Daily Devotions

2020 November: Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

This year in our monthly articles we are considering favorite verses from the Bible.
This month’s favorite Bible verse is:  Psalm 118:1

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Psalm 118 is an “Hallelujah” psalm, meaning “Praise the LORD!” Long ago, God’s people sang the words of this psalm toward the end of their Passover meal. It was a special occasion time for the God’s people to remember how he had rescued their nation from slavery in Egypt; it was a picture of God’s rescue of all people from their slavery to sin. The Passover meal reminded each generation how much God truly loved them.

Would disaster continue to interrupt their lives? Would prosperity be withheld? Would earthly death continue to pick away at their loved ones? Yes, yes, and yes. Yet the people sang out praise and thanks to their merciful God for deliverance from all these trials of life. . . and more: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4,5).

It is the custom in North America to gather this time of year to celebrate Thanksgiving. Whether you are with family, friends, or celebrating alone, take the time to give thanks to our Savior-God for his mercy and deliverance from death through Jesus. Jesus shows us that God is good. Even when times are tough, Jesus proves that his love for us endures forever.


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October 2020: Take Out the Trash!

Take Out the Trash!

This year in our monthly articles we are considering favorite verses from the Bible.
This month’s favorite Bible verse is:  1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

If you were asked to write down your top-ten favorite places, it’s hard to imagine a landfill making anybody’s list. There’s nothing pretty about a landfill. There’s nothing attractive or inviting about a place where trash is piled high and deep. It’s no fun to be at a landfill; all you can do is watch the pile get bigger. And you certainly wouldn’t want to take home any souvenirs!

But in 1 Peter 5:7, God is inviting us (if it can be said this way) to treat him like a landfill. “Pile it up!” he says. “Keep it coming! I can take it! Cover me with it!”

What kind of trash is God asking us to cover him with? Anxiety. Worry about the future. Stress of the present. Burdens from the past. All the things that pile up and make life feel like an endless slog through a murky, mucky swamp. All the things that press hard and cause pain, on the inside and the outside.

God says, “Throw it all on me!” He wants to take away all those burdens. He wants to remove the guilt from the sins of the past. He wants to hold us up under the stress of the present. He wants to assure us about the future.

But, as ugly as it sounds, he does this by taking our burdens onto himself. In fact, he already has taken our burdens when Jesus Christ bore the sins of the whole world. He carried all of them when he died on the cross. He didn’t drop anybody’s burden of sin. He didn’t leave anybody out so that now they’re stuck carrying their own.

Do you know people who help others so much that they hardly have any time left for themselves? You can marvel at how much they give of themselves, how many burdens they carry for other people. But if you would ever ask them how they can possibly do so much to help others, the answer might come back so plainly, “I just love them.”

God’s attitude toward you is so full of love—so overflowing with love—that no matter how many of your burdens you pile on him, his love will still spill out for you through Jesus. So take out the trash! Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.


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September 2020: Sure and Certain of the Unseen

Sure and Certain of the Unseen

This year in our monthly articles we are considering favorite verses from the Bible.
This month’s favorite Bible verse is:  Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

It is amazing that with only a few clicks on a computer, we can dramatically alter photos. Such capabilities have led us to be a bit more wary. We find ourselves saying, “Unless I see it with my own eyes, how can I believe that it hasn’t been touched up? I’ll believe it when I see it.”Often this cynical attitude can touch our spiritual life. How can I believe that God loves me and knows what is going on in my life considering all troubles and disappointments I have to deal with?

The Bible tells us, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” How can we be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see?

Think of a father and child playing the game where the father stands behind the child and tells him to fall backwards. The child, unable to see his father, still trusts that he is there and is certain that his father won’t let him hit the ground. The child leans back and falls, fully convinced that his father will keep his word and catch him, because his father has always proved trustworthy.

This is the kind of trust we can have in our heavenly Father. Though we did not see the creation or the crucifixion, though we were not present to witness Jesus rising from the Easter tomb, though we have not heard his actual voice forgiving our sins and promising his return, we believe.

How can we be so sure and certain? Because God’s Word is true and trustworthy. Our forgiveness is certain because Jesus did die and rise from the dead. God’s love for us today and every day is sure. Every promise our Father has made about our eternal future, he will keep.

Faith is sure and certain of unseen things because it takes God at his word.


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