Archive for Devotional with Hymn

The Life of God

2020-12-11 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.

(John 3:8; 7:37-39, NASB)

As uncontrollable as the wind,
as refreshing as a spring,
as mighty as a great river,
the Life of God
blows,
rises, and
flows
all around us and within us,
purifying,
transforming,
enlightening, and
empowering anyone who will simply trust in Jesus Christ.

God gives us Himself.
Should we complain about anything else
He gives or withholds?

Hymn: Life of God

Hindered by Unbelief

2020-11-27 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

[Jesus] came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son?”…And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:54-55, 58, NASB)

Jesus, how often have You longed to do wonderful things among us,
but You were not able because of our unbelief?

How often have we, Your own people,
hindered You by our lack of faith?

Lord, what wonderful works would You do in my life
if I were only willing to trust You more simply and constantly,
in the face of each concern?

Jesus, You are my Lord.
You are Messiah.
You are Mighty God.
You are my Savior,
my Redeemer,
my Holiness,
my Rock,
my Life.

Help me to trust You step-by-step.
Work Your beautiful, loving, perfect will in me.

Faith, not reason,
is God’s chosen pathway to
relationship with Himself.
He is not seeking people
smart enough to perceive Him.
He is seeking people
humble enough to trust Him.

Hymn: Beyond Myself

Empty Glory

2020-11-20 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)

The original word translated above as “vain conceit” literally means “empty glory.” It contrasts with God’s glory, which is the glow of His presence — God showing himself in all of His beauty, power, and goodness. The Scriptures teach that we share in His glory through His Spirit in us.

We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV)

This is our true glory: Christ living in us, showing the glow of His presence, His beauty, power, and goodness through us.

But Satan will tempt us to settle for “empty glory.” According to the Greek lexicon, it is “empty” in the sense of being “without content, without basis, without truth; without profit; foolish, senseless.” That’s an accurate description of the self-centered glory we tend to seek. It’s an accurate description of selfish pride.

Pride comes in a variety of styles and colors; you can find one to fit your own personality. My personal choice is humble pride. It is soft-spoken, tastefully adorned in understatement. It does not boast or even posture. It just meditates on self. It dreams about self. Like all forms of pride, the inner vision that drives it is not God or truth, but self-glorification.

Selfish pride is like lust: in the dark privacy of our hearts, it can stimulate and energize. But when it is brought to the light and exposed in public, it is easily seen as a ridiculous lie. What had puffed us up now makes us hide and choke in shame. Its glory is empty glory — without content, without basis in truth, foolish, senseless.

When Satan tempts you to savor this empty glory, see it as the cheap imitation it is. Turn away from it and embrace your true glory, the presence of God himself with you and in you.

When I turn away from myself and look to God, it’s as if someone has opened the windows of my mind and heart. Now the sun is shining, and the air is fresh. Other people float into my heart on the breeze. I pray for them and love them, and in the process I love and worship Christ all the more.

Prayer and praise shed the light of truth on who we are. They keep life in perspective. They liberate us from the smallness of pride into the wide-open wonder of God’s love.

He is with you now and always. Don’t let Satan distract you from Him. Discover and enjoy the wonder of the Living Christ.

Father,
though I am nothing in myself,
in You I am
eternal,
holy, and
glorious.
I rejoice in the wonder of
living in You!

Hymn: Knowing the Father in the Son

Miracles?

2020-11-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19, NASB)

Some find Jesus’ miracles hard to believe. To them, the Gospel accounts sound like fantasy or myth, or at least superstitious exaggeration.

But look at the incredible natural wonders all around you. Our world overflows with miracles we would never believe if we didn’t see them for ourselves, or if scientists didn’t assure us they were so. Couldn’t the Being who created all this also easily do the miracles of Jesus?

Jesus turned six large jars of water into wine (John 2:1-11). But the Creator does that on the vine every day.

Jesus healed many people sick with various illnesses and conditions. But that’s a small thing to the Creator. He designed each of our bodies to continually heal themselves. Right now your body is healing and restoring itself in thousands of ways without you even being conscious of it.

Jesus calmed a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23-27). But picture our globe from the Creator’s point of view, with storms stirring and subsiding constantly around the world. To calm one storm is nothing for Him.

Perhaps the hardest miracle for us to accept is raising the dead. Jesus raised a widow’s only son (Luke 7:11-16), a twelve-year-old girl (Luke 8:41-56), and His friend Lazarus after he had been dead four days (John 11:1-45). Finally Jesus himself was raised from the dead.

All myths?

The Creator brought human life into being from the “dust of the earth”, that is, from the natural elements found on this planet. Now that’s a miracle! Could not such a One also resuscitate life whenever He chooses?

Look at a garden on a bitter day in winter. If we knew nothing of seasons, would we ever believe that same garden just a few weeks later, in the full bloom of spring?

Look at what rain can do to a desert that seems utterly barren. It is transformed to a garden of life – life unimagined just hours before.

Tiny seeds, seemingly dry and hardened, will blossom to life when conditions are right. In Japan, a single seed was excavated from an ancient settlement about two thousand years old. The seed was planted, watered, and brought to life. Further, it apparently proved to be a type of magnolia thought to be extinct for a thousand years.

Look around. Is it logical to believe that the One who created all this could not have done what Jesus did? Is it logical to impose human limitations on a Being who can speak a universe out of nothing?

The more we learn of our world, the more we recognize in Jesus the same power, the same astonishing wisdom, the same tender, intimate love.

That is what amazes me most about Jesus’ miracles – not what He did, but how He did it. He didn’t heal as we might expect a “god” to heal. He didn’t heal from a distance. He wasn’t detached or “professional” or condescending. He was moved with compassion. He gave of himself in deep love. He healed face-to-face, not just with absolute power but with a personal touch and a gentle word.

He loves us. The God of all the universe loves us. That is the miracle.

The disciples discovered that
limited resources and
the forces of nature
were no challenge for their Master.
Which of your challenges are
no challenge for Him?

Hymn: See the Father Walk among Us

God in Christ in Us

2020-11-06 Devotional with Hymn No comments

[God] said, “You cannot see My face,
for no man can see Me and live!”

But:

The Word became flesh, and
dwelt among us, and
we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
(Exodus 33:20; John 1:14, NASB)

Father, I see Your holy beauty in Jesus Christ.
Though He is fully human,
He is fully,
perfectly,
gloriously You.

Father, You have given us His Spirit,
so display Him through us,
His Church.
When the world sees us, may they glimpse
His holy heart and
His holy life.
May they sense both
His divinity and
His beautiful humanity.
May they feel
His compassion,
His gentle patience, and
His generous heart.
May they taste
His joy,
His deep peace, and
His flaming passion for You.

Through us,
may they come to know Christ;
and through Christ,
may they come to know You.

In Your service, Father,
when I focus on
my plans and
my glory,
I shrink Your glorious purposes
to the size of
my self-centered heart.
When I lose myself in
Your plans and
Your glory,
I become part of a purpose that is
greater and grander
than this whole world.
Wash away all my ambitions, Father,
but the ambition for
Your glory,
Your Kingdom, and
Your will.

Hymn: God in Christ in Us

You Come to Me

2020-10-30 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
Behold, the Lord God will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him…
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
(Isaiah 40:9-11, NASB)

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!

If we realized
the tremendous treasures that come to us
as we grow in Jesus Christ,
we would let nothing distract us from Him.

Hymn: Isaiah 40

Guaranteed!

2020-10-23 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Isaiah 9:1-7

Whenever you receive a guarantee, remember that it is only as reliable as the one offering it.

Consider Isaiah 9:1-7, one of my favorite passages about the coming Messiah.

What magnificent promises it gives about Him! It says He will be:

  • light in our deepest darkness;
  • joy greater, richer, and wilder than anything we can imagine;
  • complete freedom from everything that binds us;
  • an eternal ruler who is Himself: wisdom (“Wonderful Counselor”), unlimited power (“Mighty God”), unfailing love (“Everlasting Father”), and complete peace and well-being (“Prince of Peace”)

God then closes all His magnificent promises about His Messiah with this guarantee: “The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” (v.7b). Look carefully at that guarantee.

Zeal is a strong emotion, sometimes translated “love”, sometimes “jealousy”. It is that deep, burning, unquenchable fire of love that burns in the heart of God toward us, His children. Realize that love is as weak or as strong as its source. Despite our passionate promises, human love is at times selfish, shallow, and wavering. It is as weak as we are. Since we are flawed and inconsistent, so is our love. But God’s love is as intense, powerful, and unchanging as He is. Who can imagine the eternal, unquenchable fire of love burning in the heart of Almighty God!

The next term in the guarantee is the word LORD; in the original Hebrew, “Yahweh”. The scriptures give us many “names” for God, many descriptions of Who He is and what He is like. “Yahweh” is God’s name for Himself. It’s related to the name He uses in Exodus 3, in the story of the burning bush. He has just called Moses to an awesome task. He is sending him to the Israelites to promise that their God is about to free them from the most powerful ruler on earth. Moses is apprehensive about the assignment, so he says, “The people will ask who sent me. How should I answer them?” God responds to Moses with a form of the name “Yahweh”. He tells Moses, “If they want a name for me, if they want to summarize me with a label, give them this one: ‘I AM WHO I AM’” (v.14).

The next word, Almighty, is actually the Hebrew word “sabaoth”. It sounds similar to the word “sabbath”, but there’s no relation. We hear the word in verse 2 of Martin Luther’s stirring hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:

Lord Sabaoth, His name;
From age to age the same;
And He must win the battle.

“Sabaoth” means “hosts” or “armies”. So “Lord Sabaoth” is “Lord of hosts”, or “Lord of all the heavenly armies”. Imagine that. Picture the mightiest army on earth, spread out in vast array, complete with all its weaponry. Then try to picture “the Lord of all the heavenly armies”. See Him standing there, with all the unimaginable powers of heaven behind Him, waiting at His command!

So our guarantee can be read this way: “The deep, burning, unquenchable, unchangeable love of I AM WHO I AM, Lord of all the heavenly armies will accomplish this.” Now that’s a guarantee!

Remember, guarantees are as reliable as the one offering them. Regarding human beings, Isaiah 2:22 says,

Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?

Psalm 146:3-4 says,

Do not trust…in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Don’t rely on human beings for anything permanent. We and all our plans and best intentions are always just one breath from extinction.

But with God, His mightiest works show us only the fringes of His robe. The vastness of the universe gives us but a faint whisper of Him (Job 26:14). Who can fathom the rock-solid certainty of a guarantee signed by the unchanging love of Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM, Lord of all the heavenly armies!

God has promised you that Jesus will be light, joy, and freedom beyond your wildest dreams. You can trust Him!

He says that Jesus will bring you all the wisdom, power, love, and peace of God. You can trust Him!

He calls you to seek only Jesus Christ and make His love your only treasure. You can trust Him!

He assures you that Jesus is the pearl of great price and urges you to eagerly turn loose of everything else to gain Him. You can trust Him!

You can grasp the promises of Almighty God and know that they will always be absolutely true. You can hold to them and live by them in the face of everything that life and death brings.

“All God’s promises are YES! in Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20, para.).

Our Brother is 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.

Hymn: All We Need

Wisdom in Our Ignorance

2020-10-16 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33, NIV)

We human beings are inherently ignorant. Physically we live a fraction of a second on a grain of sand in a universe that is ancient and vast beyond all imagining. Our perspective and objectivity are minuscule. Our view of truth is highly tainted by our personal prejudices and selfish desires. To claim that we understand reality, or that our minds and limited senses are an accurate gauge of reality, is laughable. Ignorance is common to each and every one of us.

God in His greatness has chosen to reveal Himself to us. And by degree He graciously helps us understand reality as we understand Him. He has given us His own Spirit to enlighten and guide us.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV). As we trust His revealed Truth and faithfully speak the Truth and live the Truth, we need to remember our limitations and the weakness of the vessel in which we hold His treasure. Our understanding of our great and boundless God is always only partial.

Yet God’s promise to us is this:

  • God, who through the millennia has spoken to us in many different ways, has spoken fully and finally in Jesus Christ, His own Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).
  • In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ (Colossians 2:9-10a, NIV).

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3). If you desire wisdom, if you want understanding, seek Him.

In Jesus Christ
we have infinite room to
discover,
grow, and
become.

Hymn: The Truth of God Is Greater Far

Resting in You

2020-10-09 Devotional with Hymn No comments

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
(Hebrews 4:9, NASB)

Father, You are wisdom.
Your working is deeper,
higher, and
more far-reaching than I can imagine.

You are absolute power.
You do what pleases You.
No one challenges Your mighty arm.
Nothing stops Your purpose.

Father, You are love.
Nothing exhausts Your gentle compassion.
Nothing strains Your joyful self-giving.

So when You whisper, I will listen.
When You lead, I will follow wherever You go.
When Your will brings me
delay or
sorrow or
sacrifice,
I will love You and
trust You and
rest in the rightness of all You do.

The best place to be is
where God has put you.
Do not look beyond it, and
be content there
moment by moment.
(paraphrased from Francois Fenelon)

Hymn: Peace in Christ

Do You Hear Him?

2020-10-02 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I will listen to what God the Lord will say,
for He promises peace to His people.

When we suffer,
God speaks to us in the midst of our trouble.
He wants to draw us out of our distress
into deliverance,
into a spacious place that is wide open and free.
He wants to lead us to a banquet table
filled with all the best food.
(Psalm 85:5; Job 36:15-16; para.)

Creation is God’s song about Himself.
Are you listening?

He speaks in the thunder.
Do you tremble at His majesty?

He speaks in a small whisper.
Don’t let your desires drown out His voice.

He speaks in the silence.
Are you resting in Him?

He speaks through pain and distress.
Do you still trust His tender love?

He speaks through a thousand daily pleasures,
calling you to find constant joy in Him.

Your Father is always speaking.
As you trust Him,
you will hear Him.

Father, help me to
hear and obey
every word You speak to me,
for each word is
loving and
wise and
for the best.

Hymn: Voice of God

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