PRESSING ON
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Posted:Jan 2, 2018 5:23 am
Last Updated:May 9, 2024 5:24 am 11467 Views
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Read: Philippians 3.7–14
Bible in a Year: Genesis 4–6; Matthew 2
I press on toward the goal to win the prize. Philippians 3:14
As I walked past an outside wall of the office building where I work, I was amazed to see a beautiful flower growing up through a crack between concrete slabs covering the ground. Despite its deprived circumstance, the plant had found a foothold, rooted itself in the dry crevice, and was flourishing. Later, I noticed that an air-conditioning unit located directly above the plant dropped water on it throughout the day. While its surroundings were hostile, the plant received the help it needed from the water above.
Growing in the Christian life can sometimes be difficult, but when we persevere with Christ, barriers are surmountable. Our circumstances may be unfavorable and discouragement may seem like an obstacle. Yet if we press on in our relationship with the Lord, we can flourish like that lone plant. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. Despite the severe hardships and challenges he faced (2 Corinthians 11:23–27), he wouldn’t give up. “I . . . take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me,” he wrote. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize”
(Philippians 3:12, 14).
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
Paul realized he could do all things through the Lord who strengthened him (4:13), and so can we as we press on with the help of One who gives us strength.
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.
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BEGINNING AGAIN
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Posted:Jan 1, 2018 5:56 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:26 am 11326 Views
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Read: Ezra 1:1–11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 1–3; Matthew 7
Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:5
After Christmas festivities conclude at the end of December, my thoughts often turn to the coming year. While my are out of school and our daily rhythms are slow, I reflect on where the last year has brought me and where I hope the next will take me. Those reflections sometimes come with pain and regret over the mistakes I’ve made. Yet the prospect of starting a new year fills me with hope and expectancy. I feel I have the opportunity to begin again with a fresh start, no matter what the last year held.
My anticipation of a fresh start pales in comparison to the sense of hope the Israelites must have felt when Cyrus, the king of Persia, released them to return to their homeland in Judah after seventy long years of captivity in Babylon. The previous king, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the Israelites from their homeland. But the Lord prompted Cyrus to send the captives home to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple (Ezra 1:2–3). Cyrus also returned to them treasures that had been taken from the temple. Their lives as God’s chosen people, in the land God had appointed to them, began afresh after a long season of hardship in Babylon as a consequence for their sin.
Lord, thank You for Your grace and forgiveness and new beginnings.
No matter what lies in our past, when we confess our sin, God forgives us and gives us a fresh start. What great cause for hope!
What can you do to grow closer to God this year?
God’s grace offers us fresh starts.
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SILENT NOGHT OF THE SOUL
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Posted:Dec 22, 2017 4:47 am
Last Updated:Jun 14, 2018 6:09 am 11123 Views
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Read: 2 Corinthians 5:14–21
Bible in a Year: Micah 6–7; Revelation 13
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone; the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Long before Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber created the familiar carol “Silent Night,” Angelus Silesius had written:
Lo! in the silent night a to God is born,
And all is brought again that ere was lost or lorn.
Could but thy soul, O man, become a silent night
God would be born in thee and set all things aright.
Jesus, thank You for being born into this dark world so that we might be born again into Your life & light.
Silesius, a Polish monk, published the poem in 1657 in The Cherubic Pilgrim. During our church’s annual Christmas Eve service, the choir sang a beautiful rendition of the song titled “Could but Thy Soul Become a Silent Night.”
The twofold mystery of Christmas is that God became one of us so that we might become one with Him. Jesus suffered everything that was wrong so that we could be made right. That’s why the apostle Paul could write, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone; the new is here! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17–18.
Whether our Christmas is filled with family and friends or empty of all we long for, we know that Jesus came to be born in us.
Ah, would thy heart but be a manger for the birth,
God would once more become a on earth.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being born into this dark world so that we might be born again into Your life and light.
God became one of us so that we might become one with Him.
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HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
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Posted:Dec 21, 2017 3:36 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:28 am 8931 Views
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Read: Genesis 28:10–17
Bible in a Year: Micah 4–5; Revelation 12
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. Genesis 28:15
One year Christmas found me on assignment in a place many of my friends couldn’t locate on a map. Trudging from my worksite back to my room, I braced against the chill wind blowing off the bleak Black Sea. I missed home.
When I arrived at my room, I opened the door to a magical moment. My artistic roommate had completed his latest project—a nineteen-inch ceramic Christmas tree that now illuminated our darkened room with sparkling dots of color. If only for a moment, I was home again!
A Light has entered the world to show us the way home.
As Jacob fled from his brother Esau, he found himself in a strange and lonely place too. Asleep on the hard ground, he met God in a dream. And God promised Jacob a home. “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying,” He told him. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring”
(Gen. 28:13–14).
From Jacob, of course, would come the promised Messiah, the One who left His home to draw us to Himself. “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am,” Jesus told His disciples (John 14:3).
That December night I sat in the darkness of my room and gazed at that Christmas tree. Perhaps inevitably I thought of the Light that entered the world to show us the way home.
Lord, no matter where we are today, we can thank You for preparing a place for us to be with You. And we have the presence of Your Spirit today!
Home is not so much a place on a map, as it is a place to belong. God gives us that place.
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BREAKING THE SILENCE
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Posted:Dec 20, 2017 2:22 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:29 am 6176 Views
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Read: Luke 1:11–17
Bible in a Year: Micah 1–3; Revelation 11
He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17
At the end of the Old Testament, God seems to be in hiding. For four centuries, the Jews wait and wonder. God seems passive, unconcerned, and deaf to their prayers. Only one hope remains: the ancient promise of a Messiah. On that promise the Jews stake everything. And then something momentous happens. The birth of a baby is announced.
You can catch the excitement just by reading the reactions of people in Luke. Events surrounding Jesus’s birth resemble a joy-filled musical. Characters crowd into the scene: a white-haired great uncle (Luke 1:5–25), an astonished virgin (1:26–38, the old prophetess Anna (2:36). Mary herself lets loose with a beautiful hymn (1:46–55). Even Jesus’s unborn cousin kicks for joy inside his mother’s womb (1:41).
Jesus, You are the gift of redemption and hope for us. Thank You.
Luke takes care to make direct connections to Old Testament promises of a Messiah. The angel Gabriel even calls John the Baptist an “Elijah” sent to prepare the way for the Lord (1:17). Clearly, something is brewing on planet Earth. Among the dreary, defeated villagers in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, something good is breaking out.
You have come to us, and we rejoice! Jesus, You are the gift of redemption and hope for us. Thank You.
Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.
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EXTREME MEASURES
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Posted:Dec 19, 2017 5:16 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:29 am 6120 Views
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Read: Luke 19:1–10
Bible in a Year: Jonah 1–4; Revelation 10
The of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
A few years ago, a friend of mine lost track of her young while walking through a swarm of people at Union Station in Chicago. Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience. Frantically, she yelled his name and ran back up the escalator, retracing her steps in an effort to find her little boy. The minutes of separation seemed like hours, until suddenly—thankfully—her emerged from the crowd and ran to the safety of her arms.
Thinking of my friend who would have done anything to find her fills me with a renewed sense of gratitude for the amazing work God did to save us. From the time God’s first image-bearers—Adam and Eve—wandered off in sin, He lamented the loss of fellowship with His people. He went to great lengths to restore the relationship by sending His one and only “to seek and to save the lost”
(Luke 19:10). Without the birth of Jesus, and without His willingness to die to pay the price for our sin and to bring us to God, we would have nothing to celebrate at Christmastime.
Christmas is about God taking extreme measures to reclaim those who were lost.
So this Christmas, let’s be thankful that God took extreme measures by sending Jesus to reclaim our fellowship with Him. Although we once were lost, because of Jesus we have been found!
Heavenly Father, in the midst of all the joy of Christmas, remind me that the true meaning of this season lies in the depth of Your love. Thank You for sending Jesus to reclaim undeserving people like me!
Christmas is about God taking extreme measures to reclaim those who were lost.
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EVERLASTING HOPE
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Posted:Dec 18, 2017 3:27 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:31 am 5902 Views
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Read: Psalm 146
Bible in a Year: Obadiah; Revelation 9
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
Psalm 146:5
The week before Christmas, two months after my mom died, holiday shopping and decorating sat at the bottom of my priority list. I resisted my husband’s attempts to comfort me as I grieved the loss of our family’s faith-filled matriarch. I sulked as our , Xavier, stretched and stapled strands of Christmas lights onto the inside walls of our home. Without a word, he plugged in the cord before he and his dad left for work.
As the colorful bulbs blinked, God gently drew me out of my darkness. No matter how painful the circumstances, my hope remained secure in the light of God’s truth, which always reveals His unchanging character.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:5
Psalm 146 affirms what God reminded me on that difficult morning: My endless “hope is in the Lord,” my helper, my mighty and merciful God (v. 5). As Creator of all, He “remains faithful forever” (v. 6). He “upholds the cause of the oppressed,” protecting us and providing for us (v. 7). “The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down” (v. 8. He “watches over” us, “sustains” us, and will always be King (vv. 9–10).
Sometimes, when Christmas rolls around, our days will overflow with joyful moments. Sometimes, we’ll face loss, experience hurt, or feel alone. But at all times, God promises to be our light in the darkness, offering us tangible help and everlasting hope.
Father God, thanks for inviting us to know and rely on Your unchanging character as the source of our eternal hope.
God secures our hope in His unchanging character.
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BIG WORLD, BIGGER GOD
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Posted:Dec 16, 2017 5:47 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:32 am 6348 Views
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Read: Colossians 1:12–17
Bible in a Year: Amos 4–6; Revelation 7
For by [Jesus] all things were created. Colossians 1:16 nasb
As we drove through northern Michigan, Marlene exclaimed, “It’s unbelievable how big the world is!” She made her comment as we passed a sign marking the 45th parallel—the point halfway between the equator and the North Pole. We talked about how small we are and how vast our world is. Yet, compared to the size of the universe, our tiny planet is only a speck of dust.
If our world is great, and the universe is vastly greater, how big is the One who powerfully created it? The Bible tells us, “For by [Jesus] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him”
(Col. 1:16 nasb).
In our times of struggle, He powerfully offers us His peace.
This is good news because this same Jesus who created the universe is the One who has come to rescue us from our sin for every day and forever. The night before He died, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ).
When facing the large and small challenges of life, we call on the One who made the universe, died and rose again, and won victory over this world’s brokenness. In our times of struggle, He powerfully offers us His peace.
Lord, I’m grateful that You are greater than my mind could ever comprehend. Help me to trust You today.
God’s grace is immeasurable, His mercy inexhaustible, His peace inexpressible.
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MORE THAN A HEROE
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Posted:Dec 15, 2017 4:47 am
Last Updated:Dec 16, 2017 5:47 am 8498 Views
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Read: John 1:1–5, 9–14
Bible in a Year: Amos 1–3; Revelation 6
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only , who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
As Star Wars fans around the world eagerly await the release of Episode 8,
“The Last Jedi,” people continue to analyze the remarkable success of these films dating back to 1977. Frank Pallotta, media reporter for CNNMoney, said that Star Wars connects with many who long for “a new hope and a force of good at a time when the world needs heroes.”
At the time of Jesus’s birth, the people of Israel were oppressed and longing for their long-promised Messiah. Many anticipated a hero to deliver them from Roman tyranny, but Jesus did not come as a political or military hero. Instead, He came as a baby to the town of Bethlehem. As a result, many missed who He was. The apostle John wrote, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).
Lord Jesus, You are our Savior, and we praise You for coming to die that we might live.
More than a hero, Jesus came as our Savior. He was born to bring God’s light into the darkness and to give His life so that everyone who receives Him could be forgiven and freed from the power of sin. John called Him “the one and only , who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (v. 14).
“To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become of God” (v. 12). Indeed, Jesus is the one true hope the world needs.
Lord Jesus, You are our Savior, and we praise You for coming to die that we might live.
At Bethlehem, God demonstrated that to love is to give.
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WITH GOD´S HELP
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Posted:Dec 14, 2017 3:29 am
Last Updated:May 9, 2024 5:24 am 14947 Views
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Read: Joshua 14.7–15
Bible in a Year: Joel 1–3; Revelation 5
So here I am today, y- old! . . . I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Joshua 14:10–11
As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed more joint pain, especially when cold weather hits. Some days, I feel less like a conqueror and more like some conquered by the challenges of becoming a senior citizen.
That’s why my hero is an older man named Caleb—the former spy sent by Moses to out out Canaan, the Promised Land (Num. 13–14). After the other spies gave an unfavorable report, Caleb and Joshua were the only spies out of the twelve whom God favored to enter Canaan. Now, in Joshua 14, the time for Caleb to receive his portion of land had come. But there were enemies still to drive out. Not content to retire and leave the battle to the younger generation, Caleb declared, “You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord ing me, I will drive them out just as he said” (Josh. 14:12).
Father, thank You for giving me the strength to get through each day.
“The Lord ing me.” That’s the kind of mindset that kept Caleb battle-ready. He focused on God’s power, not his own, nor on his advanced age. God would him do whatever needed to be d.
Most of us don’t think of taking on anything monumental when we reach a certain age. But we can still do great things for God, no matter how old we are. When Caleb-sized opportunities come our way, we don’t have to shy away from them. With the Lord ing us, we can conquer!
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me the strength to get through each day. me to do Your will.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
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