For the next two weeks, take a fresh look at the glorious book of Ephesians with this free pdf download. It will stretch your mind, heart, and life to receive all God has provided for us in Christ.
It is part of a brand-new series, Fresh Views of Timeless Truth. Each volume provides readings, prayers, scripture, and recorded hymns on a focused topic.
Links:
Free pdf of Ephesians
Complete list of available volumes in Fresh Views of Timeless Truths
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
(Isaiah 40:21-24, NASB)
We were staying in Mackinaw City, on the shore of Lake Huron. Looking out over the waters, to the left was a beautiful view of the Mackinac Bridge.
From that distance, the vehicles seemed to be just creeping across the bridge. It reminded me of Genesis 1:24 where it talks about the “creeping things” God created on earth. From a higher perspective, our human race is among those creatures creeping across the surface of this tiny planet. How small and lowly we are! Only the image of our Creator makes us special. And how little we value that image, so arrogantly discarded long ago.
We crawl across the surface of this speck of dust, small, earthbound, in the grip of space and time. We are so small in mind that we mock the possibility of any reality beyond our own.
It reminds me how foolish we are to live for the glory that comes from our fellow earth crawlers. We were created for so much more! Father, raise my eyes. Lift my heart to crave the glory that comes only from You, the Eternal God of all truth, beauty, light, and life. You call me to be Your own child, holy in You, complete in You, forever one with You. Lord, help me to long for nothing else!
Father, we small, weak, short-lived creatures
puff ourselves up and
prance across this little stage,
pretending we are in charge,
pretending we are invincible.
How foolish we must look to You!
Sovereign God, You are our Father.
We trust in You.
Hymn: Hungry for God
This hymn helps us come to God
openly confessing our neediness for Him.
It is part of the Psalms of Ascents series on Psalms 120 – 134.
To download a pdf of the entire “Psalms of Ascents” series,
complete with companion devotional readings,
click here.
From these depths, O Lord,
Hear my cry to You:
Holy God, have mercy on my weakness and my need!
Proud and selfish thoughts,
Cold, uncaring ways–
Holy God, have mercy on my weakness and my need!
Refrain
Father,
Maker,
Mighty Redeemer,
Loving God, forgive me for the foolish heart You see!
Lord, I look to You.
As a child I come.
Holy God, have mercy on my weakness and my need!
From these depths, O Lord,
Hear my song to You:
Holy God, I praise You for unfailing love to me!
by Ken Bible, © 2008 LNWhymns.com.
Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29, NASB)
What does it mean to fear God? From scripture, it seems that fearing God is something other than being terrified of Him, and something more than simply respecting Him.
Whenever you want to understand God’s will for our lives, look to the example of Jesus. This is how Isaiah described Him over 700 years before His birth:
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2-3a, NASB)
Read the gospels, look at Jesus’ life, and you’ll see what it means to fear God. Jesus responded to His Father wholeheartedly, completely, constantly. He trusted Him. He revered Him. He obeyed Him. He lived for His Father alone. For Jesus, His Father was the ultimate reality, the ultimate source, the ultimate goal.
In short, Jesus treated God as God. That is what it means to fear God. That is what the Old Testament refers to when it repeatedly says:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
(Proverbs 9:10, NASB. See also Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 15:33)
Jesus taught His disciples not to fear evil, or persecution, or Satan, or death. There is only one thing in all creation that God’s children need to fear:
“I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has the authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5, NASB)
If we fear the Father as Jesus did, if we treat Him as God, if we trust that He is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving, why should we ever be anxious or fearful about anything that life or death can hold?
God has given us the freedom to
fear only Him.
We sing this confident hymn of faith
in the face of evil’s threats.
It is set to a fresh tune
but is also singable to a familiar tune.
The hymn is part of the Psalms of Ascents series on Psalms 120 – 134.
To download a pdf of the entire “Psalms of Ascents” series,
complete with companion devotional readings,
click here.
Oppressed, pursued by deadly evil,
My God, I turn to You today.
You always help me when I ask You.
You always save me when I pray.
Though evil’s threat is ever-present
And works to draw my heart away,
You never leave me to my weakness.
Your Spirit helps me to obey.
Alluring lies and vain distractions,
The Devil’s words are all untrue.
He has no power to love or bless me.
He has no power to follow through.
His every threat and every promise
Will come to nothing in the end.
Eternal love and all its blessings
Are Yours alone, my God, my friend!
by Ken Bible, © 2019 LNWhymns.com.
For the next two weeks, reflect on God’s promises of a New Creation with this free pdf download. God has already begun this renewal in you, and in His time it will engulf all creation! New Creation will help root this glorious hope in your heart, mind, and life.
It is part of a brand-new series, Fresh Views of Timeless Truth. Each volume provides readings, prayers, scripture, and recorded hymns on a focused topic.
Links:
Free pdf of New Creation
Complete list of available volumes in Fresh Views of Timeless Truths
The righteous will live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4, NASB)
“How can someone as weak and inconsistent as I possibly please a holy God?” Romans chapters 1 – 8 offers so much wonderful, life-giving assurance.
All God’s promises, all His holiness, all His power flow through us and grow in us as we trust in Him. Righteousness from God is by faith from first to last…The righteous will live by faith (Romans 1:17, NIV).
Father, thank You for the
wonderful gift of salvation by faith.
Let faith do its complete work in me,
transforming all my thoughts,
my words,
my hopes, and
my habits.
I long to be
all You have redeemed me to be.
Here is a celebration of
the daily blessings of our generous, kind Creator.
Set to a familiar folk tune.
Psalm 128 is part of the Psalms of Ascents series on Psalms 120 – 134.
To download a pdf of the entire “Psalms of Ascents” series,
complete with companion devotional readings,
click here.
Lord, You fill every day with the gifts of Your love
We receive and we share, gracious Father.
Every simple joy is crowned
With dear people all around,
And with them, we can feel Your loving presence.
As we look up to You, great Creator of all,
We are bathed in the flow of Your blessings.
By Your gift of daily bread
Bodies, minds, and hearts are fed,
And we feast on the riches of Your goodness!
As we work, as we laugh, as we pray, Father God,
As we walk in Your Spirit together,
Every joy is just a taste
Of the sharing soon embraced
Heart-to-heart, fully one in You forever!
by Ken Bible, © 2019 LNWhymns.com.
His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.
(Deuteronomy 32:4, NASB)
How do we know what is just and right in any particular situation? What is justice after all?
We usually think of justice as a certain standard of fairness, of right and wrong. We say that God is just because He consistently adheres to that standard.
But God is the creator and source of all. There is no separate standard of justice to which we compare Him. There is no outside set of rules by which He must abide in order to be “just”. He Himself is the standard of justice. Justice flows from His character and is seen in all His actions. We say that He is just because we see that He is always consistent with Himself. His actions are always consistent with His perfect wisdom and perfect love.
So how can we understand justice and live just lives?
We are just when we are like Him. Our actions are just when we act like Him.
We often think of justice and mercy as opposites…or at least as two competing values that must be balanced. We see justice as absolute rightness, and mercy as a kindly compromise with justice. But when we realize that justice and mercy are both descriptions of God’s nature, we see them not as opposites to be balanced. They are two facets of the same jewel. God is always completely merciful and always completely just.
Thus when we are called to seek justice in this unjust world, we are not called to a specific social agenda. We are called to think and live and be like God. We are called to be holy as He is holy, to live and speak the truth as He is the truth, to love as He loves. We are called to be His children, His ambassadors, His servants, His hands.
The Old Testament beautifully pictures our just and loving God, reporting His words and actions over many centuries. But He is most completely revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). What is more, Christ enables us not only to see and know God, but to live in Him, and He in us. He gives us the Spirit of God so that by simple faith, we can live just and loving lives in this present world. Through His people, and above His people, God is creating the just world that He has promised.
Father, Your goodness, justice, and mercy
are such a comfort to us!
We depend on them,
appreciate them, and
praise You for them.
So help us to be good, just, and merciful with
everyone we touch.
Hymn: Justice Hymn
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1, NASB).
Using a familiar tune, this hymn expresses
the comfort and rest of
complete dependence on God.
It is part of the Psalms of Ascents series on Psalms 120 – 134.
To download a pdf of the entire “Psalms of Ascents” series,
complete with companion devotional readings,
click here.
Only in You, eternal All-in-all,
Only in You our efforts stand or fall.
All that we do, the simple and the grand,
Withers or blossoms in Your sovereign hand.
Worry and struggle, sleeplessness and strain –
Outside of You our work is all in vain.
All our ambitions, all that we pursue,
Can’t match the fruitfulness of life in You.
You are the Giver, You Yourself the prize.
You are the wealth that fully satisfies.
Fullness of joy, our source and rich reward,
How all our being longs for You, our Lord!
by Ken Bible, © 2019 LNWhymns.com.
