Daily Devotions

Because he is zealous to rescue you from you, God’s care can be violent. He rips you from what is dangerous to give you what is better. Read Judges 2-3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%202-3&version=NIV When you think of God’s care, what picture comes into your mind? When you consider God’s grace, what mental images does the term grace conjure up? Could it be that there are times in your life when you are crying out for the grace of God even though you're getting it? God’s grace does not always come in the form of comfort and encouragement. His care doesn’t always mean relief and release. Could it be that the “care” that we often cry out for is not the care that we really need? There was a cycle in the life of the children of Israel that is very instructive. Remember that they were people just like us, and the accounts about them were written for our example and instruction, so that we would not fall into the same errors. In grace, God recorded for us their s...

God calls you to grow in your faith and then feeds you with the growth-producing nutrients of his grace and truth. Read Hebrews 5:11-6:12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%205%3A11-6%3A12&version=NIV Are you growing in your faith? Do you care if you’re not? Have you become satisfied with a little bit of Bible knowledge and a little bit of doctrinal understanding? Have you stopped feeding on the spiritual food of God’s grace even though that grace has not yet come anywhere near to finishing its work in you? Do you hunger for the grace you've been given to continue to do its transforming work in the places where there's evidence that there’s more work to be done? Are you satisfied with being a little more religious or a little more spiritual? Could it be that you claim to be a believer, but are satisfied to have parts of your life shaped by other values? Does your relationship with God really shape the way you think about and act in your marriage, in your f...

Corporate worship is designed to make you thankful, not just for possessions and accomplishments, but for what you've been given in Christ. Read Colossians 1 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1+&version=NIV We carry all the seductions and attractions of life in a fallen world when we return to gatherings in church.  We need to have our values reoriented and our celebration recalibrated. We need to become, once again, thankful. More specifically, we need to be not just thankful for the ease, comforts, and accomplishments of life, but thankful for things of eternal value. We need to see, understand, cry out for, and celebrate grace once again. We need the sadness of sin and the joy of grace back in our hearts, described in the words of this song: VERSE 1 No list of sins I have not done, No list of virtues I pursue, No list of those I am not like Can earn myself a place with You. O God, be merciful to me– I am a sinner through and through! My only hope o...

Good is not good enough - complete conformity to Christ’s image is the plan of grace. Read Philippians 2:1-18 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202%3A1-18&version=NIV Most of us are just too easily satisfied. It’s not that we ask too much from our Savior. We have the polar opposite problem—we are willing to settle for far too little. Our personal goals, wishes, and dreams fall far short of God’s plans and purposes for us. God will settle for nothing less than each of us being completely conformed to the likeness of his Son. He will finally and completely defeat sin and death. He will not abandon his purpose for any reason at any time. Our problem is that often we don’t share his mind or buy into his purpose. Other mentalities capture us: 1. The Consumer Mentality Here we're like religious shoppers. We really don’t have functional loyalty to the plan of God. We're looking for a religious experience that is comfortable and meets our felt needs, and we h...

Hopelessness is the doorway to hope. You have to give up on yourself before you will be excited about the hope that is yours in Christ Jesus. Read Hebrews 4:14-16 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%204%3A14-16&version=NIV We tend to give ourselves far too much credit: We tend to attribute too much righteousness to ourselves. We tend to think we have more wisdom than we do. We tend to pride ourselves on having the “right” character. We tend to think of ourselves as being more patient than we are. We tend to regard ourselves as perseverant. We tend to think we are submissive and obedient. We tend to believe we are more committed to the kingdom of God than we are. We simply tend to see ourselves as more godly than we are. Here’s the problem with this tendency: when you name yourself as righteous, when you attribute to yourself more maturity than you actually have, you don’t seek the grace that is your only hope. We don’t think we devalue grace, but that’s exactly...

This isn’t paradise. You can’t make it into paradise. Paradise is coming, and your place was secured for you on the cross of Jesus Christ. Read John 14:1-14 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014%3A1-14&version=NIV We all do it because the longing has been hardwired into us by God. We all try to turn this present world into the paradise we dream of. Why do we all attempt this impossible task? Because deep in the heart of every human being who has ever lived has been the longing for paradise. Somehow, some way, we all desire for things to be the way the Creator intended them to be. We are all dissatisfied with the world the way it is, each in our own way. We all feel the pain of living in a world gone bad. We all careen from disappointment to disappointment because reality never seems to rise to the level of our dreams. We all face things in our lives that we wish we could change. We all examine things and hope that somehow they will get better. Each of us tries ...

Every time you work to make a wrong you've done look right, you deny the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read 1 John 1 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+1&version=NIV It is so tempting to do. Perhaps we all do it more than we are aware of. If what we say we believe is true, it makes no sense whatsoever. Yet for many of us, it’s our first instinct when confronted with a wrong. We do it instinctively and thoughtlessly, without recognition of the danger we are to ourselves when this becomes a pattern. When you are confronted with a wrong, caught in a wrong, or feel internally uncomfortable with a wrong that you have done and you rise to your own defence—when you refuse to see that what you have done is wrong and then turn and work to make yourself comfortable with the wrong that you have done—you aren’t just rewriting your own history, you aren’t just being self-righteous, and you aren't just deceiving yourself. You are fighting God, in the pers...

You will face loss, trouble, and disappointment, but nothing has the power to separate you from your Redeemer’s unrelenting love. Read Romans 8:31-39 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A31-39&version=NIV As I've said before, I really do love the honesty of the Bible. I don’t need vacuous religious platitudes that delude me into thinking that life is better than it really is. I don’t need a form of faith that requires that I deny pieces of reality in order to have peace of heart. I don’t want to be in the position of having to close my eyes to things and make believe that they are not there. If it is anything, the Bible is honest. The blood, guts, and dirt of the fallen world stain its every page. Filled with brutally honest stories of flawed people and marked with stinging analyses of the brokenness of the world, the Bible requires us all to be honest as well. As we saw earlier in the year, John 13-17 recounts Jesus’s last hours with his disciples before h...

The disappointments of relationships are many, but his grace is sufficient—in fact, it is made perfect in your weakness. Read James 4:1-10 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%204%3A1-10&version=NIV It is a fact that we all have to face—none of us has ever had a relationship in our lives, not even one, that has been free of disappointment. None of us has realised our relational dreams. So we have to ask: Why are our relationships such a struggle? Why do we have to strive to live in peace and harmony with those whom we say we love? Why are our relationships marked by so much conflict? Why do we experience so much irritation, hurt, and impatience? Why? The answer to these questions is both clear and hard to accept. Our relationships are a struggle because we all carry something into our relationships that is destructive to them. The Bible names it: sin. Sin causes us to be self-absorbed and self-focused because it causes us to live for ourselves (see 2 Cor. 5:15). S...

Prayer is abandoning all other objects of worship and giving myself to the daily worship of God alone. Read Psalm 77 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+77&version=NIV I shouldn’t have to say this, but I think it is necessary—prayer is an act of worship. It is profoundly more than bringing to God our grocery lists of self-defined wants and needs. Here are seven ways in which prayer is rooted in worship: 1. Prayer acknowledges God’s existence. This is the bottom line of all true prayer. It begins and ends with the recognition that there is something more ultimate in the universe than you. Prayer places emphasis firmly on the first four words of the Bible: “In the beginning, God . ..” So prayer is an acknowledgment of God as Creator and Sovereign. It is rooted in assent to his power, wisdom, and rule. It would make no sense to pray if you thought that God was your equal. 2. Prayer bows to God’s glory. This is the constant requirement of prayer. You cannot pray pr...

God’s care is sure, but will you run to him in your time of need or look elsewhere for hope and comfort? Read Isaiah 12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2012&version=NIV By his promises, God invites us to run to him: “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). “He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1). “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Logo shall renew their strength; they shal...

Grace means you can never say that it’s too hard, that you've been left on your own, or that you simply don’t have enough. Read Psalm 23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2023&version=NIV You did it a hundred times yesterday, you'll do it a hundred times today, and you'll do it a hundred times tomorrow. Most of the time, you are completely unaware that you're doing it. It is a major part of what it means to be a rational human being. You never leave your life alone. You are constantly trying to make sense out of the situations and experiences of your life. We are all theologians and philosophers, no matter what our normal jobs in life may be. Every one of us is an archaeologist - we dig through the mounds of our own little lives to make sense of the “civilisation” that has shaped us. Because we all have this inner drive for life to make sense, we are all in a constant conversation with ourselves. You really do talk to yourself a hundred times a day....

Maybe today you want the Prosecuter Jesus, who'll get all those people who've made your life hard. He will be only your sovereign Saviour King. Read Matthew 5:38-48 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A38-48&version=NIV Who of us has not desired vengeance at some point in our lives? God has placed a desire for justice in each of our hearts. So when we face injustice, it is very tempting to want to take justice into our own hands. We see it in the little child, who, when hit, immediately hits back. We see it in the teenager who has been publicly embarrassed by a friend - he not only cuts that friend out of his life, but looks for a way to heap embarrassment on him as well. We see it in a marriage, when one of the spouses curses the other with the silent treatment for a couple of days because he or she has been hurt. We really do find it easier to make war than to make peace, and we often wish that God would make war with others on our behalf. Consider h...

Do you want the Holiday Planner Jesus, who'll take you to a place where life is more pleasurable? He will be only your sovereign Saviour King. Read Acts 20:17-24 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2020%3A17-24&version=NIV If you judge God's goodness by the amount of suffering in your life, you will end up concluding that he is not good. If you judge God's love by the degree to which your life is difficult, you will end up thinking that God does not love you. If you judge the faithfulness of God by how much disappointment and grief you have had to deal with, you will end up questioning his faithfulness. Here is the bottom line: you will suffer because your suffering is an essential part of God’s good plan for you. The moments when life doesn’t seem to be working as it should, the moments when you are bitterly disappointed, the moments when you have experienced loss, or the moments when unexpected trials have entered your door are not indications of the fai...

What kind of Jesus do you want? Do you want the Prozac Jesus, who will make you feel better? He will be only your sovereign Saviour King. Read Luke 12:13-21 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2012%3A13-21&version=NIV What do you define as blessing? What do you identify as a sign of God's faithfulness and care? What fills your picture of the “good life”? When you say, “If only I had___, then I'd be content,” what goes in the blank? When you are tempted to envy the life of someone else, what are you envying? What causes you to question God’s goodness and love? What tempts you to be disappointed with your life? Be honest—what do you want from God? Or maybe this is a more provocative way of saying it—what kind of Messiah do you want Jesus to be? I think many of us are just not on Jesus’s agenda page. What we dream of and hope for is not the same as what he has promised us and works by zealous grace to deliver to us. Perhaps many of us struggle with disappointment...

Hope is more than wishing things will work out. It is resting in the God who holds all things in his wise and powerful hands. Read Psalm 20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2020&version=NIV ‘We use the word hope in a variety of ways. Sometimes it connotes a wish about something over which we have no control at all. We say, “I sure hope the train comes soon,” or, “I hope it doesn’t rain on the day of the picnic.” These are wishes for things, but we wouldn't bank on them.  The word hope also depicts what we think should happen. We say, “I hope he will choose to be honest this time,” or, “I hope the judge brings down a guilty verdict.” Here hope reveals an internal sense of morality or justice. We also use hope in a motivational sense. We say, “I did this in the hope that it would pay off in the end,” or, “I got married in the hope that he would treat me in marriage the way he treated me in courtship.” All of this is to say that because the word hope is used...

Grace causes us to be alive to God and causes our eyes to be open to spiritual realities we once had no capacity to see. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— so as to instruct him?” 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received i...

Don’t be disheartened because you feel weak. By grace your Saviour lives inside you, and he is your strength. Read Ephesians 3:14-20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3%3A14-20&version=NIV Where do you run when you're discouraged? Where do you tend to turn when you're faced with your weakness? What do you say to yourself when you're confronted with failure? What do you do when you feel unable to do what God has called you to do? I run to Romans 8:1-11. When weakness has become evident in my life, this passage has been my friend and comforter again and again: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be...