Archive for November 2018

What Will Matter Then?

2018-11-30 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 18:9-24,
the laments over the fall of Babylon

It’s easy to become infected by the values of this world:

  • The signature of a famous person is worth thousands.
  • A vase is worth a year’s salary.
  • A single painting is worth $100,000,000 or more.
  • For the applause of people, many will gladly invest an entire life.

But when the world is on fire,
how much will they be worth?
When you are drawing your final breaths,
what will matter then?

Those who have disposed of
the belongings of a departed loved know that
the physical goods they leave behind,
belongings they may have treasured,
are now just stuff.
Getting rid of it is a chore, a burden.

The Bible mocks those who worship false gods:
False gods can’t carry us.
We have to carry them.

Trust,
love, and
serve
the God who will
carry you. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Rich Young Ruler
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Second Coming Hymn

2018-11-28 Hymns No comments

Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 16:27; 24:30-31, 42-46; Mark 13:26-27, 33-36;
Luke 12:35-38, 42-43; 21:27-28, 33-35; Acts 1:9-11;1 Corinthians 15:50-54;
Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10;
Revelation 1:7; 22:20 

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Jesus Messiah is coming, coming.
He who has come will be coming again,
Coming in clouds with great power. See Him!
As He ascended He’s coming again!

Angels will gather His people. See them!
All will be changed in the blink of an eye.
We will be like Him in glory, glory.
Lift up your heads — He is coming again!

Then every eye will behold Him, see Him.
None will ignore or deny Him that day.
Hear all the mockers now weeping, wailing.
Make yourself ready — He’s coming again!

Be on your guard, ever watching, waiting,
Trusting, obeying, and looking to Him.
Stay at your task and be faithful, faithful.
Live in the joy — He is coming again!

One with You in Christ

2018-11-26 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, in Jesus Christ
I can know You –
I can know You completely,
You who are
all life,
truth,
holiness, and
beauty.

In Christ, our knowing is
full and
organic,
heart-to-heart and
being-to-being.
I share Your life.
I breathe Your breath.
Your Spirit is
my spirit.

In Christ, I am one with everyone who shares in You.
In Jesus Christ, Father, You became incarnate in
a Person.
And as we are all in Christ,
You become incarnate in
a people.
All life is in You,
And in You, all life is
love,
joy, and
complete, eternal well-being. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: See God in Christ
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Children of This Age

2018-11-23 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 18:1-8,
the fall of Babylon.
See also Matthew 5:3-12.

See a picture of the people who displease God,
the children of Satan,
the people whom God will destroy.
See them
glorifying self,
serving self,
lusting for comfort and luxury,
clinging to this world,
seeking their meaning and security in this world,
self-centered,
self-assured,
self-sufficient.

See a picture of the people whom God blesses,
the people who will rule the earth forever,
the people who will inherit all His eternal riches.
Hear Jesus describe them.
They don’t grasp for earthly possessions, but are
poor in spirit,
meek and gentle.
They mourn what God mourns and are
hungry to be like Him.
They are merciful, and
they make peace.
They joyfully follow Christ, even when it brings persecution.

Such people are not children of this age,
doomed to pass away.
They are children of the living, everlasting God,
His heirs,
His treasure. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Beatitudes Hymn
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Sea of Mercy

2018-11-21 Hymns No comments

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When first I drew an infant’s breath,
I sailed a sea of mercy.
This life, this world, these gifts, my Lord,
Were flowing all from You.
When bound by sin and blindness,
So sure that I was free,
I saw Your face and heard Your voice
And found Your love for me.
My God, what love for me!

I turned, and You forgave my past.
Lord, what a sea of mercy!
Now every day in You, my God,
I’m more than I can be.
I love You, and I follow.
That’s all that I can do.
Your mercy is a mighty sea
That carries me to You.
I’m coming, Lord, to You!

You Come to Me

2018-11-19 Devotional with Hymn No comments

You come
comforting me,
forgiving me,
recreating me,
giving me a destiny.

You come
teaching me,
healing me,
nourishing me, and
sharing Yourself with me.

Though infinitely above me, You come to be
all around me,
all within me,
ever before me,
ever beside me.

Almighty, all-holy, all-loving God,
You wrap me in Your presence,
enabling me to
speak and
live and
be like You.
Praise to You! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Isaiah 40
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Evil’s False Power

2018-11-16 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 17:7-18,
the Lamb’s victory over the beast

Just as the appeal of evil is a lie,
so its power is a lie.
All reality has only
one Master,
one Creator,
one King.

Evil is built on
a truth,
a world,
a good,
a reality
outside of God, and
no such reality exists.
No such good exists.

Evil is self-deceived, and
in the end,
it will self-destruct.
It will unwittingly serve the purposes of
the one Master,
the one Creator.

Outside of Him, everything is only
a lie,
a shadow,
a false hope,
without substance,
emptiness,
nothingness.

All truth,
all good,
all power
is in God alone. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Great Lord of All Reality
Recording
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Resting in the Lord

2018-11-14 Hymns No comments

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
For the one who has entered His rest
has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
(Hebrews 4:9-10, NASB) 

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Jesus, Jesus, Lord and Brother,
Wisdom, joy, and life in me.
Fullness of my Father’s presence,
Peace and perfect liberty;
As You spoke and out of nothing
Bloomed Your love’s abundant wealth,
So You spoke and filled my darkness
With the beauty of Yourself.

Great Creator, Christ exalted,
As You rest, Your work complete,
So I come and leave my struggles,
Living, learning at Your feet,
Free to rest and free to listen,
Knowing that Your love will speak.
Jesus, Savior, ever present,
You are all I need and seek.

Here I find my satisfaction,
Here is where my heart is home,
Fruitful in Your living Spirit,
Driven by Your love alone.
Let me share Your endless Sabbath,
Holy, Lord, in all I do,
In my working, in my waiting,
Resting in and unto You.

Fullness of Joy

2018-11-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

My tears have been my food day and night.
O my God, my soul is in despair.
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over Me.
(Psalm 42:3, 6, 7, NASB)

Father, grief and sorrow have come in like a flood,
and I am overwhelmed.
Tears are my constant companion.
I need joy, the joy that comes only from You,
but I cannot grasp it.

Father, now I am ready to hear the words of Christ.
Now I am ready to look hungrily at His example.
Hours before His arrest, torture, and brutal execution,
what was He so eager to share with His disciples?
The fullness of His joy:

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11, NASB)

“[Father,] now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” (John 17:13, NASB)

Jesus stood on the brink of the greatest
physical, emotional, and spiritual assault
any human has ever faced.
What strengthened Him, encouraged Him, and drew Him on?
His fullness of joy.

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2, NASB)

Jesus endured every humiliation that unbridled hatred could throw at Him, yet
He despised the shame.
He considered it unworthy of consideration in light of
the joy set before Him.

Father, Jesus found His joy in You, in
knowing You,
pleasing You, and
glorifying You.
Father, You are the fullness of joy for me as well.
With Jesus, I seek,
not joy,
but You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Fullness of Joy
Recording
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Evil’s False Face

2018-11-09 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 17:1-6,
the doom of Babylon

Temptation comes
appearing to be alluring beauty,
pretending to provide something good,
offering pleasant and harmless stimulation.

But Father, help me to see evil for what it
really is and
always is:
destructive,
ugly,
cruel,
corrupt, and
deadly.
Its appeal is a pretense,
always shallow and
always a lie.
It is unable to give anything
good or
lasting.
It is impotent,
unwise,
unbeautiful, and
unloving.
The tempter is a sworn enemy of all that is good.
His purpose is always to
steal,
kill, and
destroy (John 10:10).
Following him always leads to
disappointment and
failure.

But Father, I cannot handle temptation on my own.
When it comes, help me to immediately
turn to You and
trust You to deliver me.
And when I fail,
help me to repent immediately,
knowing that You are always eager to
forgive and
restore completely.

You are good, Father, and
Your love endures forever! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Soldiers of Christ, Arise
Recording
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