Archive for July 2017

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-07-07 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

As You Lead

Father, as we prepare to gather for worship,
prepare each of us to act as You lead.

We want to glorify You.
We want to bless
Your people in
Your name.
Speak, Lord.
Prod us.
Use us as pleases you.

Help us to listen for Your still small voice in
the big things and
the small things.
Fill our routines with new meaning
as we pay new attention to
Your Word and
Your Spirit.

When You prompt us in unexpected ways, Father,
may we obey.
By our obedience, we know You will make today’s gathering of Your people
all You want it to be.

That is what we want too, Lord.
Use us today. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak Your Word, My Father
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Slaves to a Lie

2017-07-05 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus promised His followers:

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32, NASB)

What did He mean?
From what does God’s truth set us free?

He sets us free from the lies of sin and Satan.
Realize that the truth is never on Satan’s side.
He is a defeated foe with
limited powers.
Therefore lies are always his main weapon.
Jesus said of him:

“He…does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44, NASB)

Sin and Satan continually make promises they can’t keep.
When he tempts you,
he is promising a happiness, a satisfaction,
that neither he nor his sin can possibly deliver.

What’s more, the Bible says that when we give in to such deceiving sin,
we make ourselves its slave.
We give the lie power over us.
Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” (John 8:34)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Romans 6:16, NASB)

As slaves of sin,
slaves of a lie,
we are compelled to sin,
chasing it for satisfactions it can never bring.

When we turn to Jesus and walk in His truth,
we are set free from that slavery to a lie.
The truth that is in Jesus sets us free.

Now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23, NASB)

This truth that is in Jesus,
this glorious reality,
is more than just facts to be believed.
Jesus not only speaks the truth.
He also thinks the truth and
lives the truth.
Jesus is the truth.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6, NASB)

Jesus is the glorious reality of
God’s love and life
filling our world.
And in Him,
in the Spirit of Truth,
we become part of that reality.
In Him we
think the truth,
speak the truth, and
live the truth.
As we follow Jesus,
as we continue in His word,
His truth sets us free from slavery to a lie.
We can now
think and breathe,
speak and live
the beautiful, loving truth that
is in Him alone.

“If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Think, Speak, and Live the Truth
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

The Word of God

2017-07-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

You are sure to have a Bible at hand. Pick it up.
Do you know what a treasure You are holding?

God’s Word is creative, bringing life and beauty out of nothing (Genesis 1).
God’s Word is perfect, pure, and more precious than gold (Psalm 19).
God’s Word is unimaginably powerful:

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders…
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic…
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
(Psalm 29:3-4, 9, NIV)

God’s Word will be creative, life-giving, precious, and powerful
within you as You read it and trust it.

For thousands of years people have argued about the Bible’s accuracy.
Its teachings clash with our desires.
Its wisdom challenges our understandings.
Its principles sometimes seem to conflict with the world’s latest version of the truth.

But as every other source of “truth” quickly goes out-of-date,
God’s Word continues to speak.
Person after person, generation after generation finds it
beautiful,
pure,
life-giving, and
consistently, completely reliable.
They find it true and satisfying mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
As on the first day of creation, when God speaks, our world is filled with light.

Treasure God’s Word.
Treasure it enough to
read it, trust it,
share it, and live by it. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Word of the Lord
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

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