“Do not be conformed (pushed into its mold) to this world, but be transformed (metamorphosis) by the renewal (renovation) of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, ESV).

We choose every moment of every day to either become more like God (transformed mind), or more like the world (conformed mind). 
Conforming is like the many Jello molds that decoratively lined the walls of my mom’s kitchen growing up. She had all kinds of shapes and sizes. Simply pour the liquid Jello mix into the mold and the Jello takes the form of the mold . . . BINGO! You have green Jello that looks like a fish. 

Transformation is quite a different thing. It is the inner change that happens from the inside out. It’s a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Transformation happens in your mind when you take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). This means evaluating your thoughts for truth by comparing them with the Bible. If you have “stinkin’ thinkin”, reject the thought and replace it with the truth. For example, you might think that you cannot afford to tithe. Transformation means replacing that thought with the truth of Scripture—Malachi 3:8-12, for example. Your mind will not be transformed if you are not spending time learning from God in His Bible.

This is also how you learn to know the will of God as Romans 12:2 suggests. The renewal of your mind allows you to test and discern the will of God. The phrase “test and discern” is one word in the Greek (dokimos) that means to authenticate something like you would a rare coin. A transformed mind is necessary in order to understand the will of God as 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 indicates, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them . . . But we have the mind of Christ.”

“The Christian does not think God will love him because he is good, but that God will make him good because He loves him.” –Martin Luther 

Describe how you can begin to move from conformed to transformed. What is your plan for being in God’s Word on a daily basis?

Dave Samples

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1, ESV).

In this first verse of Romans 12, Paul begs the church in Rome to see their physical existence as something to be sacrificed to God. All that I am, all that I possess, all that I believe, and all that I do—sacrificed to God. For us it means—this day, this hour, this minute, this moment in time—we give it to God. It is holy—set apart to Him. It is acceptable—pleasing to Him. We give our time, our talent, and our treasure. We give our families, our jobs, and our friendships. We give our sin, our righteousness, and our struggle to love God more than we love ourselves. We give our likes, our preferences, and our comfort. We give our judgments, our criticisms, and our complaints.

This is our spiritual—Greek word: "logikos” (meaning reasonable and logical) worship. In light of the Gospel and the teaching of Jesus, this kind of on-going self-sacrifice makes obvious sense. The word “worship” used here refers to the daily work of the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament. We can understand this phrase to mean then, that our work as New Testament Kingdom Priests is a work of sacrifice—laying down our lives for the benefit of the Lord, the Kingdom, the Church, and the broken and bruised among us.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Describe a time when you gave yourself as a living sacrifice. What’s one specific thing you can do at TBC to demonstrate this verse?

Dave Samples

Come near to God, and He will come near to you. The connection you have is more than ritual and religion. It is not a list of requirements and a checklist to fulfill. What you have is a relationship and bond with the LORD God Almighty. What you have is friendship and fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. What you have is an anointing and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit within you and on your life and on your days and on your eternity. If you have believed and surrendered your heart to Christ, then you know, you know, that He is in your life and is your life. You know that you dwell with your God and that He dwells with you. And there is no space or time or distance between you. But with every bit of effort and strength that you can muster, draw nearer; draw nearer! You have the ear of the LORD, your Father and Friend, your Savior and Counselor, your Protecter and Redeemer and Rescuer, your Helper and Healer, your Lord and Master and King. Your caring and loving and understanding and forgiving Confidant. What you say and cry out and shout and whisper and sing and groan, with words and tears and silence, with joy and anger and angst and fear and praise and pain, He hears; and He knows; and He cares! He gathers each utterance of your heart and soul, and He cares! Cast all your cares upon Him. Hold nothing back. Let neither doubt nor shame stop you. Let your heart embrace Him, and let Him embrace you! Be still and know that He is your God! And find rest for your weary soul. Today and every day.

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?  --- Deuteronomy 4:7

Father, although I am wood and clay and not worthy to be noticed, I will serve You such as I am. I will serve You in whatever capacity I can. I will serve You with whatever strength and ability that I have. I am weak and unwise, but I am Yours. Help me to go beyond myself. Help me not to look at myself but to look at You. Help me to serve and to work and to walk as You see fit. Let me be a clean and noble and useful vessel. Let me be Your good and faithful servant. Let nothing dissuade or deter me. Let me not be fearful or burdened or weighted down or distracted and slowed by multiplied cares and the world’s concerns. Please take away the confusion and blindness and crippling thorns and constant noise of discouragement. I am Yours to be bold in Christ and to be led by the Spirit and to be filled with the Word. Help me to not let You down. Help me not to grow weary. Help me to stand up and to press on. Help me to fight the good fight and to run the race and to keep the faith. My heart holds on to You. If I can do nothing else, my heart holds on to You! Father, please help me! Please help this simple vessel to hold Your power and love and strength. Hold me and help me! I trust You. I trust You. Help me to trust You and serve You. Hold me and use me for Your purpose. Please, may I not fail You! Please, may I be a small stroke in Your masterpiece! In Jesus’ name, amen.

In a great house there are vessels not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. --- 2 Timothy 2:20-21

What are you looking for, and what do you find? And how do you conduct yourself? How do you arrange and order and conduct your life? What is the framework and condition and continuity of your way of living? What are the building blocks? What are your standards and laws and precepts and guidances? And do you meet them; do you follow them; do you cling to them; do you live up to them? Are you tested and tried and true? Are you obedient and faithful and loyal? Are you dedicated and determined and devoted? Are you resilient and resolved and ready? Have your zeal and your energy and your focus been for Christ? Have you believed the truth and the mercy and the grace? And have you held on to the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and God and King? Have you recognized that you have been bought with a price and are no longer your own? And no matter how many times you have faltered and failed and fallen, have you cast down the condemning lies of the world and come back in repentance and supplication and humbleness and received the forgiveness and strength and love that God has for you, His unending and unfailing and unlimited compassions that are yours every day? Are you living with that trust and peace? Are you living with that assurance and security? Are you living with that fortitude? Are you firmly planted and cognizant and thankful and relieved in the presence of God?

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is.  --- Amos 5:14

Stand firm; stand firm! Be about God’s business. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. In all things, with all people, in every situation, seek the Lord and bring the Lord and trust the Lord and obey the Lord and give thanks to the Lord. Let your vain imaginings be dispersed; let your fear and anxiousness be stopped; let your wicked ways be dropped; let your stubborn will be broken and redirected and fixed. And let the world’s ways not be your character. Let not conformity or appeasement or tolerance for evil or acceptance of perversion and deception enter your heart or your life. The Word is within you --- there is no room for the wiles of the world. Good does not compromise with evil; light does not compromise with darkness; sweet does not compromise with bitter. Jesus Christ is your life! And the truth is your guidance and guardian and treasure. And the hope and joy and strength that hold you and make you and sustain you are your knowledge and wisdom and message and song. And your soul sings! Your soul sings! And the goodness and kindness and gentleness and love and joy and patience and peace and self-control that have come to you are your vision and pronouncement and practice and personality. You overcome everything through Christ who is your power and purpose and glory. Do not be afraid; do not be weary; do not give up or give in and give out. Stand tall; stand firm; stand strong! Your flesh and your heart may fail, but God is the strength of your life and your portion forever!

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  --- 1 Peter 3:13-17

In your living is your witness. You are praying and preaching and proclaiming Christ in everything that you do --- every word, every deed, every thought, every plan, every action and reaction. And are you proclaiming properly and truthfully? Are you showing Christ without messing with the message? Or are you involved in a wild game of “telephone” where the wording ends up garbled? The world is waiting to see and to criticize and to condemn. But you have the Word of the LORD in your heart. You have help; you have the Holy Spirit within you. How do you speak? How do you live? How do you walk? How do you interact? How do you love? How do you give? Do you think before you speak? Is there wisdom in your words? Is there wisdom in your silence? Is there compassion in your touch? Is there peace in your endurance? Is there calm in the chaos? Is Christ evident in your broadcast and even in the mirror? What does the world see, and what do you see, and what does God see? Are you witnessing without ceasing --- and without embellishment and without tarnishment? Be still and listen! Be still and hear! Be still and obey! And let the majesty and wonder and holiness and purity and strength shine through. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And don’t beat yourself up. Even in your imperfection, Christ can shine through! When you are weak, He is strong! Trust! Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, in everything and for everything, and He will direct your paths and make them straight. And your witness and your words and your life will shine through.

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect for everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.  –- 1 Peter 2:15-17

You have a direction; you have a calling of the heart; you have a path that points the way. And in this focus and funneling, you are taught and trained. You are prodded and prompted. You are enlightened and encouraged and equipped. The Word has brought you toward holiness. Association and fellowship with His witnesses have given you drive. The Spirit has reinforced your knowledge and conviction. And Christ is taking your hand and leading you and showing you and strengthening you for the way of righteousness. Christ is taking you into obedience to the Father; Christ is taking you into the wisdom of worship; Christ is taking you into the respect and reverence and awe and wonder and fear of the LORD. And walking in trust and obedience and zeal and eagerness and perpetual persistence becomes not just theory, but practice and purpose. It becomes the hunger of your heart. It becomes the seal and sign of your soul. It becomes the fullness of who you are, because you are in Christ. You are living and learning and loving in the presence of God. This is the life that is meant to be. Your fellowship and foundation are Christ. Your commands and counsel are Christ. Your determination and devotion are Christ. Your power and plans are Christ. Your life is a song and sacrifice and celebration to Christ. You yearn and strive and seek and work and fight and endure and abide and love and rejoice for Christ. You are known and acknowledged in Christ. That is your heart and mind and soul and the company that you keep --- and the Company that keeps you.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. --- 1 Peter 1:13-15

More and more. More and more. Closer and closer. Closer and closer. We seek and seek. We find and find. We ask and seek and knock. God is not hidden from us. God is not far away. And we open our eyes to see that we are not alone. And our hearts find that there is more than our eyes can see, more than our minds can wrap around, more than our souls can know or experience or imagine. And through His power and through His Spirit, the Word pours down upon us like a never-ending waterfall; and in the flood, we taste the beauty of His love. We sense His overwhelming peace that is greater than our cares or emotions or fears. We find our Lord and get to know, really know, that we have a Savior and Deliverer and Redeemer and Friend. We have a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And in asking, we receive. In seeking, we find. In knocking, the door is opened to us. We come to know the One who provides more than we need. We come to know the One who truly knows us completely, every bump and blemish and bruise, and who finds that little light that shines within us, that He nurtures and strengthens and guards. We enter the presence of the Living God who saves us and cares for us and protects us and loves us more deeply and passionately and permanently than anyone else ever could. And this is not just a Sunday thing  --- it is an every day of your life thing; it is a moment to moment thing; it is an everlasting eternal forever thing! Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives! Shout and sing and tell the Good News! We have life! We have life! We have life and truth and peace and love, because He lives!

I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. --- Psalm 119:10-11

How do the days begin? To what do you listen? Where do you direct your attention? Where does your heart start? Is your first thought, is your first action, to bow before God? Is your first conversation, is your first acknowledgement in anything and everything, with God? This day is a gift, and this day is a miracle; do you know where they come from? Do you immediately give thanks? And whatever comes to you, do you stay in prayer and in the Word? In the path that you walk, do you seek His will and His Kingdom and His righteousness? Do you hold onto and seek and mark and study the landmarks and guideposts and maps? Do you acquaint yourself and pour over and memorize the directions? Do you know who is with you, who goes before you, who walks beside you, who guards your six? When the world makes noise and thunders and growls, are your ears hearing and listening to the voice of your Master and His words of truth and wisdom and comfort and courage? Are you eating and drinking and breathing His commands of counsel and correctness and conscience? Are your eyes focused and fixed and founded on Jesus? For you, for you, and for everyone, Jesus Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life; is that your determination and dedication and meditation and proclamation this very morning, this very day, this very tomorrow, this very eternity? For Someone who never leaves you nor forsakes you, don’t ever leave Him; don’t let Him leave your thoughts. You have entered the small gate; and you journey and trek and travel the narrow road. Walk and run and dance with vigor and strength and power. Celebrate and shout and sing with absolute joy. The company you keep is amazing!

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  --- Matthew 7:13-14

In every day and in every way may you have knowledge of and zeal for the will of God. May He encourage you and energize you for the purpose He has for you. Do not think of only some day to come. Prosper in His Word and His will with everything you do. Let your works and your words and your thoughts bring glory and praise to God. Seek His way; seek His will; seek His Word; seek His commands in all things. Take captive of it all in obedience to Christ. Now is the time to know Him. Now is the time to serve. Now is the time to obey. You have been drawn near to God in His love and grace. Now let that love flow from you; let that grace be shown in you. The forgiveness you have, the redemption you have, the salvation you have, are a working masterpiece in your life, the turning point of a heart and mind and soul. Live that good work that is within you. Let that light shine. Let that truth ring out. Let that love and power and victory be who you are in every moment, in every word from your mouth, in every touch from your hand. Be the blessed feet that bring the Good News. Give the cup of cool water to a child. Carry the load the second mile. Be the heart that loves the Lord and loves the neighbor and loves one another. Show through your life what is in your life. Live worthily and wonderfully and wisely. Christ is what makes a life complete. Be a blessing to the world with that life. And be a fragrant offering and praise and delight to the Lord your God.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  --- Colossians 1:10-14

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The stain of sin is washed away. The penalty of death is defeated. And the fullness of God is open to us. His Spirit builds us up, that we may know and understand, that we may have continual fellowship with Christ, that we may see past the world to the glory of the Kingdom. And the Word narrates our days and translates and interprets our steps. And our vision of what lies ahead can be seen and known through Christ. Fear is not the factor of our hearts, of our lives. We have been made strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. We have been planted and rooted and established. We have been taken upward to victory, where Christ stands. Our transgressions died on the cross, so that our lives could be forever with Christ. By His sacrifice we are saved and sanctified. And by His love we are lifted above the darkness, above the noise, above the lies and deceit and discouragement and guilt and shame. God has taken us to His bosom, to His heart, to His present and eternal love. We believe the love; we believe the mercy; we believe the forgiveness; we believe the grace. We believe the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, the only Lord and Savior, who takes away the sins of the world. We believe the heavenly Father who loves us so very much, that He reaches out to every one of us. That is what we know and experience and believe and live.

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And 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, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  – Ephesians 3:14-19

Do we have zeal for Christ? What has impacted our lives so much as this? Does our zeal for His house, for His glory, for His righteousness, consume us and direct us and refine us and define us? Are we excited and energized and eager for Jesus Christ? Do we strive for Christ, to be better and better for Christ? Do we seek to build upon what He has taught us, what He has brought to us, what He has done for us? Do we grow is wisdom and stature and obedience? Do we run with it; do we fight for it; do we keep the faith? Do we put into practice what we have seen and heard and experienced? Are our hearts enthralled; are our minds engaged; are our souls enflamed? Are we immersing ourselves in the Word and in prayer, and are we living the fruit of the Spirit in the world and in our families? Does every relationship we have include Christ? Are every action and thought and word framed in the love of Christ and the truth of Christ and the holiness of Christ? Are our obedience and dedication and allegiance and commitment to God’s commands and standards and call front and center? Are we actively and earnestly and passionately being His chosen people, His royal priesthood, His holy nation, a people belonging to Him? Do we remember each day, in each breath and heartbeat, His forgiveness and mercy and grace, His sacrifice, His pain, His victory, His power, His never-ending and everlasting and infinite love that make and shape and save and guarantee and secure and proclaim our lives? Are we in love with Christ as much as He is in love with us? Let our lives show the love we know!

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, Godliness; and to Godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
--- 2 Peter 1:5-8

Father, please let us be innocent of the world and wise in Your Word! Oh, help us to seek Your face and Your Kingdom and Your righteousness! Let Your Spirit guide us and teach us and remind us and encourage us and comfort us. Let us remember Your faithfulness and compassions that are new every morning. Let us remember how You created the world, how You split the Red Sea, how You provided water and manna and meat, how You took down the walls of Jericho, how You fed the five thousand, how You healed the blind and leprous and lame. Let me remember how in the thunderous tempests You protected our house and barn and car and family from the turbulence and trees. Let me remember how every day You take this trembling heart in Your hands. And You hold me, and You heal me, and You steady me, and You plant me on solid ground. You have always surrounded me, and You surround me still. When my eyes open, I see You. When my ears open I hear You. When my nose opens, I smell You. When my mouth opens, I taste You. When my hand reaches out, I feel You. And when my heart and mind and soul seek You, they find You and know You and praise You! Father, I call upon Your name; I trust You; I trust You! I trust Your love. I trust Your power. I trust Your protection. I trust Your provision. I trust Your patience. I trust Your willingness to reach out to my need. And I trust Your faithfulness and authority and compassion and kindness and mercy to overcome my fear and worry and anxiousness and ignorance and weakness and foolishness. I rest in You; I trust in You; I hope in You; I rejoice in You! Christ shows us who You are every day. Let our prayers be without ceasing. Let Your Word rise and roar and reign in our hearts. And let our obedience to You be our celebration of victory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced, O descendants of Israel His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.  --- 1 Chronicles 16:8-13

Richard Wallace

Be still, be still, my soul! Our ears have known, our eyes have known, our hearts have known, His majesty. The LORD God Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, holds my life. It has been in His hands and His care and His love since before I was born. Through the years and through the fog and through the deserts and through the wilderness, He has known me, and I have known Him. I have seen the grand and the minute that declare His glory, that speak His name, that tell His truth. I have heard the whispers and the songs and the shouts and the cries and the thunders that bring His voice and His Word past the blockades of the world to my hungering and thirsting heart. And I know that I am not forgotten, never forgotten. In this quiet life, I walk with the Lord, beginning to end, and then on and on. My direction has not always been wise, but He has never let me out of His sight. When my feet have faltered, He has run to the prodigal and found the lost sheep and tended the wounds inside and out. He has taken me safely through the floods and the fiery furnace. And I have been able to look past the blinders and the blunders to see His beauty, to see His peace, to see His power, to see His hope, to see His sure and secure and steadfast place and permanence in my soul, in my life, in my eternity. Every day I am brought into His presence, and my heart sings and soars! I know the boundless love and grace. I am blessed because of Jesus Christ! My eyes have seen the Lord! My eyes have seen the Lord!

I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld the power of Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You. --- Psalm 63:2-5

Who are you, and what does your life show? Don’t look in the mirror! That is a pale reflection that you can’t even touch. What does your heart say? What does your heart say to you, and what does it say to the rest of the world? Are you real? Or are you a façade, a mask, a veneer, a pretension and imitation of your own making? What have you let into yourself, and what are you filled with? Are you gilded with glitter and glamor and glitz and illuminated by neon and phosphorescence and LEDs and floodlights? What is the glow about you, and what is the light within you? Moses’ face glowed because He had been in the presence of God. Do you glow? Do you glow? Do you have light beyond this world? Where do you get your energy and excitement and essence? What is skin deep, and what is the content of your character? The leaders of the Sanhedrin recognized by their spirits that the disciples had been with Christ. What is recognized about you? Whose presence are you within? Do you let in the drunkenness of the world and let it fill your spirit? Or are you filled by the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, to the brim and overflowing? Are you filled with the wit and wisdom and knowledge and truth of the Word of God? Do you know the Way and the Truth and the Life? Is there beauty within you? Is there grace within you? Is there holiness within you? Is Christ within you? What do your actions say? What do your words say? What do your thoughts say? What does your heart say? What does your life say? Have you come into the Presence and become a part of the best Way? Is Christ seen and recognized and exalted where you have been and where you are and where you are going? Is the beauty of Christ the beauty of who you are? Let it shine! Let it shine!

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes, but rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.  – 1 Peter 3:3-4

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  --- 1 Samuel 16:7

Father, how often do we listen to You? How fully do we take in Your Word? How completely do we trust in You? How much do we really understand? We know the basics, but do we take in the meat? Do we seek You with all our heart; do we study to show ourselves approved? Do we rightly handle and apply and comprehend the Word of truth? And do we live as Your people, as your good and faithful servants? Do we hear; do we see; do we believe; do we know? Help us not to be weak and shallow. Take us beyond our limits. Connect us to the counsel of Your Kingdom; quicken our hearts; sanctify our souls! We have been given the words of Christ --- help them to meld into us. You have anointed us with Your Spirit --- help us to be attentive to Him. Help our hearts and minds and souls to be open and help us to grow. Help us to rise to the occasion. Let us be lifted above our worldly thoughts and abilities and reliances. Let Christ’s peace that surpasses all understanding fill our consciousness and thoughts and decisions and knowledge and wisdom. Let our hearts believe; let our hearts know; let our hearts trust. And let our hearts joyfully obey. We have heard the world, but we have listened to You! Let Your Word be loud within us! Let Your truth be our native tongue! Let Your promises and Your commands and Your compassion be our understanding of life and living. Let everything about us and everything within us be brought to You. You have said that if we seek You with all our heart, we will find You. Let our lives be that quest! Let our lives be Your peace! Let our lives be prayer! In Jesus’ name, amen.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. --- John 14:26-27

Father, there is a focus in Your presence. How could it be otherwise? And even though the world vies for attention, You are the center of everything. You are the light of lives. You are the source of substance. Minds and attentions wander and scatter. We can easily be chasing squirrels. We can lose track and get distracted and forget what is important. We can get caught up in the world’s obsessions and novelties and trinkets and trifles. The deceptions and lies and enticements and temptations and seductions can easily fill lives with emptiness and emotional chaos and blindness, while becoming traps and snares and pits and chains and prisons. But You have rescued us from the dungeons of darkness and foolishness and evil. You have lifted us from the depths of despair and destruction. You have given us an undivided heart for Jesus Christ. You have opened eyes and ears and minds to the truth, to the light, to the peace, to the power. You have awakened us to Your glory, that we may bask in the glow of this dawn. We have turned from the old to behold the new. And in Your presence, we know what has meaning; we know what is right and righteous; we know what is important and vital and essential; we know Your Word that takes us to Your heart. With our eyes on Jesus, we can step where Jesus steps and see what Jesus sees. And our undivided lives can be lived with You and by You and for You. We see and know and give thanks that we are with You. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. In Jesus’ name, amen.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.   --- Psalm 73:26

Father, every day everything declares Your glory. But our eyes do not always see. Our ears do not always hear. Help us when we do not understand. Please be patient with us when our minds are distracted and clouded. Help us past our blindness of heart. Please hear our prayers; please answer our prayers; please show us Your majesty! Let us experience who You are! Let us know the wonder and awe and totality of You! Please touch our lives, please move our lives, please make our lives, please save our lives, please orchestrate our lives, with Your faithfulness and compassion and love and mercy and power. Take hold of our concerns and worries and troubles and trials, of the wars within and around us, of the pains real and imagined and acute and chronic, and please heal us and help us, please give us the comfort of Your peace, please give us the sanctuary and rest that only You possess, that only You fulfill. Our eyes look for You; our hearts yearn for You; our minds search for You; our souls stop and bow and listen for You. Help us to stand on the sure foundation; help us to be in line with the Stone the builders rejected; help us to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd; help us to humble ourselves and pray and seek your face and turn from our wicked ways; help us to trust and obey and exalt Your Word and commands and guidance, Your love and strength and righteousness, with all our heart, with all our heart. Help us to know You deeply, richly, fully, completely, passionately, personally, persistently. Draw us close and close and closer still. Let nothing be between us. Please. Please. In Jesus’ name, amen.

O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for You. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. At the thunder of Your voice, the peoples flee; when You rise up, the nations scatter.  --- Isaiah 33:2-3

Father, let our start for each day be with You. Let us be still and listen. Let us hear the truth and bring it into our hearts. Let us find wisdom and bear wisdom and share wisdom. Help this to be our morning, noon, and night. The world shouts without thinking, but it does not drown out Your Word to our souls. Your voice whispers and thunders and soothes within us. You dash to the ground the lies of the clueless and the wicked and the enemy. Their constructions of conniving and chaos leave a swath of destruction, but You stop them cold. Again and again, Your truth frees us and lifts us and guides us. You focus our resolve. You steel our determination. You reinforce our conscience and character. You move us to be like Christ. What is tolerated in the world is not accepted in the Kingdom. And we are of the Kingdom. We have been taught and refined and sharpened by Your commands and counsel. We have been trained with the weapons of Your Word. And we are girded in Your armor and surrounded by your fortress and strengthened and nourished and sustained by Your power. And our hearts and minds and souls are set and fixed and enabled in courage and clarity and stamina because we see the face of Christ. We see the endurance of Christ, the eternity of Christ, the victory of Christ. We see You! His banner is always over us, and His truth is always within us. And so, humbly we bow, and boldly we march with You. Help us, secure us, inspire us, lead us! In Jesus’ name, amen.

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. --- Ecclesiastes 9:17-18

Father, You have given us Jesus, and we know the salvation that we have received. We know and believe and trust. And it has become the framework of all of our moments and all of our days. He stands at the head of our lives, and we look beyond the world to Him. We listen beyond the world to His voice and His Word. His peace is in our hearts, and His purpose is in our determination. We know that His forgiveness and mercy are the grace that You have afforded to us, that You have gifted to us. He is our Conquering King and fortress and armor of righteousness. He is the organization and color and taste of this life. He has become our hope and expectation and security for each day. This world is a mess because of our sin. We have seen the fallout and failings and fatalities. But Jesus Christ is our rescue and redemption. Jesus Christ is our renewal and relief. He is the only Life that we have. He is the only Truth that we have. He is the only Way that we have. You have done this in Your love and Your glory. In the beginning was the Word, and now is the Word, and forever is the Word! This love You have lavished overwhelms us and overcomes the world. We bow in awe; we praise in joy; we walk in faith. Your Spirit leads us to Jesus, and Jesus leads us to You. And we follow boldly and obediently and eagerly. We make a joyful noise with our testimony. We declare the Good News. We take our place as living stones on the firm foundation, next to the Cornerstone. We join the heavenly hosts in praise, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and good will toward men!” In Jesus’ glorious name, amen!

He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And He will be their peace.  --- Micah 5:4-5

Richard Wallace

Why do the heathen rage against the Lord? Why do they choose and embrace devastation and disintegration and debauchery? Why do the hordes and masses act like animals instead of people? Why do they defy and deny God and make war against the Savior? Why do they strike out against the people of God and hate them? How can they oppose the power of God and fight against His authority? How can they prefer slavery to sin instead of freedom in righteousness? Why have darkness and arrogance and hatred become their refuge? Why are violence and fury their only answer? Why do they drown in such insanity and senselessness? Why do they call evil good and good evil? Why do they reject the sovereignty and compassion of our Lord and Savior and God? Why do they reject love? Why do they reject healing? Why do they reject forgiveness and mercy and grace? Why do they blindly and ravenously and riotously run toward the sin and evil of Sodom and Gomorrah and toward the wrath that burned them down, when the salvation of Jesus Christ is staring them in the face? God gives them every chance in the world, and God has forgiven us. We are evidence of grace. We are evidence of love. We are evidence of hope and peace and His good will toward men. And He lets our light shine. But sometimes the blind choose to be blind and fall into the pit. And their chance and their time come to an end. May eyes and hearts be opened!

He will bring down your fortified walls and lay them low; He will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.  --- Isaiah 25:12

He humbles those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low; He levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.  --- Isaiah 26:5

Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness, they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD. O LORD, Your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.  --- Isaiah 26:10-11

Richard Wallace

Father, every day we are together. You are here. You are here. Every day I seek Your face; I seek Your Kingdom; I seek Your righteousness. I seek Your Word and Your will. And You come to me in Your majesty. And You hear my heart; You hear my heart. And You see Christ in me. Even though the flesh is imperfect and the heart and mind waver, You see Christ in me. And You see that slowly but steadily I follow You. Help my eyes to be open, help my heart to be strong! Help me soul to sing to You with joy. Let the voice of the child please the Father! Let the simple words and tune mean what my heart wants to say! Just to be with You is my treasure and my portion and my song. Stay with me, stay with me. Let me stay with You! Father, on these hills You have given me the quiet and stillness to know You. I can see and hear. I can know and know. I can walk humbly with my God. I can take in what this little mind can understand. And I can overflow with all the knowledge and wisdom and peace that surpass me. I am hidden in the cleft of the rock because Your glory overwhelms me. Help me to see You more and more, little by little, as I am able, as I grow and am built up, and as I try so hard and so earnestly to be closer and closer. The Spirit opens this heart in Your direction, and Christ takes my hand and pulls me along. Every day I raise my eyes to You. Thank You for letting me see. Thank You for letting me see! In Jesus’ name, amen.

“If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so that I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”   --- Exodus 33:13-14

I know that You are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. In my integrity, You uphold me and set me in Your presence forever.   --- Psalm 41:11-12

Richard Wallace

Father, we have seen the light! Our eyes have seen Your salvation. And we rejoice in Jesus Christ! The good and bad stand before us, and the bad vies for attention. Yet, we have seen the ravages of sin and the senselessness of wickedness and the horror and hatred of evil. But let that not be our view; let that not be our hearts; let that not be our taste or territory. We have seen the face of Jesus Christ! We see and believe and know the truth. We have experienced Your forgiveness and mercy and grace. And the world is not our desire; and the things are not our treasure. You have set eternity in our hearts; You have released our wings to soar! You have saved us and justified us and sanctified us. And we know that we are Yours. We know that we have been set free. We know that we are in Your presence forever. We abide and reside in Christ. Your Spirit tells our spirits, and Your Word builds up the fortress around us. Your heralds have brought the Good News, and we have witnessed the dawn. We have awakened to the love and light and peace. We see what Your faithfulness and compassion have always meant. The celebration in our hearts has started, with no end. Beyond the birth, beyond the cross, beyond the grave, beyond sin, we live! We live in Jesus Christ! It is good tidings of great joy! It is everything! You so love us! And we give thanks! In Jesus’ name, amen.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD will lay bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.  --- Isaiah 52:7-10

And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”  --- Luke 2:10

Richard Wallace

The days are coming; the days are coming. Victory is at hand. The way of the cross leads home. The Lord has become our salvation. He is our Resurrection and Life. There will be no more pain and no more tears and no more suffering. He prepares a table before us, and the enemy is defeated. Our cup runneth over; our hearts are satisfied; our souls are content; our eyes see the Lord. His grace is sufficient for our eternity. He has said and declared and proclaimed, “Come unto Me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” And again, He has said, “In this world you will have troubles. But be of good cheer! I have overcome the world!” We have seen a great light and no more live in darkness. His hand and His Spirit are upon us. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. We are free, indeed! Death has no sting. Sin has no power. The accuser is brought to shame. And we live in the love and grace and forgiveness and mercy of Christ. We have repented and become new creations in Christ’s righteousness in the presence of God. Our trust, our hope, our joy, stands before us. Our faith has brought us to Christ. One truth, one peace, one way.

On this mountain, the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats, and the finest of wines. On this mountain, He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, “Surely, this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the LORD; we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”   --- Isaiah 25:6-9

Richard Wallace