Daily Guided Prayers: Better Days Ahead

In Psalm 23 in verse 6, a psalmist prayed as he wrote this song, and he said to God, "Why would I fear the future? For your goodness and your love pursue me all the days of my life.

Then afterwards, when my life is through, I will return to your glorious presence and be with you forever." Do you ever find yourself fearing the future? Do you ever find yourself worrying or wondering what lies in store for you? I want to do this in this moment.

Close your eyes, and I want to picture that you are being chased.

So often we hear about being chased, and it's a fearful thing.

And you see somebody in a dark alley who's nervous and scared and worried that there's something ominous coming behind them.

I don't want you to picture that kind of chased.

I want you to picture a little kid who is playing tag with their parents.

And even though their parents could apprehend them in a few moments, the parents pretend to run slowly as the child giggles.

And the child giggles and maybe stumbles and falls, and then the parents pick them back up and keep chasing them again.

And the game continues until the parent wears out, because we all know the child never does.

But right now, I want you to picture that you are the child.

And in that moment, the things that are chasing you are the goodness of God and the love of God.

And even if you stumble, they're going to be there.

They're going to pick you up.

Even if you feel scared, the goodness and love, the goodness of God and the love of God are going to be right behind you.

No matter where your surroundings are, you could be in an open field or you could be in a dark alley, but the things that are chasing you are the goodness and the love of God.

And with that picture in your mind, now take these next few moments to thank God for his goodness and to thank God for his love.

God, sometimes it feels like we don't have enough words to thank you for your goodness and to thank you for your love.

But we try anyway.

Thank you for listening to our words.

Thank you for caring what we have to say.

Thank you for wanting our gratitude and changing us even as we express our gratitude towards you.

Jesus, we are thankful for your love and we are thankful for your goodness.