Daily Devotional For Saturday, July 11, 2026
Good morning Southside. Our daily devotional for today comes from Psalms 116:1-2:
“I love the LORD because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. (2) Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” (NLT).
The psalmist tells us clearly why He loves the Lord. The Lord hears his voice and his prayer. The Lord listens to him as he prays. The Lord gave the psalmist mercy when he needed it. This reminds us of these verses found at this link: God is slow to anger, abounding in love. It seems in our day that listening has become a lost skill. When the psalmist called on God’s favor for mercy, God was quick to respond and give it.
The psalmist’s point is that God is passionate to hear and listen from us. So many Christians can go the whole day and never really speak to the Lord. Oh, they might do their ritualistic saying of grace over a meal, but it is more rote than about a relationship and expressing genuine gratitude. What is true in people’s lives and home is also unfortunately true in the church. Ask for anyone is a group at church for volunteers to pray, it is often easier to pull wisdom teeth.
This should not be. God’s people should be prayer warriors and should willingly offer to pray out of gratitude for all that God has done for them. Many times God’s people or Christians are like idols who have no ears – they do not listen to God nor do they even pray to God (Ps. 115:4-6; Ps. 135:15-17). Oh, if God’s people were as passionate to pray to Him as He is passionate to hear from them, the better their lives, their churches and our culture would be.
The psalmist makes it clear that because the Lord responds immediately to his prayers, this is the motivation and it emboldens him to keep coming to the Lord in prayer. And this is why the psalmist calls on all of God’s people to join him in worship to pray and listen to the Lord. Tomorrow is Sunday. Are you going to go to church out of habit or out of a deep desire to experience what God wants to happen in your life? If there is a call to pray, are you going to be one of the first to respond, or just sit back and give the impression that God is not worth it?
Reflection Assignment: Each day, take time to both pray to God and to listen from God. We listen from God primarily in two ways: first, through the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit and second, through God’s Word, the Bible. Step out in gratitude and show others that God is worth our prayers and theirs.
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 116:17-19a, “I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. (18) I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people — (19) in the house of the Lord.” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me when in the presence of others I give the impression that You do not deserve our prayers. Help me to start a movement, a prayer movement by encouraging other reluctant Christians to pray. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly