When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. - Psalm 94:18-19
Dear Heavenly Father,
I've often called to you from the quicksand of trouble and begged for relief and help. I recall so many times that you have come to my rescue. You sent someone to help me or console me. You gave me answers and cures and help from various places. You quieted my anxious heart with your promise to save. Here I am living thousands of years later than the psalmist and I feel what he is saying. You are there for your children. But I need this word because I can't see you, hear you or touch you with my senses. It's spiritual, deep in my soul. But there the word, restores my inner peace. You love being my God and Savior. I know one day you will send angels to gather me to yourself. My end here will be my beginning there with you. I cling to that promise in my most fearful moments. If it's not too much to ask, please Lord, right before you take me to glory, let me see your angels that come for me so in that most epic moment I won't be alone to face the leap over the canyon between earth to heaven.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
God always delivers his people one way or another. He cannot abandon his own.
Romans 8:32
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:32
Dear Heavenly Father,
Worry is a constant companion that begs to talk to me. I try not to listen to her, but she keeps blabbing in my ears that I need to be concerned about this or that all the time. Often I get the best of her with a bible passage about how you take care of us, but like a dog she goes away for a little while and comes right back to her pestering ways. She dogs me to think long and hard about scenarios that never happen and about possibilities for disaster. This verse you have given me puts worry in a kennel. You gave up your only Son for me, therefore you will give me the health, wealth, and safety I need. If you allow some struggle it will not be because you decided to quit. It will be for my good, the good of others and for the greater story to be completed. I will not worry. I will believe. In that strength I face the day.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
God committed himself to loving us when he sold out his Son. He will never renege on that contract.
Titus 2:15
Do not let anyone despise you. - Titus 2:15
Dear Jesus,
What a powerful little phrase you gave the young pastor, Titus. I find confidence in these verses. I'm easily intimidated by the critique of others. Everyone wants to be liked including me. But your grace and love have strengthened me so I don't need to work at being liked. Instead, I'm free to love others even if it means I do or say something that earns their rejection. I hear your fatherly voice. Don't let anyone despise me. In other words, keep their rejection on the outside of my heart. Only your love and promise to bless are allowed to enter the throne-room of my feelings. They can criticize me but I won;t let their negativity become my own. It can be theirs but not mine. My acceptance of myself is based on your perfect grace.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
When you know who you are to God, you care less about who you are to others.
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. - Titus 2:11-14
Dear Jesus,
I want to think and do the right things for the right reasons. You have given me a new lease on life. But even though I long to do better, I notice that worldly passions are right there with me to tempt me to indulge instead of serve. My downfall happens in my heart long before it is seen in my life. But deep in my heart I appreciate your grace and mercy so much that I will not give up this fight to be eager to do what is good for you. Thank you for being patient with me.
Pastor Don Patterson
Living for God is like loving your best friend, it comes easy when you remember their love.
Proverbs 16:9
In their hearts humans plan their course,but the Lord establishes their steps. - Proverbs 16:9
Dear Heavenly Father,
How you must smile when you watch me plan. You know what you will do with each one. Your way is always better even if I do not acknowledge it right away. I have seen how you bring failure into my plans so you can turn them into your own successes. Thanks for letting me make plans. It's fun. But thanks also for puzzling me with your interruptions. Your control over my life keeps me connected to you in prayer and it makes me cognizant of your tender guidance.
Pastor Don Patterson
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.
Romans 14:8
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. - Romans 14:8
Dear Jesus,
Now that you are my Savior I live for you and only you. You have made me, saved me and you will get me to heaven. I live and die for you. This makes every day more simple, more meaningful and more peaceful. I dedicate this day to your honor. Make it a good day for both of us.
Pastor Don Patterson
Only one fan matters most and he will never stop rooting for you.
1 Samuel 19:4
Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. - 1 Samuel 19:4
Dear Jesus,
I want to be like Jonathan and speak up for my friends when others are speaking poorly of them. I want to learn to stick my neck out for them and help them gain a good reputation in the mind of others. Help me Lord. Help me plant good words in estranged people's minds so they soften their hearts toward one another and learn to get along. Give me the water to put out the flames of gossip that tear down and destroy. Oh Lord, build up your people through me.
Pastor Don Patterson
A friend is someone who will defend your name even when he knows your weaknesses better than your critics.
1 Samuel 18:1
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. - 1 Samuel 18:1
Dear Heavenly Father,
The friendship you created between David and Jonathon is an example for all of us. They had every reason to let jealousy and disappointment separate them. But instead they loved each other as dear friends. They looked out for each other, listened to one another and helped each other make it through life. Make me be a friend like that so I don't foolishly let my disappointments and desires get in the way of being a friend who can be trusted. Break down whatever selfishness is in the way of loving friendship.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
We must first learn to be a friend before we demand friendship from others.
Proverbs 13:20
Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm. - Proverbs 13:20
Dear Jesus,
I have seen in my own life how my friends have influenced me for good or evil. I remember being led by you to make new friends that would help me in my spiritual life. Please help my children and grandchildren to get the truth of this word, so they will choose good friends that will guide them not distract them. More than anything else, make them your friend by pulling their hearts close to you in devotion and prayer. Open their eyes to see wonderful things in your word for their comfort and spiritual strength. Lead them in the paths of righteousness in every relationship they experience.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
One good friend is worth more than a hundred shallow fans.
James 3:17-18
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. - James 3:17-18
Dear Jesus,
Give me this wisdom from above. I cannot produce it on my own. Make me peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Help me see the supreme value of unity and togetherness. Produce this wisdom between others and me. Make it fun and peaceful for us to live and work together. I want to live in the peaceful fruit of righteousness and help others experience it too.
Pastor Don Patterson
Godly wisdom always heals, always helps, always unites.
James 3:13-16
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. - James 3:13-16
Dear Jesus,
I see your brother explaining to us the underlying reasons we have arguments and divisions among us. We are tempted by our vain desire to be right in the eyes of all. We have ambition for being in charge, top dog or simply to have an impact. We want to be right whether we really are or not. It's humbling to think we are dancing with demons while we are getting angry and firing off at someone we are supposed to love. Oh Jesus, come give me a ride home from the dance. Expose my envy and give me the strength to sweep it out of my heart.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Love wins the person before winning the argument.
Matthew 20:24-28
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:24-28
Dear Jesus,
You taught us that greatness is not in ruling and dominating. It's in serving and helping. How counter-intuitive to my natural way of thinking to hear that! But I believe it's true. You are the greatest in my heart because you serve me in the greatest way. Make me a great servant who cares little about recognition. Put a guard over my mouth so I don't remind my family and friends of what I have done for them. Make me forget everything I have ever done for others so I simply focus on them and meeting their needs. Make me a blessing. Give me someone to serve today and the wisdom to be great in serving them.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Great people don't usually know they are great.
Matthew 20:21-23
“What is it you want?” he asked.
The mother of James and John said to Jesus, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." - Matthew 20:21-23
Dear Jesus,
How patiently you redirected the conversation. They asked the wrong question and so they would have received the wrong answer had you answered them. So you asked them a better question, "Can you live a sacrificial life like me." What a silly answer they gave. The said they could and without you they couldn't. So, at first they ran from you to avoid suffering. But then later they lived and died as martyrs for grace. It's just like us; we want the glory but not the guts. We want the ease but not the pain of love. We want to win but we don't want to struggle. We want to be served but not to serve. But you serve us still and save our souls and then lead us by the hand into the selfless life, that is; the full life that is selfless. The only way to live selflessly is to be void of thoughts about reward. You call us to let go of our carnal craving for praise and to lose ourselves in the joy of sacrificial love. Oh Jesus, wrench my heart free from my love for self and make me a happy servant.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
People who worry about places in line have no place for joy in the grace of giving.
Matthew 20:20-21
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” - Matthew 20:20-21
Dear Jesus,
How easy it is for me to see the vanity in others ad over look my own. It was audacious for James and John's mother to ask that her sons be elevated with you in eyes of the whole universe. But I know deep down that by nature I am the center of my universe too. I value an experience as good or bad by how it serves me and then my closest loved ones. I ponder most often how I can get ahead and not how I can get behind and serve. I want grace and forgiveness for me but too easily withhold it in my heart from others. I'm embarrassed that I want what that mother wanted for her children. Forgive me for wanting to be king of my life and king in front of others. Give me your servant's heart that is lost in self forgetfulness. Make me a servant today who leaves the selfish brat in the closet.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Hurt feelings and vain boasting are the heads and tails of the coin called self intoxication.
Matthew 20:17-19
Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" - Matthew 20:17-19
Dear Jesus,
My friends and me are addicted to finding some meaning in life that serves our own desire to gain more, live more comfortably, get more attention and impress others with our great works. But then there's you. You were committed to dying for us so we would be preserved forever, saved from our own sins. You "looked forward" to the great gift that would cost you everything. The terrible way your life would end was the big thing for which you lived. Because you knew you'd pass through it and then I would be free forever from the condemnation I keep earning through my waywardness. You have freed me forever from my dead end. Thank you for making my life last so I too will pass through death, just as you did.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Your life has meaning because it means everything to God.
Psalm 147:3
God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. - Psalm 147:3
Dear Heavenly Father,
I have been brokenhearted about several things in my life. In time, with the strength of your word and people who knew how to love, you have healed my brokenness. I know I will be broken again and you will heal me then too. Your promises are my cell companions when I am confined to my hurts. I cling to them and let them speak to me. They are like a light gleaming through the small window at the top of the cell. Thank you for being the God who heals our hurts. Make me a healer of hurts too.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
God knows how to heal a broken heart. He healed his own first.
Colossians 2:6-7
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. - Colossians 2:6-7
Dear Jesus,
That phrase, "overflowing with thankfulness" both confronts and encourages me. I hear my complaints and whining more than anyone else. But I know others are plagued by negativity too. It's a spiritual breakthrough when I catch myself before I grouse. Give me that breakthrough today! I want to be truly thankful deep in my heart so it overflows and is not forced. Only you and your grace can create that. Make me thankful Jesus in all circumstances.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Our hearts have eyes that sometimes need the lenses of grace in order to see the blessings in all circumstances.
Colossians 2:2
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, - Colossians 2:2
Dear Jesus,
I love it when Paul tells us his motives were that people be encouraged in heart, united in love and growth in understanding of you. Too often I have more pedestrian goals for my family and church; like attendance, and conformity and progress on projects. How shallow! How worldly! But to want them to grow in love, unity and spiritual understanding- that guides my leadership in a much deeper direction. It makes me prepare to teach them in their hearts more faithfully. Help me grow in these areas first. Use your Word to take me to new spiritual heights, So, from there I can teach others.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Through his word, God restores us to his own likeness and reverses the fall.
Hebrews 11:32-40
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. - Hebrews 11:32-40
Dear Jesus,
Your list of Old Testament saints that endured terrible persecutions in this world is very humbling to me. The endured the loss of everything, even their lives for the sake of their faith in you. I on the other hand live in a country that protects my religious freedom, allows me to spread and defends my human rights. Thank you for the blessings of my country and give me the faith and love to use this freedom to lead others to you instead of fritter away my time on only selfish pleasures. Drive the luke-warmness out of my heart and kindle in me a fire that cannot be quenched.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Freedom brings with it the responsibility to shine.
Hebrews 11:31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. - Hebrews 11:31
Dear Heavenly Father,
Now wait a minute God, I know that Rahab lied when she hid those Israeli spies and yet here and in James 2 you commend her. That challenges my pedestrian mind. When I look closely at the story in Joshua I see her faith. She feared you and held on to her 40 year old belief that you delivered Israel through the Red Sea. She chose your people because they were yours. She loved and trusted you no matter what. It was her choice to follow you that made her do anything she felt you wanted even if meant hiding the truth from her king and his men. Give me that faith that makes every decision about you and not me or anyone else.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Faith knows what's right and wrong without a rule-book to quote from.