Thank You, Lord, for giving us good things to nourish us in body and soul. Help me to dig in to Your Word and let it become part of me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
3
STOP READING YOUR BIBLE
Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.
—PSALM 119:34 NLT
I have a request today. One that might sound odd right after reading the first two devotions: stop reading your Bible.
Does that shock you? Relieve you? Make you angry at worst? Curious at best?
Read on, and see what I mean by this request.
There have been many days in my Christian journey when God was reduced to something on my to-do list. Somewhere along the way, I picked up an unwritten checklist of sorts explaining what “good Christians” are supposed to do:
Pray.
Read your Bible.
Go to church.
Don’t cuss.
Be nice.
Being the rule-following girl I am, I subscribed to the good things on that list and waited with great expectations to receive the zap of contentment and happiness good Christian girls are supposed to exude.
But then something felt wrong with me. I still felt restless. I still reacted in anger. I still felt a bit hollow.
I was going through all the motions but didn’t feel connected to Jesus. Others around me seemed very connected. They would talk of being “moved by the Spirit.” They would hear from God Himself. They would clap their hands and shout “Amen” in the middle of a sermon that sounded like Greek to me.
I often felt like a weightless soul grasping at the air, hoping to somehow snag this Jesus that was just out of reach. Have you ever been there?
This nagging sense creeps in that you’ll never get it—that you don’t have what it takes to be a Christian. That’s where I was. I lived there for a long time until someone challenged me to stop simply reading my Bible because it was a thing on my Christian checklist. Instead, they challenged me to experience God. To know God.
In other words, I needed to look at the words in the Bible as a love letter. God’s love letter to a broken-down girl. A love letter not meant to simply be read . . . but a love letter meant to be lived.
I won’t lie. It took a while.
It took many days of sitting down with my Bible while praying gut-honest prayers. I told God I wasn’t connecting. I told Him I wanted to understand, just like the psalmist in our key verse, Psalm 119:34.
I asked Him to help me. I begged Him to help me. Finally, one verse came alive to me. I literally felt moved when I read it. I memorized it and thought about it all day long. All week long. Maybe all month long.
I was overjoyed. I had a verse. A verse where Jesus spoke tenderly and clearly and specifically to me. It was Jeremiah 29:11, “ ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”
When I make the connection between what happens in my life that day and why I need that verse, I experience God.
Slowly, I added more verses. Day by day. Chapter by chapter. And eventually my Bible became my greatest treasure, my love letter.
Now, every day I open up God’s Word with great expectation and intentionally look for my verse for that day. Usually one verse among the many I read during my devotion time grabs my heart, and I know it’s meant just for the day ahead. And then I attempt to live that verse out in some way, that very day.
When I make the connection between what happens in my life that day and why I need that verse, I experience God. I see Him active in my life, and I become even more deeply aware of His constant presence.
I’m sure some Bible scholars would probably take issue with my simplistic approach, but it sure has helped me.
So, back to my original statement. Stop reading your Bible. In other words, stop simply reading it because you have to cross it off the Christian checklist.
Instead, read it with great expectations of connecting more deeply and living more authentically with God.
Dear Lord, thank You for showing me the Christian life can be so much more than a checklist. I want to not only read Your Word, but live it out each day. Please give me the wisdom to understand and the courage to become more like You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
4
GREAT SERMONS AREN’T PREACHED, THEY’RE LIVED
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
—2 TIMOTHY 3:16–17
What if someone followed me around with a video camera all day documenting my every move? Catching all my words, facial expressions, actions, and reactions on camera. And then what if someone packaged it all together and played it on some sort of reality TV show for all the world to see? What would be the glaring message of my life?
I’m convicted thinking about this.
You see, if someone were to ask me, “What are you all about?” I would have some nice-sounding answers. But what actually happens during the strains of everyday life can sometimes betray my best intentions.
I want to be a loving mom. But my family seems to know the exact buttons to push that send me into a tailspin of emotion and exhaustion.
I want to be a strong witness for Christ. So why is it I can read my Bible first thing in the morning and then find myself honking at the person who cuts me off in traffic just an hour later?
I realize there is a place for God’s tender mercies for me in all this. But I also know that while no TV cameras are following me around, my life is speaking a message about what I really believe, and I want that message to honor Jesus.
My life is speaking a message about what I really believe, and I want that message to honor Jesus.
I once heard, “Great sermons are not preached, they are lived.” Oh how I long to live a message that speaks loud and clear, “Jesus is true and the principles found in His teachings work!”
Let’s just be honest: It’s tough being a sold-out soul for Christ stuck in a body that’s so tempted to sin. That’s why it’s essential that I view my time with God each morning as a preparation and an invitation.
• Preparation: Our key verse reminds us, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Every verse I read is part of God’s preparation for me that day. So, instead of just rushing to check off my to-do list that I spent a few minutes with God, I must allow His teachings to seep into my heart and mind. Then I can prayerfully ask God to interrupt my natural flesh response and remind me throughout the day of the truths He taught me that morning.
• Invitation: The next essential view of my quiet time each morning is recognizing I’ve just invited Jesus to do life with me, so I need to look for His activity throughout my day. My minute-by-minute theme becomes, “Not my will, God, but Yours be done.”
So if something happens that causes my flesh to want to rear up and act ugly, I can say, “Not my will, God, but Yours be done.” This slight pause and acknowledgment of God redirects my frustration and replaces it with grace. And most wonderful of all, it helps me connect my time with Jesus to everyday life choices. Making that connection is one of the ways we personally hear from and experience God.
I know sometimes it’s hard to spend time with Jesus first thing in the morning. And I’m certainly not trying to make this just another demand on our time. But Jesus’ invitation to us to sit with Him is such an incredible gift. He loves us so much He wants to help us. He knows what each day holds, and He longs to prepare us for every single thing He sees coming our way.
Let’s accept His invitation to sit with Him. Let’s listen to Him intently. And let’s ask Him to intervene before our natural reactions to things betray our b
est intentions. Then we will be able to live lives that speak to the fact that we have spent time with Jesus . . . and without saying a word, our imperfect lives will be a God-honoring sermon.
Dear Lord, please teach me how to reveal more and more of You through the way I live my life. I want to tell the whole world about You using words only when necessary. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
5
IS THIS THE RIGHT DECISION?
This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
—PHILIPPIANS 1:9–10
Have you ever had that deep-down knowing of what to do in a situation but ignored it? I understand.
I was home alone recently when a large box was delivered to my doorstep.
The delivery man graciously brought it inside. But I figured it might be a bit much for me to ask him to take it past the foyer, up the stairs, and down the hall.
So there it sat, this mysterious, heavy box.
Deep inside, I knew this was nothing but some product one of my people had ordered.
But I didn’t listen to that internal awareness. I ignored it and listened to my fears instead. You know you’ve watched one too many mystery TV shows when your first thought about a mysterious box sitting in your foyer is that a person with scary intentions could fit inside. Yes, a crazy person with weapons could mail himself right into your foyer and sit there all day, quietly waiting until you went to bed.
So I kicked the side of the box to see if there was any kind of reflex action from a living thing inside of it. There wasn’t, of course. But then I decided, just to be sure, I would stand around the corner from the box to see if I could step out of its line of sight and possibly hear something: a cough, a sneeze—anything.
I could leave no room for doubts, no room at all for any possible bad outcome from this box—a box that I eventually opened with a knife. Just in case. Only to discover a dorm-room refrigerator that someone had ordered.
I wasted half my day worrying about a box that contained a dorm fridge.
Find that courageous yes. Fight for that confident no.
But we do this sometimes. We have a decision to make and we have that deep-down knowing. We know what to do. We know what the answer is. But we don’t go with that knowing. We overprocess the what-ifs and the maybes until we find ourselves standing around a corner listening to see if a cardboard box containing a refrigerator might sneeze.
Now, there are certainly some decisions that need to be processed. But then there are other decisions we just simply need to say yes or no to and move on.
Find that courageous yes. Fight for that confident no. Know it. State it. Own it.
Sometimes it just comes down to that deep whisper within that says, “Uh-huh, yes.” Or a simple, “No, not that.”
God has woven into us the ability to discern what is best if we’re closely following Him. Let’s read our key verse again: “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9–10, emphasis mine).
As we layer knowledge and depth of insight into our lives, we develop a trustworthy discernment.
Knowledge is wisdom that comes from acquiring truth.
Insight is wisdom that comes from living out the truth we acquire.
Discernment is wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit’s reminders of that knowledge and insight.
I know a young mom who has really been struggling with the decision of whether to let her two-year-old go to preschool a couple of half days a week next year. As I listened to her, I felt compelled to ask her three questions:
1. Have you been reading and praying through God’s Word?
2. Have you been applying God’s Word to your mothering?
3. Have you sought godly counsel and insights from wise people who know specifics about your situation?
The answer to all three of those simple questions was yes, so I reminded her that God had assigned her to be this child’s mother. If she had done these three things, then she had the ability to discern what was best.
She didn’t need to wait for some big neon sign to drop down from heaven to know what to do. If she had that deep knowing that this was a no answer for her child, then she should go with that. If she had that deep knowing that this was a yes answer for her child, then she should go with that.
It’s not about trusting ourselves. Rather, it’s about trusting the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus promised us in John 14:26: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
When we’ve done what we need to do to acquire the knowledge and insight of truth, then the discernment of that truth is there. We must learn to trust and use that discernment because the more we do this, the more wisdom we acquire to make God-honoring decisions.
Dear Lord, I want to make decisions that honor You. Lead me as I develop a trustworthy discernment. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
6
AN AGENDA THAT WILL NEVER SATISFY
He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
—MARK 3:14–15
I should have been happy. I knew it. I could have listed so many things for which I was thankful.
So, what was this undercurrent of disappointment that ebbed and flowed just beneath the surface of my more honest moments? I got still and I got sad.
I was doing a lot, pouring myself out for God, but not really spending time getting refilled by God.
Maybe you can relate?
We run at a breakneck pace to try and achieve what God wants us to slow down enough to receive.
He really does have it all worked out. The gaps filled. The needs met. The questions answered. The problems solved.
And the parts He’s purposed for us? They’re all perfectly portioned out in assignments meant for us today. No more. No less.
All He asks is that we personally receive from Him before setting out to work for Him. In doing so we are fueled by His power and encouraged by His presence. This is the daily sacred exchange where ministry duty turns into pure delight.
How it must break His heart when we work like we don’t believe He’s capable. We say we trust Him but act like everything depends on us. We give all we have to the tasks at hand with only occasional leftovers of time to slightly acknowledge Him.
Imagine a little girl running while holding a cup, sloshing out all it contains. She thinks what will refill her is just ahead. So she presses on with sheer determination, clutching an empty cup.
She keeps running toward an agenda He never set, one that will never satisfy.
She sees Him and holds out her cup. But she catches only a few drops as she runs by Him because she didn’t stop long enough to be filled up. Empty can’t be tempered with mere drops.
The tragic truth is what will fill her . . . what will fill us . . . isn’t the accomplishment just ahead.
We run at a breakneck pace to try and achieve what God wants us to slow down enough to receive.
That shiny thing is actually a vacuum that sucks us dry—but never has the ability to refill.
I should know, because that’s where I was. There’s no kind of empty quite like this empty—where your hands are full but inside you’re nothing but an exhausted shell.
I knew it would take slow moments to get me out of this empty place.
I needed to reconnect with the One who knows how to breathe life back into depleted and dead places. Jesus doesn’t participate in the rat race. He’s into the slower rhythms of life like abiding, delighting, and dwelling—all words used to describe us being with Him.
As a matter of fact, when Jesus appointed the disciples, there were two par
ts to their calling, as we see in Mark 3:14–15.
Yes, they were to go to preach and drive out demons, but the first part of their calling was to “be with him.”
Fullness comes when we remember to be with Him before going out to serve Him.
He wants our hearts in alignment with Him before our hands set about doing today’s assignment for Him.
So, He extends what we need and invites us each day to receive in prayer, worship, and truth from His Word. And He lovingly replenishes our cup while whispering: “This isn’t a race to test the fastest pace. I just want you to persevere on the path I have marked out especially for you. Fix your eyes, not on a worldly prize, but on staying in love with Me.”
That’s an agenda that’s always completely satisfying.
Dear Lord, I’m choosing to stop in the midst of everything to just be with You. Let me never forget what a gift it is to spend this sacred time in Your presence. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
7
PREPARING FOR ADVENTURE
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
—PSALM 119:18
Oh, how we underestimate the power made available to us when we spend time with God. Our earthly eyes are so limited because they don’t allow us to see what is happening in the heavenly realm. A daily battle is being fought for our attention and our devotion. Satan would love nothing more than to keep us separated from the power God gives us during our time with Him. It’s time to stop feeling guilty and ill-equipped and start embracing the incredible privilege of meeting with Jesus every day. h, how we underestimate the power made available to us when we spend time with God. Our earthly eyes are so limited because they don’t allow us to see what is happening in the heavenly realm. A daily battle is being fought for our attention and our devotion. Satan would love nothing more than to keep us separated from the power God gives us during our time with Him. It’s time to stop feeling guilty and ill-equipped and start embracing the incredible privilege of meeting with Jesus every day.
Embraced Page 2
