The Ultimate Treasure

2017-07-17 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)

Father, You are life’s ultimate treasure.
You are that one pearl of surpassing value.

Every other good,
every other goal
is a mirage and a passing distraction.
You are life that never ends.
You are love that satisfies deeply and completely.
You are security that can never be threatened.

You are making me more than I ever dreamed I could be.

My Lord, I gladly release everything else and
embrace You!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Pearl of Great Price
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-07-14 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Together

Father, when I come to Your house to worship,
I never come alone.
I come as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, all of us
redeemed by His blood and
united by His Spirit.
I come as part of the universal People of God
spanning all ages and nations.

Together, we come as Your temple,
Your holy dwelling place.
You are building us as a living, breathing, eternal home for Yourself,
reflecting,
exuding, and
incarnating Your magnificence.

Together, we are the Body of Christ.
He is our Head.
We are His hands and feet,
privileged and empowered to act out
His boundless love here on earth.

Together, we are the Bride of Christ,
devoted to Him alone
body, mind, and spirit.
He has set us apart for Himself, and
our destiny is an eternity of joyful oneness with Him.

Father, when I come to You in worship,
I come together with all Your people,
in Your Spirit,
through Your Holy Son. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Have Come, God’s Living Temple
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Truth

2017-07-12 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER
John 8:31-32

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32, NIV)

The Truth—
deep, unchanging, absolute reality.
We long to know it,
to see it,
to grasp and embrace it.
We long to live in this Truth,
to move and breathe in harmony with it,
to stand on it and rest in it
completely, constantly, forever.

As the Son of the Father,
as the Creator and Source of all, Jesus
speaks the Truth,
lives the Truth, and
is the Truth.
His Spirit within us is the Spirit of Truth.
As we live in Him and He in us,
we are wrapped forever in the full reality of all He is.
In Him life is right and good and complete, and
we are free! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: I Have the Truth
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In the Silence

2017-07-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Psalm 62

Father, I live in the endless, all-enveloping noise of
my plans and my desires,
my success and my failures,
my health and my comfort,
my time and my obligations,
my money and my possessions,
my ambitions and my problems,
my job,
my relationships, and
my satisfaction.
All these desperately, perpetually cry for attention,
shouting their
empty threats and
empty promises.
All are too small and too shallow to
harm or
fulfill
my life in You.

Father, I turn from them and
turn to You,
the All-encompassing One,
the All-sufficient,
the All-in-all.
In the quietness, I find You to be
all joy,
all hope,
all truth,
all goodness, and
all peace –
all I could ever want or need.
So in this endless, all-enveloping silence
I wait and hope,
I move and rest
in You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Psalm 62
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-07-07 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

As You Lead

Father, as we prepare to gather for worship,
prepare each of us to act as You lead.

We want to glorify You.
We want to bless
Your people in
Your name.
Speak, Lord.
Prod us.
Use us as pleases you.

Help us to listen for Your still small voice in
the big things and
the small things.
Fill our routines with new meaning
as we pay new attention to
Your Word and
Your Spirit.

When You prompt us in unexpected ways, Father,
may we obey.
By our obedience, we know You will make today’s gathering of Your people
all You want it to be.

That is what we want too, Lord.
Use us today. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak Your Word, My Father
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Slaves to a Lie

2017-07-05 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus promised His followers:

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32, NASB)

What did He mean?
From what does God’s truth set us free?

He sets us free from the lies of sin and Satan.
Realize that the truth is never on Satan’s side.
He is a defeated foe with
limited powers.
Therefore lies are always his main weapon.
Jesus said of him:

“He…does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44, NASB)

Sin and Satan continually make promises they can’t keep.
When he tempts you,
he is promising a happiness, a satisfaction,
that neither he nor his sin can possibly deliver.

What’s more, the Bible says that when we give in to such deceiving sin,
we make ourselves its slave.
We give the lie power over us.
Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” (John 8:34)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Romans 6:16, NASB)

As slaves of sin,
slaves of a lie,
we are compelled to sin,
chasing it for satisfactions it can never bring.

When we turn to Jesus and walk in His truth,
we are set free from that slavery to a lie.
The truth that is in Jesus sets us free.

Now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23, NASB)

This truth that is in Jesus,
this glorious reality,
is more than just facts to be believed.
Jesus not only speaks the truth.
He also thinks the truth and
lives the truth.
Jesus is the truth.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6, NASB)

Jesus is the glorious reality of
God’s love and life
filling our world.
And in Him,
in the Spirit of Truth,
we become part of that reality.
In Him we
think the truth,
speak the truth, and
live the truth.
As we follow Jesus,
as we continue in His word,
His truth sets us free from slavery to a lie.
We can now
think and breathe,
speak and live
the beautiful, loving truth that
is in Him alone.

“If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Think, Speak, and Live the Truth
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The Word of God

2017-07-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

You are sure to have a Bible at hand. Pick it up.
Do you know what a treasure You are holding?

God’s Word is creative, bringing life and beauty out of nothing (Genesis 1).
God’s Word is perfect, pure, and more precious than gold (Psalm 19).
God’s Word is unimaginably powerful:

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders…
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic…
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
(Psalm 29:3-4, 9, NIV)

God’s Word will be creative, life-giving, precious, and powerful
within you as You read it and trust it.

For thousands of years people have argued about the Bible’s accuracy.
Its teachings clash with our desires.
Its wisdom challenges our understandings.
Its principles sometimes seem to conflict with the world’s latest version of the truth.

But as every other source of “truth” quickly goes out-of-date,
God’s Word continues to speak.
Person after person, generation after generation finds it
beautiful,
pure,
life-giving, and
consistently, completely reliable.
They find it true and satisfying mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
As on the first day of creation, when God speaks, our world is filled with light.

Treasure God’s Word.
Treasure it enough to
read it, trust it,
share it, and live by it. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Word of the Lord
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-06-30 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Thoroughly Present

Father, You are thoroughly present with Your worshiping people.
You are the Source of all,
forever sustaining
all life and
all reality.
Yet You lavish Your focused attention on us
as on a loved one whose
presence and affection are deeply treasured.
You lean toward us,
hungrily drinking in our
every word,
every concern,
every desire.

When we gather in worship,
You are thoroughly present with me, Almighty God.
Help me to be thoroughly present with You,
fully invested in
every song,
every hope,
every word.
Fill my mind with Your truth,
my heart with the music of prayer, and
my mouth with exultant praise.

You give all Yourself to me.
Help me give all myself to You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: My Mind Will Be Your Holy Place
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Patience and Persistence in Prayer

2017-06-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

James 5

Father, You act in Your all-wise, all-loving time,
not on my anxious, self-centered schedule.
Help me to wait for You patiently,
as the farmer waits for rain (James 5:7-8).

Father, we consider the great saints to be greatly blessed of You.
They patiently endured suffering.
They remained faithful,
no matter how dark the days seemed.
Like them, help us to stay strong in faith (James 5:10-11). 

Father, as Your people,
help us to meet every situation with prayer:
suffering, with patient petition, relying on You;
joy, with thanksgiving and song;
sickness, with anointing and intercession;
sin, with confession to one another and forgiveness (James 5:13-18).

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Keep Us Strong in Faith
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Come to Me

2017-06-26 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

What burdens you right now? Various situations and concerns probably start parading through your mind. Each involves uncertainty and fear.

Fear creates an imaginary world for us—a world in which there is no God, with all His love and power and promised faithfulness. Don’t live another day in that dark world! Christ invites us to come to Him and know Him. As we do, fear and its imaginary world melt away in the light of His love.

But you may carry another burden that doesn’t immediately come to mind: the burden of self-concern. It’s the most constant, most distracting, most draining burden that any of us carries. It is the drive to constantly look out for ourselves and worry about ourselves and promote ourselves to those around us.

It is another burden that melts away as we come to Christ and know and trust Him. We come to Christ with many burdens. We leave with only one: the burden of pleasing Him. But what an easy burden it is! All He asks is that we trust Him who has proven Himself trustworthy and love Him who is so loving and lovely.

Bring all your burdens to Christ—now and every time they raise their heads. Trade them for His one burden: the burden of simply loving and trusting Him. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Come
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