Archive for Devotional with Hymn

The Holy One

2015-05-14 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Luke 1:26-38; 3:16, 21-22; 4:31-34

We can believe that an all-powerful Spirit God, with no body, dwelling in heaven, is holy and separate. But in the New Testament something absolutely amazing, almost incredible happens: this holy, separate God becomes a human being. He becomes 100% human. He becomes just like us, but without sin.

How can this be possible? How can God be holy and separate, yet like us and among us? Isn’t that a contradiction?

  • He is still 100% transcendent God, even though He is 100% human. He is above us and our world in character, quality, and authority.
  • He is still perfect and morally pure.

The gospels repeatedly tell us that this Galilean peasant is the Holy One:

  • Both Matthew 1:18-20 and Luke 1:35 say that Jesus was conceived, not by a human father, but by the Holy Spirit of God. Because of that, this human being would literally be the Son of God in a unique way.
  • According to all four gospel writers (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33), John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the One who would baptize the human race in God’s own Holy Spirit.
  • The Holy Spirit visibly came upon Jesus at His baptism, marking the beginning of His ministry (Luke 3:22; 4:1; John 1:29-34).
  • The demons, fully evil and opposed to everything Jesus was, recognized Him as “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34).
  • When Jesus had just sifted His disciples by insisting that they eat His flesh and drink His blood, He asked the twelve if they were leaving too. Peter replied, “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

Both holy and human – in Jesus Christ we see God’s plans for our entire race.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Can Know Our God Transcendent
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The Christ of Trinity Sunday

2015-05-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

from A Christ-centered Year

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever…the Spirit of truth.“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:16-17, 23, NASB)

On Trinity Sunday, Jesus ushers us into
the full unity, love, and fellowship of
Father, Son, and Spirit.

God is our Father, who lavishly, joyfully shares
His life and existence with us.

God is the Son, our Brother,
who fully became one of us,
reuniting us with the Father.

God is the Spirit, who breathes the Son
among us and within us.

God is Father, Son, and Spirit,
One God,
One undivided being,
One self-giving love,
yet three distinct persons.
Each envelops us in God in unique ways and at the same time,
enables our union with all the Others.

Their complete oneness, their unbroken sharing,
is the heaven of peace and wholeness
into which all believers are being drawn.
This oneness gave Jesus the
holy,
peaceful,
completely sufficient life He enjoyed,
even while wrapped in poverty and suffering.

On Trinity Sunday, Jesus ushers us into
this full unity, love, and fellowship in the
Father, Son, and Spirit.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Trinity Hymn
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Union with God

2015-05-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth . . . He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
(John 16:13-14, NIV)

Union with God is not a feeling. It is not merely an emotion.

Fellowship with God is not brought about by human imagination or understanding.

Rather, as we trust God, He gives us His Spirit to live within us. His Spirit leads us to God and lifts us to Him. He nurtures a desire to love God, to worship Him, to turn our minds and lives to Him more and more.

As we respond to God, a union grows that is beautiful and indefinable. It is peaceful, reverent, loving, personal, and very simple.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Growing in the Spirit (Medley)
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The Enthronement

2015-05-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
Sing praise to God, sing praises…
For God is the king of all the earth… 

The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever.
(Psalm 47:5-7; Revelation 11:15; NIV)

My heart longs for our God,
for our Father,
for Jesus Christ our Savior,
for the constant breath of their Spirit,
for complete oneness with them
and in them
that we taste only briefly here.

I long for Almighty God to be enthroned over
every thought,
every desire,
every relationship,
every life,
over all reality
every moment
forever.

Your Kingdom come!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Enthronement Hymn
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The Christ of Pentecost

2015-04-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

from A Christ-centered Year

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, NIV)

On Pentecost, Jesus pours out the Promise of the Father,
baptizing every believer in the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit is the life of God in motion.
He is the wind of God, the breath of God, the power of God.
In the Old Testament, the gift of the Spirit was limited.
It was given only to specific individuals
for specific times and specific tasks.

But Messiah came filled with the Spirit from birth, in unlimited measure.
The Holy Spirit of God conceived Jesus,
testified to who He was, and
empowered Him throughout His life.
Jesus lived in the Spirit, spoke in the Spirit,
did the mighty works of God in the Spirit, and
died and rose in the Spirit.

Then, as the culmination of His ministry, after returning to the Father,
Jesus poured out this Spirit on all believers,
not for a specific task or season, but completely and forever.

The Spirit is the life of the Father and Son—
their presence and power dwelling among and within all believers.
What an incredible Gift!

And the Gift arrived just as Jesus had promised,
accompanied by undeniable sights and sounds.
This dramatic event proved that Jesus was Christ and Lord,
that He had died according to the scriptures,
had risen according to the scriptures, and
now He reigned at the right hand of God Almighty.

On Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Promise of the Father,
immersing His people in the  living, loving Spirit of Almighty God.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Pentecost Hymn
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A Mother’s Love

2015-04-26 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Proverbs 31:10-31

Our Creator shows His love for us most clearly and completely through Jesus Christ:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Hebrews 1:1-3, NIV)

But the Creator also shows His love for us through all He has made. Mothers are certainly one of His most beautiful and most tender creations. His life comes to us, then is sustained in us, by a human mother’s love.

Mother is our entrance into this life, our cradle, our comfort, our care-giver, our blanket of love, and our protection in the most helpless stage of our lives. No wonder God uses the warm image of a mother’s love to express His own compassionate, unselfish, all-encompassing care for us:

As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you. (Isaiah 66:13, NRSV)

Can a mother forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
(Isaiah 49:15-16a, NRSV) 

Because mothers play a special part in His care for us, He bestows special honors on the faithful mother. She has expressed His love in a most compelling way. Read Proverbs 31:10-31.

Thank You, Lord, for the precious gift of our mother! Help us to express our deep gratitude to her and to You, now and all year long.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Far Above Riches
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Isaiah 6: The Prophet’s Response

2015-04-23 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Isaiah 6:5-8

At the sight of God’s overwhelming holiness, what is Isaiah’s immediate, instinctive reaction?

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (v.5). Isaiah is overcome with shame, dead, and despair. He pronounces doom on himself. Seeing and experiencing God’s holiness and awesome reality, he is gripped by the uncleanness and unworthiness, not just of himself but of his entire people. Having seen God, he has truly seen himself for the first time, and the reality is gut-wrenching.

This one realization will color Isaiah’s entire ministry. The greatness of God and the sinfulness of people are no longer vague, abstract concepts. They flow from a deep, burning, unforgettable memory.

Why does Isaiah focus on his lips as being unclean? Why not his thoughts or his hands? We’re not told, but consider these passages from the New Testament:

  • The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell…No one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. (James 3:6-8, NASB)
  • In Matthew 15, Jesus said that what comes out of our mouth comes from our heart. Our lips are a sure sign of what’s in our heart (vv.10-11, 17-20).

God responds to Isaiah through one of His seraphim. He flies to Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar. When it touches Isaiah’s lips, his sin is taken away and forgiven.

God’s cleansing can take an unclean, self-condemned sinner and make him worthy, not only of standing in the holy presence of God, but of serving as His messenger, carrying God’s holy Word in his mouth. When Isaiah hears that God needs someone to go and speak for Him, Isaiah responds enthusiastically, “Here am I. Send me!” Having seen God and experienced His deliverance, He wants to go and share His message.

Our holy God doesn’t push us away in our neediness. He draws us near. He cleanses, calls, and uses us.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Fear of God
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The Ascended Christ

2015-04-21 Devotional with Hymn No comments

from A Christ-centered Year

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. (Ephesians 1:20-21, NRSV)

On Ascension Day, Jesus is at the Father’s right hand,
reigning as Sovereign Lord and King.

His work is completed.
The perfect human life has been lived.
The Sacrifice has been offered and accepted.
Atonement has been made.
Humanity and holiness are rejoined.
Sin and death are conquered.
Peace reigns.
Life reigns.
Love reigns forever.

Jesus is once again where He belongs:
in the bosom of the Father,
on the seat of power and honor,
bathed in eternal glory.

He is soon to signal His heavenly arrival by
lavishly pouring out God’s own Spirit
on every child of God.

In the meantime, two angels have made His departure
a promise of His return:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Glorified Christ
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Enjoying Christ

2015-04-19 Devotional with Hymn 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 ministry. My “mission.” I get so focused on my work that it becomes my preoccupation and my goal in life.

But Lord, You kindly check me at this point. Do I really want to do anything more than to live in fellowship with You, to be conscious of Your presence? No, Lord, I don’t. I want nothing more than You.

All my fruitfulness is in You. I don’t need to get caught up in achievements or milestones. I can relax from the pressure to succeed. Moment by moment all the wisdom, all the working is Yours, my Lord.

I want to simply enjoy You and my journey with You, remaining open to Your leadership. Thank You, Lord!  Thank You for Your personal love to me.

Jesus, You love me. How else could I respond but to love You every moment?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Fruitful in You
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Rest

2015-04-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, NIV)

Father, I’ve turned everywhere else.
I’ve sought relaxation instead of rest.
I’ve substituted comfort for peace.
The shell of security I’ve tried to build
only weighs me down with anxiety.

I hear Your words of love:

In quietness and trust is your strength. (Isaiah 30:15, NIV)

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29, NIV)

And God of fervent love,
passionately jealous for my best good,
I turn to You now.

What if I could truly know You—
not just know about You,
but know You?

What if by simple trust I could realize
Your personal presence with me,
moment by moment?

If in that presence I could know
Your gentleness,
Your power,
Your faithfulness,
Your love?

If trust could become
a personal relationship between us,
not an abstract concept?

What if I could simply know You,
and know You always with me?

Would Your rest then reign in me?
Would it fill my mind, my emotions,
and the desires of my heart?

Would it put me at peace with the past,
at peace with the present,
and eagerly anticipating a glorious future in You?

Would it reconcile me to myself,
to each person in my life, and
to You?

Could I go to bed in it,
get up in it,
work, have fun, and face adversity in it
without getting it wrinkled?

Would I then share Your deep peace—
that wholeness and harmony
You enjoy within Yourself,
that is found in You alone?

Come to me…and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, NIV)

Father, I want to know You.
I want to rest in Your presence.
I come to You now.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Psalm of Trust
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