One Step At A Time • Daily Devo #517

Daily Devo • Word Count: 1,515

Today’s Devotional Scripture: ⁹ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. - Proverbs 16:9 KJV

³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
- Matthew 6:34 KJV

¹³ Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

¹⁴ Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

¹⁵ For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
- James 4:13-15 KJV

The Message For Today (April 12, 2026):

***Audio Version For Paid members: One Step At A Time Audio 517

Everything that you put your hands to in your life has a purpose. Everything at home, everything at your job, everything with your family, everything in your finances, and everything with your church. Everything has a purpose. There is a divine assignment attached to even the smallest things that you do day in and day out.

These tasks and these to-do lists give us an anchor through the day. They give us a thing to do. They give us a reason to get up in the morning, to prepare, and to walk with God. These things that He gives us are the things that we can give ourselves to in His name. Taking care of our families, taking care of our finances, building our careers, and helping to launch our church. Everything has a purpose.

When life gets overwhelming, it gets really hard to see the reason to do it all. To see the purpose for it and to see why you should keep going. But we have this faith in King Jesus that is proven again and again when we trust Him. We have this assurance that He is with us, that He will never leave us and never forsake us, as it says in His word (Deuteronomy 31:6 KJV).

So when we’re facing some of the most difficult times in our lives and wondering how we’re going to navigate through it, remembering the fact that God is with us every step of the way truly matters. Through every heart issue and through every plan you make, God is God. You may have the best plans set up, but as it shows us in Proverbs 16:9, those plans have a way of going astray when God comes in.

It is the Lord who directs our steps.

Even if we don’t quite know it. Those unplanned opportunities, those unplanned encounters, those Holy Spirit moments that impress upon us His sovereignty and His love for us? These are the things that happen outside of our control, outside of our plans, and outside of our to-do lists.

In the midst of life, God is with us. In the midst of unplanned circumstances, God is with us. When things just don’t make sense in your life, and you’re wondering what’s next, God is with you. Through every single moment, step by step and day by day, God is right there in the midst.

You don’t have to take it on by yourself. You don’t have to stick to one rigid plan or another. Simply walking with God in the present moment is what matters.

The second cornerstone scripture, Matthew 6:34, shows us that thinking about tomorrow and about the worries and the plans and all of the what-ifs is meaningless. The scripture tells us to take no thought of it, for tomorrow will take thought of itself. It has enough to worry about already in the future. And then the second part of that scripture says, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

The evil thereof is a peculiar term that you do not want to miss in this verse of scripture. The evil thereof is the worries and the things you cannot control. These are the things that we just can’t do anything about. We can’t do anything about things in the past, and we can’t do anything about what’s going to happen in the future.

We can influence it, but we can’t control our day, which we’ve known time and time again. When things pop up, when the car breaks down, when we need a dental emergency, and when there’s a life issue. Control is a fallacy. The things that we worry about add no value to our lives.

So the evil thereof, the trouble, the issues of life, is what that term means. We can’t control that. We give that to God. But what we do in this moment is live; we breathe; we have our very being in Christ Jesus. We rest in Him. We praise Him. We bless His holy name, knowing that He is God alone and knowing that He cares for us.

We can breathe through every moment and approach our life step-by-step, and approach our days step by step. Having plans, but not being overwhelmed when the plans don’t go the way that we expect, because it is the Lord who directs our steps.

This type of faith is unusual.

Living this way is unusual. Trusting God with the troubles and the worries and the what-ifs of tomorrow is not easy, but it’s necessary. And how we approach this is so far removed from the way the world does it, that having this kind of faith that says,

“Lord, I give You tomorrow;

I give You what I can’t control”

…that kind of faith is unusual. It sets you apart.

It leads you on the path with Christ Jesus, step by step. So, we are no longer conformed to the world and its thought processes, but rather transformed by the renewing of our mind so that our thoughts line up with kingdom. They line up with the Word of the Lord. They line up with scripture.

Our thoughts now line up with His holy Word and with His heart for us. That’s what happens when we take life step-by-step. That is how we can conquer every battle: step-by-step. This is how we can drastically change our family’s destiny, come out of debt, restore marriages, and change lives step by step.

God never intended for you to take on everything all in one moment. He intended for you to walk this walk step-by-step.

The final cornerstone scripture that we have this morning is James 4:13–15, and it cautions us against making plans without knowing what the future may hold. Yes, if the Lord wills it, we will be there. If the Lord wills it, we will be in attendance. If the Lord wills it, we will travel. If He wills it, we’ll live in that city for a year, or we’ll be at that station for a season. If the Lord wills it, it will be so.

Nothing is locked in stone until you stand in the midst of it and until you are present in the moment. The future is in the hands of the Father. The way situations turn out is in the hands of God. And we can receive that in our hearts. You can let go of the future. You can let go of overthinking. You can let go of the what-ifs.

And you can be present in this very moment, knowing He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it, that our God is with you, and that He is more than able.

Closing Devotional Prayer

My Prayer for You:

Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You. Thank You, Lord God, for Your mercies are new every morning. I thank You for great grace. I thank You for the love of the Father over this mighty woman of God.

As she is walking with You today, I pray in the name of Jesus that everything that is not like You would break. I thank You, God, whether she’s listening to this or reading this devotional, I just bless You, O God, for her commitment to this journey day in and day out.

I thank You, God, that she is sowing into good ground, whether she’s sowing into herself by just being here and reading, or whether she’s sowing into the good ground which is a financial gifting into this ministry, Lord. Either way, I thank You, Lord God, for she is present and her time is here now.

Her commitment, God, let it be a blessing to You. Let her commitment to this devotional, God, be pleasing in Your sight. I thank You, Lord God, that it will bless her, that every word that is in these scriptures and these devotionals, God, will edify her, will lift her up, O God, and place her feet on solid ground in Your name, O God.

I thank You, Lord God, for the blessing of the Lord, which makes rich and adds no sorrow. I thank You, Lord, and I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

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