As you continue with the daily locket verses, try something new.  Each day, copy the day’s verse on a small card.  During the day use that card to remind you of the verse and repeat it to yourself.  Soon the verse will become a real part of your life.  trust the verses will be a blessing to you as you apply them to your life.

Sometimes we can get discouraged with our lives.  This can easily happen if we compare ourselves with others or with our own false image of ourselves.  Often, Christians start to walk down the pathways of "worldly success" or "the way most easily traveled by" or even a road of Satan’s deception.  We often do that because we have begun to look at our life on this earth as compared with the life of the rest of the world.  We need to pray today that we would see our lives through God’s perspective.  The Lord is so good!  As we commit our lives to Him, He sets a protected pathway before us and says, "Walk ye in it."  We have a choice to make at that point, whether to enter the safety and beauty of His pathway or stay on the road of the world’s design.  If we fully trust the Master Planner and follow His design, we will begin to walk on the unique personal pathway He has planned for each one of us.  Only then can we say with the Psalmist, The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.  Sweet Christian friend, do not get so caught up in the "rat race" that you can not stroll down the pathway of your life and admire the pleasant places that God has set there.  Even in the midst of trials, God’s pathway always has pleasant places, it is His promise to us: O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours... (Isaiah 54:11).  The pleasant places are like sheltered arbors alongside life’s journey.  What a comfort to think of them: there is the "place" of secret prayer, another of quiet meditation, the shelter of God’s abiding love, the stopping place with His Word each day.  Even in our physical life God has given pleasant places: the family fold, the company of friends, the fellowship of our church.  There are even places of escape that God has provided: besides prayer, we can also see the practical ones of hobbies, entertainment and even daily responsibilities that urge us on in the midst of trial.  Surely, God’s tremendous love for us personally is shown in the pleasant places that He has prepared for us along life’s way.  All this is part of our goodly heritage.  That heritage contains so much more than we have been able to mention today.  It also includes protection, comfort, instruction, and guidance in places where His Spirit ministers to us.  Isaiah 54 contains a great list of blessings of our goodly heritage: ...thou shalt not be ashamed...with great mercies will I gather thee...with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee...in righteousness shalt thou be established...no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper... This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.  What a wonderful heritage we have in the Lord!  To think upon it is a sweet encouragement to our souls.  Today, as you walk down part of God’s personal pathway for you, pause to admire the view.  Notice the pleasant places and let them refresh your soul.

It is interesting to remember that David, the Psalmist, was also a seasoned soldier.  He had been in many battles.  He knew the needs of a soldier in the midst of conflict.  David was also a man who was well acquainted with the Captain of his faith, the Lord Himself.  As he thought of this Captain, David must have been reminded of the thoughts of Moses in the midst of battle.  In Exodus 16, Israel was engaged in a great battle with their enemies, the Amaleks.  After Israel had been given the victory, Moses consecrated an altar to the Lord.  There Moses called upon the Lord and used the name Jehovah-Nissi to depict God’s character and His relationship to Israel.  Jehovah-Nissi means literally "The LORD my Banner."  Moses knew that the Lord, Himself, had won the victory.  Not only had God gone with the army of Israel, but He had gone before them as a banner.  He had always been the Standard to follow, the One who forged the path, the One who led in the charge and directed the battle.  Moses knew Who his leader was and Whom Israel needed to follow.  Soldiers of old were trained to always follow the standard bearer.  No matter what the noise or confusion of the battle, a soldier could always lift his eyes to see the banner flying and then follow bravely on.  Using the picture of a battle in relationship to our daily life, the Psalmist declares, I have set the Lord always before me. As one that needs a banner to follow, the Christian must set the Lord, Jehovah_Nissi, ever before him.  No matter what may befall us today, we need to set our eyes on the Lord so that we will not be confused in the battle of life.  We need to fix our spiritual eyes steadfastly on the only One who can lead us to victory.  Psalm 16:8 outlines our course of action.  First of all, we need to be certain who we are following.  It must be the Lord and His will that directs us.  Each step of the way we need to examine ourselves and make certain we have not begun to follow the advice of the world or the inner urges of our old man.  Our desire should be to do the Lord’s will in every situation, not our own selfish will or the will of the enemy.  Notice that the Psalmist uses the word always in a place of emphasis.  Not every encounter in life is easy, not every battle won in a moment of time.  Sometimes the cares and trials of life seem to crowd around us and we feel ready to falter.  We need to lift our eyes to see the banner ever floating before us, encouraging us on.  When we set the Lord always before us, our spiritual sights will be totally filled with Him.  Only then will life come into true focus.  I remember one of my children getting hurt very badly.  He was frightened and in pain, and I am certain that there must have been a rising feeling of loss of control.  I told him to look at me and to keep his eyes on Mommy.  I talked to him with calm and reassuring words as I started to help him.  His eyes never left my face and I could see the need and the trust in those little eyes.  God calls to us in the midst of trial, "Keep your eyes on Me, Christian soldier."  He knows our greatest need is to trust Him completely.  Also, we need the security of remembering that the Lord is in the battle with us: He is at my right hand.  In ourselves, we do not have the strength to stand firm, to fight the good fight, but God will always be right there to hold us up, to help us.  The picture of a soldier not being moved is one where the single warrior holds his assigned area, against all foes, even unto death.  Today, as we serve the Lord, He has given each of us a unique assignment.  Let us commit "not [to] be moved."  Let us hold fast our profession (Hebrews 4:14) and fulfill our duty.  Let us be the best wife, mother, single woman or young person we can be for the Lord.  As we march forward in our life today, let us remember to look to the Lord before us as Jehovah-Nissi, the LORD our banner.

This is a gold star verse!  It is one of the verses that we should memorize and incorporate into our daily life!  Somehow along life’s pathway, Christians sometimes seem to lose their joy.  They trudge along day after day never realizing the fullness of joy that the Lord offers to them.  Perhaps you have fallen into that trap.  Then today could be the day to start to march to the "beat of a different drummer!"  March with confidence in your step because He who leads the way is the Lord of all Joy and Glory!  Read the verse again, and let us consider it together.  This marvelous verse promises us that the Lord will show us the path of life.  The need of knowing which way to walk in life, which path to follow, is the same for every man.  That is why, even as children, we felt the need to have direction.  The Lord has given each person a view of the path of true Life in Him.  The book of Romans declares that God has shown every person His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.  By His creation and His sustaining power, God has revealed Himself to man.  To make the Way even clearer, He sent His beloved Son to earth so that in Jesus we might know Him, and the power of His resurrection.(Philippians 3:10)  Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.(John 11:25)  There is true life in Jesus!  If, when we glimpsed the way of eternal life in the presence of Christ, we made the decision to accept the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), then we are walking in God’s eternal Way.  Our feet are planted on God’s path bound for Heaven.  The destination is sure, but we need to have the special guidance of the Lord each day to light the way of the earthly portion of the pathway.  We do not want to stumble or fall on the way or be like Christian in the book Pilgrim’s Progress and get side tracked on a By-way off of God’s chosen path.  It is true that with our own eyes we can never see clearly the entire pathway spread before us.  What a comfort to realize that the Lord knows each little pebble, every curve, each valley and each mountain peak.  We need to affirm, with David, the absolute trust and confidence of the statement, Thou wilt shew me the path of life.  We need to follow closely the only One who can light the pathway.  He sees clearly down the road, we can fully trust in His guidance.  What beautiful thoughts are contained in this verse.  It is one that I memorized just before a major surgery and claimed as my own.  Whatever your life’s pathway holds, you can claim this verse and know the peace, strength and joy that comes from following close by the side of the One who knows all that lies ahead.  In His presence is fulness of joy.  Let us pray together that today we can practice the presence of Christ and experience His joy.  As we make a mental picture of this verse, it seems that there is a bright, luminous circle of joyous light on the pathway of life surrounding God’s presence.  Each time that we turn aside to our own way, we walk away from the brightness of that light and stumble in darkness.  God wants us to fully enter into the clearly lit pathway of His perfect design for our lives.  How so like God, that even if we have wandered and are in a place of darkness, He will lead us safely back to Him.  In the midst of trial Job said, When his candle shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness.(Job 29:3)  Not only are pleasures promised forevermore to the Christian when he gets to Heaven, but the promises are ours right now as we walk closely by His side.  He is waiting on the pathway.  He wants us to be right beside Him.  Step into the fullness of His presence today and choose to walk His way.  Be careful not to turn aside in any area.  Stay close by His side in His circle of joyful light!

How much we need to claim this verse each day!  How easy it is for that little member, the mouth, to get us into trouble.  Just one word and we have wounded someone’s heart, embarrassed ourselves or destroyed a wonderful opportunity.  As Christian ladies, it should be our sincere desire to not transgress with our mouth.  To succeed in this, there must be a conscious effort to place our thought life in the Lord’s control.  Our mouths speak forth the things that are in our hearts and minds.  The book of James reminds us that the tongue can no man tame.(James 3:8)  But the Holy Spirit of God can completely control, guide and use that which He has formed!  It is God’s design for that unique ability of language to be used for His glory and for His testimony in our lives.  No other creature has the ability to speak and communicate as we do.  It is God’s mark on man.  How then can we so easily use that which He has gifted us with for any other purpose than to glorify Him?  Today, let us purpose to use our words as those that are graceful, seasoned with salt, pleasant to the hearing, healing to the hearts of others.  Let us firmly resolve that in no way will we use that marvelous instrument to do anything out of God’s control.  We can ask Him who loves us so, to use our mouths today.  Peter reminds us, For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.(I Peter 3:10)  If your tongue has been a problem, confess it to the Lord.  Ask Him to graciously speak through you, not just when you witness about Him, but in every conversation.  Let your children, grandchildren, husband, family and friends hear you speak lovely words.  "Think before you speak," may be an old adage, but it is still very true.  If we could hear ourselves, it would sometimes alter the way or the words that we speak.  Pause for a moment and pray this verse to the Lord.  Let us resolve in our hearts that my mouth shall not transgress.  Today can be a much more pleasant day, full of more love and joy, if we will but hold that resolve.  The amazing thing is that as we continually practice speaking correctly, honoring the Lord with our mouths, than it will become easier and more natural to be God’s servants in every area of our life.  James warns us that out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not so to be.(James 3:10)  The truth is, that the more we bless others with the words of our mouth, the less likely we will ever be to transgress with that same mouth.  Under God’s control the mouth can be a beautiful thing.  Isn’t God’s plan wonderful!

David realized that he did not have the power, wisdom or strength to keep his goings on God’s paths.  Without the Lord’s ever present help, surely his footsteps would slip.  We too are like that.  Too often we forget to ask the Lord’s help in just one step, just one area of life, and sure enough we slip.  The devil knows that if he can get us to think that we can do it on our own, we will surely fail.  After all, it is God’s pathway, only He fully knows the way.  We are like that little child, just learning to walk, that needs his daddy’s firm and steady hand to hold him up as he explores.  There are no bumped noses or skinned knees in our spiritual life when the Father is holding us up.  But if we venture out on our own, surely the bruises will come.  God wants us to plant firm and steady steps as we walk before others.  If our child continued to toddle and sway back and forth past the age of a baby learning to walk, we would be very concerned.  We would certainly take him to the doctor to find the cause of his problem.  We would spend hours in prayer and follow every order from the physician to help that child.  How, then, could so many Christians so callously sway and stumble and toddle down life’s road.  The sheer embarrassment of thinking how we look to others when we should be walking like grownups but have let sin make us appear as unsteady toddlers, should make us want to be in God’s will.  If we falter and are unsteady, we too should become concerned, and spend much time in prayer and learning how to follow the orders of the Great Physician.  How pleasing it is to see a young person with correct posture and steady steps as they walk.  I have always admired my daughter for the lovely carriage she has as she walks.  Many have remarked on it and it lends grace to her whole appearance.  How lovely to see a Christian lady who carries herself with grace in her Christian walk.  It is a delight to all that behold her.  We must also remember that the ways we should walk in are God’s ways, not our own.  The Psalmist calls them thy paths.  Christians sometimes forget that they can easily get entangled in the trap of doing things like the world.  The world’s pathway is broad and wide, the pleasure may look alluring, but once we get on that path, we will soon discover that in the ends thereof are destruction and ruin, heartache and defeat.  God’s pathway may be narrow, but the journey is sweet, the view is clearer, the satisfaction is full of joy and the rewards are full of victory.  We should not be tricked to think that the only places we need God’s help with are those that are new or seemingly difficult.  Once I quickly turned and slipped right in my own home.  For the next three months, I was on crutches with a broken foot.  It is not always the unfamiliar places where we can slip.  It is anywhere.  Let us not let go of our gracious Savior’s hand, even for a moment.  Slipping always hurts, always frightens, always slows us down in the progress of life.  O Lord, hold up my goings today, keep me in Thy paths.  Please, Lord, don’t let my footsteps slip.

There are beautiful little phrases in the Bible.  This verse contains one: thy marvellous loving kindness.  What a wonderful way to think of the Lord’s dealings with us today!  If nothing else, memorize that little phrase right now.  Start to view God according to His marvelous loving kindness.  Everything that He does for you is motivated by that kindness.  Every gift, every joy, every blessing, as well as every correction and every guidance, is a result of His marvelous loving kindness.  How much more we would love Him and be able to show loving kindness to others if we could fully grasp this truth.  When we learn to fully trust the Lord with our lives, knowing that He will always work that which is best and most character building, we can become more victorious Christians.  Even when we do not understand the things that are happening, we can be persuaded that in God’s design, His marvelous loving kindness will enfold us.  What a joy and comfort to our hearts it is to constantly remember that He is full of marvelous loving kindness.  Repeat it over and over again, dear Christian.  We should never grow tired of hearing and knowing it!  Since we know that we are to show forth the character of Christ, we must also remember that it is our Christian duty and privilege to show forth marvelous loving kindness to others.  If we are to be like Jesus today, we must be ever mindful to live this wonderful quality.  As we pray this morning, let each one of us ask the Lord for opportunities to show forth loving kindness to someone this very day.  The Lord will place the opportunity in our pathway, it is His desire to so use us.  Also notice the second part of the verse.  The Lord presently saves those that put their trust in Him.  If someone rises up against you today, don’t try to handle it in your own strength.  The Lord has made His promise: He will save you from those that would go against you.  But it must be as you trust Him fully.  Sometimes the way He deals with others is not the same way we might have imagined, but it is always the best way.  Remember that it is not only God’s design to help us, but to work in the lives of others also.  Only He can do both.  Each day there seems to be someone, or something that would raise itself against us.  Place those things, those individuals in the Lord’s hands.  Allow Him to keep one of His precious promises to you.  Let Him show forth His marvelous loving kindness.  Trust Him fully today.

Many times when we think of a child that we love, one whom we are very proud of, we use this little phrase: "he is the apple of my eye."  That is how the Lord desires to think of us.  He has already placed us in the center of His divine favor when He granted to us His eternal salvation.  Now as we walk before Him and live our lives each day, our desire should be to always please Him, to be kept as the apple of His eye.  There is really no better way to gain the good behavior of a child than with love.  So it is with the Christian.  God’s love constantly is demonstrated to us, we should desire to walk pleasing to Him.  As we increase in our desire to please the Lord, motivated out of our love for Him, we will find that our every decision will become easier, our very behavior will be more pleasant.  Oh, to be like a favored child today, to do always those things that please our Father.  Let us allow the Lord to polish us today, like a shining apple.  That might involve some cleansing and some hard rubbing to allow the brightest shine to show forth.  If you highly polish an apple, it will show a reflection.  God wants our lives to show forth the reflection of Christ to others.  Let us be willing to allow Him to work in our lives.  Recently I heard a preacher explain this expression as the idiom for the center of the eye, the pupil.  It is that area of the physical eye around which all else was designed.  Because it is intended to be the receptacle to allow the true picture of the world around to be received and transmitted to the brain, all other parts of the eye work around it.  The iris helps in the proper reception of the light, the eyelids and eye lashes protect it.  A Christian should be the instrument of transmission of the truth of God to the minds of others.  God has given us all that we need to aid us in the proper transmission, even to His purpose of letting us reflect the Lord Jesus in the proper light and in the fullness of clarity.  Then, let us pray with the Psalmist, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.  So many times it seems that we suddenly need to run for cover as the barrage of Satan’s arrows fly our way.   So often as the trials of life seem to come so close, we need a place of shelter.  One of the first lessons a mother hen teaches to her little chicks is to run to her if she gives the call that signals danger.  Just as the baby chick can safely run to the shelter of his mother’s wings, there to be hid from danger, so the Christian needs to flee to the Lord’s protective care.  Left out on our own, we would surely be in danger.  There is a famous children’s story that tells of a mother hen and her brood during a large brush fire.  She gave the call for alarm and all but one chick ran to her for cover.  That little chick kept venturing out on its own and was lost in the flames.  Even though the mother hen perished in the heat, the farmer found the other chicks safe under the shelter of her outspread wings.  Christ died for us.  He rose again and provides eternal protection in Himself.  We need to remember that the only place of present safety is found in heeding His warnings and staying close by His side.  The word shadow presents a wonderful picture.  On our own we are in the direct "heat of the battle."  But when we trust ourselves to the Lord, He places us in the shadow of His "wings."  There is calmness and refreshing in that shadow.  It is the cool shade of His love that hides us from the heat.  What better place is there than to be close by His side, under the shelter and shade of His protection.  Lord, keep me close by Your side today.  Help me not to desire any other place of shelter but You.