Archive for Devotional with Hymn

Children of the King

2015-09-06 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said that when we believe in Him, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God. He taught us about living in that Kingdom, and many of His teachings seem strange, difficult, or even backward to us: “Do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25); “Love your enemies…” (Matthew 5:44); “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). According to the Beatitudes, those who are blessed in God’s Kingdom are not the rich, powerful, and popular, but the poor, meek, and persecuted (Matthew 5:3-12).

As citizens of God’s Kingdom who live in this world as well, we feel that tension. We’re called to simply trust God when fear and worry feel more natural. We’re commanded to love some very unlovely and unkind people. We’re told to be lowly servants when our ego craves gold and glory.

But here’s the key. As citizens of God’s Kingdom, we live in the court of the King. This King is our Father, and we are His royal children. He is loving. He is wise. He is infinitely powerful. And this King is always, always, always with us, constantly looking out for our good, eager to provide for our every need.

Jesus teaches us that we should think and live as such royal children, in the immediate presence of our Father. When we do, everything changes! God is love, so we want to love everyone He loves. His resources are unlimited, so generosity is natural and affordable. Jesus’ upside-down teachings suddenly start to make perfect sense! When we trust ourselves to our Father’s care, we are free to live and love and give as Christ taught.

Remember: you are living in the presence of the King!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: What a Strange and Wonderful Kingdom!
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Abraham’s Sacrifice

2015-09-03 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Genesis 22:1-19

I am deeply challenged by the faith of Abraham. What raced through his mind when God told him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering? What filled his thoughts and emotions?

  • Surely he thought of his son’s face, his eyes, his mannerisms; how he looked when he slept; his simple, unquestioning trust in his father.
  • How could he possibly tell Sarah? She had endured so much for so long to finally get this child as a precious gift from God. How could he take Isaac from her?
  • Without Isaac, how could God ever fulfill His promise to make his descendants as the sands of the sea?
  • How could he do it? How could he plunge the knife into his son’s chest? How could he light his body on fire?

But Abraham didn’t let his own fears or desires stop his obedience to God. He didn’t let the concerns of those around him affect his decision. Whether he understood or not, He would obey Almighty God because he feared Him and trusted Him.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19, NIV)

For all of us, our greatest testing comes from those blessings that are dearest to us. In fact, it seems that every new blessing from God comes with new challenges as well. Those challenges are part of the blessing, for they exercise our faith. That faith is the substance of our relationship with the unseen God, and that relationship is the most precious gift in all creation. Our loving Father will do anything to strengthen His bond with us and draw us closer to Himself.

God stopped Abraham’s sacrifice at the last moment. It became only a foreshadowing, a dress rehearsal for another Father who would sacrifice His only Son on a nearby hill centuries later.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Genesis 22
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Face-to-face with the Living God

2015-09-01 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I remember clearly when I first trusted Jesus Christ. It was the last night of a revival in our local church with evangelist Rev. Jay Budd. All week a fear of hell had been building in my 10-year-old mind, but I was too shy to go forward during the altar call. So when we arrived home after church on that Sunday night, April 10, 1960, I went into my parents’ bedroom and told them I wanted to pray to become a Christian.

I still remember my burning desire not to lose the amazing new feeling that filled my heart.

But my deepest and most formative memory of that evening is my new awareness of the Living God. I had the sensation of Him standing right in front of me, looking straight into my eyes. The reality was stark and gripping. He filled my heart’s vision. I could not ignore Him or look past Him. But His look was not threatening. He was not angry with me. His look was love…nothing but love.

I think of that when I read the account of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9. Paul was making a career of trying to stamp out Christianity, and suddenly, in a moment in time, he turned around 180 degrees and became one of its most fervent advocates. Within a few days he was publicly contending for the truth he had violently opposed. The change did not happen through years of studying and thinking. Like me, he simply came face-to-face with the Living Christ. Few words were exchanged. The gripping reality of Jesus Christ transformed him completely in a moment in time, and he was never the same.

Like Paul, my life and ministry continues to be energized by the stark reality of Father God, revealed so vividly and personally in Jesus Christ. To my ears, so much of our Christian talk is about religion, and religion can be such a human thing. It pales before the Living God. He still fills my heart’s vision, as He did on that evening over 55 years ago. He draws me. He drives me. My relationship with Him shapes every aspect of my life. When He speaks, all other voices are just background noise. When He commands, my path is clear, regardless of opposition. My heart has room for nothing and no one else.

As with Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, and Paul, God Himself, in His person, makes all other considerations irrelevant. He is the Source and Center of all reality. He is all wisdom, all power, and all love. He calls, I answer. What else matters but Him?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Present Lord
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Speaking for the Father

2015-08-30 Devotional with Hymn No comments

John 7:15-18; 8:26-28, 38a, 40; 12:49-50; 14:10, 24

The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (John 7:15-18, NASB)

Father, when Jesus spoke,
He spoke only
Your words for
Your glory.
In everything He said, He was
completely dependent on You,
completely obedient to You,
completely humble before You.

Thus in every situation, under all types of pressure,
He spoke with
confidence,
boldness, and
authority,
for He only spoke the words of Almighty God.

Father, to the people who hear me,
speak Your words.
Speak Your wisdom.
Speak Your love.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak Your Word, My Father
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Long-term Obedience

2015-08-25 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Genesis 6 – 9

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7, NASB)

Sin had become so extensive and intensive on earth that God regretted making the human race:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Genesis 6:5-6, NASB)

But one man pleased Him. The righteousness of one man convinced Him that the human race was worth saving.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:8-9, NASB)

God spared no efforts in saving this one man and his family, and through him, our entire race. God directed and enabled Noah to build a huge boat: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with three decks.

Based on the biblical record, scholars estimate that it took Moses 50 to 120 years to build the ark. Noah persevered for all those years based on a warning from an unseen God, and in response to a judgment that had not yet happened. Can you imagine the ridicule, the expense, the frustrations he endured? How many pleasures and practical matters would have been crying for all the attention he lavished on the ark!

But he obeyed, and continued to obey, while everything around him called his obedience foolish and meaningless. For him, faith in God was sufficient proof of things he could not see (Hebrews 11:1).

The result: Noah’s faith saved not only his entire family, but our entire race.

God inhabits timeless eternity. He is patient and so longsuffering. To please Him, we must learn to trust and obey as Noah did. We too may have to patiently persevere through years of seemingly fruitless effort, in the face of opposition and misunderstanding.

Father, in this prolonged trial,
keep me strong in faith.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: By Faith
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Only by the Lord

2015-08-23 Creative Process, Devotional with Hymn, Prayer No comments

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NIV)

My fruitfulness flows from the presence of Christ within me. I am completely dependent on His working in and through me.

That’s why my devotional life is so critical – not just in those special private times but also as I look to Him throughout the day. Such prayer keeps me in touch with Him and open to His influence. Without it, I tend to sink into preoccupation with myself and lesser concerns.

Writing teaches me this dependence more than anything else ever has. Every morning when I get up and begin, I have to face my own inability and release the work to Him: “Lord, this time is Yours. I can only work as You enable me. I look to You now and will just follow as You lead.”

This is especially necessary when the task gets difficult. When I get stuck at a spot, my first instinct is to press harder. I want to get past the frustration and finish the job. But I’m learning I have to stop and pray: “Lord, I did not choose this task, nor can I make it happen. It is Yours. I am simply available to You.”

I have to open myself to Him and wait, letting Him work in His way and time. And He does – beautifully, bringing me solutions and directions I never could have found on my own.

Frequently the wait is relatively short. Something unexplainable just happens when I release the task to Him. He works so naturally and perfectly.

Yet sometimes the wait is longer. I’m forced to live with unfinished business, and I can become anxious and discouraged. During such times, I repeatedly go to Him, intent on talking about the doing. But He wants to talk about us. He reminds me to look at Him, enjoy Him, and be at peace in Him. He invites me to just rest in His doing.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NIV)

Remain in him by praying to Him throughout the day. It will help keep your heart set on Him. And you will know that He, himself, is life’s sweetest gift and the source of all your fruitfulness.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: As I Pray
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Longing

2015-08-18 Devotional with Hymn No comments

For me, heaven is not a mansion,
a harp, or
angels’ wings.
It is not meeting old friends or
an endless family reunion.
That is not what my heart longs for.

My heart longs for You,
my Father,
my Creator.
My heart longs for my Savior,
my Brother,
my Wisdom and Holiness,
My heart longs for the Second Adam of all I will be.
My heart longs for the Breath of God,
the Wind of God,
the Life of God
blowing fully, freely, and unceasingly through all I am.

I long for
a heart,
a mind,
a world
permeated completely and forever
with God alone.

Come, Lord Jesus!
I long, and
I wait.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Longing for Jesus
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An Undivided Heart

2015-08-16 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart
that I may fear your name.
(Psalm 86:11, NIV)

Father,
I am so easily distracted.
Success, failure,
abundance, need,
pride and insecurity
can either draw me away from you or
bring me running,
kneeling to You and
longing for You.

Father, though my mind wanders,
give me an undivided heart and
a life wholly devoted to You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: An Undivided Heart
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Undiscovered Blessings

2015-08-13 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Deuteronomy 15:1-15, 18

God’s blessings are often dependent on our receiving them. To receive them, we must obey Him.

As God was forming the people of Israel into a holy nation – a nation to be His light to all the peoples of the earth – He laid out for them in great detail the blessings He would pour out on them if they obeyed, as well as the curses that would come if they disobeyed. Many of the laws they were called to obey concerned how they should treat each other. For example, consider these passages from Deuteronomy:

  • Every third year the Israelites should use their tithe to feed the needy in their town (14:28-29).
  • Every seven years creditors should release their debtors from what they owed (15:1-11). The exact details of this release are uncertain, but it is clear that creditors were to show mercy to those caught in the grip of debt.
  • Jewish slave owners were to release their Hebrew slaves in the seventh year (15:12-15, 18). They were not to send these slaves away empty-handed but were to freely share their own goods with them.
  • Israelites were forbidden to charge interest to their fellow Jews (23:20).
  • They were to leave part of their harvest in the fields and allow the poor to gather it free (24:19-22).

The rights of individual ownership were tempered with the absolute necessity of compassion and generosity toward the needy. God continually prodded them to treat their fellow Jews like family – like brothers. He reminded them that He had been generous and compassionate toward them, delivering them when they were in helpless bondage. He had never treated them with a tight-fisted, “This is Mine!” attitude, nor had He withheld His gifts because they didn’t deserve them. He now expected them to treat each other the same way.

God is still eager to bless His people in all our endeavors. He wants to lavish on us the many undiscovered blessings of love and unity. But we have to follow Him in treating His people with open hands and open heart.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Open Your Hand
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Living in God

2015-08-11 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, You are transcendent,
above all need and
all insufficiency.
Thus You are peace, and
trusting You brings us into Your peace.
As our grasping surrenders to You,
we are sufficient in You in every circumstance
as Christ was sufficient in You.

In You, we are without need.
We are fearless and free to love as You love,
selflessly and lavishly.
We are free for joy.
We are free for sacrifice.
We are free for fruitful living in You.
We are free to live as Christ lived,
from and
through and
unto You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: From You, Through You, To You
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