“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”” - Matthew 8:23-27 Lord, help us to look to You today.  Sometimes in the middle of a storm at sea we become preoccupied with merely surviving. We find ourselves trying to bail out water using a colander of faith and we lose sight of You.  We panic, and just like the disciples in the boat with Jesus, we are overtaken by fear and begin to question if You truly care about what we are going through.  Hard circumstances bring our true beliefs to the surface.  When a struggle is light, it is...

“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” - Job 22:21 Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  Lord, we thank You for Your mercy that is new every morning, for forgiveness and rest.  We thank You for renewed hope and fresh perspective that come with seeking and gaining the mind of Christ.  Lord, we leave behind in yesterday, the offenses of the past.  As You have generously blessed us with clean slate, how could we offer anything less to others?  Teach us to walk worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus (Eph 4:1).  Spare us from temptation (Matt 6:13) and empower us to respond like Jesus when the inevitable daily challenges arise.  Remind us of the wretchedness of our past, that we would be lavish in pouring out grace and mercy on others.   Use us for Your glory.  As we do our work as unto You, provide for our needs - both those we are aware of and those we are not.  And tonight...

“Give us this day our daily bread.” - Matthew 6:11 KJV Father, I never really noticed it before today, but Jesus’ example of a prayer for provision asked for provision for only the day at hand.  Like the provision of manna in the desert, relying upon You to provide each and every day for your provision for us goes against our nature.  We would prefer to squirrel away a large quantity and then rely on our stored provisions to meet our needs instead of putting our daily reliance upon You.   Father, I lift myself and the precious one reading this before You.  Lord, today we ask for eyes to see the cracks in our spiritual foundations, the unsecured doors of our hearts and drafty windows of our morals and values.  Show us the defects of our heart and fragility of faith that lead to a determination to rely on our works and self-sufficiency.  Forgive our desire to accumulate that stems from lack of faith.  Reveal any underlying, faithless hoarding o...

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” - Matthew 5:45 b NIV Sometimes we can’t see beyond the tips of our noses.  While we may have a sense that something is approaching, so often we are taken by surprise and woefully unprepared for what happens.  Only the Father, who is not constrained by time and space (Is 57:15), can see it all and equip us for the challenges that lie ahead.  We need wisdom beyond our understanding, because apart from His help, our choices can lead to regret.  Lord, we don’t want that kind of day.   Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  Lord, I lift my friend before You.  Send Your Holy Spirit to walk with them.  In both sunshine and rain, be their wise counselor and overshadowing umbrella.  Comfort them in disappointment, stress and pain.  Remind them of the truths of Your Word - those verses they have hidden in their heart f...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  “Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.” - Psalm 119:133 Lord, I lift my friend before You.  This morning we submit to You our attitudes and responses.  We ask that the busyness of this life, the drama in our world and even the symptoms in our bodies that cry out demanding a response, would all be met with attitudes, words and actions befitting a child of God.  We bow down before You and ask You to be Lord of every part of us.  We declare Your sovereignty, that nothing in us would be left unsubmitted.  We cannot do it on our own, or we would have long ago.  We rely on You to do a supernatural work within us.  Have Your way in us, Lord!  Show us how to partner with You, that we might enjoy the taste of victory over sin.  Alert us to the temptation to indulge in anger, so we won’t give the enemy a foothold (Ephesians 4:27). ...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” - Ephesians 4:31-32 Lord, I have seen such a great amount of unkindness lately.  Cruelty really.  Harsh words inflict wounds and then stick like Velcro to our souls.  Father I lift my friend.  Help them to remember to start the day by ensuring that their whole armor is firmly in place (Ephesians 6:11).  Help them to so fully fill their minds with Your Word that lies will not soak in.  May their hearts be so full of hope and love, that fiery darts will not penetrate.  Help them to believe the best of others (1 Cor 13:7) and assume that any attack came not from hatred, but from a place of brokenness.  I pray their love would cover a multitude of offenses (1 Peter 4:8), and that they wou...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,” - 1 Samuel 15:22 a CSB Lord, I pray for my friend as they sleep.  Father, remind them that there is nothing they can do to make you love them either more or less.  Your love is unearned, permanent, unchanging and unshakeable (Eph 2:8-9, Heb 13:8).  They do not need to perform to gain Your approval.  When they have accepted forgiveness and the gift of salvation through Jesus, they are covered by the Blood (Rev 4:14).  Then, when You look at them, their every mistake becomes as if it never happened (Heb 8:12), because when You look at them, You see Jesus.  You see their first day, last day and every day in between.  Knowing it all, You declare that they have a future and a hope.  You created them, and as such, it is your right to ...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “Don’t allow us to be tempted. Instead, rescue us from the evil one.” - Matthew 6:13 GW Lord, we all struggle with self medicating in one form or another - whether it is food, drugs, sex, gossip, shopping, alcohol, video games, coffee, fantasy...the list goes on and on.  Even healthy things, like our own families, can become an idol that we crave more than we do You.  Most of us have at least one of these hooks in our mouths — foreign gods that we turn to for comfort instead of the one, true God of all comfort.   Father, I lift up my friend.  Together we lift up our country and our world.  It is so distressing to see the violence, selfishness, unrestrained lust and greed that are so pervasively and shamelessly flaunted.  As it was in the days of Noah, (Gen 6:5,11-12) we revel in our debauchery, and those in greatest decay are celebrated and held in highest regard.  Lord, deliver ...

DANCING WITH DADDY - A Prayer For the Reluctant Dancer In All of Us “Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.” - Psalm 149:3 Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and three steps back — this awesome, sometimes awful and seemingly arbitrary dance that we call life.  We step on toes, trip and fall and make the most graceful of leaps only to land and split a seam in the most embarrassing of places.  While we are provided with instructors along the way, the style and level of skill of each teacher will vary from season to season.  And even the most rapt attention to detail will not translate to skill by simple observation.  Apart from effort, earned blisters, bruises and beads of perspiration glistening on our brow, we are not dancers, but merely observers.   We fall and get up only to fall and get up again.  With these setbacks, we not only lose our footing, but also our hopes and dreams. ...

CONFESSION: Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!   “While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck them with a very severe plague.” - Numbers 11:33 AMP Father this verse touches at my core.  The children of Israel were in the desert and unhappy with their circumstances.  So, they prayed and asked You for something besides manna to eat.  You sent quail as meat.  Instead of gratefulness, while the meat was still between their teeth they grumbled to You.  Your goodness to provide was met with whining, grumbling and ungrateful spirits.  Your response was that You sent a great plague.  Father, how many plagues in my life are of my own doing?  How much of the disaster and discord in our country and world are the just rewards of ungrateful and rebellious hearts, ravenous unrestrained flesh and indulgence in sin?  Father, fo...

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father! “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” - Mark 13:26 Father, I have read this verse many times - so many times that I have it committed to memory.  This morning You draw my attention to the fact that while I have committed the words to memory, I may have lost the message.  As I read the words, I understand what they say, but with the familiarity comes a complacency and a mundanity that steal from the shocking reality of the message. There will come a day unlike any other day.  We don’t know if we will be working or resting, awake or asleep.  But a day will come that the Father declares is “That Day.”  The Word talks about people crumbling in fear before a mere angel.  I can only imagine that when the clouds break open and we see our radiant Jesus coming in the clouds, that we will experience the ultimate moment of profound awe, wonder, shock, joy, h...