Archive for Devotional with Hymn

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2016-05-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. (1 Thessalonians 4:1, NIV)

Jesus, in what areas have I been instructed how to live, and
perhaps I’m living that way to some extent,
but You want me to live more and more that way?

Help me be more and more loving to others in practical ways and
more sensitive to their needs.

Help me trust You moment by moment, more and more.

Help me turn to You more often throughout the day.

Keep my thoughts pure and holy and full of thanksgiving to You.

I love You, Lord! Increase our fellowship more and more.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Growing in the Spirit (Medley)
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Unchanging Joy

2016-05-08 Devotional with Hymn 2 comments

Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10, NASB)

I wrote the hymn below out of deep grief. On February 20, 2015, our 38-year-old son, David, took his own life. It was totally unexpected, and we were overwhelmed with a sorrow we had never experienced.

As the months passed and the grief still shrouded our souls, I tried my normal way of processing thoughts and feelings: I attempted to write about my grief. But when I did, the river of sorrow within me overflowed and engulfed me. Writing about my grief only made it worse.

Eventually I began to realize that God was calling me to focus, not on grief, but on joy. He was teaching me to live in joy, even when flooded with deepest sorrow. He prodded me to write about and sing about the joy that is always mine in Christ. Situations change, often beyond our control. But Jesus Christ does not change. Who He is in us and who we are in Him is right now our bright, eternal, all-encompassing reality. Christ is our unchanging joy, springing up forever, refreshing us whenever we obey the Bible’s urgent reminder to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4, NASB)

When Jesus was in the darkest hours of His life, facing trial, torture, and execution, He spoke to His disciples about His fullness of joy. He longed to share with them His deep joy in the midst of sorrow.

“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) 

During my time of grief, our loving Father is teaching me to drink deeply of Jesus Christ, my always and forever fountain of joy. This hymn was written primarily for myself, as a way to daily rejoice in Christ. I gladly share it with you.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Christ My Joy
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Jesus: Your Ultimate Choice

2016-05-05 Devotional with Hymn, Evangelistic, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 14:6

Jesus is the way to the Father,
the truth about the Father,
the life of the Father.

He is your creator,
your designer,
your source,
your Savior,
your highest destiny, and
your ultimate goal.
He is all your loving, all-wise Father wants you to be, and
all that your best self longs for you to be.

If you ignore His claims on you,
you consign yourself to
frustration and
meaninglessness.
The future you are choosing is
eternal separation from all that is good.

If you respond to Him in
even the simplest of childlike trust, He will
patiently,
daily,
unfailingly
grow you to Himself and
grow you to your Father.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: See All That Human Can Be
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Father and Son

2016-05-01 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father, Uncategorized No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 14 – 17 

Father, I was attracted to Your Son Jesus
because of You.
I sensed in Him something more than myself,
something more than I could ever be on my own.
I sensed You in Him,
the Almighty God,
the absolute,
the transcendent,
the pure,
the impossibly holy.
Yet Your purity was now human,
seeable,
touchable, and
relatable.
I saw “human” and “holy” joined
in one Person.
I was drawn to
love Him and
trust Him
because I saw You
in Him.

Now, I find Him drawing me back to You.
Through Him I am learning to know You.
Through Him I am brought into Your holy presence.
I am finding Him to be
the way to You,
the truth about You,
the life that flows from You.
In Him I hear all Your heart wishes to say to us.
In Him I begin to see all You are doing for us.
In Him I share Your Father-Son relationship:
I receive a Father’s deep love for His holy Son.
I return a Son’s worshiping love for His pure and perfect Father.

In Your Son I breathe
Your Spirit,
the same Spirit that made Your Son so beautiful.
In Him I breathe
Your wisdom,
Your holiness,
Your love.
In Christ,
through Your Spirit,
I breathe the peace and perfect union of
Father and Son.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Father and Son
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The Holy Spirit: God with Us

2016-04-28 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Ezekiel 37:1-10; Acts 2:1-4

Jesus came to be God with us. But His task wasn’t done when He ascended back to His Father. One of Jesus’ purposes in coming to us was to pour out God’s Spirit on all who trust in Him. At the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist introduced Him this way:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11, NASB)

When the Holy Spirit came, He carried on Jesus’ ministry. He was to all believers what Jesus had been to His disciples: teacher, comforter, encourager, companion, advocate, intercessor, friend, and the presence of God. The Holy Spirit was all that, but more. Jesus had been limited by a physical body. The Spirit is Jesus unbound from any limitations. He is God’s presence with us, among us, and within us, every moment, always and forever.

When the Holy Spirit was poured at the day of Pentecost, His coming was accompanied by two signs. Both of these signs had long been symbols of the living presence of God.

  • “A noise like violent rushing wind” (Acts 2:2, NASB) – In both Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek, the word for “Spirit” also means “wind” and “breath”. Thus God’s Spirit has always been associated with wind. God’s Spirit is His life in motion. For example, read Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-10.
  • “Tongues as of fire…rested on each one of them” (Acts 2:3, NASB) – Fire is another frequent symbol of God’s presence. For example, recall that God’s presence was a pillar of fire in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). God revealed His holy presence on Mt. Sinai by fire (Exodus 19:18). When Elijah faced the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, the God who answered by fire was the true God (1 Kings 18:24).

When God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost, He signaled unmistakably that the powerful, living presence of God Himself was now among, with, and within His people.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Pentecost Hymn
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Mercy, Not Judgment

2016-04-26 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“Forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35, NIV). 

Jesus, I read the story you told in Matthew 18:21-35. I’m like that man. I owe You an overwhelming debt I can never repay.

But You are far less offended by my overwhelming debt than by my unforgiving attitude toward my fellow debtors. Forgive my pettiness, Lord. What others need from me is just one drop from the ocean of Your great mercy.

Merciful Jesus,
Full of compassion,
Patient, forbearing,
Quick to forgive,
Help me show others
Mercy, not judgment –
Kindness and gentleness.
Lord, make me like You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Joy of Forgiveness
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I Need the Mind of Christ

2016-04-24 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, what I need most right now,
this moment,
is the mind and Spirit of Christ.
Facing this day,
these concerns, and
all the needy people around me,
I need the mind and Spirit of Christ.
Nothing less than Him will
make me who I need to be.

Father, I bow and
ask and
depend completely on You.
Help me think and
speak and
respond like Him.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: When I Speak
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I Will Raise Him Up

2016-04-21 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 6:35-58

Jesus had just fed the five thousand. The crowd followed Him with determination, hoping for more free food, wanting to make Him their king. He repeatedly urged them not to seek physical bread that would satisfy only the body and only for a few hours. He implored them to seek Himself instead, the True Bread. He would satisfy all their desires forever.

Notice how Jesus repeatedly pushed them to raise their sights above the here and now:

“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” 

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” 

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:39-40, 44, 54, NASB)

Notice that eternal life is His personal promise: “I Myself will raise him up” (John 6:40, NASB). This everlasting life is the collaboration of Father and Son. It is the Father’s will and the Father’s work, accomplished through the Son. Thus Jesus hammers home the assurance that endless life is absolutely certain for all who simply trust Him. No hungering, no thirsting, no dying, ever. The Father and the Son, the Almighty Creator and His sovereign Word, guarantee it.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Shall Rise in Jesus Christ!
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Biscuits and Fish

2016-04-19 Devotional with Hymn No comments

When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” 

They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 

And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. (Matthew 14:15-19, NASB)

Father, You have shown me needy people.
There they are, spread out before me.
I see the need.
I feel the need.
It is very real.

I hold something that I believe could help.
But it is so small,
and I am so small.
I don’t know how to get this to them.
I don’t know how to begin to use it in any meaningful way.

So I bring it to You, Father –
just biscuits and fish.
Use it.
Use me.
I am small,
but You encompass all that is.
I am ignorant,
but Your knowing is perfect.
Your loving is perfect.

Father, I am available.
Show me where to start.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Bless This Seed
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Needing God

2016-04-18 Devotional with Hymn One comment

Sometimes we just need God. Yes, in a sense we need His gifts as well – His wisdom, His strength, His guidance, His love. But really, we just need Him.

At such times, words are just words. “Truth” is abstract, cumbersome, and irrelevant. Even Scripture seems a wearisome and indirect way of meeting our need for that moment, which is for God to just be there. Exhaustion has left us incapable of doing anything but crying out for His nearness.

Such experiences can result from a particular problem that has troubled and drained us. But often they come from vague accumulations of fatigue, uncertainty, and stress.

During these times, we learn to appreciate God’s greatest gift. This gift is not one of His blessings. It’s not a “something” He sends to us, no matter how precious. His greatest gift is Himself, given to us personally. His most profound comfort is the assurance that He is, and He is here for us, and He is purely love.

Through the sacrament of Communion, we physically remember that “redemption” and “forgiveness” are not the ultimate gifts of His plan of salvation. He Himself is the Gift. The wine is His blood. The bread is His body. The celebration, a remembrance of Him. We feed on Him, the One who gave everything – His blood, His sweat, His pain, agony, humiliation, death, and life. The Heir of all things gave all He had and all He was, not only for us, but to us as well. We feed on Him, and His very being becomes the substance and strength of our lives.

As we reach to Him from these lowest and blackest regions, we can do so with the solid confidence that He is ours and He is present. We can know that when we are incapable of doing anything else, just needing Him pleases Him. Trusting Him is the highest praise He asks. And even in the depths, we can taste the greatest joy that life here or hereafter will ever offer: the joy of loving Him, simply and personally.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Jesus, I Need Your Spirit
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