Today's Verse - Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

—Hebrews 12:2

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

"He drives where he looks, he drives where he looks!"
That statement by Nan, a wife disgruntled by her husband's driving, absolutely spoke the truth. Vail invariably would turn the steering wheel in the direction he was looking, terrifying all of us who rode with him as he looked around. This principle is also true of each of us and our lives: "We live where we look!" What our hearts seek and what our minds focus on steer us toward our goal, like a heat-seeking missile following its target's exhaust. That's why we must "fix our eyes on Jesus." We focus upon Jesus to both know him and become like him (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our lives will follow where we look. So let's fix our gaze and focus our hearts on Jesus.

Video Commentary...

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My Prayer...

Almighty and holy God, without your grace and the gift of your salvation, I could not approach you with the confidence that I have today. Thank you for sending Jesus! Thank you for his life, his death, his resurrection, his exaltation, and his intercession. I pledge this day to keep my eyes on him! Please guard me from distractions. Through his holy name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verse - Matthew 20:17-19

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"

—Matthew 20:17-19

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

One thing the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) make clear: Jesus' death on the cross was no accident - it was no tragedy outside the will of God. Jesus knew the challenge that awaited him in Jerusalem, and he walked into his horrific challenge to deliver us from the same fate he suffered. His trust in the Father's "third day solution" opened the doorway for God to secure victory for Jesus and all of us who build our futures through our faith in him (Colossians 2:12-15, 3:1-4).
The question for us is straightforward: Will we face our challenges with a faith that the Father's "third day solution" assures us of our triumph in the face of our mortality?

My Prayer...

Holy God and Loving Father, thank you for your plan to cover my sin with your grace by the death of your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for assuring me of my victory over sin, death, hell, and the evil one through your "third day" solution! May I live today aware of Jesus' sacrifice and confident of his "third day" victory for me. May my life reflect that coming victory in the way I live each day. In the name of Jesus, my sacrificial and conquering Savior, I pray. Amen.

Today's Verse - Psalm 14:1

The fool says in his heart there is no God.

—Psalm 14:1

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

At one time or another, most of us raised an angry fist to fate and cursed the darkness. Each of these actions is equally ineffective. To deny the existence of God is something else altogether. To rob heaven of God is to rob ourselves of grace, hope, and future. How foolish to forget that behind a Creation of wonder, order, variety, beauty, power, and pattern is the Grand Creator. He is far greater than his handiwork, and we dare not ignore, deny, or dismiss him, for then we become our own gods, left to only worship ourselves and the beauty created for us. How small our world becomes when we do deny there is God (1 Corinthians 1:18-32).

My Prayer...

O LORD God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer, we thank you for not only being there always as the great "I AM," (Exodus 3:13-15; Hebrews 13:5-6) but being with each of us this very day. Please use us, your children, to awaken our skeptical world to the wonder, glory, majesty, righteousness, grace, and love that is you! In Jesus name, we pray and praise you, O God. Amen.