March 14, 2022

Psalm 81:11-16

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;

    Israel would not submit to me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

    to follow their own counsels.

13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,

    that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I would soon subdue their enemies

    and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,

    and their fate would last forever.

16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Take some time today to work though these verses slowly and answer some questions.

Am I listening to God’s voice by submitting to His way for me to live? Or am I stubborn and following my own ideas?

What anxieties or fears to I have? Would they still be part of my life if I trusted God to handle them? 

What would the blessings of God look like? Where are desert places in my life that He could bring life to? 

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust you to bring honey out of rocks. Teach me to follow You into a life without fear!

March 11, 2022

Romans 15:14

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

Where do you go for help? We need to have our in-case-of-emergency plans ready to go. We know 911 and where the nearest Emergency Rooms are. I hope you have walked with your family through exit strategies if a fire flares up. But where do we go for the everyday pains and worries that add up to a miserable life?

Many people are tempted to wait until things are really bad and find a counselor, but Paul points you somewhere surprising. The other Christians in your church have the Bible, the Spirit of God, and God’s commands to care for one another. We are able to instruct one another. Invest in relationships in your church this year with the intention to have someone to lean on and be there for someone else to lean on you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, prepare me to be someone my church can lean on and teach me to look to my brothers and sisters for help.

March 10, 2022

Exodus 28:11-12

11 As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. 12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

Who could forget their kids? I’ve forgotten to grab their water bottles or forks for dinner, and one time left one in a car for 15 minutes, but I’ve never had to be reminded they exist. Yet many Christians think God has forgotten them. How can you know that He remembers you, that He thinks of you?

Aaron, the first priest of the tribe of Levi, was given a fancy outfit. It was beautiful, and it was incredibly meaningful. On the shoulders, God told Moses to place onyx stones set in gold and engrave the names of the tribes on the stones. Of course the engraving wasn’t a reminder for God, but a reminder for Israel. His love for them, His thoughts of them, are set in stone. What will you do with a love that will never go away?

Prayer prompt: Lord, if Your love never fades, why do I look for love in other places? Help turn my heart always to You.

March 9, 2022

Hebrews 13:20-21

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

God is going to make something pleasing in His sight through your hands. It’s entirely possible that you are an amazing craftsman, but probable that you’re not. It’s a good thing the passage starts by reminding us that God brought a live Jesus from a dead body. Only a God like that could make something beautiful through us.  

But surely these verses aren’t referring to art at all. Jesus laid down His life as the Good Shepherd even shedding His blood to bring people to God. Our work must be in bringing our heart and the hearts of those around us to the Lord. Truly that will be pleasing in His sight.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please make through me more people who see and know Your love.

March 8, 2022

James 3:4-5

4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

If you had to pick, what is one pattern in your life that is foundational to everything else? What one thing is so influential James could call it the rudder to your ship or the bit in your mouth? It isn’t the way you use your money, or even your time. It seems crazy to think, but God considers your speech, both to yourself and others, the steering wheel to your whole world.

Resolve to tell yourself the truth. Spend time every day this year reminding yourself of what's true. How much of a course correction would take place if everyday began with remembering God rather than just beginning the scramble to thrive?

Prayer prompt: Lord, change me by teaching me to tell the truth.

March 7, 2022

Psalm 103:4-5

4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

I don’t know if you’re much for verb tenses, but the verb tenses in this passage should blow your socks off. God redeems, crowns and satisfies you. Those aren’t future verbs laden with hope but with no present benefit. Those aren’t past verbs expressing God’s grace, but leaving you with a terrible fear that you may fall again and He won’t come. Those are present verbs that continue.

I don’t just need one redemption; I keep falling down. I could never deserve one crowning, but if He wants the crown on my head, He’ll have to keep placing it back on. One look at God was all Moses asked for, but here God says He will satisfy so that I’m always renewed in strength. Make a resolution for 2021 to think about God’s unspeakable grace that continues every day.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the strength, love, and redemption You give every day.

March 4, 2022

Matthew 1:12

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Matthew divides his genealogy into 3 parts: Abraham to David, David to the Deportation, and the Deportation to Jesus. That breakdown points a trembling finger at the whole of Israel. Israel didn’t just have crazy Judah or fallen David, Israel was a fallen people. So why would God choose to use Israel as the people Jesus would come from? 

When I was a boy, our pastor took a huge bin of legos and threw them up in the air. I still remember the cloud of primary colors as the thousands of legos hung for a moment before crashing down everywhere. He then stooped down and picked up a single yellow brick. God choose Abraham out of all the people because of His sovereign will. If Abraham, the Kings, and all the people fall, God can redeem and has redeemed them. What sin disqualifies you from God’s love? He knows not any.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I repent of my sin and call on Jesus to redeem me like You redeemed Israel.

March 3, 2022

Matthew 1:6

6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah

I’m not sure there is a bigger *hint *hint in scripture than this verse. Name follows name in this list of Jesus’ ancestors with only slight commentary, then you see David the King. If you know the Old Testament, you know there is almost nobody bigger than David the giant-slayer and deliverer of Israel. Yes, David is the king and he is the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. 

Lest we forget, David killed a loyal soldier after taking the man’s wife; adultery then murder in the palace of the King of Israel. Not only does this reinforce the idea that there are no perfect people, God is clearly telling us that even the great ones can’t be depended upon. If we want to look somewhere for strength and virtue, we can’t look at even the super-stars of history. Only Jesus can reign perfectly. Celebrate the True King!

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for sending the King we need, not the King we deserve.

March 2, 2022

Matthew 1:5a

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab,

Let’s look again at Jesus’ ancestors. Rahab wasn’t an Israelite but a sinner from Jericho. She was part of the mess in Canaan who practiced all kinds of horrible stuff. She was also a prostitute. How could she be a fitting ancestor for our Lord? Of so many ancestors from Abraham to Joseph, why was she listed in this genealogy?

Rahab, like you and me, started life far from God and stayed far from God. But when she heard about the God who with grand love delivered a slave nation out of Egypt heard about how He lead that nation across a wilderness for 40 years to discipline them blessing them at every turn with His presence, she wanted Him. Her repentance was her example to us. God doesn’t take great people and show them off. God takes willing people and makes them His.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to see the mercy You show so that my heart will always be Yours.

March 1, 2022

Matthew 1:1-3

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,

Christmas time, and maybe the first of the year, are about the only times we give much attention to the genealogy in Matthew. If you read it though, it’s a trip. For the next couple of days, we are going to look at people from this list and think about the absolute madness that they were Jesus’ family. 

We’ll begin with Judah, the son of Israel who would be father of the royalty of Israel, and wasn’t a great father-in-law. The story highlighted in the genealogy by the mention of Tamar isn’t a nice one. Judah should have given his next son off to Tamar to raise up children as part of a tradition called levirate marriage. Instead, he planned to marry that next son off to someone else. Tamar tempted Judah by pretending to be a prostitute and became pregnant with the twins Perez and Zerah. 

And that is who God chose to make Jesus’ ancestors. It would be outrageous if we weren’t sure that everyone else He could have picked would also never be worthy of the honor. These stories remind us of God’s goodness, not our own. He chose to give us this Son not because we deserve Him, but specifically because we don’t.

Prayer prompt: Lord, it is beyond merciful that You would be so near to sinners like us.

February 28, 2022

James 3:2a

2 For we all stumble in many ways.

Have you ever been caught in the terrible cycle of pride and misery? If you think you’re doing well before God, you swell with pride and look down from your exalted height on all the miserable sinners around you. If you sin in one of the ways you consider really sinful, you fall to the gutter. Misery replaces all that self-congratulations as you try to hide from God and man.

It’s time to be free. God knows you sin. He remembers that you are made of dust and that you, along with all humanity, stumble in many ways. His salvation is for the sinner and He sees you in your up and down of pride and despair. Get off that hell-bound roller coaster and stand before the Father who knows you and, even though He really knows you, loves you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, remind me that You know my stumbling and still love me.

February 25, 2022

Hebrews 11:17-19

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

I’m not sure that I could get into metal detectors, but I think I see the appeal. Purchasing a metal detector allows you to unlock the possible treasures you miss everyday. What if you walked right past a discarded watch, a pioneer artifact, or even a whole lump of gold every day? If only you had eyes to see the riches around you!

Actual metal detectors never find much, but we walk right past incredible riches in the faith daily. Abraham displayed colossal faith in God when he took Isaac to sacrifice, but it wasn’t a faith from nowhere. Abraham had walked with God for 100 years and thought long and hard about the miracle of Isaac’s birth for years and years. He knew God could raise the dead back to life because, in a way, God had done exactly that when He brought Isaac from old Sarah. God has likewise worked in your life. Do you daily consider those riches? 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to look for the ways You have served me so I will grow in my trust of You.

February 24, 2022

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I will never cease to be amazed by this sentence in Scripture. In my sin, I really don’t want to totally forgive people, at least not all the way. If the offense is pretty small, I can forgive. If the offense is a little more intense, I can forgive but try to guilt the person into better behavior. If the offense is huge, I hurt them in the worst way a proud person can: I banish them from my company. By God’s grace, that hasn’t always been the case, but it is my temptation. 

Our sin against God isn’t just big, it’s gigantic. Not only does He offer to forgive us, He will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. He doesn’t forgive only to condemn us to earning back His favor. He doesn’t forgive then walk away to distance Himself as far from us as possible. He forgives the repentant sinner and then gets to work cleaning us up. This Advent season, take the time to be amazed by Your God’s forgiveness. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, Your forgiveness is crowned with an overwhelming love I could never deserve. Thank You!

February 23, 2022

Isaiah 54:13-14

13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. 14 In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Most people haven’t tried to lead a church. If you ever do though, be ready for some difficulty in finding Children’s workers. Kids are darling, and it can be one of the most rewarding places to serve. However, it is an intimidating place to go. It is a heavy responsibility to lead the next generation. 

For those who do take the plunge, Isaiah puts them in exalted company. In Isaiah’s prophecy of Heaven, the Lord teaches the children. The scene we imagine of the almighty Lord of Hosts taking the children through lessons should be meditated upon. If anyone wants to lead, let him serve. In Christ, and even one day in the Father, we have our example. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, I look to You for my example of love and service.

February 22, 2022

Exodus 2:10

10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Anxiety wrecks so many lives. Fear can lead to panic as we worry over what tomorrow will bring. When we read Scripture, God commands us not to worry, but how? We get lots of advice that will never work. Closing our eyes and breathing or pumping ourselves up with positivity won’t hold up for the long haul.

We need to see the God who has all things under His absolute control. Moses was called Moses because it means “to draw out”. As Moses was pulled out of the water of the Nile, so God would use Moses to draw His people Israel out of the misery and death of slavery in Egypt. God proved His sovereign control by using Moses’ salvation as a baby to show what God would do for the whole nation of Israel. God knew exactly what He was doing when the salvation of Israel showed in miniature what He would do for the whole world through Jesus. Look to your Father and let your worry go.

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

February 21, 2022

Psalm 127:2

2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

What’s more American than hard work? The stats that compare our vacationing with Europe make me so proud. Is all that extra effort just the happy consequence of the storied Protestant Work Ethic or is there something else there? WIth greater wealth than our parents and grandparents, do we also have greater contentment and less anxiety? Are we just busy like the diligent ant described in the Proverbs or anxious like, well like most modern Americans?

The verse lays out our only way forward. We can and should work hard, as to the Lord even. But we have to work as those who see the Lord as Lord. We can’t work as though our effort will keep calamity away or guarantee our bread. Beloved, trust your Father to provide.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust You to care for me.

February 18, 2022

Proverbs 20:5

“The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”

Disobedience to God is never healthy or safe. We have to repent immediately when we see sin in our lives. But don’t stop at the stuff you can see from the outside. We must go deeper in to understand more about our rebellion. I sin with my anger, but I also sin with my pride. There is more to clean out than just the surface. 

Like the ice fisherman who cuts a hole, then with skill brings things up from the deep, we need to look deeper at our actions. Jesus saw murder in our anger and adultery in our hidden lust. He would often address the heart attitudes of the pharisees in the room even when they hadn’t voiced their objections. Things like judgmentalism, pride, resentment, and lust swim beneath the surface of your heart. Look more deeply and let Jesus clean you all the way down. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to go deeper in my pursuit of holiness for Your glory.

February 17, 2022

James 1:19-20

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

Thinking of the gift of anger makes me think of weapons. God has given us something awesome and dangerous. If we’re not careful, we’ll shoot our eye out. Anger is given for focusing a person, mind and body, on protecting something. Threaten my child and watch me hulk up! By God’s grace, that doesn’t happen much. I’m usually angry for much stupider and much more sinful reasons.

It is a helpful exercise for the day today. Take a moment to notice each time you get angry. Then write a sentence or two in a note app or on a piece of paper about why you’re mad. Sit down at the end of the day and ask the question, “What was I protecting with that anger?” If you’re like me, you can then start repenting for all the times your anger flares over pride, selfish pursuits, or unrealistic expectations. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to see my anger and repent of it.

February 16, 2022

James 1:22-25

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

What do you see in the mirror? It if is a true mirror, you see yourself with an unvarnished truth. You may have known people like that, who aren’t cruel but brutal in their honesty. God’s law uncovers us in exactly that way. His perfect standard shows us not only how we are to act around others but even how a truly righteous person thinks and loves. It shows us just how much we’ve twisted away from that lovely perfection into perversion and ruin.

What do you do with that truth? If you are a hearer of God’s word and not someone actively seeking to put it into practice you are like the man who has forgotten. You can pretend that the pimples and ingrown hairs and briar patches for eyebrows aren’t there, but everyone else sees them! How much worse when a blemish really describes sin which leads to death. Take God’s dire warnings to heart and pursue change today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, show me a specific sin to work on today and guide me to a brother or sister who can help.

February 15, 2022

Psalm 46:4-7

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

How do some Christians keep giving to everyone and maintain such patience? They seem to push out into the world and the world conforms to them while they maintain a humble look and joyful disposition. You may be blessed enough to know one in real life, but many of us see flashes or only read about them in books. These verses hold out the key to being just such a conqueror. 

These people are just like this city of God. The Lord is in the midst of them. He has made His home in them providing them with that water that makes them glad and that foundation that makes them immovable. All around us may rage, but at His voice the earth melts. The only way the enemy can take you down is to hide this unbelievable truth from you. Trust in the Lord!

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to look to Your strength so I will have confidence to fight in Your Name.