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Praise be to God

Devotional for Monday, March 15, 2010

Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

– Psalm 66:20

Prayer:

Lord I come to you today with humility deep in my heart. I have seen your greatness, felt your love, and embraced your kindness, but in all of this, I have failed to show you the love you deserve in return. I tell you daily that I love you, Father, but through my half-hearted actions and prayers I feel that I have failed to back those simple words with the passion I actually mean by them. You are my God, King of the Universe, yet willing to lay down your life for me! You humbled yourself to become man so that I might have a Heavenly example to live by in this ungodly realm.

Now ascended into Heaven, you remain by MY side. You are not just a distant presence for all to call upon in hopes of an answer, but you personalize a relationship with me. You encourage me when I feel situations are hopeless, guide me when I lose my way, strengthen me when life has tossed me around, and love me when my actions are unlovable. For all of this I repay you with three empty words, “I love you.”

Lord, let my passion for You shine for others to see, so that they, too, may know my God who saves. Allow my thoughts to remain positive when I see only darkness on the horizon, knowing that you are in control of the situation and it will all work out for Your glory. Help me to see the beauty that You have created in me even when the world says I am unattractive. Please show me the goodness in everyone, even when they have wronged me, because I know, Lord, that they are one of Your marvelous creations.

You embrace me every morning with love, already knowing the ways I will fail you that day, yet You cast Your love upon me anyway. I am so undeserving of this royal treatment, yet You never dream of treating me as anything less than a princess. Any relationship of this world would have let me down by now if I had treated it with the ungrateful manner in which I treat You, but You stand faithfully by my side. Help me Lord, to live in such a way that those three simple words, "I love you," are backed by a God-sized complexity in not only my heart and soul, but also in my actions.

With a new meaning Lord,
I Love You!
In Jesus name, Amen.

Katie Collier