Archive for Devotional with Hymn

The Crucified Life

2014-08-17 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, NIV)

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Standing at a safe distance, I can understand what He was telling them. But what is He saying to me? And what is the Apostle Paul telling me when he says:

Count yourselves dead to sin. (Romans 6:11, NIV)

Or what about this?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. (Galatians 2:20, NIV)

I’m comfortable with the concepts as long as they’re aimed at somebody else. They make sense. But if my personal interests are being crucified, I get very uncertain. I can stand back and admire the beauty of these truths until I actually have to deny myself. When I have to lay aside my ego and my rights in a relationship and act only in the other person’s best interests, then suddenly unselfishness doesn’t seem so sensible.

Sometimes I see Jesus’ footsteps leading me to the Calvary, just when pursuing “the good life” seems so natural.

I feel the weight of the cross when I realize that I’m here to serve God, not my comfort and career.

I feel the nails in my hands when I ask what He wants me to do with His money and His time in this world of suffering and need.

I feel the spear pierce my side when I realize that my whole life—all my energies and every dream—are to glorify Him, not me.

When I honestly address these deep demands of discipleship, I choke. How can I even begin to measure up? Is this one of those guilt trips I have to either avoid or rationalize away?

But then I face my Savior, who is here with me now, and I realize it is His voice I hear and His heart that is speaking to me. I am reminded that like all His commands, these words are gifts of love. They are invitations to remove everything that separates Him and me, to enjoy a deeper fellowship with Him and a more complete rest in Him. And with Jesus speaking the words, I start to hear them differently.

Yes, I have to count myself dead to sin. But then I am alive to God in Christ Jesus, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11, 23, NIV).

When I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20, NIV).

As I trust Him, Christ lives in me! I rejoice in His presence and eagerly listen for His voice. I start to taste His freedom from selfishness and begin bringing all my needs to Him.

As I turn my life-style over to Him, my love for Him grows warmer and more personal. I begin to release my fears and embrace Him with my whole heart.

As I embrace Him, I find He takes away, not my freedom, but my slavery to myself. He doesn’t take my dignity, but only my empty pride. He doesn’t lessen the excitement of life. He helps me enjoy more and more of the full life that He wants for me.

Jesus Christ offers each of us freedom and wholeness, if only we will lay down our lives daily and let Him live through us.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15, NIV)

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Hear His Call
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God Is Shaping You

2014-08-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us. (Ephesians 5:2, NIV)

God uses relationships to make us more Christ-like.

Usually when problems arise in a relationship, we blame the other person. But more often, the reactions of the other person are a mirror in which we can see ourselves and our faults more clearly.

God uses these tough times to teach us and reshape us. He is giving us hands-on training in patience, forbearance, gentleness, and self-sacrifice. He is teaching us to set ourselves aside to make someone else happy, to reach out and understand the other person, even when they seem the most unfair.

Do you want the mind of Christ? He forms it in us through people. When painful, demanding situations arise, live love. God is doing a good work in you.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Father, You See Our Need
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Building a People

2014-08-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said to His disciples:

“Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:15-16, NASB)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, NASB)

If you had all eternity and all the resources of the universe,
what kind of home would you build for yourself?

God is building a home for himself.
That home is His people.
Our infinite, holy, all-wise, and endlessly creative God
is planning to live forever
with and in His people.

Imagine knowing such a people,
the home of an infinite God!
Imagine actually being part of them!

If God is investing all His energies in building a people,
that’s how I want to invest my life as well.
A material home will last a short time.
God’s people will last forever.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: We Will Be Your People
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God Can Enable You Too

2014-08-05 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I pray…that you may know…his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead. (Ephesians 1:18-20, NIV)

Jesus trusted the Father constantly and completely.
If you trust the Father,
His power will work in you as it worked in Jesus.

He will help you live a holy life,
one that pleases Him,
even in this wicked, corrupt, and corrupting world.

He can keep you so that you are
fearless and at peace in the face of every threat.

He can enable you for service and
make you sufficient for every demand.

Rest in His power, not in your own.
Turn to Him one need at a time.
Trust Him step-by-step.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: All We Need
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See Your Heavenly Father

2014-08-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said to His disciples: 

“Who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(Matthew 16:15-16, NASB)

We can learn so much about our Heavenly Father through creation. We look into the night sky and glimpse His immensity. We taste His power in the storm. The days and nights and seasons remind us of His faithfulness.

But knowing about Him is not the same as knowing Him personally. Colossians 1:15 points us in the right direction when it says:

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Jesus came and made the eternal, holy Father seeable and touchable. He was part of a family as human as yours and mine. He experienced daily life in a body, just like we do. He faced our temptations, felt our pain, endured our fatigue and hunger, and died as we die.

Yet in this human being we saw our Father, pure and at full strength, live and in person, not some watered-down imitation. We heard His timeless wisdom and saw it lived out. We witnessed the miracles of the Creator, but now up-close and personal. No stage, no curtains, no fancy lighting. Nothing between Him and us. He let us stand right in front of Him as, on a small scale, He did what our Creator does every day:
He turned water into wine.
He produced a lot of food from a very little.
He stilled storms.
He healed diseases.

In Jesus, we were gripped by God’s unconquerable love, reaching out to forgive us even as we tortured and murdered Him.

Our God is awe-inspiring and holy, all-powerful and all-wise, unbound by matter and time, infinitely above us in every way. Yet He is also with us. God has come to us. He is one of us. We can be as comfortable with Him as a child sleeping close to her mother.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See the Father Walk Among Us
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He Comes to Us

2014-07-27 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Hear this from Matthew 14:22-27 (NIV):

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. 

When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

When God’s loved ones are in need,
nothing can keep Him away.

He came to us on the Sea of Galilee.
He came to us on Golgotha.
He will come to us on that final day
on clouds with great power and glory.

Nothing can separate God from His people, and
nothing can separate us from His love.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See Him Walk on the Water
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Glorify Jesus Christ

2014-07-22 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said to them…”Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21, NASB)

The Father sent His Son into the world.
He equipped Him with His own Spirit and sent Him to
speak the Father’s words and
do the Father’s work
in the Father’s power.
The Son came with this burning desire:
to glorify the Father.

The Son sends us into the world.
He equips us with His own Spirit and sends us to
speak His words and
do His work
in His power.
We go with this burning desire:
to glorify Jesus Christ.

His Spirit has one aim,
to glorify Christ (John 16:14), and
He fills us with that same desire.
We want to
think,
speak,
live, and
serve
so that everyone around can see how
wonderful,
gracious, and
loving is Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God. 

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Not I, but Christ
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True Bread

2014-07-20 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. (John 6:48-51, NIV)

Father, how often have You offered us life that is deep, rich, satisfying, and unending, and in our hearts and desires we looked right past You. We continued to crave physical comfort, human approval, and security we could hold in our hand.

You offer us Bread that satisfies our beings completely and forever. We spend ourselves reaching for bread that only satisfies the body, and only for a few hours.

Father, You offer us Jesus Christ. We can know Him and live in Him by simply trusting You.

Come, all you who are thirsty,
come…
you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live. (Isaiah 55:1-3a, NIV)

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: We Taste Your Life and Long for More
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The Pearl of Great Price

2014-07-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said: 

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46, NIV)

Material riches bring only temporary comfort,
shallow stimulation, and
a false sense of security.
Material riches are simply a means to an end,
and often a poor means at that.

What do you really want?
Meaning?
Peace?
Security?
Maybe comfort…or satisfaction?
Are you longing for pleasure that truly lasts, or perhaps
life that never dies?

Go to the Source.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
He is the hidden treasure.
He is the pearl of great price.

Release your grip on everything else, and
reach for Him.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Pearl of Great Price
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God’s Seeds Bear Fruit

2014-07-06 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32, NASB)

Not long ago my wife and I received a note from a couple we knew years ago. When we met them, they were brand new Christians who had come to the church we attended. To get to know them better, we invited them to our home on a Sunday evening after church.

When their note arrived, we hadn’t seen or heard from them in decades. Their note told us how much that evening long ago had meant to them. It had helped to welcome them into the church and establish them in their faith. Now they were still serving the Lord, and their children, young adults, were off to Christian colleges.

We hadn’t thought of that evening in many years. Our lives had gone on to so many “bigger” things. But our hour or so together had been a seed that God had watered and nurtured. He was still harvesting fruit from that tiny seed, long after we had forgotten planting it.

When the Day of the Lord comes and we all gather around to celebrate His rich harvest, how much fruit will have grown from the few seeds we scattered during our brief time here on earth? The sower parable in Matthew 13 is so true! Though most of the seeds we sow never bear fruit, the few that fall on good soil will produce so abundantly that we are guaranteed a rich harvest.

That’s why it is vital that we faithfully sow the seed God places in our hands. Consider Ecclesiastes 11:6:

Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed. (NIV)

Don’t be discouraged. Just keep sowing. The seed is good, and God will make it grow.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See the Seed of Faith
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