Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 08-26-24

When I’ve written in reference to Psalm 119 in the past, I have mentioned that it contains 176 verses that are divided into 22 stanzas, and each stanza is titled with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet. Today’s stanza is titles with the Hebrew letter, Mem, which means the water of wisdom, knowledge, the Torah.

It represents both water and the ability to dive deep into God’s wisdom. Every person should hunger and thirst for the wisdom of God, but that wisdom can only be found within the Word of the Creator because He alone is our Living Water, He is the Torah, and He is our Bread of Life.

During yesterday’s sermon, Pastor Mary reminded us that when we came to Christ through salvation, He redeemed our spirit from our sins. Now that we are saved and walking out our salvation with Christ, we must seek a closer relationship with Him so that we can allow Him to continue to redeem our souls (our minds, wills, and emotions). We do this by feeding on the Word of God each and every day. You and I cannot expect to grow in God’s wisdom if we are not consuming His Word. We must bow before Almighty God, each day, and “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV)

Psalm 119:97-104 (NLT)

Mem

97 Oh, how I love your instructions!
I think about them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are my constant guide.
99 Yes, I have more insight than my teachers,
for I am always thinking of your laws.
100 I am even wiser than my elders,
for I have kept your commandments.
101 I have refused to walk on any evil path,
so that I may remain obedient to your word.
102 I haven’t turned away from your regulations,
for you have taught me well.
103 How sweet your words taste to me;
they are sweeter than honey.
104 Your commandments give me understanding;
no wonder I hate every false way of life.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for redeeming us. We want to grow in our individual and collective relationships with You. Holy Spirit, help each one of us to be motivated in our spirit to remain in Your Word every day. Guide us by Your wisdom to see with our spiritual eyes what You want us to see, to hear with our spiritual ears what You want us to hear and touch our spiritual hearts to know where You want us to go. We want to be willing vessels for You, Jesus, and we know that we do that by submitting to You and growing in our relationship with You. Thank You for growing us up. We ask this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 08-19-24

Throughout the book of Acts, the Apostle Luke helps us to understand the early days of the church. Last Thursday, Pastor Mary’s devotion guided us through the second part of Acts 6, with verses 8 through 15. Today, we are going back to the first part of Acts 6 and looking at verses 1 through 7. Keep in mind what Pastor Mary already shared as it directly connects to today’s passage. We are to “feed” off of the Bread of Life, Jesus, and allow His Spirit to fill our souls, spirit, and body by His Word. With His Word, we are to seek God’s holy wisdom as a guide for our lives, because only then are we divinely given the ability to remain in a place of love (His love) no matter how others treat us. We must call on the Holy Spirit to make us mindful of our responses to others, asking that our hearts remain sensitive, and that our souls remain humble with each righteous response that the Spirit provides through us. “Since God chose you (and me) to be the holy people He loves, you (and I) must clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Making allowances for each other’s faults and forgiving others who offend you (and me). Remembering, that the Lord forgave you (and me), so you (and I) must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:12-13)

In today’s passage, we see that the early church was growing as believers were rapidly multiplying. We also see that there were two distinct “groups”, the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hellenists were complaining about the Hebrews, because they believed “their” widows were being treated unfairly and discriminated against. When you stop and think about it, today’s church is not much different from the early church. Far too often God’s Family (His Church) becomes divided into “groups” when that shouldn’t happen because we are called to be One Body with Christ as the head (1 Cor 12). The division happens because believers start to feed on the world’s “food” instead of allowing God’s food, the Word, which is perfect, to fill, sustain, and guide us. Since the world’s “food” is fleeting, we see that even believers will complain and point fingers at others because of fear. When we “feed” on this world’s food, Satan creeps in and fills us with fear. Satan’s fear seeks to rob us of the trust we should firmly have rooted in Jesus, and that fear branches off into doubt, anger, and all areas of sin.

Next, in our passage, we see that the twelve apostles call a meeting of “all” believers. Here, and for a moment, we witness the Church (God’s Family) living out the Word and working as One Body. Notice, that scripture doesn’t say that any of the apostles started yelling and pointing fingers at anyone, rather scripture says that they came together and worked in the Spirit seeking wisdom and prayed over the decisions made by Spirit and through the entire Family.

We know from Pastor Mary’s devotion on Thursday that this moment is short lived, as Stephen is arrested. However, go back and read over those verses again, because even though the enemy is speaking lies about Stephen, he stands firmly on the Word of God and speaks the Truth. Stephen is determined to share the righteous “food”, the Bread of Life, Jesus, with anyone who will listen, and even in the midst of what is his greatest trial on this side of heaven, as is believed that Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

Acts 6:1-7 (NLT)

Seven Men Chosen to Serve

1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being our Bread of Life. Help each one of us to keep feeding on Your Word. We do not want what this world has to offer. We want You, Jesus. Keep us knitted together as Your Family, working as One Body with You guiding us, Jesus. May our faith be like Stephen’s faith. May we be filled with You, Holy Spirit, and covered by Your grace. I ask this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 08-12-24

On Friday, Pastor Mary used the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians (and to us) as a reminder in her devotion that “We Harvest What We Plant” (6:1-10). Remember, we must align ourselves with the principles and commands of God, because He is the Holy Standard for the seeds that we choose to plant. Today, we are going to continue with Paul, but pick back up from last Monday when he wrote to the church in Ephesus (and to us). Please don’t miss it, this message of “Living in the Light” is directly connected to Paul’s message about what we plant we will reap in a harvest.

At the end of Ephesians 4, Paul instructs us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” (v. 31-32). Paul wants us to know that there is a clear contrast between light and dark, in other words, good and evil, and it all boils down to the choices we have in everything. You and I either choose God or we choose Satan. We must remember that we cannot serve both. In Matthew 6, we are reminded that no one can serve two masters (meaning both God and Satan), for we will hate one and love the other, we will be devoted to one and despise the other (v. 24). Thus, God gives us the freewill to choose, either Him or Satan.

Friends, we will never be perfect while we are in this earthly realm, but we need to keep choosing to live in God’s light and move further and further away from living in Satan’s darkness of sin. When we do sin, we have a responsibility to immediately cry out for forgiveness, to turn away from that sin, to seek prayer with others to cast down that strong hold, and to ask the Lord for the guidance of His Holy Spirit to move us past that sin and deeper into our relationship with Jesus. Remember, we can’t keep going back to sin, we must be a willing and active participant in our faith walk to move forward in our relationship with Jesus each and every day. If we choose sin, Paul tells us that God’s anger will fall on all who are disobedient. The chose is either: light, which reflects God’s holiness or darkness which reflects Satan’s evilness. It does not matter how much we try to hide our sin, God knows, and He wants nothing more than for us to willingly turn it over to Jesus, and to awaken us from our dead living with Satan.

Ephesians 5:1-14 (NLT)

Living in the Light

1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for taking our sins with You to the cross. Please forgive us, Lord, when we sin, because we know that we are sinning against You, and we need Your forgiveness and guidance so we can turn away from sinning. We want to keep growing closer and closer to You, Jesus, and so we stand against the sin in our lives that seeks to keep us from that closeness with You. Holy Spirit, please guide each one of us away from our old sinful ways and away from any darkness that seeks to harm us. Quicken our hearts to press into Your Word, Jesus, and may Your Truth ring loudly and our spiritual ears hear it clearly. We ask this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 08-05-24

When the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, he begins in chapters 1 – 3 to teach believers about our new lives as the children of God: how we are forgiven, adopted into God’s Family, we are redeemed from the slavery of sin, loved by God, strengthened with His power, and we are recipients of the riches of Christ Jesus.

Paul continues in chapter 4 to urges us, as believers, to walk in unity in our new way of life and as the Body of Christ. Paul wants us to be equipped as the Church, or as the Body of Christ, to be able to work together as one in Christ Jesus as we utilize the gifts Christ has given us so we can do His work and build up His Church. “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son (Jesus) that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” (v. 11-13)

As we seek for “Unity in the Body” (v.1-16) each of us must no longer live as “Gentiles”. This means that we must completely let our old sinful lives go and live out our new lives of salvation. Within this place we are living as Christ’s Word teaches us to live, and as Christ Himself lived as the walking example for our walking lives. We must allow the Holy Spirit to guide our souls (our minds, wills, and emotions), otherwise, this world and Satan will fill our souls with darkness, harden our hearts against the Trust, and cloud our judgement to operate against the Word. If the world and Satan guide us, we will not have shame and we will live our lives for this world in lust, pleasure, deception, and impurity. Let’s keep our new nature on and allow the Word of Christ to flow in, through, and out of us, just as we were created to be like God, Himself, Who is righteous and holy.

Ephesians 4:17-24 (NLT)
Living as Children of Light

17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being the Head of our Body, Your Church. Help us, Lord, to work together to grow in our faith, as Your Church, so that we can mature in You, and work to grow Your Kingdom. Help each one of us, Your Church, to continue to be guided by Your Word. Holy Spirit, please continue to renew our thoughts and attitudes. We ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotion from Jen Auer 07-29-24

During yesterday’s time of worship, as Pastor Mary prayed, I felt a divine connect to today’s passage. I had previously been studying Psalm 37 and spending more time in God’s Word with King David (I know, it’s now 3 Mondays in a row, but this is where the Spirit has me). So, as the Holy Spirit spoke through Pastor Mary, my spirit was on fire when she said, “sin against God is just unbelief”, I knew I needed to go back to the livestream and listen to her prayer again (and again). So, after listening to it a few times, I was led to transcribe it for us. May this devotions, time in God’s Word, and time in communal pray, allow each one of us to individually grow in our faith and mature in the fruit of Christ’s Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23); may it also be a time of growing together as God’s Family, His Church, to shine His light of love into this extremely dark world.

I have a two-part question for you to allow the Spirit to move as you read today’s passage, 1. can you see the places where God has and is calling you; and 2. can you see the difference between the wicked and the godly within those places you are called? I ask this because Israel, in King David’s time was experiencing this, and so was David, and that is most likely what prompted him to write today’s passage.

If we are all being completely honest, there is no place where we have been called that every single person is sinless. In fact, we can see wickedness, or sin, within our families, we see sin within our homes, sin is prevalent within our workplaces, sin festers within our schools, our world just witnessed sin within the opening ceremony of the Olympics, we see sin within governments, we see sin within every business and organization, and unfortunately, sin can be seen within the Church. So, what do you and I do as believers, do we run away from sinners? If so, where do we go? The last I checked, sin is everywhere, you are a sinner, and I am a sinner, and Jesus came so that ALL sinners could turn to Him and choose to be healed. We are called, as the Church, to be a blessing, not to replay evil (sin) with evil (sin) (1 Peter 3:9). Last week, Curtis and I were sharing some time together and I mentioned that I love when Pastor Mary has referred to the Church as a hospital, he later shared it during Bible study, and I hope this Truth resonates within each of us as God’s Family. We are all in need of healing from our Great Physician, Jesus. Remember, He told the first disciple (and this message still applies to us as His disciples, today) that healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. That Jesus came, not for the righteous, but to heal those who are sinners and willing to turn to Him and repent, and that is all of humanity (Luke 5:31-32).

Friends, we cannot worry about the wicked. We must trust that God has it all under control. What we can do is ensure our hearts are His and that we are growing in His Word and in our relationship with Him.

Psalm 37

A psalm of David.

1 Don’t worry about the wicked
or envy those who do wrong.
2 For like grass, they soon fade away.
Like spring flowers, they soon wither.

3 Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.

5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.
6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

7 Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
or fret about their wicked schemes.

8 Stop being angry!
Turn from your rage!
Do not lose your temper—
it only leads to harm.
9 For the wicked will be destroyed,
but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

10 Soon the wicked will disappear.
Though you look for them, they will be gone.
11 The lowly will possess the land
and will live in peace and prosperity.

12 The wicked plot against the godly;
they snarl at them in defiance.
13 But the Lord just laughs,
for he sees their day of judgment coming.

Prayer: Pastor Mary’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You so much. You are so incredibly good to us, God, You make a way sometimes and we have no idea how You are doing it, but You are do it. But our faith has to be in You, and what You have promised to do through Your Word. You are so faithful. And You are the everlasting God, there is no beginning, no end, You have been, You remain, and You will forever be our God. You are the One true God. We thank You God for making this even opportunity today, to bless us, to help open us up. Lord, may we open ourselves up to this Word today. May we allow You to minister and speak to us, not necessarily through our heads, although You made our minds, so we would understand more about You, but minister to our spirits because we are first and foremost a spirit, who has a personality, a soul (a mind, will, and emotions) and you placed us in these physically bodies and we are on a human journey to learn the divine ways. Thank You, God, for being so patient with us. We pray God that You would not only open us up, Holy Spirit, but that You would be the One Who speaks Truth to our hearts. We pray for the conviction, we do, because in light of living with You, we need to allow that conviction. It is not a negative, it’s a positive, it’s a way You instruct us. You teach us about Yourself. So, help us to be listening, to allow the work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of the Truth. Then, Lord, help us to take it into our soul, and let You cleanse us and work through it. We know, God, that You are the One Who makes things possible. Our righteousness is like filthy rags, but Your righteousness that we are entering into and called upon, well, that is perfect. So, we just thank You for washing us with Your righteousness today. We pray, Lord, not only would we be ready, but that we tell others who do not know about You, how immense and unfathomable You are. We cannot comprehend You, God, even though we try to with these little human minds of ours. We pray, God, that You would help us to receive more of You because we are hungry for You. But, if someone has never tasted of You, we pray that today is their day. Jesus, save us from our selfishness and self-centeredness, save us from resting in our own human understanding, save me God, forgive my sin, and save me, because sin against You is just unbelief. We pray, Father, for belief to rise up even within those who have never said those words. Rise up, Holy Spirit, and help people say, I believe. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 07-22-24

Lately, I’ve found myself spending a lot of time studying and connecting with David’s heart for the Lord. Last Monday we looked at a portion of Psalm 142 which we know was a time when David was in “darkness”, and he was hiding and crying out to the Lord. Today we will look at Psalm 100, which David wrote as a psalm of thanksgiving. David knew that no matter our circumstances, the Lord is our Shepherd, and that His goodness and unfailing love will never stop pursuing us, because it is gravely important to God that each one of us resides in His House for all eternity.

In John 10, Jesus uses a parable about how He is the Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep. At the end of John 9, Jesus was debating with those who objected to Him giving sight to a man who was born blind. Jesus is still speaking to those criticizers, but they tell Jesus that they do not understand what He is saying. “So, He explained it to them: ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.’ Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through Me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:7, 9-10) We see that Jesus will never stop pursuing the hearts of His creation, and for that we must give great thanks.

Today’s psalm invites all of the earth to shout with joy to the Lord. Pastor Mary continuously shepherds and leads God’s flock at C2C Church to grow in our understand of the Word of God, so we know His voice. She makes it very clear that the enemy will do anything to steal our joy. But, handing over our joy is a chose each one of us has, because we chose Jesus to live within us. Remember, Jesus became our joy when each one of us chose salvation in Him. So, even though the enemy is always around, he has NO power to take your joy, unless you give it to him; because Jesus, Who is divine and holy, lives in you and me. Allow Psalm 100 to encourage your heart today as you acknowledge and praise God for, He is our Good Shepherd and we as His people want to be prepared now to enter His Gates for all eternity.

Psalm 100 (NLT)

A psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.

3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being our Good Shepherd. Help us to hold firmly onto our joy. We do not want to hand anything that is of You over to the enemy. Thank You for being our gate, the One Who welcomes us into our eternal Home. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 07-15-24

We know that David was a man after God’s own heart. From an early age, David placed his full trust in the Lord as he knew the Lord was his shepherd, and that with the Lord David had all that he needed (Ps. 23:1). As a young shepherd, David defended his flock against lions and bears and he also defeated Goliath, and he did these things with confident faith and trust in the Lord. As a result, Saul appointed David over the army. As jealousy towards David’s favor with the Lord filled King Saul, David knew his life was in danger and so he fled and he hid in a cave, and that is where he penned today’s psalm.

Friends, you and I can read today’s psalm and I believe that we can all agree that we have experienced the “dark cave”. We’ve had feelings of being trapped and in those dark places the enemy sought to fill us with loneliness, shame, guilt, worthlessness, anger, fear, anxiety, etc. When you and I cling to those feelings, the enemy will work to turn our attention to the world’s ways of “fixing those feelings”.

Truly listen, with your spiritual ears, to David’s prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual heart to receive what it is that you need to receive. Here are just a few ways that David’s prayer has ministered to my own heart, and I pray that the Holy Spirit provides each one of us with many more eternal lessons:

David has an unbelievably close relationship with the Lord. His prayer is in first person, and he mentions “I, me, and my” over two dozen times. David knows that no one else is going to be responsible or uphold his faith with the Lord, rather his relationship with the Lord is his own personal treasure.

David is an honest prayer warrior, who cries out to the Lord and even pleads with Him. Yet, David understands that he must submit to God’s sovereign will for his life, and that takes a place of confident faith and full trust in God.

David knows that in his insufficiencies God is fully sufficient. He realizes that God is using this dark and lonely place, to grow his faith and trust in Him.

David is fully aware that the only One Who can deliver him from evil, so that he may be joyful again, is God; because God is his only refuge, his full portion, and David wants to be in a place of praising God’s Holy Name.

Psalm 142 (NLT)

A psalm of David, regarding his experience in the cave. A prayer.

1 I cry out to the Lord;
I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
2 I pour out my complaints before him
and tell him all my troubles.
3 When I am overwhelmed,
you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go,
my enemies have set traps for me.
4 I look for someone to come and help me,
but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
no one cares a bit what happens to me.
5 Then I pray to you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my place of refuge.
You are all I really want in life.
6 Hear my cry,
for I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison
so I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me,
for you are good to me.”

Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank You for moving within each one of us to allow Your Word to minister Truth to our hearts. Jesus, forgive us when we have not placed You at the center of our lives or when we have placed other people or things ahead of You. Help to grow each of our relationships with You. Thank You for being with us all of the time, especially in the dark places. Help us to grab ahold of You, so You can be the Light that guides us out. We trust that You are using all things for our good, even the hard things, allow all things to draw us closer to You, Jesus. We pray all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 07-08-24

Our passage today is a message through the prophet Ezekiel. We will pick up at the end of chapter 2 and continue into chapter 3. If you recall, Ezekiel was a priest who had been living in Jerusalem and he was amongst the first to be exiled during the Babylonian attack when the Israelite prisoners were captured.

Chapter 1 opens on Ezekiel’s 30th birthday. By tradition, it’s the year he would have been installed as a priest in Jerusalem. As Ezekiel finds himself in captivity, God opens his spiritual eyes, provides him with a supernatural vision, and God calls and commissions Ezekiel. This call far surpasses the “traditions” of priesthood. God wants Ezekiel to preach His Word and to prophesy to His people, the Jews. This was going to be challenging, as they were rebellious people against God. God knew that, and He still called Ezekiel to share His Word.

Friends, God calls us to do the same as He called Ezekiel, we are to spread His Good News to the world. Much of the world remains blinded by the darkness of Satan and they either don’t realize it or they have turned a blind eye to their rebellion against Jesus. Regardless, God still calls us to spread His Word, and to proclaim the Gospel message of Jesus and His saving love. Remember, you and I were once blind, but now we are the “Living Stones for God’s House” because we stand on the Cornerstone, Jesus. As we stand on Him and profess His Word, by the work of the Holy Spirit, each one of us are royal priests, we are God’s chosen people, a holy nation, who are called to show others the goodness of God (1 Peter 2:4-12).

Just as God handed the scroll of His Truth to Ezekiel to eat, you and I are called to feast on God’s Word, every single day, as we are called to His Table, and we too must eat (ingest) His Word. Don’t get caught up in the worldly or “literal” meaning of eat. Within the spirit realm, God supernaturally called Ezekiel, and He is calling you, me, and all believers to allow His Word to sink deep into our hearts first (ingest it into our spirit), so then we carefully spread His Word to all and pray for hearts to open and listen.

Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:11 (NLT)

2:8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you.”

9 Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll, 10 which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

3:1 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 Then he said, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages. 5 I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. 6 No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! 7 But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. 8 But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. 9 I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.”

10 Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. 11 Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for Ezekiel’s testimony. Forgive us when we do not share Your Word. Help us to grab a hold of our priesthood, and to feast more and more on Your Word, so that the Holy Spirit can keep guiding us to spread Your Good News. We love You, Jesus, and ask all of this in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 07-01-24

King David’s “Song of Praise” is a song to the Lord about the day the Lord rescued him from all of his enemies (who are controlled by the sin and darkness of this world) and from Saul, his father-in-law who sought to kill him (more sin and darkness of this world). This “Song of Praise” can be found in 2 Samuel 22 and in Psalm 18. Today, we are focusing on the first six verses of Psalm 18.

Like many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray with and for people every single day. Last week a dear friend said, “I am praying for strength because Lord I am on the verge of crumbling and falling apart right now”. I am not going to lie; this friend’s circumstances are extremely difficult. Each one of us can think of extremely difficult circumstances that we have had to walk through, or we are walking through right now, and if we are being completely honest, we know that we will walk through more in the future.

But, friends, we must not allow our circumstances to determine our faith or the goodness of God, rather, our faith must rest in the goodness of God, and we must trust our circumstances to Him. David helps us to understand why we do this.

Remember, David walked through many difficult circumstances, adultery, leadership of the most powerful nation in the region of the most rebellious people, death, his own son tried to kill him for power, and the list goes on and on; but, regardless of each difficult circumstance, David still said:

Lord You are my strength – friends, when you and I feel weary and weak, we must press into our faith and remember that God never gets tired, and He is our strength at all times.

Lord You are my rock – we must stand firmly on the One Who is the Rock of our salvation, Jesus, and cry out to Him when we feel like everything is falling apart around us, because He is our only firm and unchanging place of Truth, and He wants to help us. God hears our prayers! Remember, He is omnipresent, everywhere at all times. He wants to help us.

Lord You are my safe place – Jesus is our safe place, His Word lives within each of us, and it never changes. We are the ones who either physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or spiritually change or wonder into unsafe places, but Jesus was, is, and will always be our safe place of rest and restoration. Cry out to Him for help. He is our safe covering and our strong tower!

Place your faith and trust in God for every circumstance. Because one thing is certain, while our circumstances will continue to change, our God is our only stable and unchanging place of pure love. Believe that God will use all things for Your good (even the hardest circumstances) because He loves you for all eternity, and He wants to use our hardest circumstances to help others.

Psalm 18:1-6 (NLV)

Song of Thanks for Being Kept Safe

1 I love You, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, and my safe place, and the One Who takes me out of trouble. My God is my rock, in Whom I am safe. He is my safe covering, my saving strength, and my strong tower. 3 I call to the Lord, Who has the right to be praised. And I am saved from those who hate me.

4 The ropes of death were all around me. The floods of death make me afraid. 5 The ropes of the grave were all around me. The traps of death were set for me. 6 I called to the Lord in my trouble. I cried to God for help. He heard my voice from His holy house. My cry for help came into His ears.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for being our strength, for giving us Jesus, Who is our Rock, and for allowing us to call on the Holy Spirit to lovingly guide us. Thank You for hearing our prayers and for being with us at all times, especially during difficult times. We love You, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotional from Jen Auer 06-24-24

Some of you may know this, but as a reminder, Psalm 119 contains 176 verses, and the chapter is divided into 22 stanzas. Each stanza is titled with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet. Today we are digging into the Truth of the fifteenth stanza which is titled with the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Samekh, meaning to lean upon, to uphold, or to support.

In today’s passage, we can clearly see that the psalmist understands his great need for God’s support. He is so focused on lovingly obeying and honoring God by upholding His Truth (God’s Word), that he hates when individuals are divided in their loyalty between God and this world.

At first, it might seem ungodly or unloving for the psalmist to use the word “hate”, however, the psalmist is not saying that he does not love individuals who are different from him or who do not know God, he is stating that he hates those who choose to be double-minded because he loves God’s Word and understands that by choosing God, he must deny this world. The psalmist will not allow anyone to stand in the way of his devout love for God, he knows he needs the support of the indwelling Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) as he endures this world and upholds his faith. The Apostle James gives us clear instructions on faithful endurance. He tells us that we need God’s wisdom, and you and I get that when we ask the Holy Spirit for divide guidance and support. “But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” (v. 6 – 8)

Friends, we cannot be double-minded, we must place our loyalty in Christ Jesus, alone! We cannot choose God and this world; it doesn’t work that way. By choosing both, we are standing against God. Dig deep into His Word, share it with others, and reject Satan.

Psalm 119:113-128 (NLT)

Samekh

113 I hate those with divided loyalties,
but I love your instructions.
114 You are my refuge and my shield;
your word is my source of hope.
115 Get out of my life, you evil-minded people,
for I intend to obey the commands of my God.
116 Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live!
Do not let my hope be crushed.
117 Sustain me, and I will be rescued;
then I will meditate continually on your decrees.
118 But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees.
They are only fooling themselves.
119 You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum;
no wonder I love to obey your laws!
120 I tremble in fear of you;
I stand in awe of your regulations.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for imparting Your Spirit within us. We need Your wisdom to guide us. Help us to press deeper into Your Word, every single day, to grow closer and closer to you and further and further away from this world. Forgive us when we’ve waivered, we do not want to be divided in our loyalty, we want to be firmly planted on You and our roots to grow deeper and deeper into Your Truth. We ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.