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Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. — Ephesians 5:15-16 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Even though we are God's holy children, we also need to be aware of the time it is in our world. The evil one still exercises his control over the hearts of many people. Temptations abound. Evil people seek to distort the truth and malign the way of God. Our Father in heaven wants us to "make most of every opportunity" - literally, "redeem the time" - making the most of every opportunity we have to touch the lives of others with God's grace, resist worldly temptations, and overcome the opposition of the evil one by the power of the Holy Spirit ( Ephesians 1:17-20 , 3:14-16 ). My Prayer... Give me wisdom, O LORD, to discern the best ways to use my time and my influence to honor you and bless others. Please open my eyes to see the temptations the evil one puts in my path. Please ...

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. — Ephesians 1:4-5 Thoughts on Today's Verse... God wanted us to be His children. That was his plan for us even before the world began. While we cannot be holy and blameless on our own strength alone, God paid the huge price of our adoption into his family through the sacrifice of his Son, our older brother, Jesus. Because of our faith in Jesus and God's grace, the Father cleansed us from our sins and brought us into His family as his sons and daughters. God's motive in doing this? His desire and delight in loving us as his children. Our response? Seek to live holy lives that honor our Father by living his values in our broken world. My Prayer... Loving Father and Holy God, my words cannot adequately express all of my appreciation for your love and grace. I am honored...

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. — Acts 1:8 Thoughts on Today's Verse... God has a plan to reach the world with his grace. We start where we are and reach out to those around us. We then share the story of Jesus with those in our region. Then we reach out and take the gospel all over the world. As we offer ourselves to be used, we also trust that the Holy Spirit's power and presence will go with us. I liken this to skipping rocks on a still pond. Every time the rock touches the water and skips forward, it sends out ripples that ultimately reach every corner of the pond. We see this happen in the book of Acts as the early church lived out Jesus' mission strategy again and again. Go here where you are now. Go near to the surrounding regions. Go far, to the uttermost parts of the world. Now it is our turn to live out this mission, trusting the Spi...

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. — 2 Timothy 1:7 Thoughts on Today's Verse... When we became Christians, Jesus poured the gift of the Holy Spirit into us ( Acts 2:38 ). The Spirit now lives in us, making our bodies into a holy temple where God lives and we worship him in the ways we use our bodies ( 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ). The Spirit also blesses us in many ways. Romans 8:1-39 details many of these ways. We can be courageous even in the face of attack, criticism, ridicule, and persecution because of the Spirit's presence in us ( Acts 4:23-31 ). The Spirit is at work in us to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control ( Galatians 5:22-23 ) as the Spirit transforms us to become more like Jesus ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). The Spirit pours love into our hearts, enabling us to love in supernatural ways ( Romans 5:5 ). The Spirit's presence is our heavenly power source help...

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. — 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Thoughts on Today's Verse... "I'm not sure I can love that person any longer! My supply of love feels used up, my capacity for compassion seems to be exhausted!" Yes, there are times when we feel as if others have exhausted our ability to love, either because their need is so great or because they are unwilling to love us in return. How can we continue to love them? We need a community of love, the fellowship of other believers who will support and love us during our times of spiritual depletion. We need brothers and sisters in Christ who will pray for God to increase our capacity to love and forgive. We need to trust that in response to all of our prayers, God will pour more love into our hearts through his ever-flowing stream of grace, the Holy Spirit bubbling up within us ( Romans 5:5 ; John 7:37-39 ). When our ability to love fe...

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. — 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Thoughts on Today's Verse... The Father of compassion comforts us because we are heartbroken The Father of compassion comforts us because we need a blessing. The Father of compassion comforts us because God loves us. The Father of compassion comforts us so we can comfort others. While each of the above statements is true, the last one is the most crucial. We cannot fully realize true comfort until we receive it and then share it with someone else. Sharing the comfort we have received is that final step in the healing process of grief, disappointment, hurt, and loss. Until we share the comfort we have received, until we pass it on to others, our understanding of God's comfort is incomplete, shallow, selfish, and li...