Archive for Devotional with Hymn

If God Is for Us

2016-03-20 Devotional with Hymn No comments

If God is for us,
who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son,
but gave him up for us all—
how will he not also, along with him,
graciously give us all things?
(Romans 8:31-32, NIV)

Are you plagued by nagging fears?
Drag them out into the brilliant light of God’s presence.
Do you find anything that He cannot handle?
Is there anything you cannot now, this moment,
entrust to Him completely?
Is there anything beyond His sovereign power,
His infinite wisdom and
His unfailing love?

He conceived you,
tenderly nurtured you, and
willingly died for you.
His watchful care engulfs you every moment.
Why do you hesitate to trust Him?
Why are you ever afraid?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: If God Is on Our Side
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Gethsemane

2016-03-15 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:42, 44, NIV)

Gethsemane removes any notion that Jesus’ suffering and death were somehow easier for Him. Falling on His face before the Father, coming to Him repeatedly with the same prayer, grasping for support from His friends, literally sweating blood – the scene reminds us that He felt all the anguish any of us would feel.

Knowing that such a horrible and fatal ordeal awaited us, we would likely be consumed with dread. Jesus was conscious of what awaited Him, and He was anxious for the day to come:

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50, NASB)

But we never sense that He was overcome by fear or distracted by dread. Facing His death, He seemed to deal with the long-term pressure the same way He dealt with it in Gethsemane: He kept Himself completely committed to the Father, completely dependent on Him, completely trusting. His daily bread was always enough.

Lord, simply give us each day our daily bread. No matter what comes, You will always provide all we need. Thank You, Lord.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: A Garden in the Night
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A Celebration of Life

2016-03-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Read the book of Ecclesiastes. It paints a thoughtful and poignant picture of life that inevitably ends in death. If everyone dies, if after all, death has the final word, what is the point?

Meaningless! Meaningless!…
Utterly meaningless!
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
(Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14, NIV) 

All our lofty virtues – wisdom, nobility, hope, love – are reduced to naïve self-deception. They are intended for a broader reality that simply doesn’t exist. Embrace the shallow and the temporary, for they are the only things that are real.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead changes all that. It transforms the entire context and meaning of life on this earth. God’s life conquers death. Life and love, light and joy, blessing and beauty are eternal. Goodness makes sense. Self-sacrifice is not only noble but logical. It is turning loose of something good in order to grasp something greater.

As we accept a personal relationship of trust with our almighty, loving God, He shares His life with us. His Spirit becomes one with our spirit. We share His being, and though this body dies, His life, and His life in us, goes on forever. In fact, He guarantees us a new and more wonderful body, one designed for an eternity in His immediate presence.

Easter is the pivotal point of all human existence. As we simply trust our Creator, we become eternal, glorious creatures, sharing His life forever. The tyranny of death is shattered.

He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
(Isaiah 25:7-8, NIV)

Celebrate! Celebrate Easter every day as it deserves to be celebrated: with praise, thanksgiving, joy, love, and lavish self-giving.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: A Celebration of Life
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Witnessing Even in Death

2016-03-10 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 18 – 19

Even as the Father was allowing His Son to be cruelly tortured and murdered, even as the Son was experiencing a deep sense of abandonment by the Father, each was lifting up testimonies to the other.

The Father was testifying to Jesus as His own chosen, only-begotten, dearly-loved Son, all the while events seemed to proclaim the opposite. And the Father brought these testimonies from highly-unexpected sources.

  • When the arrest party arrived to seize Jesus, He spoke up and asked, “Whom do you seek?” When they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene,” Jesus identified Himself with the words, “I am.” This would be the usual way of saying, “I am he” or “I am the one you are seeking”. But when Jesus thus spoke the divine name, “I am,” even His enemies reacted to Him in instinctive humility, backing up and prostrating themselves before Him on the ground (John 18:4-8, NASB).
  • After a brief interview, Pilate realized that Jesus was an innocent man and looked for a way to release Him. Then when the Jews specifically accused Jesus of claiming to be the Son of God, Pilate was even more afraid (John 18:38; 19:7-8). He seemed to sense that this righteous Man was who He claimed to be.
  • The sign Pilate had hung on the cross correctly identified Jesus for who He was: “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” Pilate refused to change the sign, even when pressured by the Jewish leaders (John 19:19-22, NASB).
  • One of the criminals executed with Jesus knew who He was. He defended Jesus to the other criminal, then asked, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” Jesus recognized his genuine faith and responded, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:39-43, NASB).
  • While the Son was on the cross, the Father Creator sent darkness over the land from noon through 3:00 p.m. The veil of the temple was torn in two (Luke 23:44-45).
  • The Roman centurion, who supervised Jesus’ execution and saw everything that happened, “became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54, NASB).

Even while engulfed by physical, mental, and spiritual agony, even as He surrendered His life to death, the Son stayed focused on His Father. He was intent on testifying to His Father’s loving control, even as events seemed to shout the triumph of evil.

Jesus’ words on the cross show that thoughts of His Father filled His heart, even as He died. Notice particularly John 19:28, 30:

Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.”

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. (NASB) 

In death as in life, Jesus’ first concern was to fulfill His Father’s will. Specifically, He was intent on fulfilling scriptural prophecies about His death. Why? Because the fulfillment of prophecy showed that the Father was still in full control of all that was happening, even as Satan seemed to be having his way. All was happening as the Father had announced centuries before.

Scripture testifies to divine control, even in Jesus’ dying act. Throughout the gospel account of the arrest and trial of Jesus, He remained passive, allowing Himself to be “handed over” (the meaning of the Greek word) from one party to another:

  • Judas handed Jesus over to the Jewish authorities (Matthew 26:46, 48).
  • The Jews handed Him over to Pilate (Matthew 27:2).
  • Pilate handed Him over to be crucified (Matthew 27:26).

But Jesus had already told His disciples, “I lay down My life . . . No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17-18, NASB). True to His word, Jesus’ final act on the cross was to “hand over” His Spirit to the Father (John 19:30). He died by His own decision, not as a helpless victim, but as Lord of Life, in full control.

In death as in life, the Son glorified the Father, and the Father glorified the Son.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: His Hour Has Come
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Details Matter

2016-03-08 Devotional with Hymn No comments

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m reading through the Old Testament in the original Hebrew. But my Hebrew skills are rudimentary at best, so some portions of the Old Testament are quite challenging.

For example, I had trouble getting through 1 Kings 6 and 7. They describe in some detail Solomon’s construction of the temple and his own palace. The subject matter necessitates the use of numerous technical terms that I didn’t know. Add to that my own limitations: I barely know which end of a hammer to hold, and I can’t picture physical structures from verbal descriptions. I have to see them with my own two eyes. So for a zillion verses, I struggled through words I didn’t know to try to picture structures I just couldn’t picture. For me, it seemed an extended exercise in frustration and futility.

But such details matter. 1 Kings 6 and 7 remind me of Exodus, chapters 25 and following, which provide seemingly-endless detail about the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness. There God specifically warns Moses:

“See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown you on the mountain.” (Exodus 25:40, NASB)

By the time I finished Exodus, I began to understand the importance of those details, even without the ability to accurately picture them in my mind. I could see that each of the details in the tabernacle were given by God to help the people know Him. Each of the furnishings – the candles, the incense, the bread, the curtains, the ark, and more – provided the worshipers with a sensory experience of God, however partial. In a sense, God was “incarnating” Himself in the tabernacle, making Himself physically knowable centuries before Christ. He was glorifying Himself, proclaiming His presence, His greatness, and His goodness in ways perceivable by our five senses.

Thus, details matter. They mattered in the building of the tabernacle. They mattered in the construction of the temple.

And they matter in my work as well. As a hymn writer, I can’t see God’s full purpose in the work I do. I can’t see the end from the beginning. But He can, so I carefully follow His lead. I am like Bezalel, who worked on the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11), and Hiram, who helped construct the temple (1 Kings 7:13-14). They were craftsmen, gifted, prepared, and called by God to perform specific tasks as a small part of God’s greater purpose.

That is my role as well. In ways I didn’t plan and can’t imagine, God is using me, in some small way, to glorify Himself through Jesus Christ.

And that is your role, too. Aren’t we blessed? Each of us is a tiny part of all the marvelous, eternal, creative work God is doing in Jesus Christ. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: God’s Mysterious Ways
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Crucifixion

2016-03-06 Devotional with Hymn One comment

Some early historians credited the Persians with the first use of crucifixion, while others said it was a cruel practice the Romans picked up from various barbarous peoples they had conquered. The Greeks had used it – Alexander the Great crucified 2,000 people after the siege of Tyre.

The Romans originally considered it a slave’s punishment. It was later extended to foreigners and robbers and those convicted of treason.

Crucifixion was designed to subject the victim to the greatest possible humiliation. For that reason corpses were sometimes crucified.

Some form of torture customarily preceded crucifixion, such as flogging, in order to start the blood flowing. The victim often had to carry his own crossbeam to the place of execution, which was intentionally very public. He was most often tied to the cross, sometimes nailed. Stretched and immobilized, the victim could find no relief from searing pain. Movement was excruciating. Not moving was torture. The suffering was intense and protracted. Death rarely came sooner than 36 hours (thus Pilate’s surprise when Jesus was dead in only a few hours – another sign that Jesus had given up His own life). The final cause of death is uncertain, but gradual suffocation resulting from fatigue is most likely.

In 1968, the first skeleton identifiable as a victim of crucifixion was unearthed in Jerusalem. The two heel bones were still fastened together by a single iron nail. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Crucifixion Hymn
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Psalm 23: I Shall Not Want

2016-03-03 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Psalm 23:1

For most of us, when we think of God as our Shepherd, one scripture passage comes to mind: Psalm 23. For Old Testament Jews, this picture of God as Shepherd would have been rich with associations.

  • It would have reminded them of the Exodus, when God shepherded His people for forty years through an empty wilderness, faithfully providing for their every need.

He led forth His own people like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
He led them safely, so that they did not fear. (Psalm 78:52-53, NASB)

  • It would have reminded them of King David, a simple shepherd who led Israel to their golden age as a nation.

But for me, it’s the personal flavor of the language that draws me. It’s so warm and simple. With most Old Testament references to God as Shepherd, God’s people are the flock. But here, the Lord is MY Shepherd. That gives this psalm its unique appeal.

If the Sovereign, loving God of all reality is my shepherd, what is the logical result?

I shall not want. (v.1b, NASB)

If God Himself is my Shepherd, my perfect Guide and Provider, I will lack nothing. How could I?

  • He is complete in love. He always wants what is best for us.
  • He is complete in wisdom. He always knows what is best for us.
  • He is complete in power. He is able to do all that is best for us.

Of course, our lacking nothing is measured by His perfect wisdom, not by our fear or greed. He supplies everything we need, though not everything we may want. And this sufficiency in Him extends to every area of life, including the demands of holiness in this evil world: His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3, NIV).

The opening words of this Psalm are so very familiar: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, NASB). But what peace would they bring if we could live in them constantly and completely?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Lord, Why Am I Anxious?
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Only to Your Glory

2016-02-28 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 12:1-33

Father, pour me out as a fragrance,
completely,
irrecoverably.

Plant me as a seed,
dead to myself and my own future,
alive only to grow into Your greater purpose.
Otherwise, I remain
small,
single, and
alone.

From me and my dying
gain fruit,
gain glory for Yourself.
O Father, this world so needs to see Your glory!
We need to see the light of all You are.
We need to fully grasp
Your greatness,
Your goodness, and
Your constant, personal presence.
With Jesus, may Your glory be
my constant focus and
my deepest desire.

From this point on, help me to think of myself
only in You,
only as part of You and
all You are doing.
May thoughts of my success and my glory be
dead,
buried, and
gone forever.

With Jesus, Father,
now and forever
may I think and speak and be only
in You,
from You,
through You, and
to You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Make My Life a Holy Fragrance
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Deliver Us from All Evil

2016-02-25 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 13:18-30

When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” (John 13:21, NASB)

Judas was one of the chosen twelve,
with a special relationship with Jesus.
Yet he became one of the
most heinous traitors of our entire race.
He met a horrific end.

To us, he is a reminder to keep looking to God.
Don’t let your heart and mind wander into
bitterness or preoccupation with lesser things.

Above all else,
guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)

That is why Jesus teaches us to daily ask the Father,
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13, NIV)

Without God’s grace, sin is
a debt we cannot pay and
a trap we cannot avoid.
We are opposed and surrounded by
spiritual forces much stronger than us.
We are weak, and
our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8, NIV)

But the one who is in you is greater than
the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4, NIV)
Deliverance is always ours
as we trust our Heavenly Father who is
always able,
always with us, and
always in us.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Keep Us from All Evil
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Foot Washing

2016-02-23 Devotional with Hymn One comment

John 13:4-17

What would you have felt as you watched Jesus, the Son of God,
get up from this important meal,
take off His outer clothing,
wrap a towel around His waist,
pour water into a basin,
get down on His knees, bend low, and
one by one wash His disciples’ absolutely-filthy feet?
How would you have felt when He got to you and began washing your feet?

If a picture is worth a thousand words,
a living example is beyond words.
Instead of lecturing them,
He gave them an unforgettable experience complete with
sight,
touch, and
deep emotional memories.
Because He loved them,
He wanted love to take root in their daily lives.
He wanted them to grasp how absolutely vital it is that each and every one of us
humbly serve one another.

Look around at the situation in which God has placed you.
Consider the resources He has lent you.
How does He want you to wash feet?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Here at Your Feet, Lord
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