Praise

Praise includes adoring God and admiring Him for who He is and what He does.

Praise can be quiet and meditative. But it can also be celebrating and exulting in the Lord’s majesty and splendor, His sovereignty, His limitless power, and His bountiful love—which we do not in the least deserve. In praise we extol our wonderful God; we exalt and magnify Him.

Praise includes speaking highly of God to other people as well as directly to Him.

Excerpted from A Treasury of Praise by Ruth Myers

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Daily Reflection: How do you praise God for all that he is and does?

The Prayers of Children

Children praying. What instantly spring to my mind are images of kids kneeling beside their beds, heads bowed, eyes closed (sometimes), while parents and angels watch. Children’s petitions are as varied as the kids who offer them.

Some children pray for personal things, such as passing a science test, seeing a frog, or defeating the class bully.

Some pray for pressing needs, such as the healing of a parent, food for the table, or a father for the family.

Some offer prayers of thanks: for the sunshine, for a mother’s love, or for their country.

Some of my favorite prayers are for assistance: Help Mom not to be grumpy; help me not to be angry; help my dad not to be upset with me when he finds out what I did.

The petitioners have at least one thing in common: [ … ]

Eternal Significance

So where do we begin in our efforts to find our true significance, to live meaningful lives that fulfill our eternal potential every day? I believe that this fruit of significance begins with the seeds of hope that God placed within us all. Like David, we begin by tending those seeds—or Cs, as I like to call them—and cultivating them in five key areas: developing confidence, being a person of character, concentrating on God’s will, cooperating with God (and others) in carrying out his plans, and participating in  community.

Excerpted from A Significant Life by Jim Graff

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Daily Reflection: What can you do to continue cultivating your seeds of hope from God (the five Cs)?

Let Your Life Count

Effective prayer consists not in telling God what to do but in listening as He tells us what He wants to do. One of the reasons many prayers go unanswered is because our prayer lists are too much like shopping lists. We fail to realize that God has the real prayer list. Let God direct your prayer time!

Excerpted from Let Your Life Count by Donna Partow

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Daily Reflection: How can you start listening to God during prayer?

Become a Well

To be fully alive is not simply to drink deeply of life and to be satisfied. It’s to become a well, offering Life to the world around you. That is what it means to be fully alive. It is not only to experience a glimpse of God for yourself but also to become a glimpse of God and to create communities that are glimpses of God.

Excerpted from Spark by Jason Jaggard

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Daily Reflection: In what specific way can you become a well for your family and friends?

Greater than Baseline Living

Baseline living is not okay. Not for a believer in Jesus. There’s a price to pay for Christian complacency. If you keep living on this level, your heart is going to shrivel. It might already be shriveling. Your dreams are going to die. They may already be on life support. Will you look up one day and be overwhelmed by the stack of regrets staring back at you? The frustration that’s simmering on the back burner right now might boil over one day, and you’ll be bitter about the opportunities you missed. Opportunities to be used by God, to touch lives, to get outside yourself and be a part of something greater. I know it’s not easy. But don’t tell me it’s not possible. Jesus Himself said it was.

The fact is, we are so much better than we’ve become, [ … ]

Giving of Yourself

The late Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing before the age of two due to illness, but she went on to become a world-renowned author, speaker, and social activist. This great woman said true happiness comes through “fi delity to a worthy purpose.” What does that mean? For me, it means being faithful to your gifts, growing them, sharing them, and taking joy in them. It means moving beyond the pursuit of self-satisfaction to the more mature search for meaning and fulfillment. The greatest rewards come when you give of yourself. It’s about bettering the lives of others, being part of something bigger than yourself, and making a positive difference. You don’t have to be Mother Teresa to do that. You can even be a “disabled” guy and make an impact.

Excerpted from Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic

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What God Originates, He Orchestrates

How is never a problem with God. When he puts something in your heart to do, he goes to work behind the scenes to ensure that it happens. In the meantime, we are to remain faithful to him and focused on the vision. You are not responsible for figuring out how to pull off God’s vision for your life. You are responsible to do what you know to do, what you can do. And then you must wait.

Excerpted from Visioneering by Andy Stanley

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Daily Reflection: Are you doing all you can do with God’s vision for your life?

Leading a Life of Legacy

You’ve never met William Joseph Weber either. Let me tell you a little bit about him. [. . .] he never knew a family or a real, permanent home. He never experienced any of the things we normally consider healthy in a “family of origin.” But somewhere along the line, William Weber found Jesus Christ. He determined to put his “confidence in God and…keep His commandments” (Psalm 78:7). No, he never knew his own father. But he pursued the ultimate Father. Reading wasn’t easy for him, but he did it. Of all the books in my library today, my favorite is one of his—a worn, broken old copy of Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the New Testament. You can still find traces of his fingerprints there from the coal dust on his hands. My grandfather pursued the Father. His son, Byron, [ … ]

The Power of ‘Ought’

To most of us in the room, that seemed impossible. But Max saw the world differently. And that day, with a moral authority few can claim, he said something profound that crystallizes the restoration theme we’ve seen in the next Christians

“We must recognize the power of the ‘ought.’ It’s the power to change the world! We can’t just see the world in terms of how it is today, or we will always feel defeated,” he said passionately. “But when we see the world in terms of how things ought to be, we can dream for the impossible— and work to see it become reality.”

Excerpted from The Next Christians  by Gabe Lyons

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Daily Reflection:I n what ways do you see the world as it is, not as it “ought to be”?