Week 48 Day 4 – The Supreme Commander
Today’s devotional is all about worship.
Read Colossians 1:15-23 and make a list of all that ways that Jesus is described. Try to draw a picture or make a chart that will help create a visual image of how Jesus is being described.
Now make a contrast chart. Write what these verses say for each of these two categories. Now continue the list with descriptors from your own life. Once you were... but now you are... because of Jesus.
once you were but now
Spend some time praising and thanking God for allowing Jesus to be all these things and for doing the wonderful work of transformation that He has done in your life so far.
Thank Him that we can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, continue in our faith, being established and firm, and not moved from the hope that we have in the good news of Jesus!
Week 48 Day 3 – The Key to Guarding Your Heart
As you sit down to read this today, it is Wednesday, the middle of the week. You are smack dab in the middle of the craziness of life in the modern world. Work is busy, family and relational pressures are beginning to wear on you. Church responsibilities are becoming more of a burden than a privilege. Is this a fair description of your state of being? Are these, and other, factors beginning to fray the edges of your heart? Do you find that when this kind of fatigue sets in that you are a little more susceptible to your pet temptations? Perhaps the piece of pie after lunch looks a little sweeter. The second glance at that pretty woman or that handsome man doesn’t seem so harmful. The raised voice and harsh words to the kids seem more justified. The little nip from the bottle to take the edge off at the end of day seems like a logical course of action. Here, in the middle of the week, do these thoughts that seemed so detestable to you on Sunday creep up and become enticing?
Why is that? How can we so quickly fall into the trap of the sin that we thought we had already given up to Jesus? Today’s passage holds some keys to this question.
Read Philippians 4:6-9.
What are we called to do with our anxious, stressed out thoughts?
What will we receive when we do this?
What will happen to us when we receive this?
In vv. 8-9 what is supposed to be the focus of our thought life?
Food for thought:
Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” If you have spent any time meditating on that verse you should have asked the first and most obvious question, “How do you guard your heart?” Today’s passage gives us a little clue and one specific way to guard our hearts. If we want to guard our heart then we need to dump all of our worries at the feet of Jesus. Worrying, being “anxious”, about things is like hardening of the arteries of the soul. Worrying chokes us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we worry we get tense in the shoulders which restricts flow of blood to the head and causes tension headaches. Worrying causes gastrointestinal distress and can cause us to double over with abdominal pain. Worry can give us chest pains and heart problems. Worry is a form of fear and fear causes our brain to retreat from the logical, upper brain, and regress into the reactionary, emotional part of our brain where the flight or fight reflexes are more apt to kick into gear at the drop of a hat. We become hyper-alert and overly cautious and paranoid of people, keeping them at an arms distance for fear that they may be dangerous. When we worry we hold on to things and can’t let them go.
Steven Covey defines worry as stressing over things that we can’t control anyway. Think about it. If we could control something, we would, and then it would be under control and we wouldn’t think about it. So, when we worry we are wasting energy, stressing ourselves out, and making it extremely difficult to experience the love of others and the love of God in our lives.
Paul encourages believers to take those anxious thoughts and present them to Jesus. When we realize that we are not in control of our lives and that Jesus is in control, then we can let go. One by one our fingers are pried off of whatever we are holding on to, and, as the grip is relaxed, the peace of God begins to flow into our souls.
When the peace of God begins to take root, then everything changes. When we are at peace we don’t see everyone around us as the opposition or the reason for our stress. We can begin to see people as an opportunity to express love. When we are at peace, we don’t have to be in a hurry. We can take time to do the important things like read the Bible, talk with friends, hug our kids, and go for a walk. When we are at peace, the edges of our hearts are not frayed. When we are at peace, we have the ability to focus our minds on the list found in vv. 8-9. When we focus our minds on these things then the little temptations that we face will not even be able to get onto our radar and we will be able to see them for the little, ugly imps that they truly are.
So, take a deep breath. If you are stressed, write down the things that are freaking you out and hold them up in the air. Say, “Father, I give these things to you. I can’t handle them, but I know you can. Please let your peace flood my soul and allow me to see this situation from an eternal perspective.” Today, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your heart in Christ Jesus.
Week 48 Day 2 – A Sensitive Spirit
Ephesians 4:17-24
Take your pencil and underline a key phrase in v. 19 -- “having lost all sensitivity”. This is one of the greatest dangers that we face in our modern, technological cultures. Being inundated with information in a continuous stream, it is very easy to become numb to the ungodly and destructive messages we receive every day. It’s a lot like entering into a very cold swimming pool. When you dip your toe into cold water you immediately jerk it back because of the shock. But, if you place your feet in the water and sit for a while, you eventually get used to it. Then you move down one step and get into the water up to the mid-thigh. After the shock of this wears off we move a little further down, then a little further, until, eventually, we can go all the way in without feeling the shock. After swimming a while we realize that our body is completely numb because of the cold water and we can’t really feel anything. Did the water change temperature? No. What changed was our sensitivity to the water.
Our culture is like that cold water. One area where this desensitizing can easily happen is in our own living room, through the TV. At first we watch a TV show that has some harsh words or discusses some off-color subjects. At first we flinch at it, but we quickly dismiss it and say that we watch the show because of the great story telling, or the witty humor. As this show becomes a regular part of our lives, it then becomes easier to watch another show that may have some more questionable material -- a new step, a momentary flinch -- then...numb again. Before we realize what is happening, we don’t even notice the distasteful humor and the vulgarity of the show and we are laughing at things that, in our real lives would disgust us and cause us to blush.
This is a very subtle and very difficult matter to deal with in our culture. How do we stay clean and stay pure before God without just burying our head in the sand and not going outside, turning on the radio, the TV, or the internet? The answer is found in v. 23. We are called to be made new in the attitude of our minds. As a follower of Christ it is our duty to saturate our minds with the teaching of scripture and to transform our lenses to be colored with the perspective of the Kingdom of God. This means that we should be spending time each day soaking our brain in scripture (since you are reading these words, you are at least attempting to do so...good job). We should also be participating in group discussion of scripture and the practical side of how to apply scriptural principles to everyday life. In the context of community we can be “iron sharpening iron” (Proverbs 27:17) and more quickly bring our minds and attitudes into alignment with God’s perspective. We should also submit ourselves to solid biblical teaching in order to be challenged and stimulated in our thinking.
As Christians we are to stay sharp. We should not become desensitized to the corruption of the world around us. Let us maintain a soft and sensitive spirit. Godlessness should always cause us pain. We do not have to let the pain destroy us. That is one reason why we have the Holy Spirit. He can take the pain and transform it into compassion. Rather than being like the world, we should be like Christ in the world, so that the world, which is living in their own darkness, can see that there is a light by which they can travel. Let’s stay sensitive and be the light of hope to the dark world.
Week 48 Day 1 – A Pastor’s Prayer
Ephesians 3:14-21
I am going to take this opportunity to put on my pastor hat for a moment. Normally I try to write this devotional in the third person, in a generic way, so that anyone could pick it up and use it. Today I want to break out of that mode and speak as a pastor. Whenever I read one of Paul’s prayers for his people (there are many sprinkled throughout his letters; check out Philippians 1:9-11 for another great one) I can’t help but stop and pray it for the people I serve. This prayer in Ephesians is especially dear to my heart. Listen to these words again, only this time, hear it as a specific prayer for the people who in your church.
“I pray that God will give you great strength in your inner being that can only come through the power of His Holy Spirit. I want you to have this strength so that Christ might dwell inside of your hearts, reigning through every fiber of your being. I also pray that love will permeate every cell of your body, that it would become part of your DNA, because then your heart and mind will be big enough to begin to understand Jesus’ love for you. I say begin to understand, because His love is so big that you can’t grasp it. It’s so high that you can’t climb it; so deep that you can’t swim to it; so wide that you can’t see its end -- His love is beyond comprehension. Yet, with the strength of God’s Holy Spirit you can latch on to it, and, through it, be transformed into all the Jesus is and wants you to be. That’s really my prayer; that you would become like Jesus, that you would be filled to overflowing with the presence of God.
Oh, and by the way, there is only one reason, ultimately, that I pray this for you. It is because of God’s glory. Everything we do and everything we strive for is from God and for God. We give him all the praise.”
I challenge you to meditate on this prayer and let its implications for your life soak in today.
Week 47 Day 5 – Don’t Give Up!
Galatians 6:7-10
Have you ever felt frustrated in trying to do the right thing? Perhaps you have heard of the bamboo plant? There is a certain kind of bamboo plant that has a very unique growth pattern. The first year the seed is planted and it must be watered diligently every day. Yet it does not grow. The second year it must be watered every day, but still it does not grow. For a few years this plant follows the same, seemingly fruitless pattern. Then, in its final year the bamboo plant bursts out of the ground and in a short amount of time grows to be several feet tall.
That is often what the Kingdom of God is like. We do the right thing. We train our children according to the truth of God’s Word. Only to see them fight with their siblings and be selfish over and over again. We love our family member who has turned away from the family and from the faith, only to have them continually bash us. We stand firm for our beliefs at work, and are shunned or even fired for our unwillingness to play the world’s game. Day in and day out we do what we believe to be the right thing and the thing that God wants us to do. And yet it seems like nothing is happening. If anything it seems like we are losing ground, and maybe even losing our minds. We ask, “is this worth it?” Have you ever felt that way?
Hopefully, through the lessons of the past couple days you will realize the full measure of today’s verses. There are only two paths in life. We can either sow to the flesh. Or we can sow to the Spirit. The flesh is like a weed. It doesn’t require much effort. You give it a tiny bit of dirt and, Poof! it grows up overnight. Instant results. Just like we Americans like it. And, hey, many weeds have really pretty flowers, too! Yet, the end result of a weed is that it runs wild and takes over everything and eventually chokes out all the good plants, leaving the yard in total disarray. As the prophet Hosea said, “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”
The Kingdom of God, however, is like the bamboo plant. It may go for years without any apparent results, and then, one day, in the proper time -- whoosh -- God brings a harvest. Here’s the truth. Sometimes you may be the waterer only. You could spend your whole life watering something and never see its results. Then, after you are gone, someone else comes along to see and harvest the fruit. Now, if it were YOUR plant then that would be frustrating and not seem fair. But, remember, it’s not your plant. It’s God’s plant. He has a plan and you are part of it. Just remember, when your seed is planted you will experience the fullness of glory. That is our hope. The watering and sowing to the Spirit in this life is not for us to reap benefit. It is because we are humble servants tilling and working God’s field in order to grow the Kingdom of God. Let us not give up doing good, because we know that 1) it’s not our field, we’re just workers, 2) sowing flesh will bring about a nightmare in the end, and 3) in the end God’s glory will reign supreme.
Week 47 Day 4 – Our Future Hope
1 Corinthians 15:1-58
Yesterday we discussed the present hope that we have, knowing that we are daily being transformed into the glory of the image of God. That in itself is pretty awesome. However, for some that may not be much of a motivator to get out there and get your clay pot smashed! Our passage today gives us an even deeper root for the hope that it within us. This hope is rooted in the future; our eternal destiny. If you are a follower of Christ then you have the promise that this life, with all its gunk and trouble, is not the end, but only the beginning. As Peter said, we are just pilgrims and travelers in this world, just a passin’ through.
Paul transfers his analogy from that of a clay pot to that of a seed. Our bodies and the life we live right now are like a seed. (Sounds kind of like Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom, doesn’t it?) Within the seed is the full potential of the mature plant. Locked in the DNA is the blueprint for everything that the seed will become. Yet, until that seed “dies” and is buried in the ground, it will not unleash the potential that it stores and break out of its plain shell and emerge as something magnificent. Today we are nothing more than seeds. Through the Holy Spirit we carry within us the full potential of the Kingdom of God, but it has not yet reached its realization. Praise God that we have to die before the glory will be fully realized.
Herein lies the hope. Have you ever wondered how the Christians that have been thrown into prison, beaten, tortured, and left for dead can rejoice and praise God in the middle of such horrid circumstances. It is because of this fundamental truth. They know that their life is a seed pod. With every blow that their abuser makes to them, it brings them closer to their realized potential of glory. That is why Paul could say for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. This life is full of rich blessing and meaning and joy and beauty as we shine the light of the Kingdom into the darkness -- so living is Christ. But, to die is to move into the fullness of God’s glory; that indescribable beauty.
Paul was addressing an issue that is still alive today. Many people in our world do not believe in a resurrection. Of course the naturalist does not believe in it. To them we are simply highly evolved animals that live, mate, and die. Nothing more, nothing less. Any ideas of hope, meaning, or purpose are accidental manifestations of an evolved brain trying to make sense out of a meaningless existence. It is understandable why a naturalist would believe this. It is sad, but understandable. What is tragic is that there are some Christians, being heavily under the influence of existentialist philosophy, who do not believe in the resurrection. Yikes! First of all, Paul could not be any clearer than he was in 1 Corinthians 15. Secondly, as Paul argued, if there is no resurrection, then what is the point. Jesus was just a man, who didn’t rise. We are blips on a cosmic screen with no purpose. As a follower of Christ and a believer in the truth of scripture, don’t buy into this . Our hope lies in the truth of the resurrection.
So, when things get rough for you, remember that you’re just a seed. You haven’t been fully planted yet. The Kingdom is growing in your heart. Tough times are the process of cultivating the soil around you so that you can be fully planted. Praise God that someday we will sprout into something beyond our wildest imaginations!
Week 47 Day 3 – Our Present Hope
Our culture is built upon a common presupposition that we are free individuals. We believe that each one of us, holding certain unalienable rights, have the freedom to pursue our own happiness. Sounds good. Everyone wants to be free. No one wants to be told what to do, when to do it, or how it should be done. At least no one raised as a red-blooded American, that is.
But, how free are we? Do we really have the freedom to do ANYTHING we want to do that would make us happy? One man’s happiness is another man’s disgust. If taking your car made me happy, could I do it? If hurting your child made me happy, would I be free to do it? So, how free are we?
When the apostle Paul started preaching a gospel of the Kingdom of God that was separate from the Law of Moses, people began to experience a freedom that they had never known before. No longer were they bound to follow excruciatingly particular rituals of cleansing and diet. They were given freedom in the Spirit of God. The law of Jesus and freedom in the Spirit was the new order of the Kingdom of God.
As can be expected, some people took this new-found freedom and ran wild with it. Due to this emerging “libertine” attitude within the church, Paul had to address the question, “what is freedom?”
Read the following passages to hear how Paul dealt with the issue of freedom in Christ as it relates to specific issues of morality and conduct in the church.
1 Corinthians 6:12
1 Corinthians 8:9
1 Corinthians 10:23-24, 31-11:1
Galatians 5:13-15
According to these passages, what is the definition of freedom? What is the law that the follower of Christ is bound to obey?
The truth about true freedom is that it, when properly understood, leads to a deeper and more fundamental law. God’s law. God is love and goodness. God’s MO is to love others and to put the needs of others above His own. This is ultimately demonstrated in His self-sacrificing act of Jesus’ death on the cross for the atonement of sin. If our hearts have been conformed to the mind of Christ and our Spirits are in step with the Holy Spirit, then the thought, “I can indulge myself because I have the freedom to do so,” just isn’t present. Our lenses have been changed to see the world, not as our oyster, available for our own exploits, but as a place in which we can be administrators of God’s grace, mercy, hope, and love. So, true freedom is not freedom to sin; it is freedom from sinful and selfish attitudes, which in turn binds us, not out of obligation but out of transformation, to the deeper law of selfless love. May we live in the freedom of God’s Spirit this week.
Week 47 Day 1 – The Most Excellent Way
Read the following three passages and list the problems the church in Corinth was facing.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4
1 Corinthians 6:1-11
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
As “parts of the body”, with what negative attitude was the church in Corinth struggling?
1 Corinthians 12:27-31
According to 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 what is the most excellent way? How would following this way counteract the bad attitudes displayed in the preceding verses?
Do a self-check. In what ways are your attitudes and behaviors more like the Corinthians and in what ways are they more like the most excellent way?
Is there someone with whom you need to do some relational mending? Perhaps you have been harboring bitterness, jealousy, or envy toward someone in your church or in your sphere of influence. What can you do to become more loving this week?
Week 46 Day 2 – Stop the Fighting, the War’s Over!
Romans 5:1-11; Romans 8:1-27
If you seriously engaged in Monday’s devotional, you were asked to reflect on your emotions in light of all that Jesus has done for you. Of course, the “correct” response to this truth is to feel a deep sense of joy over your salvation. A Christian shouldn’t be depressed, right? Come on, we’re children of the King! Now, be truthful. Did you truly experience deep joy and exhilaration yesterday? No one is watching and no one will read what you write. If you did, then great. Skip this lesson and embrace your joy. If you didn’t, then keep reading. You are not alone.
Is the deep sense of joy missing in your heart? Do you know why? A stark reality in our culture is that many Christians are depressed. So many Christians do not feel the joy of their salvation? Why is that?
There are many factors involved. Many people deal with deep psychological trauma from their upbringing. Others have physical, chemical imbalances in the brain. These are very real conditions and require good, Christian counseling. We could all use some serious, intense Christian counseling.
Keeping that in mind, and not to trivialize it, there is a core biblical truth that lies at the root of this sense of depression and lack of joy that, if properly understood, may lead to healing and the rediscovery of joy. The truth lies in our passages for today.
Romans 5:1-11
As a result of being justified by faith, what do we have?
Summarize vv. 6-8 in your own words.
What does it mean to be reconciled?
Romans 8:1-17
If a person is in Christ Jesus, what is his/her status before God? (v.1)
Why? (v.2-4)
In vv.5-11 Paul draws a contrast between those living according to the sinful nature and those living according to the Spirit. Below is a table with two columns. On the left is “sinful nature” and the column on the right is “Spirit guided life”. Go through these 7 verses and write the description of each kind of life in the appropriate column.
sinful nature Spirit-guided life
According to vv. 12-17 were does our obligation lie? Why?
What kind of Spirit did we receive? What are the benefits of having this Spirit?
So, what about joy? Here’s the bottom line: we don’t experience joy because we are still struggling with sin in our lives. We allow doubt, fear, nasty habits, envy, etc. to remain resident in our hearts. On top of that, we allow ourselves to feel shame because of the sin that is in us. Then, on top of that, we think that we have to work harder to overcome the sin in us. But, there is one simple truth that Satan wants us to forget. SIN IS DEAD!! Jesus has defeated sin. It no longer has reign in our hearts. Or, another way to look at it is that WE ARE DEAD TO SIN!! Either way, we have moved out of the battle with sin. It is no longer our master.
As a person who has placed faith in Jesus Christ, we have moved out of the struggle that Paul describes in chapter 7 and have moved into the zone of peace. We are at peace with God. He does not condemn us, nor will He condemn us. By His grace, we have been set free. The struggle we feel within us is an illusion. If we would turn around and embrace the full pardon that God has given to us through Jesus, and then we could begin to live in the reality that we are children of God, full heirs to His glory, and, some day, we will step into His presence and bask in the beauty of His glorious reality. That is our hope. It is the hope of glory that gives us joy. It gives us drive. It allows us to persevere when times get tough. It gives us the strength to be positive when our circumstances are negative. When we embrace the hope of a future glorious reality we can transform the present difficult reality into a vehicle of life-changing joy.
Let go of the struggle, embrace the victory that comes by grace, and step into your role as a child of God.
Week 46 Day 4 – The Key: Sacrificial Love
Romans 12:1-21
The key to this passage is the word sacrifice. The only way that you can renew your mind is to sacrifice your pride and admit that it needs renewal. The only way that you can serve as one part of a larger body is to, once again, sacrifice your pride and realize that you are incomplete in yourself. You need other people to compliment your deficiencies. Separated from the other parts of the body you will die. In order to love, you must place others higher than yourself, put your pride and your need for being right and your desire for revenge in your back pocket and simply give to others. When we sacrifice ourselves in this way, when we die to self, then we can truly live.
Notice the head and hands of the person who is on the altar in the chart of Romans. Where are they facing? They are looking up and the hands are open, as if in a symbol of surrender and acceptance. The only way to experience the fullness of the life set free is to give up the life of bondage to self that has become so familiar.
How do we do that? We do it by being transformed by the renewing of our mind. The battle for the heart and the will is fought in the mind. When we know the truth, when we are saturated with the truth of God and become convinced of its reality, then it will grab hold of our heart and transform our will. The heart and will are the engine of our behaviors. When the heart and will are transformed, then loving behavior will be the natural overflow. So, immerse yourself in God’s truth through the study of His word and the influence of godly teaching.
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