Archive for Devotional Companion to Revelation

The One Thing

2018-03-29 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 3:1-6,
Christ’s letter to the church in Sardis.

As you respond to the various pressures around you
in all their variety,
as you decide how to spend
your time,
your energy,
your words,
your money,
your passion, and
your trust,
as your daily actions establish
what is truly important to you,
not what you claim to be important,
realize that in the end,
only one thing will matter.
Only one thing will decide
Your character,
Your identity,
Your influence,
Your peace,
Your eternity.
Only one thing will decide
who you have been here and
who you will be forever.

In the end, all that will matter is
Your relationship with me,
Your Creator,
Your Designer,
Your Father,
Your Savior,
Your only Source of life, love, rightness, and joy.

Consider what you want from this life.
Consider who you want to be, and
choose wisely.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: God Alone
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Morning Star

2018-03-22 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn One comment

A prayer response to Revelation 2:18-29,
Christ’s letter to the church in Thyatira.

Father, You are holy –
completely right,
always just,
pure from all sin.

We are weak and
engulfed by an evil world pressing in all around us,
with a wickedness both
brazen and
seductive.

Yet You call us to be holy as You are holy,
right now,
in this sinful place,
in all our weakness.
How, Father?

Your holy Son Jesus offers us His holiness –
Your holiness –
moment by moment,
need by need,
as we simply trust Him.

Does that make us perfect?
Certainly not.
But Holy Father, You always deliver everyone who
calls to You and
trusts You.
Always.
Everyone.

What is more, Father,
in this darkness,
with sin and death filling the night around us,
You have given us the Morning Star.
He has already risen in our hearts,
promising that a new, eternal day is about to dawn.
Soon sin and death will never again darken
our world or
our hearts.
He is shining in us and among us right now.

Praise to You, Father God!
Praise to You, Lord Jesus, the Light of the World!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Jesus, the Light of the World
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A People of Truth

2018-03-15 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 2:12-17,
Christ’s letter to the church in Pergamum.

As human creatures, our ignorance runs deep.
There is so much we cannot know on our own.
Powerful spiritual beings can easily deceive us.
But we can know the truth,
absolute and unchanging,
through the Spirit of Jesus Christ living within us.

We spend so many of our words spouting what is
trivial or
self-serving.
Our speech can be so meaningless.
But we can speak the truth
clearly and boldly
as the Spirit of Truth speaks through us.

We are weak,
and evil presses in from all around.
But we can live the truth
consistently and
courageously
as we simply trust the
almighty,
all-wise,
all-loving Spirit of God.

Father, keep us true,
each of us and all of us,
individually and together.
Make us Your
holy,
faithful,
loving people
through the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Will Be Your People
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Our Reality in Christ

2018-03-08 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 2:8-11,
Christ’s letter to the church in Smyrna.

Father, when we are like Your Son Jesus,
the world will treat us as it treated Him.
We will suffer as He suffered –
persecution,
need,
false accusations, and
death.

But Father, as You cared for Him,
now exalted to Your right hand,
You will care for us.
And just as we are sharing His sufferings,
we are sharing
His beautiful relationship with You and
His unending, unbounded life.

Though we suffer,
we need not fear suffering.
The worst our persecutors can do is to hasten
the inevitable death of this body and
our eternal reward.
They cannot touch our real life, which is
our life in You. (Matthew 10:26-31)

Though we may be poor in the passing goods of this world,
we are rich in Christ.
All things are His, and
all things are ours in Him. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

People may falsely accuse us.
Satan is the great accuser, and
his servants will do his work.
But Christ knows the truth, and
He is judge of all.
He has already declared us completely innocent. (Romans 8:31-39)

If He tarries in His coming,
this body will die.
But Christ is the One who died and rose again, and
His resurrection life is already pulsing through us.
Death cannot touch us.
We will rise in Him. (John 11:25-26)

In comfort or suffering,
need or plenty,
glory or shame,
life or death,
we are rich, secure, eternally alive, and abundantly blessed
in You, Father,
through Jesus Christ Your Son.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Captives of Eternal Love
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Have You Lost Your First Love?

2018-03-01 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 2:4-7,
Christ’s letter to the church in Ephesus.

Nothing is as vital as having
a warm, active, loving, self-giving relationship
with God and
with His children.
Nothing!

Has your relationship cooled?
Have you lost your first love?
Is your love for God and for others as
warm,
natural, and
joyful
as it was at the beginning?

If not, follow Christ’s own words for restoring your love:

Remember the way your love was at the beginning.
Realize how you’ve changed,
and not for the better.
Realize what you’ve lost.

Repent.
Admit that you have been wrong.
Focus on what you have done wrong,
not on what they have done wrong.
Ask forgiveness,
from God and from the other people involved.
Commit to change, with God’s help.

Do the loving deeds you did at first.
Love is not an emotion,
to be chased like the wind.
Love is a decision.
Love is a commitment.
Love is action.
Do the loving deeds you did at the beginning, and
the emotion will return in its own time.

Love is the most excellent way to live.
Never let it slip away.
Treasure love.
Pursue love.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Daily Confession
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Pursue Love

2018-02-22 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 2:1-4,
Christ’s letter to the church in Ephesus,
based on 1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:3; 14:1

God is love, and
the surest mark of His children is love:
true,
active,
self-sacrificing love.

Without love, the greatest spiritual gifts are meaningless.
Pursue love.

Without love, wisdom and knowledge are worthless.
Pursue love.

Without love, all our efforts, all our accomplishments are empty noise.
Pursue love.

Love is the most excellent way to live.
As we grasp for all the best of life,
we too often ignore its most precious possibility: a
constant,
personal,
interactive,
loving,
transforming relationship with the Living God.
As we humbly receive His love,
we love Him in return.
As we love Him,
we grow in our love for His children.

In the beautiful, perfect Kingdom of our Father,
love is the coin of the realm,
not money.
Love will never lose its value.
Pursue love.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Ever Full and Overflowing
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Centered on Jesus

2018-02-15 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 2 & 3,
the letters to the seven churches.

Father, examine my desires.
Examine my hopes.
Examine my thoughts.
Examine my words.
Examine my habits and
all my actions.
Examine each of my relationships.

Father, I long for You to find
Your holy Son Jesus
at the center of all these.

Examine our family.
Examine our Sunday School class.
Examine our local church.
Examine our association of churches.
Examine Your universal Church,
for we are to be
His Body and
His Bride.

Merciful Father, may Jesus Christ be at the heart of
all we are and
all we do.
When the world listens to us,
may they hear Jesus.
When they look at us,
may they see Your holy, loving, energetic, self-sacrificing Son,
Jesus Christ.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: One in Purpose, One in Passion
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Christ Walks among Us

2018-02-08 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 1:9-20,
John’s vision of the glorified Christ, walking among the churches.

Jesus Christ is no longer the Galilean peasant,
the homeless teacher
wandering a small corner of the Roman empire.
He is the risen, ascended, glorified Christ
in all His natural splendor,
with all the radiance of the only-begotten Son of God.

He is robed as our Great High Priest.
His hair is gleaming white.
His eyes are like a blazing fire.
He sees everything as it truly is:
this world,
the Church,
our lives,
our desires.
He stands with feet like glowing bronze,
unshakable,
unstoppable.
His voice is like the thunder of a mighty waterfall.
He speaks with absolute, unquestionable authority.
His entire being radiates the splendor and power of heaven.

Right now this Christ is walking among us,
His Church.
He is seeing.
He is judging.
He is encouraging.
He is warning.
As He speaks,
I am comforted.
I am challenged.
I am humbled.
I am called.

I begin to see the Church…His Church…in a whole new light.
What is critical for us is not
our size,
our finances, or
our techniques for growth.
What is critical is our living relationship with Him:
our love for Him,
our obedience to Him,
our faithfulness to Him,
our living, holy sacrifice to Him,
our incarnation of Him.

Speak, Lord Jesus.
We are listening.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Glorified Christ
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Jesus Died, Risen, Lord of All

2018-02-01 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 1:5-8,
“Grace and peace to you…from Jesus Christ”. 

In my weakness,
in my ignorance,
through all my struggles and failures,
who always loves me?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Who eagerly, completely, forever forgives me
for all the awful things I have ever been and done?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Who delivers me from
everything that oppresses and threatens me?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Who pours out on me and into me
all the fullness of the Father,
from whom all blessings flow?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Who leads me through all the unknowns of
this world and the next?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Who encompasses in Himself
all time,
all the past, present, and future?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Whom will I joyfully follow and trust,
love and worship
no matter what comes,
every day and forever?
Jesus died,
Jesus risen,
Jesus Lord of all.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Jesus, Living God!
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Worship in the Book of Revelation

2018-01-25 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 1:4-8, 17-18; 4:8-11; 5:8-14;
7:9-12; 11:15-17; 15:3-4; 16:5-7; 19:1-7; 22:13, 16

The primary purpose of prophecy is not to give us a roadmap for the future but to give us God’s perspective. Through prophecy, the reality of God shatters our false, materialistic view of life. Through prophecy, we see Him as the focus of our daily world and our eternal destiny.

As a book of prophecy, Revelation exalts God as the center of life, as its Beginning and end, its Source and Goal. Thus it is not surprising that such a God-centered book is permeated with worship and praise. Reading through its praise passages, several basic truths become clear:

  1. Praise is a simple, honest acknowledgement that God is, and that He is who He says He is. Praise acknowledges God, what He has done, and what He is doing. We don’t need advanced intelligence or complex reasoning to praise God. Praise is simple faith’s response to God and the truth about Him:

    God is the Creator. All that is flows from Him.
    God is eternal, enveloping all the past, present, and future.
    God is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End and
    everything in-between. He is the All-in-all.
    God is holy, both transcendent and pure.
    God is our Redeemer. He saved us from sin through the death of His Son.
    God is worthy of all worship, power, wisdom, riches, and glory.
    In His own perfect time, God will re-assert His complete control over creation and will judge our world in righteousness.

  1. As we focus on God, praise draws us deeper and deeper into His magnificence. Seeing God, we think and talk less about ourselves and more about Him.
  1. Among those who know and trust God, praise is contagious. Praise often causes other believers to join in the praise. Praise spreads. Praise will crescendo until it envelops all creation (Revelation 5:8-14).

Do you long to praise God in a way that is pleasing to Him? Immerse yourself in the praise and worship of Revelation.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Revelation Worship
Recording
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