"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Lord, help me to ask with confidence that I am asking for what is in Your will to provide. That will be when I truly have accepted Your mind as my mind. Give me the discernment to recognize when it is of You and not some wile of the Evil One.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 9

Mid-day: 119:1-8

Evening: Psalm 84

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.

I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. (13) For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Yes, Lord, my vows to You of complete and total obedience can only be executed if I listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In no manner, are my vows to You of any consequence in my own strength; it is only through You and the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. This is not to provide an excuse for failure but to acknowledge my responsibility to listen and obey.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 8

Mid-day: 119:169-176

Evening: Psalm 83

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.

I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.

Another statement that is in the future for me. A goal, a blessing to be realized, an object of prayer and discipline. I know that my ways are before You, when will I keep Your precepts and not disappoint You?

My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.

The Psalmist is absolutely correct, there is exceeding joy in living a life of obedience to the Word of God.

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.

Why? Because it is through Your Law that Your nature is revealed to me.

I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.

It is hard to accept but true that obedience is a consequence, a fruit, of salvation—not that salvation is a consequence, a fruit, of obedience.

Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.

How I wish this were true, I struggle to remember to praise You throughout the day and it is spotty at best. I pray, Lord, that You will give me the gift of praying without ceasing, it is not within me to do so unless Your Holy Spirit empowers me. Not to blame You but to confess my weakness and failings.

I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.

An interesting recognition of the role of the Law as a tertium quid, the third thing that serves as an absolute standard. The underlying recognition that the Law represents absolute truth with no allowance for wavering, no weasel words. “Thus saith the Lord” prefaces a truth statement, always and without fail.

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

Your Word stands between me and persecution, scorn and derision. It is my bulwark against the evils of this world. Build my faith, Lord.

I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.

What a vista opens up when I accept that the Kingdom of Heaven is available to me now and that God's grace and mercy has made it possible for me to enter into that place of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah and maranatha.

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments. My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly. I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.

Lord, I love Your Word for it it all Your fullness is revealed. To know Your Word is to know You, to know Your Kingdom, to know Your Son, to know eternal life, to know all that is necessary to live in Your Kingdom in the here and now, to know all Truth, to know Wisdom. It guides me, teaches me, protects me, feeds me, gives purpose and meaning to my life and gives me peace. I love Your Word.

Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.

My salvation includes a transformed heart. Lord, I pray for that transformation to be evident in the men so at all will see that You are a God who loves and heals. That is the answer to those who taunt—watch me, watch my walk, the Lord saves. You create a new man, make it happen, Lord, in the Southern State Correctional Facility.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 7

Mid-day: 119:161-168

Evening: Psalm 82

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

I am safe and secure in the arms of Jesus, kept from all harm. Praise You, my Lord and Master, for You guard Your flock and stand between even the weakest and most insignificant against the onslaught of the Evil One. You will lose none that the Father has given You. You are the consummate Shepherd.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 6

Mid-day: 119:153-160

Evening: Psalm 81

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.

All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

Lord, a major concern on my mind is our cousin, dying in a place far from family and who, to the best of my knowledge, denies You. How do we bring her back here so we and others in the family can care for her during this final phase of her life? Most important, how do we carry the message of Your love and forgiveness and her need for it one more time? Lord, give her the ears to hear.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 5

Mid-day: 119:145-152

Evening: Psalm 80

Voices Together is available as an annual daily devotional and can be purchased at the Fellowship Of Ailbe bookstore.