July 11, 2026 – Seek
Power – Matthew 22:39 – You shall love your neighbor as (you do] yourself. What Joyce offers here is an important part of living in peace, “Listening to ourselves can be quite an education. Do you say negative and unkind things about yourself? …God doesn’t want you to say bad things about yourself; He wants you to love and respect yourself so you can love and respect others. You cannot give away what you don’t have in you already….. We all make mistakes and want to change, and we should work with the Holy Spirit toward those changes, but through Christ we can love and value ourselves even while we are imperfect. The better you get along with yourself, the better you will get along with others.”
Prevail #191 – Daniel 6:4 NIV – At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Larson points out that it is possible to live in peace, and joy, despite our circumstances, “When you honor God and trust Him to defend and deliver you, He will lead you to high places and use you in profound ways, and this will surely excite the jealousies of others…. Your character and God’s favor are a shield around you. Yet as we see in Scripture and in history, when persecutors can’t find fault, they’ll change the rules to justify their attack against God’s people. In the end, their plans will come to nothing.” This reminds me of Stormie O’Martian telling, on pages 67 and 68 in Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On, which I have mentioned more than I thought I would, about a time when her husband came under a very public verbal attack, “So we began to battle in prayer;” and, over time, “the entire matter dissipated.”
Days – “For it is God which worketh in you” (Phil. ii. 13). Simpson tells us the key to having peace and joy each day, “Let us seek its plan and direction from Him. Let us take His highest thought and will for us in it. Let us look to Him for our desires, ideals, expectations in it. Then shall it bring to us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Let Him be our Guide and Way…. Let Him also be the sufficiency and strength of all the day…. [Philippians 4:13] Let our peace and joy be His peace and joy. And let our service be not our works, but the grace of Christ within us.”
Max – Acts 26:17-18 – “I will…open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light.” Max reminds us that, “Jesus is in hot pursuit of the spiritually blind. He may use a vision, or the kindness of a friend, or the message of a sermon. But believe this: he came to bring sight to the blind.”
JC – “Worship Me only. Idolatry has always been the downfall of My people. I make no secrets about being a jealous God. Current idols are more subtle than ancient ones, because today’s false gods are often outside the field of religion. People, possessions, status, and self-aggrandizement are some of the most popular deities today. Beware of bowing down before these things. False gods never satisfy; instead, they stir up lust for more and more. When you seek Me instead of the world’s idols, you experience My Joy and Peace…. Walk in the Light with Me. Thus you become a beacon through whom others are drawn to Me.” See Exodus 20:4-5 and 2 Samuel 22:29.
Streams – 1 Kings 17:7 – Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Cowman uses this story of Elijah to encourage patient faith, “Often tempted to stumble in unbelief, he nevertheless refused to allow his circumstances to come between himself and God. Unbelief looks at God through the circumstances, just as we often see the sun dimmed by clouds or smoke. But faith puts God between itself and its circumstances, and looks at them through Him…. the pools evaporated, the birds flew away…. And only then, to Elijah’s patient and faithful spirit, did the word of the Lord come and say, ‘Go at once to Zaraphath’ (v. 9). Most of us would have become anxious and tired, and would have made other plans long before God spoke.”
At this point, I found myself wondering why Elijah stayed past the point of provision. Sure, we should trust God in want and in plenty, but didn’t He give us brains to not get in want? I guess that’s the humanness in me speaking; so, I reminded myself that God’s ways are indeed higher and wiser than ours, which led me to go to 1 Kings 17 to get “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. I see what God did here – He allowed (perhaps directed) my curiosity to lead me into a deeper dive into the Bible which resulted in me spending more time with and learning from Him and not just from other people. 1 Kings 17:2 and then 8 reminded me that Elijah didn’t just wander into a situation where he needed provision and guidance. God told him to go to this place and then He told him to leave it. Ok, though I bet I’ve heard this story in sermons throughout my life, I understand better now, for myself and not just as a story.
Cowman, with the help of F. B. Meyer concludes with these thoughts about the times that we don’t listen and wait, “God will often extricate us from the mess we have made, because ‘his love endures forever’ (1 Chron. 16:34). Yet if we had only been patient and waited to see the unfolding of His plan, we would never have found ourselves in such an impossible maze, seeing no way out. We would also never have had to turn back and retrace our way, with wasted steps and so many tears of shame. ‘Wait for the LORD’ (Ps. 27:14). Patiently wait!”
Utmost – Philippians 3:10 – That I may know Him. Chambers picks right up on the idea of leaning in to God, “The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realisation, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, [ending up sitting beside a drying up brook] or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him.”
This is an an important point to remember: “The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realise Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and He will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do.”
JA – “YOUR COMPETENCE COMES FROM ME. This means there is no place for pride in your achievements. It also means you are capable of much more than you think possible. The combination of your natural abilities and My supernatural empowerment is very effective. I have called you to live in joyful dependence on Me, so don’t hesitate to ask me for help. Make every effort to discern My will for you – searching the Scriptures and seeking My Face. Also, seek wise counsel from other Christians…. Ask My Spirit to guide you along the pathway I have chosen for you…. Thank Me for everything…. Stay in communication with Me, enjoying My Company as you journey along the path of Life. In My Presence is fullness of Joy!” See 2 Cor. 3:5, 1 Chron. 16:10-11, 1 Thess. 5:16-18, and Ps. 16:11.
JL – “Mighty God, I like to think big when I pray, but I know that You always think much bigger! You are continually at work in my life, even when I can see nothing happening…. Please help me stay in communication with You as I go through this day. I want to begin the day in joyful awareness of Your Presence – bringing You my praises and requests. This time of focusing my attention on You makes it easier to continue talking with You as I go about my activities…. Sometimes I think I can’t spare the time for this, but then I remember that I don’t do my tasks alone. I work alongside the One who can do more than I ask or imagine! In Your glorious Name, Jesus, Amen.” See Ephesians 3:20, Matthew 19:26, Ps. 139:16, and
Psalm. 5:3 – In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
