Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe sing “Cry Out” while reading today’s devotion about a single purpose.

Scripture
Unite my heart to fear Your name. Psalm 86:11

Observation
Thin strips of veneer are as flimsy as cardboard. But laminated together they become plywood, strong and stable. My heart is often like cardboard. It knows what it should want to do, but it cannot manage the strength to do it. And yet, when empowered, my human will can be greatly used by the Lord to choose the right and leave undone the wrong.

My only hope is lamination. The very weakness that works against me, when bonded together by the Holy Spirit, can empower me.

The message is not that God must peel and discard layers of our heart that are ineffective. Instead, he takes the very part that won’t cooperate and uses it to do his will.

Application
I had lunch yesterday with a man who has run between 3 to 6 miles a day for 31 years. I eyed his sixty-five-year-old lithe body and wanted to put my dessert back. What would keep a man running every day for 31 years? I can scrape together about 6 weeks of willpower to do anything and then my will becomes as flimsy as wallpaper.

Prayer
Father, I am full of weakness. But the superglue of your power can somehow blend with my ineptness and create resilience. I need give you my flimsy heart and ask you to bring it together to fear you. Let my first question and my only aim be to do the thing that pleases you most. Amen.