Archive for Devotional with Hymn

Today’s Focus

2018-05-29 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our 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. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1b-3, NASB)

Today, fix your eyes on Jesus.

His beautiful life is your example
of faith in the Father,
of deep, unshakable joy,
of generous, self-giving love.

His death is your deliverance
from the strangle-hold of sin and
from slavery to your own weakness.

His resurrected life is
your strength for today and
your destiny for all eternity.

Today, fix your eyes on Jesus.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Fix Our Eyes on Jesus Christ
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Parenting

2018-05-27 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Without God’s help, the demands of parenting could overwhelm us. At times being a parent requires more wisdom and patience than we have to give. But remember:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3, NIV)

As a parent, be confident in God’s gifts to you.

God offers us His wisdom. Here’s a promise that every parent should write on their bathroom mirror and engrave on their heart:

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5, NIV)

God gives us His Spirit. We have the presence, the love, the inner strength, the unshakable peace of God Himself. Just trust Him.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)

God is the Father of each and every one of us. He is your Father, and He is the Father of your children. The wisdom, the love, the strength, and the ultimate responsibility are all His. You are only His steward for awhile.

Realize that of all His names and titles, God cherishes “Father” the most. “Father” is what He wants us to call Him. And in His love for you, He has graciously given you a part in His most treasured role: parenting new human lives, lives that will last forever. Parent your children in His love, His strength, and His wisdom. Parent them in simple, daily confidence in God, not yourself.

He is always, always with you — just remember to depend on Him.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: A Father’s Prayer
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Hiding in You or from You?

2018-05-24 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 6:9-17,
the opening of the fifth and sixth seals

Almighty, holy God, am I
hiding in You or
hiding from You?

When I am pursued and pressured by evil,
when doing what is right seems
less desirable than compromise,
less pleasant than “just this once,”
do I hide
in You or
from You?
Do I immediately turn toward You and
cling to You more tightly,
or do I let myself be drawn away toward some other “good”?
When temptation comes, do I move
toward You or
away from You?

Or to ask it another way:

When the Day of the Lord comes to all the earth,
when Your reality is suddenly obvious to everyone
and I realize that my eternal destiny is now fixed,
will I be
hiding in You or
hiding from You?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Free to Choose
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Captive

2018-05-20 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, I am held captive by You.
I am Your humble prisoner.

You are the Source of all being.
You are Creator and
Sovereign.
You are all beauty and
splendor,
all truth,
holiness,
goodness, and
love.

You are all, magnificent Father,
and I am Your prisoner.
I am held captive
by Your greatness,
by the flood of Your tender mercies,
by the amazing possibility of
knowing You and
sharing in You
fully and forever.

O Father, how can I do anything else but
love You and
serve You in
wonder and
worship?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Simply God
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Judgment Has Already Begun

2018-05-17 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 6:1-8,
John’s vision of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse

Father, when we turn away from You,
we turn toward ourselves.
We separate ourselves from the only Source of
all that is good.

We turn away from love, and
we are self-centered,
controlling others for our own benefit.
We turn away from Your peace, and
strife grows in us and among us.
We turn away from Your abundance, and
our need and want increase.
We turn away from Your life, and
death is all that is left.

Part of Your judgment on our sin
comes with the sin itself.
The curse of sin immediately begins to infect
all we are and
all we do.
If we don’t turn away from our sin and back to You,
Your judgments will one day be complete and final.

Father, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse,
conquest,
war,
famine, and
death,
are riding among us right now.
They are not only riding through all of human history,
but through each of
our cultures,
our communities,
our families,
our individual lives.

Father of love,
Father of peace,
Father of all goodness,
Father of life,
we turn to You now.
Grow us toward Yourself
as flowers grow toward the sun.
We need You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Prayer for Purity
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What a Priceless Treasure!

2018-05-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, without You, my physical life is
brief and
riddled with trouble and sorrow.
But You are peace.
You are forever.

Without You, I cannot be who I ought to be or
do what I ought to do.
But You are good and
right and
gloriously perfect in
all You are and
all You do.

Without You, I live in the darkness.
But You are the Light.

Without You, I am
false in my thinking,
false in my speaking,
false in my doing.
But You are Truth,
beautiful and
complete.

In You, Father,
as I trust in You,
I live in the Truth,
I walk in the Light, and
I am fully pleasing to You.
I am pure and lovely in You.

Father, what a priceless treasure is our
living relationship!
Daily,
moment by moment,
keep me in You!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Treasure
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One Day

2018-05-10 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 5:8-14,
all creation worshiping the Lamb.

One day
all evil,
all deception,
all distraction will be gone
completely and
forever.
All will be light.
All will be truth.
We will see all reality like the morning sun,
pure and unclouded.

We will see Jesus Christ for all He is, the
transcendent,
unseeable,
unimaginable God in all His
beauty and
perfection.
And as we see Him,
we will become like Him.
Through all the universe,
seen and unseen,
all that is not of Him will be
burned away forever.

When that happens, all creation will be swept up
into one mighty response to its Creator,
full heart and
full voice.
Praise will roll like a tidal wave
through all reality.
We, all of us, will lift Him up for
all that He is and
all He has done.

But even then, our response to Him will be
small and
inadequate.
Through an endless eternity, His magnificence will draw us up into
lives of ever-increasing
thanksgiving,
worship, and
love.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Enthronement Hymn
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Breath of God

2018-05-06 Devotional with Hymn No comments

In both the Old Testament (Hebrew) and the New Testament (Greek), the word we translate as “spirit” also means “breath”. Every living being shares God’s breath in a physical sense. He is the source of all life. All life flows from Him. We breathe His breath. If He withholds it, we die (Psalm 104:29-30).

Our spiritual life is the same: we breathe His breath. His Spirit joins with our spirit as we allow Him…as we trust Him. We don’t become more Christ-like, more holy, more consistent, more adequate for life’s challenges by trying harder. Such personal efforts are useless and frustrating (Romans 7:7-25). God longs to share His own life, His own holiness, His own sufficiency with us. He longs to breathe His Spirit, His breath through us. We just have to trust Him, step by step, need by need.

Life in Christ, and Christ living within us, is beautiful and natural. Joy doesn’t need to be just a temporary emotion. It can flow from our relationship with Him. It can be as unchanging as He is. Life need not end with this physical body. If our life is His life, that life will go on forever.

Oneness with Jesus Christ is the great blessing of heaven. There it will be constant and complete. What a wonderful reality it will be! That oneness is also the greatest good of life here and now. Make it your greatest goal and deepest desire.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Breath of Life
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The Lamb of God

2018-05-03 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 5:1-7,
John’s vision of the Lamb of God

The stage is set.
The glowing introduction has built to a climax.
We eagerly await the next moment,
when we will finally meet the One so long promised:
the Mighty Conqueror,
the Root of David,
the King of all Kings,
the Lion of Judah.
At last we are about to see the One who is worthy
to bring to living reality all the
magnificent plans and
magnificent promises of our sovereign, loving God.
All the sprawling creation is about to meet
the One through Whom it was created,
its hope,
its Redeemer.

But behold the Man!
The Lion is a Sacrificial Lamb.
The Mighty Conqueror is One slaughtered,
still bearing His wounds.
The King of all Kings is a Servant.
The Lord of all Lords is a homeless peasant, without
power,
status, or
any attractiveness whatsoever.

Yet this One has overcome
all evil
everywhere,
for all time.
This one has conquered
through self-sacrifice, not self-fulfillment,
through complete dependence, not complete self-sufficiency,
through weakness, not strength.

And this One stands with His arms outstretched,
calling to each of us and all of us:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and
take up his cross and
follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24, NASB)

This is our all-conquering hero.
This is our Leader,
This is the One against whom
all rightness,
all success
all victory is measured:
He is Christ crucified.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Christ Crucified
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See Jesus Christ

2018-04-29 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31, NASB)

See Him now,
the Jewish peasant,
the Victim,
the One rejected, ridiculed, brutalized, and
executed as a blasphemer and traitor.
See Him now
in all the glory that is His from all eternity.
See Him risen to the right hand of the Father.
He is seated,
His task complete.
He has wiped away all our sins,
completely and forever.
He has poured out the Holy Spirit of God Himself
on every person who will receive Him.

He is our Brother,
the Lord of all things
in this world and the next,
all things seen and unseen,
in heaven and earth.
We are secure and eternally, extravagantly blessed in Him.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Jesus, Living God!
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