Jennifer A

When we look at the Old Testament writings from the prophet Isaiah, we see a total of 66 chapters. In the first 39 chapters, Isaiah warns the people of Israel (so it’s a warning from all of God’s people) of forthcoming judgement and their need for repentance of their sins and to turn back to God and to His Word of Truth. In chapter 40 we see a shift as Isaiah is offering comfort for God’s people, but what he shares continues to be rooted in God’s Word of Truth. Isaiah 40:7-8, are quoted in today’s New Testament passage from Peter.

Within these verses, Isaiah wants God’s people (us) to understand their (our) frailty. So, he compares people to grass that withers and flowers that fade. Then in stark contrast Isaiah reminds us that the Word of God remains forever. During yesterday’s sermon, Pastor Mary said that “we are temporary residents of earth”. She is speaking the same Truth that Isaiah shares in the Old Testament and that Peter shares in the New Testament.

When you and I chose to give our life to Jesus, we began drinking from His cup of salvation. In that moment we were reborn, our old life of sinful dead living was laid down at the cross, and we picked up our cross and began to walk out our born-again life. This new life lasts forever, because it is eternal with Jesus; but our physical life and all of life on this earth is fading and it will all come to an end. But, until the end comes, you and I have a holy expectation from God to spread the Good News message about Jesus. Just as each of us wants to be drinking from the cup of salvation, we also want as many people as possible to meet Jesus and to drink from that same cup. We do not want to see anyone parish from being trapped in the cup of God’s wrath.

1 Peter 1:23-25 (NLT)

23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for the most precious gift, my salvation. I know that I had to choose it, but I also know that You have been cheering me on from the moment I took my first breath, and you will keep cheering until I take my last breath and meet you face-to-face. Wow, that will be the greatest moment! As the earth fades and as I grow older, I remain hopeful even when I am in the valley because I carry You, Jesus, within me and I know that the best is yet to come with You in eternity. Please help me to keep drinking from Your cup of salvation as I stand firmly rooted in You and against the enemy. I lift all of this to You, Jesus. Amen.

As a reminder, Psalms 113 – 118 are known as the “Hallel”, which means praise, and these Psalms were often sang in connection with Jewish holidays or celebrations such as Passover.

Today, we are spending time in Psalm 114 and celebrating the deep sense of ultimate security that God gave, and continues to give, to His people. During the Exodus, we see God’s powerful commitment to save His covenant people, Israel, from slavery by the Egyptian empire. It was such a spectacular event of redemption. You and I must always remember that this ultimate redemption was for God’s people then and is for God’s people now. We are God’s holy people, and we will always clash with the world’s ungodly systems, just like our Israelite brothers and sisters did when they were in Egypt. But we must never forget that we are a part of God’s Kingdom, and God is always seeking to rescue and to protect His people as we are God’s sanctuary, His temple.

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

The Psalmist reminds us of God’s sovereign power with the parting of the waters at the Red Sea and at the Jordan River. God made a way for His people, just like He makes a way for you and me. We know that the Israelites experienced miracle after miracle and they still struggled with their faith. That is why we must fear and tremble at the sheer holy presence of the Lord. I am not saying that we must be afraid of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; I am actually saying the complete opposite. We must grow so close to each of them, as One, that we cannot think, say, or act without the holy guidance of the Holy Trinity within our lives. Only then are we living in true fear of the Lord, or a place reverence of the Lord.

God wants to move the mountain within my life and within your life…and if you do not have a mountain standing in the way right now, then praise Jesus; because He is Who you will call on when you are faced with one that seems far too big to climb.

Psalm 114 (NLT)

1 When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—
when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—

2 the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary,
and Israel became his kingdom.

3 The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way!
The water of the Jordan River turned away.

4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs!

5 What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way?
What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?

6 Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?
Why, hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.

8 He turned the rock into a pool of water;
yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Jesus, Who redeemed me and rescued me from sin. Thank You for the Holy Spirit, Who seeks to guide my second-by-second life. I need Your protection, at all times. This world seeks to mess with my soul, and I know I need You to have full control over my soul. I want my mind to be fixated on You, Lord. I want my will to be firmly rooted in You, Lord. Finally, I want my emotions to be guided by You, Lord. I want my faith to keep growing because I know in order to grow closer with You that is what needs to happen. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Yesterday ended the Lenten season, but that doesn’t mean that we stop living for Christ simply because one of the annual “holidays” in which we celebrate Him is over. Actually, as Christians, we need to be celebrating Who Jesus is and what He has done, is doing, and will do for us ALL OF THE TIME!

In today’s passage the Apostle Paul tells us that we are to put to death our earthly selves because we no longer live for ourselves since claiming our salvation in Christ; we now live as one with Christ. Paul goes on to caution us against living for our earthly desires because God’s anger will come upon us. When we live for our earthly desires, no matter what it is that seems to satisfy us, we must remember that everything and everyone is temporal, the only One Who is eternal is Jesus. So, we need to focus on making Him the only idol that we worship and stop placing ourselves in an idol position by worshipping our desires because that is living for ourselves and not living for Jesus.

You and I must remember that we are new creations in Christ, and so as we celebrate Him daily (and not just during the Christian holidays) new desires that are holy and in alignment with His Word start to grow and navigate our lives. We begin to despise the sin that we once loved, and those outside of our Christian Family may start to think that we are weird, and that God has too many rules. The truth is that you and I simply choose to love Jesus more than we once loved our sin, and we shouldn’t care how weird or unaccepting that is to anyone.

Verse 11 is my favorite…we are all free in Christ and He is in ALL of us. There is nothing that makes any one of us stand ahead of the other in our oneness with Jesus because there is no distinction! Friends, that means we must treat each other the same, just as we would treat Jesus.

Colossians 3:5-11 (GNT)
The Old Life and the New

5 You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry). 6 Because of such things God’s anger will come upon those who do not obey him. 7 At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.

8 But now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips. 9 Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits 10 and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself. 11 As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for so many beautiful reminders this past Lenten season. Help me to focus more and more on growing in our daily relationship together. I want my desires to be what You want for me because I know that Your plan and purpose for my life is perfect. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

Intro: During this Lenten season, every devotional will begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis (author and theologian), followed by two readings: 1) A passage from the Psalter and 2) a writing from one of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors. We will look at both passages as a whole through the fulfilling work and wisdom of Christ—Truth.

Our soul depends on our desire or appetite for Jesus!

“All Christians know something the Jews did not know about what it ‘cost to redeem their souls.’
(C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms)

Psalm 25 is titled, “A psalm of David” and it is a wonderful expression of David’s heart for the Lord. In these verses we see David’s spiritual appetite for God. He knows that his soul is dependent on the Lord. “David is pictured in this Psalm as in a faithful miniature. His holy trust, his many conflicts, his great transgressions, his bitter repentance, and his deep distresses are all here; so that we see the very heart of ‘the man after God’s own heart.’” (Charles Spurgeon)

David helps us to understand that God is all loving, merciful, and faithful to those who humble themselves to except His teaching. We must remember that God’s teachings always include correction, instruction, and guidance for our highest and spiritual best. Even when it doesn’t feel like it or when it doesn’t feel good, God is focused on the best for our spiritual path. David tells us that God is a friend to those who fear Him. Pastor Mary teaches often on the fear of the Lord. It is a place of reverence that can only be experienced by those who have salvation in Christ; for “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Friends, in verse 22 we see David’s great concern for the souls of all of God’s people, not just for himself. As believers we must keep our eyes fixated on God and love Him with our entire self, and then we must love our neighbor as ourself. It is in this selfless place we allow God to guide our souls (our minds, wills and emotions) to do what is best through us for His Kingdom.

Psalm 25:8-22 (NLT)

8 The Lord is good and does what is right;
he shows the proper path to those who go astray.

9 He leads the humble in doing right,
teaching them his way.

10 The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness
all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.

11 For the honor of your name, O Lord,
forgive my many, many sins.

12 Who are those who fear the Lord?
He will show them the path they should choose.

13 They will live in prosperity,
and their children will inherit the land.

14 The Lord is a friend to those who fear him.
He teaches them his covenant.

15 My eyes are always on the Lord,
for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.

16 Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.

17 My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all!

18 Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.

19 See how many enemies I have
and how viciously they hate me!

20 Protect me! Rescue my life from them!
Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.

21 May integrity and honesty protect me,
for I put my hope in you.

22 O God, ransom Israel
from all its troubles.

It is important to know that all four Gospels teach “Jesus Clears the Temple” (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48, & John 2:13-16 (this passage is similar, but it is thought to be the clearing of the temple courts). If this lesson is contained in all four Gospels, I think we can all agree that it is something we not only need to know, but that we need to understand and live by it. There are so many lessons within this teaching, but for today we are going to focus on what Jesus is teaching about our salvation and our soul and please note how it directly connects back to David’s message from Psalm 25.

When you and I welcomed Jesus into our lives, we welcomed Him into our hearts and scripture tells us that His sole purpose is to cleanse us and to make us a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Prior to that welcome, our soul belonged to this world, but after our souls belonged to Jesus and we became a part of His Temple. God’s Temple is holy (and the Temple is Jesus), so now you and I are a part of that Temple, and we need to be seeking holiness or seeking to be more and more like Jesus (1 Cor 3:16-17). Our souls need to be under the minute-by-minute guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In today’s passage when Jesus cleared the Temple, he was clearing out the sellers and the buyers. Keep in mind these transactions were all taking place in a house of prayer to God (to Jesus, Himself). It wasn’t a marketplace for sales (which aligns with this world), it was a house of prayer (a holy place)! There was a clear spiritual battle going on between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm. The sellers were selling animals for approximately 20x the typical cost, and the buyers were there to either purchase or to witness, and either way, Jesus viewed them as one in spirit with the sellers, and not One in Spirit with Him (they too were defiling the Temple…their own souls).

Friends, the company we keep and what we do, say, think, feel, and believe is all tied to our soul…which needs to be either sold out for Jesus, or it is in direct company with this world which is run by Satan. It is that simple!

Luke 19:45-48 (NLT)
Jesus Clears the Temple

45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. 46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

47 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48 But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being in control of my soul. Holy Spirit, I need your minute-by-minute guidance for my soul. My mind, my will, and my emotions can grow weary, and so I need Your help. Please allow me to discern when I am wavering and to move back into alignment with You. I do not want the things or ways of this world. I want to be One with You, Jesus. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

“You are certainly under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, or you wouldn’t have come where you now are.”
(C.S. Lewis; Love Expands)

King David wrote today’s psalm, and he wants us to consider the vast glory of God; and so, he places the world that God created on display for us to be reminded of His limitless glory.

Think for a moment, the same God that created the universe, day, night, sound, heaven, and the list goes on and on, created YOU & ME! So, when we sit in awe of His creation, we really should be in awe of ourselves as a strategic part of that same creation.

We cannot fully travel the path that God has for us until we fully realize that we are a part of His vast creation and strategic plan. “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)

Psalm 19:1-6 (NLT)

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.

2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.

3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.

4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.

5 It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.

6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and follows its course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.

Now that we are reminded of the infinite measure of God’s glory, how do we, as the Church, resonate His glory since it is clearly a part of our Family’s mission.

Think for a moment about when the Apostle Paul wrote today’s letter to the church in Ephesus, which was probably sometime between AD 60 to 100. The Church was growing, and the Light of Christ was being spread like fire by the Holy Spirit. Now think about your work for the Church. Do you aid in growing the Church, are you on fire for Jesus, and how often do you allow the work of the Holy Spirit to spread that fire for Christ through you? You might be thinking, well, I am not gifted the same way as Paul or the other Apostles, and that is fair…but, are you using your God given gifts as explosively as the Church did during the time that today’s letter was written?

Remember, YOU are a glorious creation, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece from the Master Himself, and within you are gifts He chose specifically for you to use to further grow our Family, and so those gifts need to be shared for the glory of God’s Kingdom. Never ever forget your value and open yourself up all of the time for the Holy Spirit to move through you.

Ephesians 4:7-13 (NLT)

7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

9 Notice that it says, “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we cannot thank You enough for choosing to make us as a part of Your creation. Please forgive us, Father, when we do not consider our value in Your Kingdom. Help us to grow in our understanding of the specific plan that You have for each of us, and how it fits into Your vast plan for Your Church. Holy Spirit, please guide us to know our gifts and to be able to grow in using them for the greater good of God’s Kingdom. Also, help us to value the gifts in others and to work as One for the Family. We ask all of this in Your Holy and Glorious Name, Jesus. Amen.

Intro: During this Lenten season, every devotional will begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis (author and theologian), followed by two readings: 1) A passage from the Psalter and 2) a writing from one of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors. We will look at both passages as a whole through the fulfilling work and wisdom of Christ—Truth.

As we patiently wait to reside within our Eternal Home in the heavenly realm with Christ, we must hold firmly to His joy which is within us and surrounds us no matter what is going on, because the dark misery of this world will stop at nothing to try to extinguish the hopeful Light of Christ within each one of us.

“Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it; or else forever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves”
(C.S. Lewis; The Great Divorce)

In today’s psalm, David comes to the Lord in prayer and he gives his entire life to the Lord, so he gives his: soul (mind, will, emotions), body, heart, and spirit. He relinquished his own strength and placed his trust in God. When David did this he was surrounded by pagan nations, and so he knew that in order to remain faithful to the Lord that he could not trust or turn to anyone except the Lord, because He was the only One Who would guide David on the right path, others, who did not know God, would seek to steer him away from God.

You and I are in the exact same situation as David. We are surrounded by a pagan world that is seeking to deceive us so that the Satan can work to extinguish the Light of Christ within us. This realization is not something to fear, Paul teaches us about that within the next passage of today’s devotion, rather we are to remain joyful because we belong to Jesus, Who is the only One Who saves us and offers us His unfailing love.

Psalm 25:1-7 (NLT)

A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, I give my life to you.
2 I trust in you, my God!
Do not let me be disgraced,
or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.
3 No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,
but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

4 Show me the right path, O Lord;
point out the road for me to follow.
5 Lead me by your truth and teach me,
for you are the God who saves me.
All day long I put my hope in you.
6 Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love,
which you have shown from long ages past.
7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.
Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,
for you are merciful, O Lord.

Paul tells us to do exactly what David did, we are to be led by the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit); and in order for the Spirit to have His reign within us, we must give all of ourself fully over to God. If we do not give our entire self to God we leave openings for Satan.

Paul goes on to talk about how our suffering now is nothing compared to our future glory. The closer we find ourselves to Jesus, the more we begin to see how He reveals to us those things that are from Him and those things that are of this world. The Holy Spirit guides us with a spirit of discernment to be able to spiritual know what is Truth and to follow it, it also guides us away from that which is not Truth.

Personal Story: My family traveled last week to celebrate my daughter’s accomplishment of being the valedictorian for her 2023 high school class. Although we had a beautiful time, there were so many moments that I found myself praying, more than normal, for the people around me. We were in a “big city” and although some people might think I’m being “dramatic” I felt the Holy Spirit continuously pulling on me to spiritually see what was happening around me. There were so many people hustling, and not just those who were working hard, but many who were attempting to work over one another. I witnessed a woman distraught after being pickpocket. I saw so much substance usage and heartbreaking homeless in freezing weather. People struggled to smile and to simply connect to one another. I’m not saying all of this is because I was in a “big city”, I’m saying this because the joy of the Lord in you and me (the Light of Christ) must prevail, because Satan’s misery can absolutely destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves…and that “happiness” they reject is Jesus into their hearts. Friends, our Light of Christ MUST shine brighter than ever before, in big cities, small cities, our communities, our centers of influence, and in our own homes. PEOPLE NEED JESUS! if they aren’t exposed to Him than we aren’t doing what He commissioned us to do! If they reject Him, love them anyway, so a seed is planted that can one day serve as a reminder of Jesus’s unfailing love for them!

Romans 8:14-25 (NLT)

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

The Future Glory

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Prayer: Jesus, we need Your help. Please guide us to be the ambassadors that You call us to be for Your Kingdom. Allow Your Light to shine brightly through us to expose the darkness of this world so that You can bring hearts to You! Help keep us filled with Your joy and to preserve through the things of this world that are painful, because they are temporal, but our future glory with You is eternal in our real Home, thank You for that Truthful reality. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Intro: During this Lenten season, every devotional will begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis (author and theologian), followed by two readings: 1) A passage from the Psalter and 2) a writing from one of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors. We will look at both passages as a whole through the fulfilling work and wisdom of Christ—Truth.

All that we do and say must be for the glory of God…if it is not for the Most High God, then it is in alignment with the one who rules this world, and he is Satan.

“All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest, and all of them, even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not.”
(C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

During yesterday’s time of worship, we looked at the first two verses of Psalm 91 and today we will look at some more verses. I mentioned that the traditional Jewish thought is that Moses might have written Psalm 91 during the 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Since there is no title, the author remains unknown, and others believe it shares some of the similar messaging found in a few of the Psalms written by King David.

Either way, the author repeats the promise of deliverance and the assurance of victory as long as you and I make the Lord our refuge in all that we do and say. When we are living our lives fully for the Lord He promises to rescue us, to be with us, and to reward us.

Psalm 91:9-16 (NLT)

9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,

10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.

11 For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.

12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.

15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.

16 I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

I read that as Christians we live as “the already but the not just yet”…meaning we are already redeemed, but not just yet completely redeemed. So, we must wait with both patience and eagerness for our resurrected bodies and our completion into the Heavenly realm of all Eternity with Jesus. In the meantime, while we know that all that we do and say must be for the glory of God, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we desperately need the Holy Spirit’s help because we have moments (and sometimes, we have many moments) of weakness. None of us are exempt from weakness, and so we need what the Holy Spirit does for us, in us, and through us because He is always in alignment with God’s will and His plan for our lives. We must remember that God uses ALL things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them (v. 28).

As Pastor Mary reminded us yesterday, we need to let Jesus drive the car of our lives. He wants what is best for us, and in that highest place no one can ever be against us. Even when (not if, but when) they are against us, we have peace (shalom) because the Highest God is for us, so nothing anyone says or does matters above the love of our God.

Romans 8:26-34 (NLT)

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Prayer: Jesus, please help me to do things that are in alignment with what You would do, and please help me to say things that You would say. I want my actions and words to glorify Your Holy Name. Please forgive me for not allowing the Holy Spirit free rein over my actions and words all of the time. Help me, Father, to press into You so that You can nudge me to call on the Holy Spirit more and more, and to trust the direction He is guiding for my life. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Intro: During this Lenten season, every devotional will begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis (author and theologian), followed by two readings: 1) A passage from the Psalter and 2) a writing from one of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors. We will look at both passages as a whole through the fulfilling work and wisdom of Christ—Truth.

While the world is fleeting and those who remain attached to it will never know True wisdom, the Heavenly realm is steadfast for Eternity for those who give their lives, through salvation, to Christ Jesus and as the children of God, they may call on their Father’s wisdom at any moment.

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”
(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Asaph, who is said to have written psalm 74, stresses the importance of God’s sovereign authority over all of creation. Within today’s passage, he uses many examples of God’s divine power, strength, and wisdom. The first example is when God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to protect them from the Egyptian army. I don’t know about you…but, when I reflect back on my life, I can testify that God has protected me SO many times. I did absolutely nothing to deserve His covering of grace, but I want people to know that His protection is available for them too, because God longs for all of His creation to return Home to Him for eternity.

Psalm 74:12-17 (NLT)
A psalm of Asaph.

12 You, O God, are my king from ages past,
bringing salvation to the earth.

13 You split the sea by your strength
and smashed the heads of the sea monsters.

14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and let the desert animals eat him.

15 You caused the springs and streams to gush forth,
and you dried up rivers that never run dry.

16 Both day and night belong to you;
you made the starlight and the sun.

17 You set the boundaries of the earth,
and you made both summer and winter.

In studying Godly wisdom, I found that “this invaluable virtue is deep, immeasurable, priceless, and rare”. So, how do we gain more of God’s wisdom? Well, James tells us that “if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” (1:5) In other words, we must be praying for wisdom all of the time. Paul tells us in today’s passage that human wisdom is foolish, and God’s wisdom is what will save us as believers. Through our salvation Christ has been made wisdom for us, and thus, we must call on His wisdom to guide us ALL of the time!

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NLT)

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”

20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, there are no human words sufficient enough to thank You for grafting me into Your vast creation. Thank You for forgiving me when I have dismissed that tremendous gift. Please cover and guide me with Your wisdom each day. Earthly or human wisdom is no longer attractive to me. I want to keep growing with You, Jesus, and understanding more of Your Truth as uncovered by Your wisdom within me. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Intro: During this Lenten season, every devotional will begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis (author and theologian), followed by two readings: 1) A passage from the Psalter and 2) a writing from one of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament authors. We will look at both passages as a whole through the fulfilling work and wisdom of Christ—Truth.

God is calling us to replace our discouragement and sins of the past with His abiding and eternal love.

“What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring.”
(C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress)

Today’s psalm comes from the sons of Korah. Jealousy had led Korah to start a rebellion with 250 community leaders against his cousins, Moses and Aaron. God judged Korah and his leaders and they all died when “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned.” (Numbers 16:32) By God’s mercy, the sons of Korah did not die and thus we can begin to understand their great reverence for God. We can also understand the pain from their past, but God does not want that pain to bring them discouragement; rather, God wants them to learn from that pain so that they may move forward in serving Him and growing His Kingdom. God wants to love each of us into wholeness. Our past is merely a tool for God to use for our good and for the good of others. He can only do that as we grow up in our faith and call on the Holy Spirit to bring us Godly wisdom and overshadow our soul; our minds need to think like Jesus, our will needs to be in alignment with Jesus’s will, and our emotions need to be rooted in Jesus’s Truth so that they are bathed with His love.

Psalm 42:1-8 (NLT)
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

1 As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.

2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?

3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”

4 My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!

5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.

7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.

In today’s psalm, we know that God’s mercy and love saved the sons of Korah. That same merciful and loving God sent His only Son, Jesus, to save you and me and “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) Jesus lovingly laid down His life so that you and me would be forgiven of our sins; as a result of that pure love, we have the opportunity through our salvation to abide in God and His love, as He abides in us and eternally loves us. John makes sure, in today’s passage, as he does in most of his writings, to express that God is love, and when we invite Jesus, Who is love, into our lives, then and only then can the Holy Spirit guide us to experience true and everlasting love.

1 John 4:7-16 (NLT)
Loving One Another

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for laying down Your life to save mine. That sacrificial act of pure love is the greatest gift. Help me, Lord Jesus, to be more like You. I want a heart that loves like Your heart. Forgive me for my sins, please use those places of sin that have once been a great discouragement for good and to further grow Your Kingdom. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

Today, we are looking at eight of the seventy-two verses from psalm 78, which is the second longest psalm next to psalm 119. Four of the verses are from the first half of the psalm and the next four verses are from the second half.

Israel’s past is presented within psalm 78 as a lesson for the present generation, and so the next generations to come will set their hope in God and not forget His glorious miracles for their ancestors and obey His commands (v. 7). The generations to come need to learn from Israel’s stubbornness, rebellion, unfaithfulness, and refusal to give their hearts to God (v. 8).

You and I can look back and clearly see how God rescued the Israelites, His people, from slavery in Egypt and how He led them safely through the wilderness. Miracle after miracle was being displayed for God’s people so He could lead them home. God remained faithful, even when His people lacked faith in Him.

God remains unchanged and faithful to you and me, His people. He wants us to be transformed by our salvation in Christ and to grow more and more faithful each day. Many times, you and I find ourselves within the wilderness, and as Pastor Mary explained during yesterday’s sermon, “each one of us will find ourselves suffering in some way for our commitment to Christ, because God is wanting to bring transformation of His glory through our suffering.” She went on to explain that some of us will receive the transformative work of God and others will not. I don’t know about you, but I want to be transformed by the Holy Spirit each day and for my heart to be growing more and more like Jesus’s heart. I pray all of the time that until God leads me Home, that my heart will never harden and that I will remain faithful to Jesus.

Psalm 78:17-20, 52-55 NLT

17 Yet they kept on sinning against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18 They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,
demanding the foods they craved.

19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,
“God can’t give us food in the wilderness.

20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,

52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,
guiding them safely through the wilderness.

53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.

54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this land of hills he had won for them.

55 He drove out the nations before them;
he gave them their inheritance by lot.
He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for remaining unchanged and faithful to me. Help me to grow in my faith each and everyday, and allow my heart to be more and more like Your heart. Please use all of my suffering to transform me so that you can use it for the good of Your Kingdom. I ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.