July 14

KEEP WALKING with Me along the path I have chosen for you.  Your desire to live close to Me is a delight to My heart.  I could instantly grant you the spiritual riches you desire, but that is not My way for you.  Together we will forge a pathway up the high mountain.  The journey is arduous at times, and you are weak.  Someday you will dance light footed on the high peaks; but for now, your walk is often plodding and heavy.  All I require of you is to take the step, clinging to My hand for strength and direction.  Though the path is difficult and the scenery dull at the moment, there are sparkling surprises just around the bend.  Stay on the path I have selected for you.  It is truly the path of Life.

Psalm 37: 23-24; Psalm 16:11(NKJV)

July 15

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW!  This is not a suggestion, but a command.  I divided time into days and nights, so that you would have manageable portions of life to handle.  My grace is sufficient for you, but its sufficiency is for only one day at a time.  When you worry about the future, you heap day upon day of troubles onto your flimsy frame.  You stagger under this heavy load, which I never intended you to carry.

Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust.  Anxious thoughts meander about and crisscross in your brain, but trusting Me brings you directly into My Presence.  As you thus affirm your faith, shackles of worry fall off instantly.  Enjoy My Presence continually by trusting Me at all times.

Matthew 6:34; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 62:8(NKJV)

July 16

SELF-PITY IS A SLIMY, BOTTOMLESS PIT.  Once you fall in, you tend to go deeper and deeper into the mire.  As you slide down those slippery walls, you are well on your way to depression, and the darkness is profound.

Your only hope is to look up and see the Light of My Presence shining down on you.  Though the Light looks dim from your perspective, deep in the pit, those rays of hope can reach you at any depth.  While you focus on Me in trust, you rise ever so slowly out of the abyss of despair.  Finally, you can reach up and grasp My hand.  I will pull you out into the Light again.  I will gently cleanse you, washing off the clinging mire.  I will cover you with My righteousness and walk with you down the path of Life.

Psalm 40:2-3; Psalm 42:5(NASB); Psalm 147:11

July 17

COME AWAY WITH ME for a while.  The world, with its nonstop demands, can be put on hold.  Most people put Me on hold, rationalizing that someday they will find time to focus on Me.  But the longer people push Me into the background of their lives, the harder it is for them to find Me.

You live among people who glorify busyness; they have made time a tyrant that controls their lives.  Even those who know Me as Savior tend to march to the tempo of the world.  They have bought into the illusion that more is always better:  more meetings, more programs, more activity.

I have called you to follow Me on a solitary path, making time alone with Me your highest priority and deepest Joy, It is a pathway largely unappreciated and often despised.  However, you have chosen the better thing, which will never be taken away from you.  Moreover, as you walk close to Me, I can bless others through you.

Song of Songs 2:13; Luke 10:42

July 18

I AM NEARER than you think, richly present in all your moments.  You are connected to Me by Love-bonds that nothing can sever.  However, you may sometimes feel alone, because your union with Me is invisible.  Ask Me to open your eyes, so that you can find Me everywhere.  The more aware you are of My Presence, the safer you feel.  This is not some sort of escape from reality; it is tuning in to ultimate reality.  I am far more Real than the world you can see, hear, and touch.  Faith is the confirmation of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.

Acts 17:27-28; Hebrews 11:1(AMP)

July 19

BRING ME ALL YOUR FEELINGS, even the ones you wish you didn’t have.  Fear and anxiety still plague you.  Feelings per se are not sinful, but they can be temptations to sin.  Blazing missiles of fear fly at you day and night; these attacks from the evil one come at you relentlessly.  Use your shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows.  Affirm your trust in Me, regardless of how you feel.  If you persist, your feelings will eventually fall in line with your faith.

Do not hide from your fear or pretend it isn’t there. Anxiety that you hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to fear of fear:  a monstrous stepchild.  Bring your anxieties out into the Light of My Presence, where we can deal with them together.  Concentrate on trusting Me, and fearfulness will gradually lose its foothold within you.

Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 1:5-7; Isaiah 12:2

July 20

SEEK MY FACE, and you will find all that you have longed for.  The deepest yearnings of your heart are for intimacy with Me.  I know, because I designed you to desire Me. Do not feel guilty about taking time to be still in My Presence.  You are simply responding to the tugs of divinity within you.  I made you in My image, and I hid heaven in your heart.  Your yearning for Me is a form of homesickness:  longing for your true home in heaven.

Do not be afraid to be different from other people.  The path I have called you to travel is exquisitely right for you.  The more closely you follow My leading, the more fully I can develop your gifts.  To follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your desire to please other people.  However, your closeness to Me will bless others by enabling you to shine brightly in this dark world.

Psalm 42:1-2; Psalm 34:5; Philippians 2:15

July 21

REST IN MY PRESENCE WHEN you need refreshment.  Resting is not necessarily idleness, as people often perceive it.  When you relax in My company, you are demonstrating trust in Me.  Trust is a rich word, laden with meaning and direction for your life.  I want you to lean on, trust, and be confident in Me.  When you lean on Me for support, I delight in your trusting confidence.

Many people turn away from Me when they are exhausted.  They associate Me with duty and diligence, so they try to hide from My Presence when they need a break from work.  How this saddens Me!  As I spoke through My prophet Isaiah:  In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.

Proverbs 3:5(AMP); Isaiah 30:15(AMP)

July 22

FIND FREEDOM through seeking to please Me above all else.  You can have only one Master.  When you let others’ expectations drive you, you scatter your energy to the winds.  Your own desire to look good can also drain your energy.  I am your Master, and I do not drive you to be what you are not.  Your pretense displeases Me, especially when it is in My “service”.  Concentrate on staying close to Me at all times.  It is impossible to be inauthentic while you are focusing on My Presence.

Ephesians 5:8-10; Matthew 23:8; Matthew 6:1

July 23

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  Men crawl through their lives cursing the darkness, but all the while I am shining brightly.  I desire each of My followers to be a Light-bearer.  The Holy Spirit who lives in you can shine from your face, making Me visible to people around you.  Ask My Spirit to live through you, as you wind your way through this day.  Hold My hand in joyful trust, for I never leave your side.  The Light of My Presence is shining upon you.  Brighten up the world by reflecting who I AM.

John 8:12; Matthew 5:14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Exodus 3:14

July 24

THANKFULNESS OPENS THE DOOR to My Presence.  Though I am always with you, I have gone to great measures to preserve your freedom of choice.  I have placed a door between you and Me, and I have empowered you to open or close that door.  There are many ways to open it, but a grateful attitude is one of the most effective.

Thankfulness is built on a substructure of trust.  When thankful words stick in your throat, you need to check up on your foundation of trust.  When thankfulness flows freely from your heart and lips, let your gratitude draw you closer to Me.  I want you to learn the act of giving thanks in all circumstances.  See how many times you can thank Me daily; this will awaken your awareness to a multitude of blessings.  It will also cushion the impact of trials when they come against you.  Practice My Presence by practicing the discipline of thankfulness.

Psalm 100:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:18

July 25

AS YOU LISTEN to birds calling to one another, hear also My Love-call to you I speak to you continually:  through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, Scripture.  There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you.  Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come.  When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence.  You can find Me not only in beauty and birdcalls, but also in tragedy and faces filled with grief.  I can take the deepest sorrow and weave it into a pattern for good.

Search for Me and My messages, as you go through this day.  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with your whole being.

John 10:27; Romans 8:28(AMP); Jeremiah 29:13

July 26

RELAX AND LET ME LEAD YOU through this day.  I have everything under control:  My control.  You tend to peer anxiously into the day that is before you, trying to figure out what to do, and when.  Meanwhile, the phone or the doorbell rings, and you have to reshuffle your plans.  All that planning ties you up in knots and distracts you from Me.  Attentiveness to Me is not only for your quiet time, but for all your time,  As you look to Me, I show you what to do now and next.

Vast quantities of time and energy are wasted in obsessive planning.  When you let Me direct your steps, you are set free to enjoy Me and to find what I have prepared for you this day.

Psalm 32:8; Psalm 119:35; Psalm 143:8

July 27

HOPE is a golden cord connecting you to heaven.  This cord helps you hold your head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting you.  I never leave your side, and I never let go of your hand.  But without the cord of hope, your head may clump and your feet may shuffle as you journey uphill with Me.  Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road.  You are reminded that the road we’re traveling together is ultimately a highway to heaven.  When you consider this radiant destination, the roughness or smoothness of the road ahead becomes much less significant.  I am training you to hold I your heart a dual focus:  My continual Presence and the hope of heaven.

Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 6:18-19

July 28

LET MY LOVE seep into the inner recesses of your being.  Do not close off any part of yourself from Me.  I know you inside and out, so do not try to present a “cleaned-up” self to Me.  Wounds that you shut away from the Light of My Love will fester and become wormy.  Secret sins that you “hide” from Me can split off and develop lives of their own, controlling you without your realizing it.

Open yourself fully to My transforming Presence.  Let My brilliant Love-Light search out and destroy hidden fears.  This process requires time alone with Me, as My Love soaks into your innermost being.  Enjoy My perfect Love, which expels every trace of fear.

Psalm 139:1-4, 23-24; 1 John 4:18 (AMP)

July 29

COME TO ME CONTINUALLY.  I am meant to be the Creator of your consciousness, the Anchor of your soul.  Your mind will wander from Me, but the question is how far you allow it to wander.  An anchor on a short rope lets a boat drift only slightly before the taut line tugs the boat back toward the center.  Similarly, as you drift away from Me, My Spirit within you gives a tug, prompting you to return to Me.  As you become increasingly attuned to My Presence, the length of rope on your soul’s Anchor is shortened.  You wander only a short distance before feeling that inner tug—telling you to return to your true Center in Me.

Hebrews 6:19; 1 John 2:28; Matthew 22:37

July 30

WORSHIP ME in the beauty of holiness.  I created beauty to declare the existence of My holy Being.  A magnificent rose, a hauntingly glorious sunset, oceanic splendor—all these things were meant to proclaim My Presence in the world.  Most people rush past these proclamations without giving them a second thought.  Some people use beauty, especially feminine loveliness, to sell their products.

How precious are My children who are awed by nature’s beauty; this opens them up to My holy Presence.  Even before you knew Me personally, you responded to My creation with wonder.  This is a gift, and it carries responsibility with it.  Declare My glorious Being to the world.  The whole earth is full of My radiant beauty—My Glory!

Psalm 29:2(NKJV); Isaiah 6:3

July 31

TRUST ME in depths of your being.  It is there that I live in constant communion with you.  When you feel flustered and frazzled on the outside, do not get upset with yourself.  You are only human, and the swirl of events going on all around you will sometimes feel overwhelming.  Rather than scolding yourself for your humanness, remind yourself that I am both with you and within you.

I am with you at all times, encouraging and supportive rather than condemning.  I know that deep within you, where I live, My Peace is your continual experience.  Slow down your pace of living for a time.  Quiet your mind in My Presence.  Then you will be able to hear Me bestowing the resurrection blessing:  Peace be with you.

Colossians 1:27; Matthew 28:20; John 20:19