I will rejoice IN this day the Lord hath made.

"Some days the road seems too long and the climb too steep. Max Lucado describes them as days when "Hope is Hindenberged by crisis. You never leave the hospital bed or wheelchair. You wake up in the same prison cell, the cemetery dirt is still fresh, the pink slip still folded in your pocket, the other side of the bed still empty. 'This is the day' includes divorce days, final-exam days, surgery days, tax days, sending-your-firstborn-off-to-college days.

God made this day. He knows the details of each wrenching moment. He isn't on holiday. He still holds the conductor's baton, sits in the cockpit, and occupies the universe's only throne. 'We will rejoice and be glad in it!' Oops, there's another word we'd like to edit: in. Perhaps we could swap it for after? Or through, or over. 'I'll rejoice when this days ends!' Paul rejoiced in jail; the Hebrew children remained resolute in the fiery furnace; John saw heaven in his exile, and Jesus prayed in the garden of pain.

You no longer have yesterday. It slipped away as you slept. You don't yet have tomorrow. You can't spend its money, celebrate its achievements or resolve its riddles. Days are bite-sized portions of life: 84,000 heartbeats, 1,440 minutes, a rotation of the earth, a sunrise and sunset, a gift of 24 unlived, unexplored hours. And if you can stack one good day on another, you'll link together a good life. 'This is the day,' live in it!"
("The Word For You Today", 8-29-2008)

"Jesus loved people so much that one day He would die for them. But that didn't stop Him from saying no when He needed to. Appeasing people in order to win their approval is never a good idea; it puts somebody other than God in the driver's seat. Instead of getting sidetracked, Jesus
(a) made prayer and uninterrupted time with His Father a top priority;
(b) recognized that doing God's will was more important than "being all things to all people;"
(c) refused to let other people's definition of what was urgent, distract Him from fulfilling His life's purpose. So, don't get sidetracked."

("The Word For You Today", Summer 2008, pg. 50)

God's Presence

"Somewhere along the way, I stopped demanding that God fix the problems in my life and started to be thankful for his presence as I endured them." (Lisa Beamer, Let's Roll, pg. 68)

Expectations

"Our expectations must be met in God alone, and then we will have the right perspective to ask God for the healing and grace we need to respond to others."
(Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Published by Revive Our Hearts, copyright 2005; Day 12 of "30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge for Wives".)

Sanctification is Centered in the Heart

"Sanctification goes farther than the external. It is more deeply rooted than the dress, the mannerisms, or the conduct. Sanctification is centered in the heart. The test of sanctification, then, is more than the slamming of doors, the length of the skirt, and the paying of tithes. The test is: Do I exemplify Christ in my spirit, my attitudes, and my motives? I'm sure you have seen some adult rebuke an adolescent when the spirit the elder showed was far worse than the misdemeanor of the youngster. Sanctification takes away that critical spirit, that lazy attitude, the wrong motive, the ugly character, and deposits in its place a spirit of divine love."

(What Is Sanctification?, Leslie Parrott, pg. 15)

Keep Life Simple

"Jesus lived a simple life and spoke of simple truths. He never worried about getting His message across in bigger and better ways. He never worried about numbers or Nielsen ratings. There were no fireworks to mark His speeches, no gala celebrations to trace His progress, and yet He managed to change the course of the world.

Lord, help me not to become distracted by commercialism. Let me remember that in dying on the cross, you taught us that the greatest gift we can give is ourselves. Amen."

(A Moment a Day, Margaret Brownley, pg. 146-147)