VERSE OF THE DAY

Monday

Psalms 138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

For Christians, God's temple is one of two related things: either the Christian's body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) or the group of people who make up His Church (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Because of the flaws of the people in our churches, many are hypercritical of them. But God's Church is precious to Him and should be to us. Anyone who destroys His church through division will be utterly destroyed.

God's faithfulness to His people is seen in His preservation of the Church through all the ravages and persecutions of history. But God is still the center of the Church and He alone is to be exalted and the Church is still to be governed by His word and not just their own will.

PRAYER ... Holy and matchless God, I praise You for Your steadfast love and faithfulness revealed in the preservation of Your Church through all of history. I promise to cherish Your Church and do all I can to help it grow and mature to be more like Jesus, but I recognize that You and You alone are to be exalted above all other things and that my church must never be more important than Your will revealed in Your word. Give me the courage to be true to You even if my church may not be. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.