#770 - PSALMS 40:16 // PROVERBS 9:9

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” Psalms 40:16

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. Proverbs 9:9

Heavenly Father, I praise your name. I rejoice in you. I am glad in you. Please Lord, help me to never grow weary in praising your name. I love my salvation. I love that you have rescued me. I love that you have turned my life around. I love that while I was yet a sinner, you sent your one and only Son Jesus Christ to live the perfect life on my behalf, die for my sins, and raise from the dead defeating death, hell, and the grave. Forgive me for the days when I take my salvation for granted. For when I do not appropriately dwell upon and worship you for what you have graciously accomplished on my behalf. Great are you Lord. No name deserves praise from my lips like your name. I love what you have done for me, and may what you have done for me be fuel for my living, fuel for my joy, fuel for my obedience, all the days of my life.

Lord, help me to be the type of man that never ceases growing in wisdom. As wisdom comes my way, help me to become wiser. Help me to truly be a lifelong learner of your will and your ways. Also, please bring wise men and women my way who are hungry for wisdom. I thank you for the people you’ve allowed me to disciple and raise up in your Word. Thank you for the wise men and women who’ve become wiser, in small part, because you’ve opened up doors for me to share what your Holy Spirit has, first, given me. I praise you for the privilege of being a pastor and a discipler. I am not worthy, but you are worthy of my obedience. Continue to increase me in learning, and continue to place me around people who desire to do the same. I love you and I pray all of these things in Jesus name, Amen.

#769 - PSALMS 39:4 // PROVERBS 8:15-16

O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Psalms 39:4

By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly. Proverbs 8:15-16

Heavenly Father, I love David’s honesty with you both in this Psalm and all throughout the Psalms. There is a frankness is communicating to you how he feels, what he wants to know, what he desires from you, what he is confused about, and how he desires that you would act on his behalf. I praise you for being a God who allows your children to interact with you in this way. We are not entitled to the ability to be honest with you and before you. If you wanted to, you could smite us for every disrespectful and dishonorable way we may approach you, but you do not do that. You do not mute us. You do not require that we keep our questions to ourselves. You do not force us to understand everything about you, but instead you give us a model in David of one who dealt honestly before you. Help me to do the same. Help me to enjoy the freedom that comes along with being my full self before you at all times. Good, bad, or indifferent, help me not to play games with who I am before you. You already know. You already know what I’m thinking, feeling, and desiring. Give me the courage to lay the feelings you already know to be within me bare at your feet. You are worthy of my honesty with you. Praise you God for desiring my honesty. Praise you God for desiring integrity in how I interact with you. I praise you Lord and lift up your name.

Lord, it seems to that the Proverb above clearly shows that leaders lead by wisdom. Without it, they cannot reign, decree, and rule effectively. Help me to see this. Help me to receive this. Help to accept this. If I want to lead myself, my family, other leaders, your Church effectively, I am going to have to do it being full of wisdom. My own thoughts are insufficient. My own wisdom is lacking. My own approaches will fall short. I need wisdom from on high for every leadership opportunity and decision that you give me to steward. Graciously give me this wisdom for my good, others good, and for your glory. I love you and I pray all of these things in Jesus name, Amen.

#768 - PSALMS 38:15 // PROVERBS 7:1-3

But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. Psalms 38:15

My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:1-3

Heavenly Father, It’s you who I wait upon. It’s you who has the answers I need and want. It’s you. Not my wife. Not my friends. Not my family. Not those who I desire to respect me. Not the people in my church. Ultimately, I do not wait on any of these people to give to me or be for me what only you can give and be. They don’t have the answers you have. They don’t have the insight you have. I praise you Lord that I don’t have to be disappointed in whether or not the people in my life are doing, thinking, being, or responding how I think they should in the timing they should. I wait upon you. Your sovereign hand. Your sovereign timing. Your sovereign plan. I wait on you, and I praise you for being worthy of being waited on, no matter how long it may take. I wait on you for timing. I wait on you for resources. I wait on you for opportunity. I wait on you for insight. I wait on you for guidance. I wait on you for next steps. I take responsibility for everything I know to do and am convicted by you to do, and I wait on you for everything else. I love you Lord, and may my waiting on you be worship unto you.

Lord, these proverbs that you are exposing me to and speaking to me through are so life-giving and helpful. I do desire to keep, bind, and write them on my heart as you instruct. Please give me a strategy. Please give me a conviction. Please help me to memorize the Proverbs that you would lead me to memorize. I want to keep them close. I want to keep them accessible. I want to be able to access the goodness of your commands and precepts whenever the time calls for it. I praise you for the words from your Word that I do have written on my heart. Give me a desire for more. I love you Lord and l love your Word. Saturate me with it. Give me a supernatural ability to remember and recall more of what I read. I pray all of these things in Jesus name, Amen.

#767 - PSALMS 37:4-5 // PROVERBS 6:9-11

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Psalms 37:4-5

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. Proverbs 6:9-11

Heavenly Father, I love, praise, adore, and thank you for the ways that Psalms 37:4-5 has come to pass in my life. I thank you for how you have been true to this word all throughout my life. I have seen time and time again that as I pursue you, as I commit my ways to you, as I seek first your Kingdom and your righteousness, you act. You respond. You give. You bless. You have been so kind to bless me with the desires of my heart over the years. Desires for friendship. Desires for influence. Desires for opportunity. Desires for financial increase. Desire for Kingdom impact. Desires for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. You have given me all these desires. In your grace. In your mercy. You’ve given me all of these things as I’ve sought to delight myself in you. Thank you for your faithfulness and kindness to me.

Lord, keep me from laziness. Keep me from an attitude about rest that is not of you. Keep me from an approach to rest and “taking care of myself” that is, in reality, bad stewardship of my time, talents, resources, and responsibilities. You know that I am prone to more rest than I need. Forgive me for the times when I have not been more faithful with my time. I do not want poverty to come upon me. I do not want destruction to come upon me, my family, and my church. I do not want to accomplish anything less than what you’ve fashioned me to accomplish and produce for you. Keep me from the laziness that will sabotage your purpose for my life. I love you Lord and I thank you that these Proverbs continue to give me the warnings I need. I pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.

#766 - PSALMS 36:5-6 // PROVERBS 5:22

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. Proverbs 5:22

Heavenly Father, I praise you for a love that is a deep, wide, high, and massive. Help me to see your love, faithfulness, righteousness, and judgements as David did. Everything about you is immense. There is an immensity and enormity to who you are and what you do. Help me to never put you in a box. Help me to perceive you as you are. Strong. Mighty. Powerful. I worship you for your immensity. I worship you for the depth, height, and width of your being and attributes. Keep me amazed. Keep me enthralled. I love you Lord and worship you. You are worthy of my highest praise.

Lord, keep me aware of the danger of sin. Keep me aware of the entrapments. Keep me cognizant of destructive sexual sin can be to my life. Sin will bind me, hold me captive, and keep me from your best for me. Please help me not to take sin lightly. Keep me on my toes. Help me to remember that sin is crouching at my door at all times. Thank you Lord for all the ways in which you have done this over the years. Thank you for untangling me when I have been tangled in sin. Thank you for loosing me from sin when I have been held captive by it. You have been so kind in that way. So faithful. I love you Lord and I pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.

#765 - PSALMS 35:27 // PROVERBS 4:26

Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” Psalms 35:27

Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Proverbs 4:26

Heavenly Father, there are many people who love me, support me, desire your best for me, and see your righteousness in me. Thank you for these friends. Thank you for these family members. Thank you for these brothers and sisters inside our church and outside our church who you’ve surrounded me with. I am blessed. May you be more beautiful to these friends because of what they see and support you doing in my life. May you become more glorious. May you become more worthy of praise. May others support of me and what you’re doing in my life result in greater praise of YOU! You, alone, are worthy. Anything you do in and through me is not, ultimately, so people will love me, it is so that people will see you! Be magnified in and through my life now and forevermore. I love you Lord God! For your glory alone. For your glory alone do I live and move and have my being.

Lord, help me to take heed the wisdom of pondering my paths. Help me to think deeply about the decisions I make, the paths I take, and the possibilities before me. May my pondering include prayer, the seeking of wise counsel, consideration of the consequences of my decisions and how they will impact everyone involved. I desire my ways to be sure. Help me to not be hasty in my decisions. Help to honor you by thinking though them thoroughly. I love you. I praise you. I thank you for the wisdom of your word. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

#764 - PSALMS 34:8 // PROVERBS 3:9-10

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalms 34:8

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. Proverbs 3:9-10

Heavenly Father, for so long, my relationship with you wasn’t something that was characterized by “tasting good.” For so long, it was religious duty. For so long it was burdensome, boring, and heavy. Over the last 10 years or so, I have “tasted” and I have “seen.” It has gone from a cerebral understanding to an experiential knowing of your goodness. Thanks for this gift! Thanks for this desire from you to know that you are good in this way! Keep me persistent in this pursuit. Help me not be satisfied with a version of you that I cannot taste or see. Keep my affections strong. Keep my affections “white hot.” You are worthy. You are the only truly “tasteful” thing worth me feasting upon.

Lord, help me to honor you with my financial resources. Help me to worship you with my money. Help me to put you first with my financial resources and not last. Help me to give you my best and not my leftovers. There is a promise of always having enough and even more when I emphasize honoring you with my money. Help me to see the wisdom in this. Help me to lead others to see the wisdom in this. You are the giver. You are the provider. Help me to not behave with my money like that’s not the case! It’s all yours. I am merely a steward! I love you Lord. I thank you for this time today in your Word. I thank you for relationship with you. I am so fulfilled in it and by it. I pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.

#763 - PSALMS 33:10-12 // PROVERBS 2:6-8

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! Psalm 33:10-12

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Proverbs 2:6-8

Heavenly Father, it will be your counsel that stands. It will be your precepts that endure. It will be your plans that will prevail. I praise you for your strength. I praise you for your power. I praise you as the only one who will overcome in every way! Even the brightest rulers, advisors, scientists, and future planners can have their plans thwarted by you if you decide to do so. Their counsel is temporary. Your counsel is eternal. Their counsel is helpful. Your counsel is powerful! Your plans will endure! I praise you Lord for this truth.

I thank you Lord for the hope and truth in this proverb. I thank you Lord for the promise that as I pursue living upright, you will have wisdom stored up for me. I cannot exhaust the wisdom that you have for me. You will always have more. You have storehouses of wisdom in store for me! I praise and thank you that as I seek it out, you will provide it for me. I look forward to the wisdom that you will bless me with in the coming years and months as I become more intentional about pursuing it. I love you Lord. I thank you for this precept and promise. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

#762 - PSALMS 32:3-5 // PROVERBS 1:24-27

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:3-5

Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Proverbs 1:24-27

Heavenly Father, I know what it feels like to have unconfessed sin. I know the feelings David describes above. I know what it feels like to be dying on the inside because I have not yet been honest about how I’ve sinned against you with you or with others. I praise you God for delivering me from this type of hiding and covering up. I thank you Lord for revealing to me how I could be free if I just confessed and received your grace and mercy. The level of inner turmoil that comes along with unconfessed sin is heavy. I remember seasons of living with unconfessed sin like walking around with a ball and chain. Thank you for setting me free. Use me as a voice in this generation to set others free from this “wasting away” through faith in the good news. As I have been revived, renewed, and reinvigorated through confession of sin and reception of grace, help me to renew others.

Lord, help me to heed the voice of wisdom. As I read and re-read proverbs, help my heart not to grow numb to the voice of wisdom. Help me to be convicted where I need to be convicted and help me to respond in obedience to those convictions. Or, wisdom will mock me when I fall. Wisdom will laugh. Wisdom will not have mercy. If I choose to live a foolish life after seeing clearly the path of the wise, wisdom will not feel bad for me. Thank you for this sobering truth. Thank you for this reality check. Give me an urgency for heeding your wisdom. Lest, wisdom mocks my foolishness. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.