Heavenly Father, I praise You for today and for how You have stood by me during difficult times, trying times, and when I grieve. I praise You for the lessons taught to me as a child that have helped me navigate how I should live as an adult. I praise You for an upbringing that taught me to see people for what they do and say, not by riches or poverty, not by their ethnic background or even their quirks. Help me to learn to see the way You see. Help me to take command of my day and shake the evil from it while I take into captivity every thought that may try to stray from Your will or towards sin.
Holy Spirit, I praise You for having people teach me how to break down Your word and personalize it to help me meditate and understand what I should know and do. I often have heard about how Your word is just a bunch of rules but I have learned that is more like guard rails to help me walk in the right direction and realize that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, and
that where Your Spirit is there is true liberty. [Romans 8:6, 2 Corinthians 3:17, MEV]
I have learned to live and meditate on Your word, even to the point that it has woven into my prayers to You. I will do my best each day to offer up my life and sacrifice my desires that the world has instilled in me to do the desires that God has instilled in me through You, Holy Spirit. I will submit my whole body to You, so that I can unashamedly stand before You or be checked by Your Spirit and know that I am fully centered in Your will. I will do my best to learn from Your word and let it place memories, organization, and direction in my thoughts and actions instead of allowing the evil, chaos, and misdirection the world tries to convince me is the right way to live. I will do my best to fill my mind with Your word, testimonies, good books, and good music so that my mind does not have a place or time for the sin and attacks of the enemy. I will do my best to live humbly without thinking of myself as better or being selfish towards others, especially my family, community, and those I encounter. I will do my part with the talents and ministry You have given to me, specifically to
fulfill the purpose You created within me to help work with my brothers and sisters to assist in building Your kingdom here on the earth. I will do my best to exhibit love and not do it for show, but with genuine love that comes from You to demonstrate You in my life to others. I will always grab hold of what is good and try to be the brother or sister that my church family needs of me. I will always enjoy and stand strong in my hope and faith, do my best to be patient and focused when I face hard or troubling times, and always lean heavily on staying in prayer and talking to You and listening to You so that I am aware of how to support other believers. [Romans 12:1-13, paraphrased to my way of meditating and personalizing the instruction that You inspired Paul to teach us in his writings.}
Let me continually offer the sacrifice of praise to You, oh God, that is, the fruit of my lips, giving thanks to Your name. Help me not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, You are well pleased. I will do my best to obey those who rule over me, and be submissive, for they watch out for my soul, and they will give account for how they
lead. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for me. For I am confident that I have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially am urged to do this. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make me complete in every good work to do His will, working in me what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:14-21)