Bible Verse for Today

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
— Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...God's actions are not reactions to current situations, but part of his long term plan to bring redemption. Yes, he has done marvelous things: he took the evil intent of a mob who cried "Crucify him" and turned it into an opportunity to fulfill the prophets and redeem us. He is perfect in...

 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
— Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...God does know us. We cannot pretend we are something we are not with him. He knows us - inside and out, through and through. This should liberate us to share a remarkable degree of intimacy with him, but most of us run from such a close relationship with our Father. If our desire...

 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
— Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...No matter how hard we try to perceive the awesomeness of God, he is still God and we are not. We must forever remember that the original, and still primary, sin was to try to become like God in terms of knowledge and understanding. We...

 

He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.
— Job 23:10-11 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...How we long for this to be our true confession. We are not yet gold, but long to be. We are not yet fully following his steps, but are trying. We have tried to not turn aside, but we sometimes falter. Thank God for his grace until our intentions and desires are fulfilled in...

 

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
— Psalm 73:25-26 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...What can truly fulfill and sustain us? Maybe the best way to answer that question is by asking another: What can we keep when our bodies are placed silently in their graves at death? Only our relationship with God and his people lasts beyond the grave. If he is what...

 

God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
— 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Power! We like that concept. When it is godly power, might does make right because godly power is accompanied by love and self-discipline. These three together make a person's life effective, constructive, and corrective. Live life to its fullest: not as a closet Christian afraid of standing true and firm, but one who lives by God's power...

 

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
— 1 John 3:18 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse..."Talk is cheap!" "You can tell me with your words, but I'll show it with my life." "Put your life where your mouth is." We know the slogans; now let's love in truth. In a world where barter has replaced sacrificial and steadfast love, let's go against the grain and truly love in our words and actions.My Prayer...Sacrificial Father, I confess to you that at...

 

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
— 1 John 4:9 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Love is an action. The Bible stresses this truth again and again. Love must not only be spoken, it must also be shown. The beginning of love is God. He showed his love in the most sacrificial of ways so we could know our incredible value to him. The price of our adoption was the emptying of heaven of its greatest treasure...

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
— Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Some things are just not very complicated. Living for Jesus can be boiled down to two principles: love God with everything I am and have and love others and treat them like I would like to be treated. Not too hard to understand. I guess it's...

 

We love because [God] first loved us.
— 1 John 4:19 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...It's all very simple. God is love. He is love's origin, example, and architect. I love because he loved me first. I know how to love because he has demonstrated it. I can love because he made me in his likeness and to share his character. He is the fountain, the motivation, and the pinnacle of love. I love because he does, first, last, and always.My Prayer...God of comfort, thank you for comforting me...