Category Archives: Devotional

God Wants Us Back

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The Lord gave [King Nebuchadnezzar] victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure-house of his god.
Daniel 1:2, NLT*

And so began Israel’s bleak captivity. I’m sure Nebuchadnezzar credited his own god (or himself) for this triumph. After all, it was his army that achieved it.

But did you notice the key words in the verse? “The Lord gave him victory… and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects…”

Not that God had abandoned His chosen people. This was part of His plan to draw them back to Himself after they’d repeatedly rejected Him. The prophets had warned them again and again, but they refused to listen.

I’m sad about how often our own blindness and self-will makes us insist on our way instead of following God’s way. We think we can have both, but we can’t.

What an amazing, loving God and Shepherd we have. Instead of immediately giving us over to the things we’re so quick to chase, He continues to call us back to Himself. The more we resist, the more painful the process may become. I’d rather be quick to hear when I get off-track.

God of love and righteousness, grant us hearts that are quick to hear and to respond to Your leading – hearts that love being in close relationship with You and that don’t want to let anything come between us. Help us to love You more than we love those things that would lead us away. Thank You that when we turn back to You, You forgive, restore, and embrace us.

∞

If we’ve drifted, when we finally turn around, as Todd Agnew sings, God is “Always There”.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Trusting God’s Timing

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All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
Matthew 1:17, NLT*

“All those listed above” are the ancestors of Jesus. Matthew opens his account of the birth of the Messiah with a genealogy. A strange devotional verse? Perhaps, but it’s the one that touched my spirit for this week.

Did you notice the pattern? Fourteen generations each time. If the priests and scribes had been aware of it and had been counting, they’d have known the timing of God’s next big step.

But God prefers to work in surprising ways, ways we look back on and see clearly even though we didn’t anticipate them.

The same with the “where” of Jesus’ birth: One prophecy said Bethlehem, but another said He’d be called out of Egypt. Clues to keep the faithful anticipating, yet not to reveal the full picture.

If we had sight, we wouldn’t need faith. Which is why I don’t take this verse as a challenge to comb Scripture and piece together a timeline for Jesus’ return. He clearly said that was a secret.

Instead, what this verse says to me is that God has a plan. He knows the various details and intricate inter-weavings that will bring it all together in His perfect time. We know His character, His power and authority.

We can trust Him to look after all that, and we can be about the daily elements of our Father’s business, loving our families, caring for our neighbours and co-workers, conducting ourselves as Christ-followers in a very confused world.

God who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, help us to trust You. Please keep us from discouragement when we don’t see Your plans unfolding, and keep us equally from trying to “hurry” or “help” You. Keep us from fear when we look at the world around us. Reassure us of Your perfect wisdom, power, and timing. Help us to live each day in confidence in You.

∞

This week’s song is one I’ve loved and found comfort in from way back in my university days: Sheila Walsh’s “In Your Way.”

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Ignoring the Gift

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As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.
2 Corinthians 6:1, NLT*

The gift Paul’s speaking of is a new life in Christ, reconciled to God and freed from the penalty of sin and death. (2 Corinthians 5:18) In the same verse Paul asks the Corinthian believers to reach out and be agents of reconciliation, bringing others to know this gift of life.

I’m sure that’s what he means by begging them not to ignore the gift. He wants them to fully live – to demonstrate this gift, vibrantly, contagiously, so others will want in, too. The gift is for everyone who’ll receive it.

There’s another aspect of ignoring the gift, though: literally ignoring it. Not letting it change us at all. We’ve escaped a Christ-less eternity, but here and now, life goes on with no appreciable difference.

I believed in God from childhood, gradually moving from a superstitious type of faith into the real thing as I learned more about Him. I knew the dos and don’ts and tried to obey, because that’s what He expected.

But it wasn’t until university that a Bible study weekend showed me Jesus doesn’t just want to be our Saviour, He wants to be our Lord. Not distant, issuing rules, but personal. Close. He wants our obedience, but also our loyalty. Our hearts.

He wants our hearts more than He wants our outward obedience.

How can Jesus have our hearts if we don’t spend time with Him? In quiet, in prayer, reading His Word and even studying it.

Without His having our hearts, of course we won’t change. Others won’t see His goodness. We won’t see it, either.

What if we took a few minutes, just 5 or 10, every day? Even twice a day? A little break for quiet with the Lord, to spend time in His presence. To reorient ourselves under His Lordship. To know Him more.

Father God, You’ve done all that needed doing to rescue and redeem us. You invite everyone to come, to be forgiven and made new. Forgive us for the times we ignore Your gift. Draw us back to Yourself. Forgive those who’ve ignored it long enough that they don’t even think of you now. Like the Roman soldiers, they don’t know what they’ve done. In Your mercy, draw their hearts back to Yourself. Remind them of the gift, and help them to embrace it.

∞

I don’t know if this song was intended to be about a romance, but to me it’s always sounded like a lament/invitation from the Lord. Here’s Cliff Richard with “Discovering.”

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

What Qualifies Us?

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It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.
2 Corinthians 3:5, NLT*

Paul has plenty of educational background and other accomplishments, which he elsewhere refers to as “worthless” in comparison to knowing the grace of God. It’s not that he’s not qualified, but that any credentials, official or unofficial, would not be enough if he didn’t also have the Lord’s anointing on him to do the job.

He’s writing here about his ministry, about sharing the good news of Jesus, and nurturing believers. This is serious Kingdom business.

What about you and me, in the daily details of our lives?

Who you are today, with the background and abilities you have… is there something you need to do that’s generating anxiety? Something that’s too hard, or it’s a stretch, or messing it up could cause problems?

Maybe it’s major, like Paul’s work, or maybe it’s smaller. Nothing is too big or too small for God’s notice.

I have a few minor things hovering around me this week, trying to sap my courage. Objectively, even if every one of them goes wrong, no major harm will be done. For you, the stakes may be higher.

What we need to cling to is this: it’s God who makes the difference. (And it’s God who works with us when we’ve failed, too. He’ll never leave us, and He can work good out of our messes.) He never intended us to do life on our own.

God our Creator and our Equipper, help us repeatedly choose to rely on You. You promise to give wisdom when we ask, so help us to ask and to believe. Give us what we need to conduct ourselves worthy of Your Name, and to carry out our responsibilities competently. Help us to not allow fear to rob us of our peace and to distance us from You, because You are the Provider of all we need.

∞

“You Raise Me Up,” sung here by Selah, is one of those songs that can encourage and re-focus us.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Not Worthy, But Chosen

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This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
2 Corinthians 1:1, NLT*

Paul was “chosen by the will of God to be an apostle…”

But he also wrote: “I am the least of all the apostles … not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.” (1 Corinthians 15:9, NLT*)

Don’t you think the enemy of our souls tried to use Paul’s past to sabotage his future?

The same with the unnamed weakness that Paul called his “thorn in the flesh” – in fact, he called it “a messenger from Satan.” (2 Corinthians 12:7, NLT*)

Imagine if he’d listened to these taunts about his unworthiness and his weakness. If he’d accepted them and quit the ministry.

I think today’s verse shows us the secret of his victory.

He knew it wasn’t about him – his worth or lack of it, his weakness or strength. It was about God. The God who saw Paul’s offenses, who allowed the weakness. The God who loved him and chose to save him and to call him as an apostle of Christ.

What about us? Paul wasn’t an exception. We’re all unworthy in one way or another. We all have weaknesses. What might God want to do through us?

Father God, You know each heart. You know our unworthiness and our weakness. you know we can’t change on our own. Yet You love us. You saved us and You’re saving us still. Forgive us for the ways we’ve allowed our limitations to disqualify us from what You’ve set before us. Help us find our strength in the fact that it’s You who call us. Teach us to reject what would hold us back, and to follow You.

∞

Brian Doerksen’s song, “Welcome to the Place of Level Ground,” reminds us we’re all the same before the Lord.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Called to Share

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But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favour on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
1 Corinthians 15:10, NLT*

“Whatever I am now” – Paul said his actions in persecuting the early Christians made him unworthy to be called an apostle.

Clearly, he was an apostle, or as William Barclay described him, an ambassador for Christ. Yes, he came late to the party, and with a terrible history. But when Jesus got Paul’s attention, Paul surrendered and threw his whole heart into spreading the news that the promised Saviour had come.

Paul didn’t dare let his past disqualify him – not when Jesus had personally commissioned him. He didn’t let the unusual circumstances of his calling inflate his opinion of himself or of those who’d served the Lord from the beginning. Nor did he allow his “thorn in the flesh” hold him back – instead he learned to rely on God’s strength. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

He never claimed to have deserved God’s special favour – anything but. Yet he seized what God gave him, and poured out his own life in service to his new Master.

If we look around us, we’ll see many who appear better equipped to spread the good news about Jesus. But the God who called Paul, and whose grace was enough for him, wants to use us too. He seems to like to work through the unlikely… perhaps because we’re more aware of how much we need to rely on Him?

God our Saviour… our King. Thank You for the privilege of belonging to You. Rekindle our wonder that You saved us, and open our eyes to see the opportunities You give to share You with others. Help us not to think less – or more – of ourselves than we should, but instead to think most about You. Show us how to live for You so others can come to know You as well.

∞

The Newsboys’ song, “Go Glow,” encourages us to share what we’ve received.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Tempted

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The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT*

What’s your strategy against temptation? Common sense says it’s willpower and avoidance, and sometimes that’s enough.

But the Bible promises that God Himself will show us a way out of it.

God saved us, cleaned us up, and wants us to live for Him. He’s invested in our success, and He equips us with what we need. He’s given His own Holy Spirit to live in us, to lead and empower.

We still have a part to play. First, we need to be alert to recognize temptation. Not just the overt opportunities to sin, but the attitude triggers: things that spark complaining, resentment, bitterness etc. The Lord wants to keep us clean on the inside as well as the outside.

So first we need to recognize the danger. Then we need to ask for God’s way out. When He shows us, we need to seize it. No stopping to consider. Instant obedience.

It may be an obvious physical escape – leaving the scene. Or it may be re-setting our mind with a verse of truth that God causes us to remember. Whatever His way is, it’ll work – if we obey Him.

Of course we mess up, over and over, in our human weakness, but growing in Christ is about learning to live in His strength. We’re a work in progress, and He promises to forgive us when we ask Him.

Holy and righteous God, we’d have no chance of pleasing You without Your grace. You paid the price to reclaim us, You teach and equip us, You lead us. And You forgive us over and over again. Grow us in love and faithfulness, so our lives will become more pleasing to You and so others will see the change You can make.

∞

David Meece’s song “Help Me Stand” covers more than just temptation, but it’s a powerful reminder of the difference a simple prayer can make.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Too High a Price

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God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.
1 Corinthians 7:23, NLT*

How is it possible to forget the Cross… and the full cost of Jesus’ sacrifice?

Yet over time as believers, we get caught up in life and responsibilities, and it’s not foremost in our minds.

If God had simply found us at the side of the road while He was out for a stroll, just handed us spare change for a coffee or enough cash for bus fare home, it wouldn’t matter so much if we didn’t reach our potential.

Instead, His investment was huge. He came looking for us, in the person of His Son. He gave up His life to pay our ransom and to erase our sins.

That’s much too high a price to squander.

But if we’re not vigilant about our choices and attitudes, our focus can slip. We can find our lives diluted – even dominated – by things that don’t have eternal value. Sometimes that’s from buying into society’s mindset, but sometimes it’s from listening to our own selfish natures.

God may have given us many blessings to enjoy, and if so, let’s enjoy them. But let’s be careful to keep Him first in our hearts and to put His priorities above our own.

God our Rescuer and Redeemer, You know how often we need to be rescued again. Forgive our blindness, selfishness and inattention. Draw us closer to You, and teach us to delight in Your presence. Change and grow us, so we’ll forget our wandering ways and thrive in Your kingdom.

∞

I didn’t realise how many artists had recorded “Lead Me to the Cross.” Here it is from the Newsboys:

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Temples

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Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT*

Think about the care that went into building the Israelites’ temples in the Old Testament. God has put that same care into us (see Psalm 139:14).

The temple building was

  • a place to meet with God
  • a place to bring sacrifices and find forgiveness
  • a sign to others of God’s glory
  • a sign of the nation’s unity and identity

Our bodies as temples:

  • let’s intentionally practice His presence – be with Him
  • we’ve been cleansed and forgiven, based on one completed sacrifice; we keep receiving cleansing and forgiveness as needed
  • our lives become signs to others of God’s glory and goodness
  • corporately as well as individually, we need to find our identity in the Lord, and to show unity (not uniformity!)

Since we represent God in the world, let’s keep our “temple” clean, guarding against decay and defilement.

Majestic and holy God, it’s beyond our understanding that You would choose to show Yourself through us despite our weakness. Even more amazing is that You’d choose to dwell in us. Fill and change us, and lead us in Your ways.

∞

Today’s “temple song” is “Holy Spirit,” by Francesca Battistelli.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Renewing or Regressing?

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For you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?
1 Corinthians 3:3, NLT*

Is it any wonder Christians often find ourselves “living like people of the world”?

We live among people who give no allegiance to God. Some are our family, friends, co-workers. Others produce most of the current entertainment and music. And we still have the seeds of our former sin nature lurking within.

If we’re not actively pursuing intimacy with God, it’s easy to fall back into (or remain in) thought and behaviour patterns that are much less than He desires of us.

Paul says that, in this state, we’re not ready for deeper teaching. We need spiritual “baby food” until we develop.

We’re a bit past New Year’s now, when so many people take stock and consider how they’d like to make changes in their lives. We’re probably at the point where a lot of those resolutions have started crumbling.

Maybe that’s where the Corinthians were, when Paul wrote this letter. They’d made a good start, but they’d kind of stalled. They weren’t thinking God’s way but their natural way. It was sabotaging their growth.

The Bible calls us to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). We have so far to grow in the faith, and so much to leave behind, that this needs to be an ongoing, daily practice. We don’t dare settle for a half-grown Christian life, or we’ll miss so much of what God has for us.

God our Good Father, grow us as Your children, into an intimate relationship with You. Teach us Your ways, develop our trust in You, and bring us into the abundant life Jesus promised. Let others see through us the difference You want to make in each one.

∞

Todd Agnew‘s song, “Romans 12,” is a call to a life of worship.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.