Devotions

There is a wonderful question in the Baltimore Catechism that I was taught to memorize as a child. It comes in the section “Why Was I Created,” and the question is, “Why did God make you.”

The response I learned was “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”

“Why was I created” is a most profound question. How we answer it will determine if we live this life with a purpose or if we are blown about on the winds of cultural change.

Our wonderful Creator, the Omniscient, Omnipresent, All Powerful, Infinite Father wants us to know Him and love Him! While we are in this world He wants us to serve Him so that others are led to the salvation He has provided through His Son, Christ Jesus.

There is something every person must learn in this life if they are going to thrive and that is that “the world doesn’t exist to serve us.”

There is something every Christian must learn in this life if they are going to thrive and that is that “God doesn’t exist to serve us.” We exist to know, love, and serve Him.

Recently I had to take my laptop to the Geek Squad for repairs. It was doing some squirrelly things, and the battery would not hold a charge. While waiting for a new battery to arrive from Amazon, they kept the computer to run diagnostics and do any needed repairs.

I didn’t realize that being without the laptop for four days would be so difficult. I depend on the laptop for access to our finances, my health journals, bible studies, concordance, devotions, and a myriad of daily things.

As I thought about my daily dependency on a piece of equipment, I also thought about my daily (maybe moment by moment) dependency on the Holy Spirit in my life.

David wrote Psalm 51 when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba and for arranging the death of her husband. He asks God for mercy, purification, cleansing of sins, forgiveness, and restoration. There is one verse, however, which sounds to me like an expression of deep fear. It is vs 11b, “Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”

I think David knew what he would be without the Spirit of God. I know what I would be without the Spirit of God. I also know that God did not remove His Spirit from David, and I have been promised that He will never remove His Spirit from me. Thank you Father! Amen & Amen

The last thought from Psalm 97 that I have been meditating on is: “May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!” [vs 12 NLT]

Verses 10-12 in this song remind us that those who love the LORD are to hate evil. We are promised that our Father God will rescue and protect (eternally) no matter what we face in this life. And glory(!) we are promised that light and joy will shine on and through those whose hearts are made right through surrendering our lives to Christ Jesus as LORD.

What is our response to knowing those things? Rejoicing and Praising the One Who took us from the realm of darkness and transplanted us into the Kingdom of His Dear Son! [Colossians 1:13 NLT]

Our lives are to be filled with rejoicing! We are to have an attitude of praise no matter what we see with these temporal eyes.

I think of Mary’s response to the news that she would be the mother of the Savior – even thought she had no idea what that would mean or the sorrow that would hold for her, she responded with rejoicing and praise. I want her response to also be mine.

“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”  [Luke 1:46-47 NLT]

The past two days I have been in Psalm 97, verses 10-12. Those three verses contain four thoughts that I have been meditating on. The first is that those who love the LORD are to hate evil; and the second is that God rescues us and promises eternal protection no matter what trials and sorrows we face in this life.

The third thought lifts the soul and spirit! “Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.” [vs 11 NLT]

Light & Joy!

Light: “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.” [Colossians 1:13 NLT]

Joy: “Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord.” [Psalm 40:4 NLT]

The promises of light and joy are for those whose hearts are right. And how do we make our hearts right?

We can’t become godly through our only efforts – but we can see our hearts made right by surrendering our lives to the One who died for us, Jesus the Messiah. Amen & Amen

I’m spending a couple days meditating on four thoughts found in Psalm 97:10-12. Psalm 97 begins with the declaration “The LORD is King!”

Verse 10 reminds us first that “You who love the LORD, hate evil,” and continues “[The LORD] protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.” [NLT]

Repeatedly in the Scriptures we are promised protection and rescue but exactly what does that mean? Does it mean we will never face opposition, never experience difficulties, or always live a trial-free life? What about Christians that are persecuted or martyred? And did not Jesus Himself promise that “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” [John 16:33 NLT]

Those kinds of questions have existed for millennia.

Jesus said, “you will,” not “you might” have many trials and sorrows. But He also promised that He “told you all this so that you may have peace in me,” and that we can take heart because He has “overcome the world.”

Whatever we may face, whatever trials and sorrows, opposition or even persecution we may face in this world, we have the promise of eternal protection and rescue. We are going to a place where wickedness and evil will have no entrance. Amen & Amen

A recent daily verse took me to Psalm 97. That song begins simply, “The LORD is King!” [NLT]

What follows immediately are the reactions to that declaration by the earth and the heavens, the godly and the ungodly. It concludes in verse 9 with “For you, O Lord, are supreme over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” [NLT]

But this morning it was the three verses that follow that conclusion that ministered to my heart. There are four thoughts in those three verses that I want to meditate on in the next few days. Verse 10 begins with the first, “You who love the Lord, hate evil!” Proverbs 8:13 reiterates that thought, “All who fear the Lord will hate evil.”

This world is full of evil; wickedness is found everywhere. No nation, no people are immune, no matter how “civilized.” Evil is the manifestation of the devil’s hatred of God. It is the release of the wickedness of hearts living apart from God.

We are to hate it.  And that hatred is more than a feeling. It means we seek to spread the goodness of the Gospel of Christ Jesus everywhere … because it is only the Good Gospel of Salvation that has the power to overcome evil.

“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” [Romans 12:21]

What a weekend of sports. The 2026 Winter Olympics began. The wild PGA Phoenix Open took place. And then there was that Super Bowl. It was a weekend of winners and losers, successes and failures. All of which brought to mind that verse in 1Corinthians 15 (the Resurrection Chapter) …

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” [vs 57 HCSB]

The NLT translates it this way … “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sin and its penalty death have plagued mankind since the Garden of Eden. The fear of death (Thanatophobia) is identified as the most profound fear. It is universal. The unknown aspects of death raise it above all others.

But those who have surrendered their lives to Christ Jesus (the Living One Who died but is alive forever and ever and the One Who holds the keys of death and the grave [Rev 1:18]), can thank God for the victory given to them over sin and death.

That victory is an eternal one that can never be taken away! Amen & Amen

I had the privilege of bringing the team devotion yesterday at church. I brought a very simple reminder of what I have found to be the three most important things we must experience as Christians.

Number One: Jesus Loves Me! ME! With all my faults and failures Jesus Loves Me. When I don’t get it right. Jesus Loves Me. I may please or displease Him, but I will never have the power to change His love for me. (Colossians 3:12: “God chose you to be the holy people he loves.”)

Number Two: I am a “Child of God.” There is no title man can bestow on me, no title I might earn that is greater than the one God bestowed. I am a “Child of God.” (1 John 3:1: “Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children.)

Number Three: God’s Grace Wins! No matter what I might face in this life, Grace Wins. No matter that my mind might fade and my body fail, Grace Wins.  (2Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”)

These are the things that I seek to live in every day of my life. I find in their simplicity that they are so deep and so vital to remember.

The brain is a wacky, wonderful thing. I try to listen to my Christian playlist before going to bed, otherwise my brain will dreg up some goofy song from a commercial to sing all night. The last song I listened to last night was “I Surrender All.” I hoped its beautiful words would resonate in my spirit all night.

“All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him, I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him. In his presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”

My brain didn’t sing at all last night. Instead, I realized in that twilight sleep just before awakening, I was trying to remember all nine of the “Fruit of the Spirit.”  I got to eight and could feel myself fussing about that last one. (I missed “faith/faithfulness.”)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.” [Galatians 5:22-23 HCSB]

When I was finally awake, I realized that the Holy Spirit within me did something amazing. He connected the song I was singing before bed, “I Surrender All,” to the “Fruit of the Spirit.”

Somehow even in my sleep I realized you aren’t going to produce the “fruit” apart from the “surrender.” Amen & Amen

There is a song titled, “I Will Trust in You,” written by Lauren Daigle, Paul Marbury, Michael Farren. The song talks about how we stay strong when God doesn’t move the mountains or part the sea or give us the kind of answers we expect or want.

How do we handle trudging over that mountain? How do we continue when we have to walk through the floods? What kind of heart attitude must we bear when the answers to our prayers don’t rescue us from situations, illnesses, or circumstances of life?

The song says that it is then we must trust. “I will trust, I will trust in You.”

That’s not a new thought. David during trouble said, “I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.” [Psalm 31:14-15 NIV]

Jesus told us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” [John 14:1 NIV]

We commit our spiritual well-being to God. No matter what we see with our natural eye. No matter what we must go through, endure, or overcome in this life, our belief in God and in His Christ holds us steady.

The mountains may loom, but God will give us hinds-feet for high places. The sea may seem to overwhelm, but Jesus can quiet our soul just as He quieted the sea of Galilee. And the answers to our prayers may be different than expected, but He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

I WILL trust, I CAN trust, in Him.