You can’t honestly say that you love God unless you know Him and know yourself.

Do you love God? Are you personally involved with Him, or are you just relying on family or social traditions? Is your whole being involved or are you closing off part of your life from Him?

Do you love God? Love means more than just knowing or respecting Him. Are you giving Him a place of priority in your life above everything else? Is it love in words only, or are there actions that prove your love?

Do you love God? Do you love just the notion of a celestial being, or do you love the real God who deserves your devotion? Are you only interested in the parts of Him that you want (like His loving and forgiving nature)? Or, do you love God for all His attributes (such as His righteousness and holiness that abhor sinful behavior)?

Spend this day considering the question: “Do you love God?”

“And you must love the Lord your God with all you heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”

Mark 12:30

If your prayers don’t mean anything to you, they mean even less to God.

A lot of people pray, but few people pray effectively. When you negotiate with God as if you’re making some kind of deal (”God, if You do this, then I will do such and such”), you’re not praying effectively. If you pray only when you’re in trouble, you’re not praying effectively (God’s not a magic genie). Praying when you’re exhausted and barely able to keep your eyes open (which means you’ll fall asleep as soon as you close your eyes to pray) is not effective.

Effective prayer doesn’t just happen; it takes effort, devotion, and discipline. Think of prayer like a muscle–the more you exercise it, the stronger it will get. On the other hand, if you neglect your prayer muscle for long periods of time and then suddenly activate it only in emergencies, don’t be surprised if the results are less than you hope for.

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

Colossians 4:2

If someone can’t mind their own business, it may be due to a small mind and not business of their own.

Gossip and laziness are closely related. Lazy people love to talk about others and stick their noses into other people’s business. And if you run across someone who talks a lot about others (one of those “Can you keep a secret?” types), it’s likely that person isn’t very productive with his or her time.

Christians can get (and deserve) a bad reputation by being lazy gossips. Do you want to improve the perception of Christians and bring honor to God in the process? Then work hard, keep to your own business, and never get tired of doing good. This isn’t just good advice. It is what God wants you to do.

Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing the work and wasting time meddling in other people’s business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people–no, we command them: Settle down and get to work.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-12

If you aren’t hearing the voice of God, your life may be too noisy.

People often wonder if God ever speaks in a voice we can hear. Absolutely. There are times when God speaks through other people in order to tell us something. And sometimes God will speak directly to us. So how do we listen to the voice of God?

If we want to hear God’s voice, the first things we need to be is quiet. God won’t shout above the cacophony of our lives. As the prophet Elijah discovered, God comes quietly when we least expect Him. God told Elijah to meet Him “on the mountain” (1 Kings 19:11). As Elijah waited, there was a mighty windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord wasn’t in any of those. Instead, He came to Elijah in “a gentle whisper.”

God will come to you in a gentle whisper, too–in your thoughts and in your heart. But you will never hear God’s voice unless you turn off the noise.

And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

1 Kings 19:12

God loved you long before you loved Him.

Hollywood movie producers know that the romantic notion of “love at first sight” makes for a good love story. In real life, however, it’s nothing more than “attraction at first sight.” Real love requires knowing–not just seeing–a person.

God didn’t love you at first sight, because he actually loved you long before you were born. In fact, He loved you before He created the world. Since before the beginning of time, God knew all about you. He has known all along the kind of person you would be. Even though He has known forever all of your weaknesses, He has loved you from then until now.

Don’t ever think that God loves you because you have decided to love Him. Your love definitely pleases Him, but He is not reciprocating your affection. God has been loving you and awaiting your affection throughout history. Now that’s a love story.

Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1:4

Don’t let your differences separate you from others.

Drive around any town and you’ll see lots of different churches: Baptist churches, Presbyterian churches, Methodist churches, Independent Bible churches, Catholic churches, Pentecostal churches, Orthodox churches, and Lutheran churches It can all be rather confusing.

It’s fine that we have different churches with different names and different ways of doing things. Differences are good! It shows that the universal church, composed of all believers everywhere, is diverse. But we should never let our differences separate us. The Bible says that God sees no distinction between men and women, rich and poor, slave and free, Baptist and Catholic (okay, so the Bible doesn’t mention Baptists by name, but you get the idea). When we follow His Son, Jesus Christ, God sees us all as one.

This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and support of the truth.

1 Timothy 3:15

Joy gives you wings in difficult circumstances; the problems don’t go away, but you can rise above them.

Think about being in the presence of the most caring, compassionate and loving person that you know. Now, multiply that feeling a hundred times, and you may get a sense of what it was like for the disciples to know Jesus.

Are you jealous that Peter, John and the rest of the gang got to know Jesus personally? Well, don’t be. Oh, sure, you can’t presently experience the joy of seeing Him face-to-face, but that day will come. And in the meantime, you’ll have the joy that comes from having a personal relationship with Almighty God.

You can connect with God and experience His abundant joy. Don’t miss the opportunity.

“Truly, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again.”

John 16:20

Control your anger or it will control you.

No emotion ignites quicker than anger. Yes, there is such a thing as love at first sight, but it’s rare. Happiness takes a while to unfold, and sadness seems to creep up on you. But anger is different animal. Someone says the wrong thing, or you see something that upsets you, and pow–the anger rises up like a volcano, erupting for all to see. And once it’s out there, it’s hard to put a cork on your anger.

The Bible instructs us to be slow to anger. It doesn’t say we shouldn’t get angry, because that would be like saying, “Don’t breathe.” We’re human. We get angry. But when we are thoughtful and patient, hearing others out before making our pronouncements, we are less likely to be foolish or destructive in our anger. Here’s another reason to manage our anger: God is pleased when you keep your anger under control.

Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

James 1:20

Motivation can fade. Habits prevail.

Every once in a while, we need to hear a great motivational sermon. It can really recharge our spiritual batteries. But you must avoid becoming a motivational junkie–the kind of person who has to be hyped up emotionally before you can get going. If you become dependent on motivational sermons, you will fail miserably in your spiritual life. (You will get weary of the emotional roller coaster. And after a while, all of the sermons will sound the same.)

Instead of depending on someone else to fire you up, get busy helping others. When “doing good” for others becomes a habit in your life, they you will find that it happens regardless of your emotions. You’ll find that you’re doing these things because they are rewarding, and not just because some eloquent speaker psyched you up.

So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Galatians 6:9

What you think determines what you do.

“The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” No kidding. But mere knowledge isn’t going to remedy the situation. A lot of brilliant people have done some pretty stupid stuff. Our minds don’t need more information to get right. Our minds need transformation.

The only One who can enter our hearts and transform our minds is God. Fancy philosophers can’t do it. Self-help gurus can’t do it. Our hard work can’t do it. God must change our minds in every detail (don’t expect it to happen overnight–it takes time).

At the same time, you aren’t a passive part of the mind renewal process. First, you must invite Him to do His work. Then, once you have “learned the truth that is in Jesus…there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes” (Ephesians 4:21,23).

But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Romans 12:2