Devotionals

Daily Reading: 7-8-16

John 3:16-17; 19-21 The Voice (VOICE)

God sent the Light, Jesus, to expose the darkness of the human heart that exists without the reigning authority of God—Love.  Every human heart needs to receive the love of God.  Jesus is the answer to our greatest need as humans; otherwise, we will live in a spiritual state of anarchy.  Every act of darkness—hatred, lies, greed, violence—grieves my spirit.  This morning my heart is grieved by the darkness of the heart—the violence—released against the Dallas Police Officers.  Everything in me cries, “We must pray in Jesus’ name!”  I pray for those wounded and fighting for their lives to be healed and restored in Jesus’ name.  I pray for the families of the fallen officers to be covered and held by the Comforter in Jesus’ name.  I pray for truth and justice to rise up and take authority in Jesus’ name.  I pray for peace to cover our nation in Jesus’ name, because it is being shaken by darkness.  

To pray in Jesus’ name is to ask God for everything to spill forth from the glory of heaven that is consistent with His perfect character and fill the earth.  It means as humans we lay our hearts before the Savior and surrender to the work of Love who will cast out darkness from our sinful souls.  We must pray consistent with His nature to rule in our individual lives, as well as care about the things that matter to God.  I pray for our country and the world to embrace the Love of God found in Jesus Christ, because in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).  Light overcomes the darkness (John 1:5).

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Daily Reading: 7-7-16

James 2:14-17 New Living Translation (NLT)

As God’s children we are to live our life each day by faith in His Word of love, not by what we see in our realm of awareness (Hebrews 11:6) “Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1 CEV). Maybe another way of saying these two things in a personal affirmation might be: I confidently live my faith out in tangible expressions of love by following the example of Jesus Christ in doing good and when I do I experience the heavenly realities of God and the riches of His kingdom being manifest on earth. Jesus prayed, “This is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (John 17:3) Faith is a catalyst (stimulus) for experiencing the realities of heaven on earth and it is connected to God who is Love and the work of Christ to provide eternal life. 

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Daily Reading: 7-6-16

Luke 10:8-11,16 New Living Translation (NLT)

Rejection can be difficult to deal with no matter what season of life in which we find ourselves; it’s a painful reality that can be found in relationships because they involve feelings and commitments. We want to belong and feel needed; we want people to listen to our thoughts and ideas about life and the things that are important to us. 

Now, think about God for a minute and our conversation about rejection.  God desires to get a very important message to humanity about how much He loves us and how He longs to have a relationship with us.  All are welcomed to live in His Kingdom of love. He created us so we could all enjoy communion or fellowship with Him and one another.  How does God convey His love message?  The answer is through creation, Jesus Christ and his followers, and the work of the Spirit.  Will we welcome and listen to God’s love message or reject it?  It is our choice and we must face the effect of our decision.

In our passage, today, Jesus makes a point about rejecting God’s love message.  Having the right priority will help his followers.  Jesus sends the disciples out to share the Good News of God’s love and His desire to have a relationship with His human creation.  He prepares them by issuing a warning that not everyone will welcome their message about God’s love or the invitation to live in His Kingdom.  They are not to take it personally; they are to put it into perspective.

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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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