonizing over the sin He was about to take upon Himself. Your sin – all of it – would soon be on Him. If Jesus is your Savior, then every single sin you’ve ever committed or ever will commit was about to get charged against Him. And He was about to experience every bit of God’s righteous wrath for your sin. Jesus would soon drink the foaming cup of God’s wrath for human rebellion, cruelty, selfishness, greed, and degradation. Your rebellion, cruelty, selfishness, greed, and degradation…

All the sins of all the sinners throughout all of time… That’s what Jesus was praying about in such terrible agony. Alone in the dark, except for the spiritual assistance of an angel, Jesus battled every temptation to flee and save Himself. He battled the temptation to keep His righteousness for Himself rather than giving it to everyone who believes in Him. He battled the temptation to let us simply receive what we deserve rather than the mercy and grace we don’t deserve. In this profound spiritual battle, the sweat poured off of Jesus, thick and heavy like blood. That’s how intense the battle was.

Be glad that Jesus fought that spiritual battle in the Garden! Rejoice that He prayed with such fervency that He overcame it all and could freely and joyfully head toward the cross that made your salvation possible! Rejoice, but don’t forget your Savior praying alone in the night because of you. #FollowJesus

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
– Psalm 50:14-15

It would be impossible to describe how much more concerned God is with your attitude than the appearances of your religion. In this psalm, God reminds us that He doesn’t actually need anything from us. He doesn’t need the sacrifices or services we offer. Elaborate rituals of religiosity don’t impress Him. What matters to God in the practice of our faith is our heart behind our practices. Are we responding to God’s grace, love, and faithfulness with love, thankfulness, and faithfulness?

If you practice religion to try and gain favor with God, stop. Just stop. Trust in Jesus and know that by God’s grace, He already favors you more than you can possibly understand or imagine. God’s love and blessing is given entirely as a gift of undeserved, unearned grace. How you express your faith in worship, praise, discipleship, evangelism, sacrifice, and service to the Lord should entirely reflect the joy, gratitude, and thanksgiving in your heart for what you’ve already received from God through Jesus Christ: love, forgiveness, eternal life, adoption, union, salvation, transformation. If it doesn’t, what are you doing? What are you trying to accomplish?

The Great Commandment says to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. That certainly includes worshiping regularly and sacrificial giving to His Kingdom, but don’t do those things to “get right” with God. Do those things because God has already made you right with Him through Jesus Christ. Let your heart and mind overflow with thanksgiving and joy. Give that up to God in every way you can think of. Be faithful and obedient to Him, not out of fear but out of love and gratitude.

As you understand and embrace God’s grace, responding to it with worship, faithfulness, love, and thanksgiving, then your prayers will increasingly align to God’s will. He will hear your requests with delight and respond with blessing. He will be with you through every trial in life and ultimately deliver you unto Himself to enjoy His presence forever and ever. #FollowJesus