February 14, 2022

Psalm 136:1-3

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

2 Give thanks to the God of gods,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

Do yourself a favor this Valentine’s Day and read all of Psalm 136. If you do, you’ll notice a little repetition. The writer was impressed by God’s unfailing, never-ending, never-moving love. So much so that he just keeps saying it over and over. The repetition itself acts as a constant reminder of the constant love of God.

Valentine’s Day is a good day for remembering God’s perfectly present love. You may be celebrating Valentine’s with someone new or no one at all. You may be seeing an all too familiar face that fills you with excitement and desire. If so, you know how frail and delicate a thing you must protect as you enjoy. Above and behind and through all that wonderful or not so wonderful human love, look further to the ever-increasing, cross-proven, death-defying love of God.

Prayer Prompt: Lord, I love You. Teach me to love You and enjoy Your perfect steadfast love.

February 11, 2022

Matthew 16:18

18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

This incredibly interesting verse brings together some of the most bold and solid imagery in Scripture. Jesus has declared His followers to be rocks that will become a like a living building. His Church will be a growing, living, stronghold of God’s presence on Earth, but it won’t be a building like we often use the word church to mean. No, His believers become these living stones.

Then we can see the mighty way He will fulfill the second part of the verse. It seems like a mixed metaphor to describe a building attacking a city gate. But Jesus means us, His people like living rocks, will expand to cover this world. When the enemy’s strong hold stands in the way of our advance even the most secure point, the gate, will crumble before God’s magnificent new creation. Put your eyes on God’s victorious march and stand firm today!

Prayer prompt: Lord, when my sin or circumstances keep me from fighting for Your Kingdom, remind me of the victory Christ promised.

February 10, 2022

James 1:18

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James says here that God is bringing us forth as a kind of firstfruits. If that means what it seems to mean, God is creating us again. There are already creatures, we are already creatures, and yet we are being brought forth by the word of truth. Brought forth brings you back to Genesis when God commands the earth to bring forth the animals and out they come. Imagine elephants poking their heads out of the ground like groundhogs! 

In the same way, God is bringing out a new life, a new creation, through this word of truth in us. That means we were dead and by His will He has made us alive. I’m astounded by the promise of resurrection, but I’ve not paid close enough attention to the wild miracle of regeneration. Spend time today giving thanks for new life!

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for making me new.

February 9, 2022

1 Thessalonians 5:18

“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Thankfulness is way more powerful than we think. It is not just the clearest road to actually feeling satisfaction, it is a road that leads all the way to God. G K Chesterton in Orthodoxy, his famous book on his own journey to Christ, said, “We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?”

If I say “thank you”, there must be a You to thank. If you give me a present, compliment, or grant me forgiveness for a wrong, it’s just right to say thank you. To whom can we go when the whole of our life, our body and senses, and everything those senses have ever sensed is like a gift? Fill your life with thankfulness to God and you also fill it with worship, satisfaction, and with God Himself.

Prayer Prompt: Father, thank You. Please fill my day with thankfulness as I see all the gifts you’ve given.

February 8, 2022

James 1:14

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

A salesman once told me he went into meetings with the goal of figuring out what the customer really wanted. He said it this way, “What do you want to hear? Because I’m about to say it.” The product he sold wasn’t his focus, but the desires of his customer. If he knew the desire, he could tailor his presentation to show why the customer really should buy from him. 

Now we have to think about our actions and growth in godliness differently. I don’t just need to try and change my actions or become more obedient through sheer will power. I need to look at my desires. What am I looking to satisfy by this reaction or overreaction? How amazing that God will lead us around by the promise of satisfaction rather than just the threat of punishment.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to see the desires that lead to my sin. Please teach me how I can always and only be truly satisfied in You. 

February 7, 2022

James 1:5-8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Every time I’ve read these verses, I was challenged to ask God for wisdom with more certainty. He will definitely tell me who I should marry, or where we should live, or when to have kids if I just ask without doubting. But each of those questions break the one rule of the passage. Don’t go to God to get what wisdom should never be used to find. 

Wisdom, followed all the way out, will always lead to God. When I come to God to receive wisdom in order to marry the right person or find a job that I will be successful in, I’m abusing wisdom. It’s like using a Lamborghini as a table in your garage. Sure, you can set stuff on it, but that’s not what it’s for. God gives you wisdom to bring about all the joy of knowing Him. Are you pursuing Him?

Prayer prompt: Lord, please forgive me for trying to abuse wisdom. Please lead my heart to most desire You.

February 4, 2022

Proverbs 3:19

19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;

There is a way things work. Amazon’s warehouses overflow with books on the best way to do anything you can think of doing. Writing those books isn’t just for the money. There is an intense thrill in finding the way the universe works. Scientists know parts of that thrill. God’s people know it better. 

Wisdom isn’t just how the world works. Wisdom, if followed, will always lead you up and down. She (wisdom is personified as a lady in the Proverbs) will lead you all the way down into your heart and up into Heaven. Wisdom is the answer to every question, even the most important. Get wisdom, and you will know how to have true Joy. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, lead me to wisdom so that I can see You.

February 3, 2022

Psalm 103:2-3

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

It doesn’t seem possible that we could forget the overwhelming number and quality of good things God has done for us. That is, until you think about why we might be motivated to forget. If I’m in awe of His goodness to me, it is more difficult to go after pleasures He has forbidden. Easier to forget. If I’m humbled by the sheer magnitude of God’s kindness to a sinner who deserves only wrath, it is difficult to feel proud of myself. Easier to hide. 

How wise is the Psalmist though. We bless Him and remember first that He does forgive our iniquity. We remember Him who heals even the diseases of pride and a haughty spirit. God is so good, He even heals us up enough to receive His goodness! Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Prayer prompt: Lord, I bless You with everything that is within me.

February 2, 2022

James 1:1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

What would it be like to be the brother of Jesus? It is easy to think of some negatives. How do you compete with Jesus? You’re not going to get better grades or be more attentive at Synagogue. James, the writer of the book of James, was Jesus’ brother. Once Jesus was resurrected and proven to be who He said He was, I’m sure their sibling dynamic changed. Suddenly James had an inside track with God Himself.

Yet when we find James in the New Testament, he doesn’t call himself Jesus’ brother. Here, he calls himself Jesus’ servant. He had come to know Jesus as He truly is. Instead of competing or trying to curry favor, James fell at the feet of his Lord Jesus Christ. If you’ve grown up with the name of Jesus, have you ever really seen Him for who He is? Have you fallen at His feet?

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to approach You with the reverence You deserve.

February 1, 2022

Acts 20:35

35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Have you heard those words before as a kid? I’m not sure if there is an example of any prominent wisdom saying that I believed less. I gave my parents little Christmas gifts we glued together in kids ministry, but the joy in handing off those cotton ball snowmen was nothing like the pleasure in tearing into Christmas gifts. How can it be true?

I hope as you age, you find it to be true. Certainly, watching my loved ones enjoy something is infinitely greater than the pleasure of a new tie or headphones. Love is greater than things. If we can really learn that lesson today and begin to prioritize love over small pleasures then we will begin to really activate as God’s people.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me that Love is a greater blessing than anything else!

January 31, 2022

Galatians 4:7

7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

I went to college with a guy who drove a nice Audi. I asked a friend how he could drive a car like that in college and was told the guy was heir to a big chicken salad empire. Must be nice. My family never even attempted to build a chicken salad empire. But we are happy never the less.

Money and the luxury that comes along with it aren’t the main point of a family. In family we get identity, love, security, friendship, guidance, and a million other things available to the poorest families in the world. Being heirs with Christ, you can look to the heavenly equivalent of an Audi, but it would be far wiser to begin enjoying now all these other benefits. You are God’s child and He is your Father.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to look to the true value of being Your son and heir with Jesus.

January 28, 2022

Matthew 7:12

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Okay, but how do you want to be treated? In any given situation, this Golden Rule works perfectly because you have an answer to that question. But if you zoom out a bit and ask about your whole life, how would you like to be treated? I don’t think in a million years we would have come up with how God treats us in Christ.

He invades our rebellion and dazzles us with His perfect life of love and holiness before dying with the words, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do,” on His lips. As eternity-altering as that is, it also sets the Golden Rule in a whole new light. If that love is possible, we will certainly choose to be treated in exactly that way. So that is how we must treat others. We show them lives of increasing obedience to God, covered, smothered and chuck full of love for God and them, then we sacrifice boldly to bring them back to God.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way You saved me so I will work to save others.

January 27, 2022

James 1:27
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

It’s not hard to imagine the sad life of the orphan. We need a place to go to for love, safety, and to know who we are. God gave parents as a primary means for that basic level of support. It’s enough to make your heart break when you think about a little child forced to find those things for him or herself.

The Scripture makes another clear argument for why we should care for the orphan: you are one too. You and I have been cut off from God as our source of security, identity, and love. The miracle of Jesus is that God didn’t leave us as orphans. He came to find us and reconcile so we could be together forever. Spend time this morning in reflection and gratitude so that you are ready to care for orphans like you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way you saved me so I will trust that you still love me.

January 26, 2022

2 Thessalonians 2:8

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

There’s a common thought in human history that fancy people call dualism. It’s the idea that evil and good both exist and fight; sort of think light and dark side in Star Wars. It’s easy to imagine where we get it. We think of a knight battling a dragon or a soldier fighting for his homeland. Evil has a weight to it, even bone and flesh. But Scripture illuminates that dark idea.

Evil isn’t a thing so much as a twisting. A lie isn’t something in the way a truth is. A lie is a mirror, even a fun-house mirror, of the truth. In just such a way, this lying one of lawlessness who will set himself against God will melt when confronted with the true. We don’t see an epic lightsaber battle here, just Jesus speaking truth and causing the lie to disappear. Join me in longing for that day and seeking truth in our own lives.

Prayer prompt: Lord, wake me up from the enemy’s lies so that I can behold You and marvel.

January 25, 2022

John 2:18-21
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

The word temple isn’t one we are used to or comfortable with, but the Jews Jesus spoke with in these verses were very familiar. It was the meeting place of God and men. It was like McDonald’s for old men or the coffee shop for young men. It was were we could gather with God.

Jesus, then, is making a radical statement: He claims to be the Temple. He is the place where we gather with God. In another place in John, He calls Himself the way. If you want to know the Almighty who is the source of every good and perfect thing, you go to Jesus. Spend time with Him in the gospels today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, lead me to Jesus so I can know You.

January 24, 2022

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.



How many times have you been fooled by fake emails? We live in a world that requires a skeptics eye, double verification, and rotating passwords of increasing complexity. Lies and deception are as common in this world as roaches and flies. We need something verifiable to flush out the falsehoods. 



Paul lived in that same world. The one who inspires all the deception now was just as hard at work in his day. Paul had to warn against spirits, words, even forged letters. Yet through it all, he reminded the people of the truth which shone through all the darkness. When Jesus comes back, He won’t be easy to miss. When the real thing comes, the false disappears.

Prayer prompt: Father, I trust that You can guard your people and my mind. Teach me to know and trust Your word.

January 21, 2022

1 Thessalonians 5:11

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

It’s hard to imagine how the end of all that we’ve ever known would be encouraging. There is a lot wrong with the world, but it is our world. The Christian is supposed to be encouraged by this teaching in the Bible about God shaking out this world and bringing in a new Heaven and a new Earth. We need scripture in order to feel warm and happy when an older Christian confidently reminds us, “This will all end soon.”

But the Bible does exactly that. God tells us that Jesus will call up those who have fallen asleep to be with Him in a resurrection like His. That we who are still working when He comes will be brought into His presence until we go to live with Him in a place He has prepared for us. The chief encouragement is that we will always be with Him. Even when the mountains are thrown into the sea and the sky is ripped open like paper, we will always be with Him.

Prayer prompt: Lord, remind me of Your gospel so I am always excited to be with You forever.

January 20, 2022

Acts 9:3-4

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

It has to be unbelievably hard to go through persecution. We’ve all felt the pain of being an outsider; some of us may have even been hurt physically for being an outsider. But if we become followers of Jesus persecution will come. Stories like this one from the Bible prepare us for those horrible occasions.

Saul had been persecuting the Christians, having just overseen the first killing of one of Christ’s followers. Then Jesus meets him on the road and says, “why are you persecuting me?” Saul killed Stephen, not Jesus. But Jesus is so closely united to His church that He feels our pain as His own. He sees your tears, feels your fears and has promised to make all things right. Continue despite persecution knowing who stands with you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, give me courage as I think about how You stand with me.

January 19, 2022

Matthew 24:36 

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Intellectual pride is a scary thing. Our minds are so adaptive and clever that seeming miracles come from the Research and Development departments of companies all over the world. We get in trouble when we react to those advancements with a confident idea that we can understand anything. Then we believe the silly lie that we do or soon will understand everything. 

Then we encounter a verse like this where God holds out on us. He tells us only He knows the day and hour and we have to just submit. It requires the humility of a child to trust that God will handle all the important stuff that we can’t handle. But don’t lose sight of the joy of the child who can play and work without a care because Dad’s in charge.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust You. Help me to enjoy the humble and care-free life of a beloved child.

January 18, 2022

Matthew 4:10

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

No one has to be told that the sun is bright or that its warmth feels good. And no one has to be told about the fire of temptation. We are all too familiar with knowing the right thing while feeling the hypnotic attraction of what is certainly wrong. The right way seems hard and cold, the wrong so warm and comfortable. It’s like falling asleep before a crackling fire even though you know by experience that it’s more like putting the fire in your lap.

How do we stop temptation so we can stop getting burned? Jesus actually experienced temptation and He showed us the way out. He looked straight at the right thing, the way He was supposed to act, and quoted Scripture in the face of the Enemy. He simply didn’t fall. He did what was right and told the tempter to disappear. In your Savior’s example is both the way we should live and the obedience God credits to our account. Stand up to your temptation by calling out what’s right and telling the enemy to be gone!

Prayer prompt: Lord, I desire holiness. Help me to remember what’s right and to send the enemy away!