For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.   Psalm 62:1

When I was younger, I thought it was necessary to have an important role in life so that people would love me. I always tried to look my best, spending time on my appearance. I longed to be accepted by every group I came in contact with — other students and people at social gatherings. Yet it was difficult to please those around me. As a result, I felt more and more self-conscious, shy, and unaccepted. I desperately wanted signs from others to show that they considered me somebody important.  But while studying the Bible, I discovered God’s way of measuring. As I sought first to do God’s will, I became less self-conscious. Over the years I’ve gained more self-assurance. This seemed to happen in a natural way, just as I was changing my priorities. And instead of seeking approval from others, I slowly learned to extend the love and acceptance of Christ. Consequently, I became more relaxed and I no longer worried about my image or status. Transformed by the love of Christ, I’ve made many friends just by being myself.

Loving God, help us to rely on you for a sense of purpose and reassurance as we live each day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  Hebrews 10:23-25 

Something special happens when individuals gather together to hear the life-changing truths of the Bible. During this incredible time of intimate activity, God disseminates his truth in a way that shapes and strengthens the body. The leader of the church acts as God’s mouthpiece because they have been chosen by God to proclaim his message to the masses. 

The church is not a place where you forfeit your individualism. Instead, God’s House is a place where your unique design is displayed while working in harmony with many other uniquely designed believers to accomplish one common goal. We are the individual parts of the body that create a wholeness that is impossible to achieve when we are apart from each other.  When you choose to travel the road of your spiritual journey alone, you are missing out on being a part of the best thing in the world—the local church. God uses corporate worship to reach us in unique, awe-inspiring ways that we cannot experience in any other place. So, take some time to examine your commitment to the church, and encourage yourself and others to be more involved. 

Lord, I know that getting involved in the local church is the best thing that I could ever do to enhance my relationship with you. Help me to keep a stronger commitment to the church and encourage others to get involved so that we can experience you in a unique way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.” – Psalm 102:17 (NIV)

I sat on the porch swing watching the sun break silver through the mist as rhododendrons dripped from the pre-dawn shower. A squirrel chirped, whippoorwill cooed. The early morning breeze worked its way up the mountain carrying the smell of a camp fire and the far away sound of air brakes hissing as a truck began its descent. A new day, another chance to shake the nagging fear that our financial situation was about to get worse.

I stood to stretch, pace and worry.

“Sit,” I heard God say.

“But I need to get going. I have that?”

“You need to be still, now sit.”

I sat.

Inside the cabin I heard a bed spring pop. Our guests began to stir. “Our guests.” As if anything about the weekend was mine. The cabin belonged to a friend. Our guests, couples we’d known for years, the ones who’d been with us at baptisms, weddings and funerals, those friends had provided for both the dinner the evening before and the breakfast to come. Even the tank of gas for the ride to the cabin had been a gift. All I’d done was show up and pout.

“Okay, I’m sitting, God. What do you want to discuss? How I misread your will? How I pursued the desires of my heart, foolishly believing this deep yearning to write for you was your desire, too? You wanna talk about how I should be working harder to find steady work? You pick. I’m tired of playing Wheel of MisFortune with you.”

“What do you have that I haven’t provided? Look around you, Eddie. Listen and see. Are you so afraid of tomorrow that you can’t even see the provision of today when it calls to you from the trees, hills and this home in the woods you don’t even own?”

“But I?”

“No but. This weekend is my gift to you. My “welcome to work” present. The evidence of my goodness. Now please, just sit and read with me. Enjoy the smell of bacon frying and the taste of freshly brewed coffee.”

He will not despise their plea. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute. The verse lay in my lap, mocking me. Plead, yes. Destitute? O God, don’t lead me there.

The closer our walk with God, the less we need. When we surrender, when we lift our hands and fall to our knees we find we already have more than enough. I’d thought my job as a husband and father was to work for my daily bread but in Gods kingdom, I can never earn my keep because the food, shelter, and friends have already been provided.

All He asks is that we share in His joy and fellowship. What worry weighs you down? Give it to God. He will not despise your plea for help.

– From ChristianDevotions.us

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Luke 4:18-19 

Imagine you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and you were invited to a world-class financial seminar. As the seminar host introduces the guest speaker, you realize they have the credentials of a small village farmer. You may appreciate what the speaker has accomplished in his village. And the speaker’s message may be valuable—it’s just not valuable to you. Because without identification, there is little value.   Jesus realized the connection between identification and value in his teachings. When Jesus taught, he identified with the needs of the crowd. He captivated the interests of the audience because they could identify with what he taught. His focus was to give real answers that would meet the real needs of people.  

Before Jesus went back to heaven, he put us in charge of his earthly ministry. He challenged us to share his life-changing love with others and the biblical principles that apply to people’s immediate needs. That doesn’t mean we have to bog people down with a bunch of Christian-ese and historical Bible facts. We just have to take our cue from Christ’s example and provide simple answers for the needs of those around us.   

Lord, thank you for the person who clearly communicated your life-changing message with me. It is because of them that I have the opportunity to share my faith with people in my life. Help me to follow Christ’s example and give people real answers that can meet the real needs of their lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.   2 Timothy 1:7

I worked in social work for a while, where I sometimes found it intimidating to openly express my Christian beliefs. Once, a colleague told me about some health problems his daughter was experiencing. Instead of telling this man that I would pray for his daughter, I told him I would “think a good thought.”  That evening at home, as I remembered what I’d said, I felt ashamed for not expressing my faith. I knew that my shallow words grieved God.  The following day, I went back and told him I was sorry for not saying what I’d really wanted to say, that I would pray for his daughter. To my surprise the man smiled, telling me that he too was a believer!  What a blessing I would have missed had I not confessed my beliefs! Now not only do I know the peace of having taken a stand for my faith; I also have the joy of fellowship with another believer.

Heavenly Father, give us the courage today to speak about our faith in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.  John 16:13-14 

Have you ever been on a site-seeing tour without a guide? You may be able to see all the sites, but the tour would be greatly enhanced if you were with someone who knew the ins and outs of your excursion.  On the tour of life, Christ-followers have access to the ultimate Guide who steers us to the truth of God’s Word. And he changes our mediocre life, by highlighting the areas we need to pay more attention to.  One of those opportunities is found in serving. Jesus served people everywhere he went, whether it was teaching, healing or dying for our sins. And each of our lives is filled with opportunities to serve others as well. 

What do you do when those opportunities present themselves? Is your response that of a servant? I challenge you to put other people’s interests before your own. When you do, you will experience God, and life, like you never have before.

 

Lord, thank you for sending us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our lives. As he presents opportunities for me to serve, I will take advantage of them so that I can influence the lives of those around me just as Christ did. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”  John 2:15-16 

 

Confrontations can be extremely uncomfortable. They are usually filled with a great deal of tension and anxiety for everyone involved. Emotions flare, voices raise and accusations fly. Whether you are confronting someone who wronged you or correcting someone who has chosen the wrong path, it is always one of the hardest things to do. 

Jesus understood the importance of confrontation because it reveals the truth. He came to this earth from heaven as the truth to confront sin. He didn’t just quietly walk by people and let them make up their own moral code. He confronted sin in love with the truth of God’s Word. 

Christ would not let sin reside in the Jerusalem temple and he will not let it stand in today’s temple. The Bible says that our bodies are modern day temples, and Christ will confront you when there is sin in your heart that is hindering your worship of him. Let him uncover the hidden sin in your heart so that you can enjoy freedom in him.

 Lord, confrontations are extremely uncomfortable—especially when I have something to hide. But I invite you to search all of the hidden places of my heart and remove anything that is hindering my worship and replace it with the truth of God’s Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jesus said to Martha, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”   John 11:25-26

To me, the raising of Lazarus is one of the most amazing of all the miracles Jesus performed. But there’s a deeper insight in this story than the astonishing fact that he brought a dead man back to life. In our reading for today, Jesus says, “Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Then he asks Martha the ultimate question, “Do you believe this?” The question may have been directed to Martha, but it is also a question that Jesus asks each of us: “Do you believe?”

Though Jesus rescued his friend Lazarus once from physical death, ultimately Lazarus did die, as everyone does. But God rescues us from spiritual death, shows us the path to eternal life, and ends the separation between us.  If we come to believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, the resurrection and the life, then life triumphs over death. It sounds almost too easy, too good to be true: Believe in Jesus, and have eternal life. But because of his death and resurrection, we can wrestle with Jesus’ question to Martha and can come to believe. 

Dear God, thank you for Jesus, who gave himself on the cross for us. Help us to extend your love to those who do not yet believe. Amen.

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.  Ephesians 6:7-8

You will be hard-pressed to find someone who will do something for nothing. People say things like, “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” “If you hook me up with this, I’ll hook you up with that.” It’s all about the payback.  God’s economy doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t want us to give just to get; he doesn’t want us to serve just because of what we’ll receive in return.  Serving is all about placing other people’s needs before your own. And when you do that humbly and with a pure heart, it allows God to work through you to touch the lives of others in a supernatural way. 

Serving selflessly is not easy. Each time you serve, there will be an internal conflict with the other things in life that are vying for your time. God will not force you to serve him or those around you. We have to make that choice on our own. But when you choose to give your time in service as God has designed, your rewards will be unimaginable. 

Lord, give me a servant’s heart. It’s easy to for me to focus on my own needs, but I know you have placed people in my life who have needs that I can meet. Help me to place others’ needs before my own as I strive to live the life that Jesus modeled for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.  Psalm 91:15

“What could you do with $20?” asked asked a pastor during children’s time in the church service. The kids jumped with grasping hands as he waved the bill in front of them. Then, to their consternation, he crumpled it up and threatened to deface it or even tear it. Finally, he pointed out to them that no matter what he did to that bill, it would still be worth $20.  And so it is with human life. Terrorist attacks, global economic collapse, natural disasters, accidents, illness, and other losses can threaten to crush us, deface us, and tear us to shreds. But can the worst events that we encounter ever destroy our value? After all, whose are we? The Lord says, “I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). The apostle Paul stressed that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).  The Bible tells us that whatever happens, even when the worst has been done, the last word still belongs to God. Nothing that happens can diminish our worth to our God, who holds, sustains, and cherishes us.

Dear God, we praise you for giving us lives of meaning and purpose whose value can never be destroyed by tragic events. Amen.