Prayer for Today
God, today grant me
Strength to do as You please
Wisdom to discern Your best for me
Compassion to serve others who need You
Power to overcome the world’s temptations
Bible Verse
Psalms 19:14 (ESV) 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Righteousness
In this verse we see David praising God for two elements of His character: rock and redeemer. God wants to be both our rock and our redeemer. God redeemed us even before we came to know Him. And He is our rock; the one unmovable part of life that can withstand the worst that life has to throw at us. In exchange, He asks that our focus be completely upon Him. God asks us to strive for purity in the things we say and in the things that we allow our heart to ponder. Everything that we are in this life stems from who we are at our heart. The heart is the very center of who we are. Everything we think, say, and do reflects the condition of our heart.
Application
If we do not like the things that we think, say, or do, perhaps we should assess the condition of our heart.
David understood that he needed his heart to be always set upon the face of God. David wanted his speech to be pure. But he knew that having purity of speech required purity of heart. He also knew that maintaining purity of heart required meditation upon the being of God. We can learn from David. Purity of heart is not a condition that we achieve, mark off our Christian growth chart, and then move onto the next condition that needs to be addressed. Purity of heart requires maintenance. We must continually assess our thinking and adjust to be more Godly on a moment by moment basis. If we do not tend our gardens and our flower beds, weeds will take over. In much the same way, if we do not reflect constantly on the meditations of our heart, Satan will creep in and lead us astray.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the teaching of David and the reminder that we need our speech to be pleasing to You, but to achieve that we need the meditation of our heart to also be pleasing to You.
Personal Reflection Journal
Date: _______________
Abide: Meditate on God’s words and ask Him for direction.
Personalize: What is God teaching me?
Impact: What impact does this teaching have on my life?
Walk: How is God encouraging me to spread His message?
Commit: Commit to the direction God is placing on your heart.
Journal: