Pocket Thoughts - 3/14/25

God * will be with us when we pass through the waters * is doing a new thing, making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert * foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of the diviners.

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The great gift of prayer! All things can be brought to your loving heavenly Father! Trouble brings us to our knees. Blessings cause us to lift our hands in praise. Illness and need find the family of God circling up in support. Confession of sin brings healing and power to overcome. Don’t neglect the opportunity to draw near to the One Who loves you and will answer you according to His good and perfect will. – TV

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Jesus offered “living water” to the Samaritan woman. She was understandably confused, hoping that His offer would end her hot, midday trips to the well. She was looking for an easier life. Many who come to Jesus have that same mindset, but God doesn’t enter our lives to remove our challenges. He comes to walk beside us as we go through them, becoming a “fountain of living water” from which we can draw limitless supplies of strength, hope, joy, endurance, and patience. – TV

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Goals and plans aren’t evil, but hold them loosely. Your future is in God’s hands. A good heart check is to consider how you will respond if He steps in and redirects your route. If you center your plans around His desires for your life, you’ll never be disappointed. – TV

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Lord, why do I so easily fall into the pit of grumbling and complaining? Maybe because I carelessly circle so close to the edge of it with no thought to the danger? One small irritation or a thread in conversation, and I’m tumbling into a hole of my own making – finding fault, criticizing, feeling entitled and judgmental. The tiniest seed produces an arbor of discontent and whining. It’s not pretty. In fact, it reveals a selfish heart that’s forgotten Your goodness and blessings in my life, and it’s an offense against Your perfect, holy character. For the Israelites who grumbled after witnessing miracle after miracle in their rescue from Egypt by Your mighty hand, the reward of venturing into the Promised Land was forfeited. Remind me, Lord, that when I complain, I’m removing myself from the very best that You have for me. Help me to see that muttering against You, against what You allow into my life, and against the people You sovereignly bring into my life is sin. Help me to see sin as the sharp, deceitful, wicked tool of the enemy that it is. Help me to flee from it instead of flirt with it, and please, Lord, “deliver me from evil.” Forgive me. I’m swimming in an ocean of grace, and You’re worthy of every ounce of my worship, gratitude, and allegiance. In the beautiful Name of Jesus, amen.

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“The church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.” – A.W. Tozer

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“So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.’” – Joshua 4:4-8