LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
 
Sunday 18th January 2026

DELIGHTFUL ATTITUDE

Scripture Reading: Psalm 37
 
Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart._ *Psalms 37:4
 
Whilst waiting for the full realisation of what we have believed God for, we are encouraged to maintain an attitude of gratitude and joy by delighting ourselves in the Lord.  That simply means getting excited about the things of God. It means praising, worshipping and glorifying the Lord even if the answers to our requests are delayed.
 
All of us get tempted to worship and praise God only when things are going well with us. Unfortunately, when things begin to go awry and we face problems, we get so obsessed with them and yield to despondency. The joy of the Lord dries up. The smile wears off our faces. Instead of living in expectancy of a miracle, we allow the spirit of depression to dominate our moods.
 
God requires that we delight ourselves in Him as part of the process for getting the desires of our hearts fulfilled.
 
Practice Praise.

When you are tempted to yield to self-pity, just open your mouth and speak words of thanks and gratitude to God. Your feelings may be down but allow praise to well up in your heart.
 
 Participate in the joy of others.

When you hear that someone else has received a miracle or been blessed by God, share in their joy and be genuinely happy for them. Don’t be envious or resentful that another has been blessed and not you. As you celebrate with others, God will grant you your own desires.
 
Promote God’s work. 

Occupy your time of waiting with service in the house of God. Let His work be your delight and He will make your delight His work.
 
When through God’s grace, we delight ourselves in Him, He takes our burdens as His and exchanges them with the longings of our hearts.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for meeting my needs. I delight myself in you and in all that you’re doing in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.