Daily Devotional

It’s coming up on the Thanksgiving season. And as hard as we try, sometimes, it’s so tough to be thankful. Sometimes, I don’t like my family. There are times when I don’t like my house, friends, and pretty much everything about my life. And when you feel that way, being thankful is the last thing on your mind, isn’t it?

Being thankful takes a lot of work. It takes really thinking and focusing on the good things in your life so that you stay happy.

Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. – Psalm 106:1 (NLT)

Even if there is nothing going right in your life, you can at least be thankful to God. God is so good to you. He loves us with an everlasting love. So even if your friends, family, and possessions seem at little less than desirable, we can be at peace because we know that God loves us.

He is faithful in that love. He never changes His mind or backs out on His love. So today, you can take comfort knowing that God is good, and that love toward you will never change.

Today’s Truth: God’s Love toward you will never change.

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. – John 8:36 (NLT)

When you commit your life to Jesus and He sets you free, you are truly free. That’s it, plain and simple. Jesus set you free from sin, fear of death, and your old life all by dying on the cross for you and being raised back up to life. That’s the good news of the gospel.

But here’s the thing, sometimes you may doubt if you are truly changed and free. You probably experience thoughts that tell you otherwise. However, when those thoughts come that cause you to doubt if something really happened, cast them down and say, “No, I’m a child of God. Jesus set me free and I’m free indeed.”

In Jesus you can know that your past is gone, your sins are completely removed and you are a new person in your spirit. You are truly free in Jesus.

Today’s Truth: I’m free in Jesus.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness. – Proverbs 26:11 (NLT)

What do you do when you make a mistake? Do you let it stop you? Or do you learn from it and let it make you better?

In today’s Bible verse, we see that the Bible calls making a mistake and not learning from it foolishness. When you make a mistake, you have the opportunity to learn or you can let your mistakes stop you.

It’s up to you to choose how mistakes influence you.

Today’s Challenge: Do you let mistakes make you or break you?

You’re not always going to make the right choice. You might choose a college or career path that isn’t the right fit for you. Or you might make a dumb decision about how to spend your money.

But it’s what you do in those moments when you realize you made a bad choice that makes all the difference. You can choose to let a bad choice define you. You can become bitter, upset and a victim. Or you could choose to let that choice make you better.

So today, challenge yourself to learn from your mistakes. Choose to let your mistakes make you a better person!

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD. – Hosea 5:4 (NIV)

It’s easy to let pride into your heart. Anytime you don’t do what God asks and choose your own path, you’re in pride. That means you’re choosing what’s right in your own eyes. The problem with this is that it starts you down a path that will lead you away from God.

Each time you choose to ignore God’s leading and do your own thing, you’re allowing your heart to get farther away from God. You might not want to admit it, but each decision like this that you make is one step in your heart away from God.

The more you do this, the farther your heart gets from God, and eventually, pride will lead you away from God. That’s why God speaks against pride so much in the Bible. He knows that when you choose to do your own thing, you begin to pull away from Him. Instead, He wants nothing more than for you to be close to Him.

Today, choose to make decisions that lead you closer to God. Each choice you make to obey God and the Bible is one that brings your heart closer to Him. God wants nothing more than for you to be in a close and loving relationship with Him.

Today’s Truth: Pride Leads You Away From God.

I wanted people to like me so bad. So many times, I’d do or say whatever it would take to get people to laugh and think I was funny. It didn’t matter if I hurt someone’s feelings, I just wanted to make others like me. It’s easy to crave validation from others.

There was a guy like that in the Bible. His name was Naaman. (You can read the full account in 2 Kings 5)

 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. – 2 Kings 5:11 (NIV)

Naaman wanted to be treated special. He was looking for validation from people, rather than looking to God for His answer. You can see this when he went to the king for help rather than to the prophet of God.

God wasn’t interested in what Naaman could do or what He’d done. God wanted His heart. He wanted Naaman to love Him and to humble himself. Once Naaman did that, He got the healing He was looking for.

The same can be true for us too. We can want to look to people for approval and validation. However, what we should be doing is humbling ourselves and looking to God. God is the one who will give us our value and who approves us. His approval is the one that should matter to us!

Today’s Truth: Get your validation from God

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18 (NLT)

Have you ever not wanted any correction from your parents? I can recall times that I simply wished my parents would just stop correcting my behavior all the time. I’m sure you’ve probably felt like this at some point. But what I was really experiencing in these moments when I didn’t want correction was pride. I didn’t want anyone to tell me what to do or how to live.

In life we can sometimes get that way with God. We can begin to forget who God is, and how much He loves us and begin to think that all he’s doing is correcting us. We can begin to believe the lie that independence from God is a good thing.

The truth is, we really do need God. We need His guidance each and every day of our lives. The problem is, it’s humbling to admit that. It takes humility to admit that you don’t have it all together, or know all the answers. It’s not always easy to submit to God’s leading in our lives.

It can be easier to want to choose to walk your own path. Make your own choices, and do things in your own strength. However, true happiness comes from giving up control and thinking you’ve got this, and instead looking to God.

So today, determine to humble yourself. If you’ve been guilty of ignoring God and His leading in your life, determine to change. Decide today to let Him lead, and submit your thoughts, desires and emotions to Him, and choose His path for your life.

Today’s Truth: We need God.

In middle school, there was a girl that always thought she was right. It was so much so, that she often would argue to prove how right she was. Sometimes, it was a little funny because what she was saying was incorrect some of the time. Maybe you’ve experienced someone like that. A person who always thinks they’re right, even if they’re not.

A person that is unwilling to be corrected usually deals with a lot of pride. Pride is defined as satisfaction in oneself. (Merriam Webster). If we put all our confidence in ourselves, and in what we can do in our own strength, then we aren’t relying on God.

And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” – James 4:6 (NIV)

Pride isn’t a trait that God likes. Proud people are unwilling to be corrected. They also don’t want to submit their lives to God and the Bible. That isn’t a good way to live. Pride doesn’t lead to good things.

If we’re going to be people that live for God, we’ve got to determine to not let pride run our lives. Instead, we should humble ourselves and let God lead in our life. We have to submit our desires and plans to God and the Bible, and let Him lead.

Today’s Truth: Let God Lead in Your Life