Category: Devotionals

After meeting Jesus, the apostle Philip sought out his friend, Nathanael, to tell him about Jesus. Philip knew that there was something special about Jesus. He recognized that Jesus was the one of whom the prophets had written. When Nathanael heard that this Jesus was from Nazareth, he was skeptical. After all, what good could possibly come out of such an obscure town as Nazareth? Philip’s response to Nathanael’s skepticism was to “come and see” (John 1:45-46). Nathanael went to Jesus and his life was forever changed as he spent the next three years in the presence of the Son of God.

Jesus came to draw all of us to Himself. He wants us to come to Him, to hear His words, to believe in Him, and to follow Him. When we do, our lives, like Nathanael’s, are forever changed. Jesus promises that, when we come to Him, He will never drive us away (John 6:37). When we come to Jesus and believe in Him, we also have the promise of eternal life. Jesus promises that He will raise us up on the last day, the Day of Judgment (John 6:40). Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus promises that, if we come to Him, we will never be hungry and, if we believe in Him, we will never thirst (John 6:35). When life’s burdens cause us to grow weary, Jesus says that, if we come to Him, then He will give us rest (Matthew 11:28).

Those of us who come to Jesus, listen to His words and then live by them, are promised a firm foundation in our lives. Like a house built on rock, the storms of life will not shake us when we have that firm foundation that is found in Jesus (Luke 6:47-48). When our faith in Jesus is strong, when we have the Rock underneath us, we become a living testimony to the love, the grace, and the faithfulness of God that comes to us through Jesus. And, like the Samaritans who, after hearing the testimony of the woman who met Jesus at the well, went to Jesus and believed, those who see and hear our testimony will come to Jesus and believe (John 4:40). Jesus said that when we come to Him and we follow Him, He will make us fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).

Prayer is important to the life of a believer. It is our way of communicating with God and bringing our requests before Him. In order for our prayer to be effective, there are certain requirements or conditions that must be met. First, we must have a sincere faith. When the father of the demon-possessed boy came to Jesus asking that Jesus heal his son, Jesus told this man that all things are possible for those who believe (Mark 9:23). Jesus told his disciples that when they ask for something in prayer, they will receive it they believe (Mark 11:24). James 1:6-7 tells us that, when we ask God for something, we must not waver in our faith. If we have doubt, then we should not expect anything from God.

The next requirement for effective prayer is that we should pray with the authority of Jesus.  Jesus said that He will do whatever we ask in His name so that the Father will be glorified (John 14:13-14). Our prayers should be made in Jesus name. They must also be in line with His Word and His character. That brings us to the third requirement, which is that our prayers should be in line with God’s will. Jesus told us that, when we pray, we should ask that God’s will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). For more about praying for God’s will, see my post for May 22, 2017, Thy Will Be Done.

The fourth requirement for effective prayer is that our lives must be aligned with God’s will and His commands. We must be living according to God’s Word if we expect Him to hear our prayers and answer them. 1 John 3:21-22 tells us that we may have confidence before God and will receive an answer to our prayers when we keep His commands and live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. As Jesus told us, when we seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness before anything else, then we will receive the things that we need (Matthew 6:33).

The last thing needed for prayer to be effective is persistence. We must persevere in prayer, never losing heart, as Jesus taught us in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-7). We should devote ourselves to prayer (Colossians 4:2). And we must persist in our belief that God hears us and He will answer our prayers.

How often do we sit down to pray and simply look for God to listen and to hear, without asking Him to speak and to tell us what He wants to say? How often do our prayers become a laundry list of all the things that we need or want God to do in our lives or in the lives of family and friends? If you’re like me, the answer is probably “far too often!”

When we go to God in prayer, it is important that we speak to Him and present our needs to Him. But it is equally, if not more important, to be still and listen for God’s voice and to seek His will in the requests that we bring to Him. Jesus gave us an example of how we should pray in the prayer that we now call The Lord’s Prayer. A part of that prayer is praying for God to let His will be done (Matthew 6:10).

Jesus modeled that example for us in the Garden of Gethsemane where He prayed on the night before He died for us. Jesus prayed that night that God would take away the cup of suffering that He was about to bear. But, Jesus didn’t make that request and then just leave it at that. He followed it by saying, “Not my will but yours be done.” (Mark 14:36) Jesus understood that God’s will is perfect and He was willing to submit to His will, even if it meant that He would suffer.

When we are presenting our needs before God, we should follow the example set by Jesus. We should present the need, but then tell God that we want His will to be done, even if it means that the answer we desire is not the answer that we get. When we seek God’s will rather than our own, we can be confident that God hears our prayers and that we will receive the answer that is His will for us (1 John 5:14-15).

Jesus prayed for God to take away His cup of suffering, but He also prayed that God’s will be done. It was God’s will that Jesus face that suffering, but God gave Him the strength and the ability to endure it. God’s will for us will never be something that will hurt us. His plans for us are to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). So, we can be sure that, if God’s will in the needs we present to Him does not bring the answer we hoped for, God will give us the ability to accept that will and strength and peace in our circumstances.

Have you ever found yourself in complete darkness? The darkness I’m talking about is where you can’t even see your hand if you hold it in front of your face. Complete darkness can be quite unsettling. When you are in that kind of darkness, you may have no sense of where you are or where you are going. You cannot see who or what may be facing you. When you find yourself immersed in complete darkness, you long for a flashlight, a lantern, a candle, or any source of light.

Before creating the world in which we live, the earth was formless, empty, and surrounded in complete darkness (Genesis 1:2). So, God created light, then separated it from the darkness. Light was the first thing God created and the first thing that He said was good. Light is a part of God’s divine nature. He wraps Himself in light (Psalm 104:2).

As children of God, and followers of Christ, we are also children of the light. But, this was not always so. Just as the earth was once surrounded in darkness, because of the evil of sin, we were also surrounded in darkness (Ephesians 5:8). But, because of His infinite love for us, God brought us out of the darkness through His Son, Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. When we choose to walk in His light, when we follow that light, we will never again walk in darkness (John 8:12). When we live by the truth of God’s Word, we no longer live in darkness, but instead live in the light. And, when we live in the light, our lives will reflect the fruit of that light, which is goodness, righteousness, and truth (Ephesians 5:9).

As followers of Jesus, we are called to be more like Him. Jesus wants us to be the light of the world. He wants us to shine our light, of which He is the source, into all the world. When we do, then people will see the things that we do, the good that we do in Jesus’ name, and God will be glorified (Matthew 5:14-15). This world is still surrounded by or filled with darkness, a spiritual darkness. Our calling is not to keep the light to ourselves, but to display it for all to see. Let your light shine so that, through you, others will be drawn to the source of that light, Jesus.

“Be fruitful and multiply.” This was God’s instruction when He created mankind (Genesis 1:27-28). God’s plan was for mankind to increase in number, so that the earth would be populated by the part of creation that bore His image. But due to man’s disobedience to God, sin entered the world and mankind became corrupted. God saw that the heart of man was inclined toward evil, and it grieved Him so much that He decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth by sending a great flood. But, in His great mercy, God singled out one righteous man named Noah and saved him and his family from this destruction (Genesis 6:5-8).

God instructed Noah to build an ark, on which Noah, his sons and their wives would be protected from the flood, along with two of every kind of animal on earth. The rains came and flooded the earth, destroying the rest of mankind. When the rain ended and the floodwaters receded, God gave Noah and his family the same instruction He had given to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 9:1) Once again, God’s plan was for mankind to populate the earth. God also gave Noah a promise that He would never again send a flood to wipe mankind from the face of the earth (Genesis 9:11). Sadly, it was not long before sin once again took hold of man, but God had a different plan for dealing with man’s sin this time. He would one day send His only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for the sin of mankind.

Fast forward through the centuries to the New Testament. God sent His Son, Jesus, who took all of our sin upon Him as He died on the cross, enabling us to be freed from sin’s chains and the punishment that we deserved. Jesus died and then rose again, conquering sin and death. Before He ascended into heaven to take His rightful place at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus gave His disciples instructions to go into the world and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). Jesus was basically instructing them to be fruitful and multiply. Following the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they did just that. The number of people who believed and became disciples of Jesus grew by three thousand on that day alone!

Jesus desires for all of us to be fruitful and multiply. When we accept Jesus in our lives, believing that He died for us and making Him Lord of our lives, we receive the gift of salvation. Then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we who are now in Christ are able to bear fruit. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. When we abide in Him, our lives become fruitful as we grow to be more like Him (John 15:5). When we become fruitful in Jesus, our lives will reflect Him and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able to multiply, to bring others into the family of believers.

Be fruitful and multiply!

During the Passover meal on the night before He was crucified, Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him that very night, not once but three times (Luke 22:34). Before predicting this, Jesus explained to Peter that Satan had asked God to allow him to sift all of the disciples like wheat (Luke 22:31). Satan’s goal was to cause the disciples to stumble, to fall away from Jesus and from their faith. I’d like to take a bit of poetic license here and imagine the scene in which Satan approached God with his request.

The throne room was filled with the angels of God, each one assuming a posture of reverence and awe as they stood in the presence of the Lord. Suddenly, from the back of the room, there was a great commotion as a dark presence pushed through the angel assembly and made its way to the front of the room. Just before the presence reached the front of the room, its path was blocked by Michael, the archangel.

“Stop right there, evil one!” said Michael. “What are you doing here?”

“Peace, Michael,” said a voice from the throne. “Let him through.”

Michael stepped aside and let Satan approach the throne.

“Where have you come from, Satan?” asked the Lord.

Satan responded, “Oh, I’ve been roaming around the earth, just going back and forth, from here to there, looking for someone to–“

“What is it you want?” the Lord thundered.

“I was wondering if you would see fit to allow me to sift those followers of your Son’s like wheat. I just know that they will turn against Him. I mean You, of all people, should know how fickle they are and–“

“Silence!” said the Lord. “Very well, do as you wish. But see to it that you don’t lay a finger on any of them.”

Satan grinned, then turned and left the presence of the Lord.

Satan did get his way. He placed doubt and fear in the hearts and minds of the disciples. As Jesus predicted, Peter denied Jesus three times that night. But that’s not the end of the story. When Jesus told Peter of Satan’s request, He also said that He had prayed for Peter. His prayer was that Peter’s faith would not fail. And, although Jesus knew that Peter would fall away, He also knew that Peter would turn back. He instructed Peter that, when he did turn back, he was to strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32).

Peter did turn back. What Satan intended for evil, God used for good (Genesis 50:20). In 1 Peter 5:8-9, Peter gives us some of the best advice for dealing with our enemy, the devil. Peter’s experience with the schemes of Satan in his own life gave him the knowledge he needed to be able to tell us that, in order to resist Satan, we must be alert. Satan will do whatever he can to shatter our faith and destroy our salvation. We need to resist him, and we can do this by standing firm in our faith. We need to hold on to our faith in Christ because it has the power to quench the fiery darts that Satan sends our way. Our faith is a shield that will keep us safe from the enemy’s attacks. (Ephesians 6:16).

What amazes me about some of the classic hymns of our faith is how many of them were written in times of great pain and suffering for the writer. Great hymns such as What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Just As I Am, and It is Well with My Soul, were written by people of faith who knew that God was their true source of hope and joy, despite the circumstances they were experiencing. Another of these hymns was Since Jesus Came Into My Heart, which was written by Rufus H. McDaniel in 1914. The song was written at a time when McDaniel and his wife were grieving over the death of their youngest son.

Since Jesus Came Into My Heart speaks of the change that takes place is us when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and receive God’s gift of salvation. The first verse of this hymn says:

When we accept Christ and He is in our hearts, we are born again. We undergo a change. We become God’s restoration project. 1 Corinthians 5:17 says that, when we are in Christ, we become a new creation. Our old corrupted self is gone, along with its deceitful desires, and it is replaced by a new self that starts to become more like Jesus. Our hearts and our minds are changed. Corruption is replaced by righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

My wife and I live in a historic district of Plainfield, New Jersey. In this neighborhood, there are many old houses, some built in the 1800’s. Oftentimes, when someone buys one of these old homes, they will look to restore it, making what is old and possibly a bit run down, look like new again. That is what God does with us when we accept His gracious gift of salvation through Christ. God begins to restore us.

When a home is being restored, the years of old paint covering its walls may be stripped away so that the walls can be covered with a fresh, new coat of paint. This is what happens with our hearts, souls, and minds when we are being restored by God. Our sins are stripped away, the old corruptible self is removed and we are then covered with the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Our sins, which were once scarlet, become as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

The process of restoring an old home can take a lot of time, months or maybe even years. The process of restoring our souls also takes time. When we receive salvation through Christ, the process of sanctification begins, as we are set apart for God’s purposes. It is a process that continues throughout our lives as we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). And, although this process will not be completed until Jesus returns, God promises that He will continue this good work He has begun in us until that day (Philippians 3:18).

Hymns are a wonderful source of teaching about God, about His ways, His faithfulness and His love, among many other things. They are full of rich text that inspires. Many hymns can be a source of encouragement, especially in times of despair or discouragement. One such hymn is Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. The chorus of this wonderful hymn says:

Proverbs 3:5 tells us that we should trust in God with all our hearts. We should not rely on our own limited human understanding. God’s ways and thoughts are far greater than ours (Isaiah 55:9). God knows the end from the beginning, so when He promises to do something or is leading us to do something we don’t feel capable of doing, we can trust that it will be accomplished (Isaiah 46:10-11). When we feel God leading us, our response should be to trust and obey.

In the old hymn, Trust and Obey, the final verse ends with these words:

Good words to live by! When we trust in God and submit to His will, He promises to direct us in the way that we should go (Proverbs 3:6). When we trust and obey, God’s plan for us will be accomplished, and we can be sure that His plans for us are always to help or prosper us and never to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11). In the Old Testament, chapter 6 of Joshua provides a great example of the reward that comes from trusting in God and doing what He says.

God commanded Joshua to have the army of the Israelites march around the walled city of Jericho for six days. He told Joshua that, on the seventh day, they should march around Jericho seven times. At that point, the priests were to sound the trumpets and the men were to shout. God promised Joshua that, if they did this, the walls of Jericho would fall down. Now, these walls were probably 30 feet high and 20 feet thick, so it would not be hard to imagine Joshua questioning God about His plan. But, Joshua trusted God with all his heart. He obeyed God and instructed the army to do exactly as God had said. Because of Joshua’s trust and willingness to obey, those walls fell flat and the Israelites took the city of Jericho (Joshua 6:1-20).

When we don’t place our trust in God and submit to His will, we may never experience the rewards and the promises He has planned for us. This is exactly what happened when Moses was leading the Israelites to the land God had promised to give them. Before they reached the Promised Land, God told Moses to send a group of men to explore the land (Numbers 13:1-3). All but two of the men came back with reports that there was no way they could take this land, as it was inhabited by men of such great size that they made the Israelites look like grasshoppers (Numbers 13:26-33). The people listened to the words of men rather than trusting in God and they refused to take the land as God had commanded (Deuteronomy 9:23-24). As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for the next forty years.

When God is leading us, or we are sensing that God’s will is for us to do something that we don’t feel fully equipped to do, we need to be like Joshua. We need to trust God and obey Him. When we do, His plan for our lives will be accomplished.

The book of Psalms includes a number of psalms called hallelujah or praise psalms. These psalms are songs of praise that would have been sung by the Jews as they magnified God, praising His name, His acts, and His wonderful attributes. A hallelujah psalm has three parts. The first part of the psalm is the introduction, or call to praise. The introduction is followed by the development part of the psalm, which lists the reasons to praise God. The last part of the psalm, the conclusion, is often a prayer or an exhortation.

The last five psalms found in the book of Psalms are considered the Hallel of Hallelujah Psalms. Each one of these psalms begins with a call to praise, hallelujah, which is the Hebrew word for “praise the Lord.” These five psalms are also unique among the hallelujah psalms in that the development part of the psalms, rather than listing the reasons to praise God, repeat the command to praise God.

In one of these psalms, Psalm 149, the psalmist, likely David, was giving praise for God’s love for Israel. The psalm begins with the call to praise, “Praise the Lord,” then says to sing a new song to the Lord. The new song might mean singing a song to the Lord that has never been sung before, but it could also mean singing a familiar song with a fresh heart, singing it as if you’ve never sung it before, giving it a new freshness.

The psalm then continues by giving the command to rejoice in God and be glad in Him. The faithful are encouraged, not just to sing their praise to God, but also to praise Him with dancing and musical instruments (Psalm 149:2-3). As you read this psalm, it is easy to imagine the excitement of the Jews as they lifted these praises to the Lord. As they sang this beautiful song of praise, they were clapping their hands and dancing as they sang and celebrated God’s faithfulness, love, and mercy. We should have that same excitement as we offer praise to God.

Psalm 149 also shows praise as a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare (Psalm 149:6-9). With God’s praises in their mouths and a double-edged sword, which is God’s Word, in their hands, God’s faithful people are able, not only to defeat the enemy, but to bind him in fetters. One day, when Jesus returns to reign on earth, all of God’s faithful people will take part in the judgment of the enemy. When you think of this, it should make you want to shout, “Hallelujah!” And that is exactly how this psalm ends – “Praise the Lord!”