Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Deuteronomy 8:11

Sometimes, it’s the hardest to serve God when it seems like everything is going well in your life. It’s almost like when things are going well, then you don’t really need to pray as much, or spend time in God’s word. And in those seasons, it’s easy to let your relationship with God become less important to you.

That’s what today’s Bible verse challenges us against. It says that in times of plenty don’t forget God. When everything is going good it’s easy to think, I’ve got this. I don’t need God’s help as much.

“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. – Deuteronomy 8:11 (NLT)

But as the verse says, that’s the time to be careful. We have to be sure that we don’t begin to think that all of our blessings came to us on their own. We have to be sure to remember that God has seen you through to this point and not to let your relationship with God become less important when things are going well for you.

So if you’ve been guilty of making your relationship with God less important recently, determine to put it in the proper place of importance in your life. Your relationship with God is just as important when things are good for you as it is in times of trial. Spend time in God’s word, and talking to God, and enjoy the rich and rewarding relationship He has for you.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – 1 Timothy 4:14

Do you remember when you were a little kid? You’d get a new toy for your birthday, and you’d love that toy. You’d play and play and play with it. Then, after about a week or two, the toy would get boring. The newness had worn off and it wasn’t as exciting anymore. It’s easy to get a gift and then after a few months totally forget about it, because it’s not as exciting as it once was.

Spiritually, it’s easy to do the same thing. You’ve been given spiritual gifts. God has gifted you for a unique purpose and calling. However, it’s easy to often forget about the gifts or become used to them so they don’t seem special anymore.

Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. – 1 Timothy 4:14

In today’s verse, we are challenged to not neglect our gifts. Don’t forget about the things that God has spoken to you about your future. Choose to remind yourself of what God has said to you. Also, don’t take your giftings for granted. Your gift is important to God’s plan and purpose on the earth. Even if you’re not like others, don’t get discouraged. God has gifted and called you for a special purpose.

Stir up that gift. Don’t let it get old and boring. Remind yourself of how special you are to God and how important your gift is to His plan. Ask God to show you how you can use your gift to help others today.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, – Galatians 5:22 (NIV)

Have you ever tried to be loving, full of joy, or at peace only to realize that you fall short? No matter how hard you try, it feels like you just can’t seem to remember to be those things?

I know that I’ve found that sometimes we can try to be good so hard that we forget that it’s all about God’s goodness. God will help us when we struggle with love, joy, peace and the other fruits of the spirit. One of the amazing things about God is how He meets us right where we are.

I’ve had times when I’ve told God, I just don’t have faith. God please help my unbelief. And guess what? He did.

The Holy Spirit will help us develop these fruit in our lives if we will just ask Him for help. So if you struggle, know that you can go to God. You can get His help developing good fruit in your life. He will give you the wisdom to know what to do and how to live out these fruit of the spirit in your life.

Today’s Truth: Don’t be afraid to ask for God’s help in developing good fruit in your life.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – 1 Corinthians 13:4

When someone does you wrong, how do you respond? When most people are treated wrongly, they tend to blow up. Usually, they get angry, are mean, and want to get back at the other person. What happens when someone gets the part in the school play that you wanted? Do you get jealous and stop talking to them?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. – 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

However, in this verse, we’re encouraged in this verse to be patient, and to be kind. That means that when someone does better than us, we don’t get envious of that person. Acting like that is hard to do in our own strength and ability.

No matter how hard it might seem to love someone when you’ve been wronged there is good news. The Bible tells us God’s love is already in our hearts (Romans 5:5). So what we need to do is let that love dominate the way we act and treat others. The love is already there, its just up to us to bring it out!

Today’s Truth: Let God’s love dominate the way we treat others.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 78:7

In this way, every generation will have a living faith in the laws of life
and will never forget the faithful ways of God. – Psalm 78:7 (TPT)

I always thought that I would live for God when I was older. I figured I’d lean on the faith of my parents and then I’d really go all-in for God when I got to be an adult. However, as I went to some youth camps and began to learn more about the Bible, I realized that I shouldn’t wait. I could develop a relationship with God and a faith walk of my own.

Today’s Bible verse talks about how every generation has to have a living faith. God doesn’t want to have a dull, boring lifeless relationship with you. Instead, He wants you to have a living faith. That means God wants to speak to you. God wants to show you things to come and things about your future. He wants to talk to you, help you know how to deal with the mean girl who rides your school bus. God desires to give you the wisdom to know how to talk to your friend who has parents that are going through a divorce. God wants to have a living relationship with you.

He doesn’t want to do this when you get to be an adult. Rather God can speak to you now. He can lead and guide you right now. So don’t wait. Don’t follow after God when you get older, choose to go deep now.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Phil 4:7 (ESV)

Life is full of unexpected things. Perhaps you didn’t see your parent’s divorce coming or maybe a loved one died. And often in the midst of troubles like these, it’s easy to lose your peace.

It’s easy in trouble to lose your peace and focus on the trouble instead of Jesus.

Jesus will get you through the storm that you’re facing. If you’ll choose to focus on Him and let Him lead and guide you, you’ll come through the storm stronger and your faith will be strengthened.

So today, realize that you can have peace in a storm. You might be facing something unexpected, but Jesus is right there with you. He’s ready and able to help you each step of the way.

Go to Him and get the help and strength you need to face each day. Walk in His peace and see Him help you through the storm!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Galatians 6:9

 

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. – Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

It’s really easy to get discouraged. Maybe you’ve been believing God for something and you haven’t seen results yet. Perhaps you’ve been doing the right thing for a long time and no one has noticed or acted like they cared.

In these situations, it’s really easy to want to be discouraged or quit. However, today’s Bible verse tells us to not get tired of doing good. How do you keep yourself from being discouraged? Many times it helps to remind yourself of the good things God has done for you. You can remember the times He’s brought you out or has been faithful. Sometimes the reward for doing the right thing doesn’t always show up when you think it should or when you expect it.

Today’s Truth: Don’t give up – God rewards faithfulness.

The good news is that God always rewards faithfulness. If you stick with it and don’t give up, you’ll be rewarded. So challenge yourself to stick with it. Don’t give up when it gets hard or you feel like no one notices. If you stick with it, God will see that you are rewarded.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Ephesians 1:6

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. – Ephesians 1:6

Have you ever struggled with not feeling like you’re accepted? Maybe you feel like you don’t always fit in at school, or you don’t like how you look.

If you look for them, there are probably tons of reasons why you might feel like you’re not accepted.

Today’s Bible verse helps us. It tells us that God accepted us. And it shows us that God indeed loves us enough to accept us into his family and call us His children.

Our job is simple: Accept Jesus as our savior.

So when those thoughts come that tell you there’s something wrong with you. Your response should be to tell them no. Those thoughts are not the truth. The truth is, you’re accepted by God. Instead, choose to think about that and be happy because you’re accepted!

If you struggle with feeling accepted, check out this devotion.

Today’s Truth: You’ve been accepted by God

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Phil 3:14

I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven.  – Phil 3:14 (ERV)

I ran long distances for my track team at school. One of the hardest things to do in a track meet was to keep running when I started getting tired. Many times, I just wanted to fall to the side of the track and stop. However, I learned though that when I started getting tired, I needed to hang in there and just keep running. There was a reward for finishing for my team if I would just not quit.

This is true in life too. Many times things get hard and we are wired to want to quit. However, when we quit we often miss out. There is power in finishing the things we start. It’s easy to start something, but sometimes it’s finishing that shows character.

God has called you to something. Today, determine to work hard to finish what God has called you to do. Don’t be a person that starts only, but keep working hard, and see what God has called you to do to the finish.

So choose to be a person of character and finish well in the things you start.

Today’s Truth: It’s how you finish that shows true character.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Luke 6:28

Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. – Luke 6:28 (NLT)

Don’t you hate it when people pick on you? Or maybe not even you, but you see all the hate in the world. You see kids being bullied for the dumbest things, and see people in the world being unkind and hate all around. And it can make you really feel disillusioned about people and the future.

Here’s the thing. You can’t change other people. People are going to do bad, ugly, and horrible things. And this has been happening since the beginning of time. Just think about Abel who was killed at the beginning of Genesis, simply because his brother got jealous of him.

Realizing that you can’t change someone else can make it all seem pretty helpless. However, we’re not left helpless or without power. In the Bible, we’re challenged to do something different. When people curse you, you’re to bless them. When someone hurts you, you are to pray for them.

How crazy is that? That’s not usually my first response, praying for someone when they treat me badly. Yet that’s what the Bible encourages us to do. The Bible doesn’t promise that people will always treat us well. It doesn’t tell us those horrible things will stop in the fallen world we live in. What it does do is to tell us to pray for those people and bless them.

Prayer can do what we can’t do. And when we pray for and bless those who do bad things to us, we’re helping ourselves and them too. Instead of allowing people to hurt us, we’re forgiving and asking God to help them! Wow. What would our world look like if we spent time each day praying for those people around us doing bad things?