Guidelines For Living Devotional

5 Things You Can Learn From Failure

Nobody likes to fail; yet some of the greatest lessons in life are learned through failure.  The reality, as Rick Warren has pointed out, is that "no one's life is an unbroken chain of victories.  We all experience setbacks…defeats… losses… failures."  That's the way it is.

How Persistent Are You In Prayer?

How many times must you pray the same prayer and ask God to do the same thing before He hears you?  Once, twice, or day after day until you get what you are asking for?   Tough question, right?  There are times when something bothers you and you pray about it.  Nothing seems to happen so you pray again, and again.  Or, may you give up entirely, thinking you don't know the right words; or you think, "This may work for others but not for me!"

You Can Pray With Confidence

Have you ever had the experience of praying for someone or something, and you never really knew whether or not your prayer was answered?  If dead people could come back from the grave to tell what happened in their lives in those last few hours, or possibly those last few minutes, we might rest better at night; yet at times God remarkably allows us to discover how He answered a prayer in ways that have to be beyond the natural.

How Do You Measure Someone’s Worth?

What is the true mark of a person?  His age, his worth, his ideas, or his accomplishments?  To the Eastern mind, a person is often measured by the length of his beard or the white of his hair.  Thus wisdom in the Orient is synonymous with age.  To the business person, worth is often considered to be the true mark of an individual.  We say this person is worth a cool million, meaning that he is worth a million dollars or whatever currency you use.  How the person made that money is not important.  It may have been through manipulation, or dishonest and deceitful business practices, and when we stop and think about life we have to conclude that worth is not necessarily the true mark of a man.

The God Of Glory

Over 500 times the Bible refers to the glory of God. God is called the "Father of glory" (Ephesians 1:17). Twice Jesus is called the "Lord of glory".  And the Holy Spirit is called the "Spirit of glory."  Coming to understand who God is and how He has shown us something of Himself is akin to watching a small child unwrap a Christmas or birthday gift as his eyes are filled with wonder and excitement. I will long remember watching a grandson rip open the box containing the drum set that he had so wanted.

Why You Should Live One Day at a Time

Have you ever stopped to think that today is the smallest division of God-given time?  Seconds, minutes, hours are artificial, man-made time divisions, but the period of time from dawn to dusk is the shortest division of time on God's clock.  Time is a strange thing in itself.  It is something like fence posts or telephone poles you pass as you drive down the highway, but like a fence it encloses our lives, and between the two poles of life and death we are very much prisoners of time.

What's Your Goal In Life?

What's your goal in life?  And if you get there, will you really be satisfied?  Tough questions, right?  But isn't that what fulfillment in life is all about?

Can You Trust God For A Mate?

Can a person who is single trust God for His very best in life--whether it is in the choice of a mate or finding the grace of God to cope with single frustration?  If the promises of Scripture are true, finding the will of God regarding marriage has to be among the most important decisions an individual ever makes in life. 

When Love Walks Out

Do all singles wish they were married?  No, not any more than all married folks wish they were single. Some of the most frustrated, angry, and bitter individuals I have ever met are those who wanted to marry, but never did.  I'm thinking in particular of some individuals who went outside of God’s plan for sexual purity, lived with someone, but ended up alone and with a broken heart. 

What Should We Be Tolerant Of?

If you want to know how tolerant you really are, don't look at your own mistakes.  Rather, look at the mistakes of your worst enemy.  Don't measure your tolerance when you put a scratch on the new car‑‑because the parked one was way too far out from the curb.  Measure your tolerance when your spouse backs into the left rear fender of your car.