Devotionals

Daily Reading: 7-5-16

Psalm 119:73-80 The Message (MSG)

Yesterday was such a wonderful day!  What a great celebration of freedom this nation enjoyed; one nation formed to live under God. As I watched an amazing fireworks display, my soul just lit up with excitement and gratitude for our freedom. We live as free people, yet we must never use our freedom as an excuse to live contrary to God’s righteous paths for our lives. He is our Maker and knows the plans He has for us. Our biggest assignment is to know Him and live by His wisdom.

Our passage this morning is from the longest chapter in the Bible. The psalmist understands that to grow in revelation and understanding we must stay in God’s Word. The culture of the world can confuse us and cause us to live contrary to God’s wisdom; therefore, His Word was given to be a guide. The Word is more than what is written on the page; sometimes the text is a challenge to understand with our natural minds.  But, praise God for the work of the Spirit.  The Spirit brings holy revelation and power to apply God’s wisdom to our lives. Wisdom is the tune we should all dance to as individuals made in His image.

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Daily Reading: 7-1-16

Psalm 66:1-12The Message (MSG)

Today, John and I are celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary.  God brought us together and He has truly blessed our years of becoming One with Him and one another.  We started our marriage in a posture of worship (connected and submitted to Christ) and we continue to bow our imperfect yet grateful lives before our spotless Maker.  God caused our love to create two amazing sons who have recently bowed in worship with their wives to become One.  God loves His family and our family is God’s greatest gift to us; we treasure every day we can share with them.

Life is a journey to be lived and enjoyed for the glory of God and the work of His Son, Jesus, and His kingdom.  If we are willing to give our lives to Him and surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit to refine the soul, we can know great joy and blessing.  God gives us what the world cannot.  Honesty, John and I never enjoyed the training portion of God’s work in the soul because it was painful; sometimes God pushed us to the very limit.  But, now when we look back over our lives we can see that Father really does know best.  He has walked with us in dry times of testing—never left us alone—and He has quenched our souls with His refreshing Spirit when we have opened our hearts to receive.  For the record, John and I are still working on becoming One, because we are two very different people (somebody laugh here!). Yet, we have lived our married lives knowing we both need the Savior, Jesus.  Connecting to Christ has brought us this far.  What an awesome God we serve; He truly does take our breath away!

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Daily Reading: 6-30-16

Romans 7:14-25  The Living Bible (TLB)

When I was a child, I played outside a lot.  It was a great time as there were many children around my age in the neighborhood.  One of the games we used to play was tug-o-war.   I was never picked for the team until the very end, because I brought very little mass and strength for victory. 

For the Christian, every day can be an inner battle or tug-o-war between choosing to do that which is good before God and choosing to do that which is evil.  Even though we are born again to new life and have the indwelling Spirit, evil still lurks within our old nature.  Just becoming a Christian does not eliminate sin and temptation from our lives. 

The Apostle Paul teaches us this morning that when we get into the Word, it begins to show us the Truth of our lower natures that have yet to be transformed into the image of Christ.  Knowledge of residing sin cannot save us; knowledge just reveals to us we have a problem.  Trying to change ourselves cannot save us, we will always fail the tug-o-war and fall into frustration.  We need the work of the Spirit; we must take hold of the tremendous power provided by Grace to deliver us from evil.  Christ has made the power available to us, but we must choose to let the Spirit lead us into freedom.  Becoming like Christ takes a lifetime of appropriating Grace.

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Daily Reading: 6-29-16

Matthew 10:16-25 New Living Translation (NLT)

The other day I was studying an official scientific research chart of the top twenty-one causes of death in the USA in 2016 (six months). Abortion is the number one cause of death at 501,325. Murder by gun was the twenty-first entry at 5,276. I noticed most of the categories in between these two were actually deaths caused by some type of disease: addictions and physical afflictions that overtake our human bodies.  As I looked at the list of words and numbers and prayed because my heart was so grieved with the facts, the Holy Spirit reminded me that everything on the list was a result of the spiritual disease and death that is connected to the world that chose to experience the knowledge of good and evil.

In our passage today, Jesus sends his disciples out into the world, but tells them they will be protected by the Holy Spirit against the spiritual disease of evil. The disciples are to be wise of the world’s infectious environment, yet innocent and untainted from the spiritual disease of evil that invades human nature and causes humans to choose to act in opposition to God (Love). Christ’s disciples will always experience hardship because we live in the world, but we are to remain devoted to Love at all cost.

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Daily Reading: 6-28-16

Ephesians 5:6-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

A fruit tree must have Light to bear fruit; about six hours of sunlight daily to produce fruit that is healthy and flavorful.  God has created His children to bear spiritual fruit, so we must stay in the Light (Christ) of goodness, righteousness, and truth in order to produce fruit that is healthy and has the flavor of God.  We learn what God desires for our lives through study, revelation, and experience in the Word.  We do not make the journey alone.  The Holy Spirit is available to fill us and guide us on this fruit-bearing faith journey each day.  If we allow the Spirit to lead us, we will become sensible, intelligent, and discerning people who are determined to fear (respect) and enjoy fellowship with God (know Him).

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Daily Reading: 6-27-16

1 John 2:7-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

Love is always connected to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  He is divine Love expressed through human flesh.  If we follow Christ’s example that is revealed in Scripture-how he loved all people-we will be pleasing the heart of God.  Let’s remember Jesus did not always agree with the way people chose to live out love because sometimes people chose to love self more than God, as well as abuse others.  However, Christ extended to even the greatest offenders unconditional love and an attitude of respect.  Love is not a feeling; love is a choice.  God’s grace provides the power to put His love into action when we choose to love God’s way.

In his letter to believers everywhere, the Apostle John reminds Christ’s followers that living in God’s love is living in the Light of Truth.  Christ revealed a clearer picture of God’s commandments by how he loved, respected the rights of others, and served people far beyond his circle of family and friends.  In fact, Jesus loved his enemies; those who were really difficult to love.  If we find ourselves ignoring and despising people, then it really points toward our own wrong attitude and poor choice regarding love.

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Daily Reading: 6-24-16
Galatians 4:8-20 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Some days it is more difficult than others to hold onto a positive attitude, isn’t it? We can get weighed down with the daily issues of life and forget the power of Abba–Father God–who actually forms all of our futures as His children. We say we believe God loves us and has a great plan for our lives, but do not always display that belief in our attitudes.  

When we are focused upon God and His purposes for our lives (this is called worship) we are filled with His love and joy. We can be the most positive folks around; our spirits are full of Light and Life and our souls (mind, will, emotions) respond accordingly. This is what it means to spiritually dominate. Remaining (spiritually living) in His loving presence and radiating His holy principles each day brings an infilling of the Spirit that is experientially tangible to ourselves and others. Jesus modeled this devotion to Abba so beautifully when he prayed for God to take care of us as His followers, “I come to You; I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word (principles for living). And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.” (John 17:13-15 NLT). When we shift our focus from God and living in the joy of our salvation and choose instead to absorb the culture of the world it can drag our otherwise positive attitudes into the stagnant pool of negativity. This is where Satan desires to drag your joy, so be on guard.

The Apostle Paul has to write a letter to the church at Galatia in order to rebuke their negativity and misguided priorities. They have allowed the world’s customs and the expectations of religious tradition to rob them of their joy. Paul reminds them of how positive and free they were at one time as they lived in the principles of God in the power of the Spirit.  

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Daily Reading: 6-23-16

2 Corinthians 13:5-10

What do we gain from recognizing our weaknesses?  Some people may prefer to deny their weaknesses and simply focus on their strengths.  But, Scripture teaches that it is beneficial to examine our weaknesses, because it can grow our faith.  When we are weak—when we have come to the end to our human strength in an area of life—we can use our faith and reach for the eternal inheritance of God’s resources set aside for each one of us in Christ.  God’s divine strength in the midst of our human weakness is noticed by others and we become His witnesses.  Christ is the Anointed One who loves us and brings the resources of heaven in response to our faith; but, we must get into agreement with God’s plan for our lives.  What is that plan?  We are living true to faith when we allow the Holy Spirit to bring restoration to us; continue our growth and maturity in the Lord’s holy character.  Recognizing our weaknesses will cause us to mature in Christ.

In his writings to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul challenges them to spiritually grow up as they live out their faith.  He exhorts them to recognize the areas in their lives that need more of God’s strength and to use their faith to appropriate a righteous change.  Paul was willing to correct those under his leadership for stepping away from the weak areas in their lives that needed to mature by urging them to reach for the strength of God.

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Daily Reading: 6-21-16

Luke 9:37-43 Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Holy Spirit invites us to enter into the presence of God; a sweet place of awareness and understanding that God loves us and is all-powerful over heaven and earth.  In that place, we have no doubts, fears, and are filled with faith and love in our understanding of His goodness.  It is a mountaintop experience with the holy Lord.  Life calls us to an awareness and understanding of holiness, but also allows an awareness and understanding of evil.  The more beauty we experience with the Lord the more ugly evil appears.  Disciples who want intimacy in Christ and to operate in His authority become very aware of the presence of evil.  The Truth (Christ) exposes evil (John 3:20).

Jesus has been with three of His disciples for a mountaintop experience.  During His prayer, Christ is transfigured and the disciples experience an awareness of His extreme holiness.  These three are so amazed they do not want to leave.  Instead, they want to build structures and live on the mountain with the Lord.  I understand that desire; I get it!   But, if Christ’s disciples are going to be effective in revealing the Way of eternal life to a fallen world, we will need to descend the mountain and walk into the valley to confront evil (dead living) with Truth (eternal living).

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Daily Reading: 6-21-16

Ephesians 2:11-22 Tree of Life

Today, we continue our celebration of the Pentecost season of the Church where we recognize the work of the Ruach; the Holy Spirit.  Jesus made a way for all of humanity—Jews and non-Jews or Gentiles—to enjoy fellowship with God and love for one another; no more hostility for our differences because Christ is making us all a part of himself.  Jesus Messiah is the Cornerstone of Peace; he brought together two groups of people with God and began the work of building them up into One body in the Spirit.  

The Jews experienced the nearness of God and His faithful love through moral obedience to the Torah Scriptures and religious ceremonies He set forth, but in Christ they would repent and experience the freedom to really enjoy human life while still pleasing God.  The Gentiles passionately lived out their humanity and knew nothing about a holy God or what pleased Him, but in Christ they would repent and now be free to draw near and learn how to live in His moral standards while still enjoying life.  These two groups of people were given the opportunity to turn to a God-driven life, merge through the Spirit, and become the temple of the Lord; God’s dwelling place.  It is the work of the Spirit to form us into men and woman who bow to Christ’s authority and express holy love.  Now, in Christ, we can all live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).  God desires that no one be excluded, because this life Christ gives is abundant or beyond measure (John 10:10). The Spirit is our Guide.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and reminding them of Christ’s purpose to bring people together.  We share One thing in common; the love of the Father, the work of Christ’s cross (repentance/sacrifice) and the power of the Spirit to unite us and make us One so we can enjoy abundant life as a family.  

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