Devotions

Good News. Jesus loves me. Say that out loud with me with the emphasis on the “me.”  Jesus loves ME! Some of us learned to sing Jesus love me this I know when we were children. Perhaps we sung it to our children when they were small. Chris Tomlin wrote a modern version of it … Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, He is for me. Jesus, how can it be, He loves me, He is for me. 

That, church, is the Good News we must share with the world. I can’t explain how it can be, but I know that Jesus loves me and is for me. That knowledge allows me to face each day with hope. It enables me to be like the prophet Habakkuk … to have strength and the feet of deer to climb the mountains in front of me. And yes, there are still mountains for this old lady to climb. [Hab 3:19]

I was thinking recently of my friend Nella who has gone to be with the Lord. Just a few years younger than my own mother, Nella came into my life when I was in my early 30’s. Nella was a wonderful mom and she modeled that before me for many, many years. My own mother with her mental illness was unable to do that, but God gave me Nella. I learned from her.

Nella was over 6-feet tall, but as she aged her back curved, and she became very bent over. Still her smile never left. She would say (or eventually email when I moved to Idaho), “Sweetie, growing old ain’t for sissies.”

No, it certainly is not. Mountains. We all have mountains to climb. But Jesus loves me and is for me. He will give me strength and the feet of deer to conquer every mountain in front of me.

Good News.  Are you yearning for some good news?  I find the negativity of the press and social media, world and national events, politics and sports pulling me into thought patterns that seek to depress and steal my joy. I was reading posts on Facebook and online news and before I was done, I was agitated and ready to whack the next person that looked at me wrong.

I say that knowing that I’m a pretty positive personality. I trust God, know He is on the throne, know He loves me, and know that I have the promise of my Savior that “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  [John 16:33 NLT]

 As I find my soul touched by all this, I wonder what it must be like for someone who is not a positive personality, or someone who does not know God is on the throne, or someone who does not trust Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. What must it be like to think that this life is all there is? What must it be like to think that everything is out of control and nothing they do will matter?

Oh Church! It is so vital that we don’t allow the world to shape our thoughts or influence our souls. It is so vital that we communicate that God is on the throne and in control, and that there is hope and faith and joy and love in His Son! We must share our Good News; after all, we are the only ones that have any!

Someone once told me that I needed to act on something before God would move on my behalf, then accompanied this advice with ‘proof’ … “after all, Moses had to put his foot in the water before God parted the Red Sea.”  Huh?

I’d like to say that was the only time I ever heard that, but it wasn’t. I’ve heard it many times. The only problem with it is that Moses didn’t put his foot in the water. God told Moses to “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water.”  [Ex 14:16]

When Moses did that a wind blew all night and parted the Red Sea and Israel went through on dry land.

But there were others who did have to put their feet in the water. The priests carrying the Ark had to put their feet in the Jordan River as the Israelites crossed over to the Promised Land. God told Joshua to “Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’” [Josh 3:8 NLT]

When they did that the Jordan River divided, and the people went up out of the river into their inheritance.

Sometimes God does move before we ever get to the river. Sometimes we do have to get our feet wet before we see the evidence of the Lord moving on our behalf. Either way, we’re going across into the promises of our God.

Philippians 3:10, …  ^“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.”

The power OF His resurrection. Paul did not say the power IN His resurrection, which would have been specifically the power of the one-time event of that first Resurrection Day.  Instead, he says OF His resurrection – that on-going power of the day-to-day experience of being in Christ.

Power here is “dunamis,” miraculous power, often translated as ability, abundance, meaning, might, miracles, power, strength, mighty (wonderful) work.

Paul desired to know Christ AND the power OF His resurrection. We can know right now the effectiveness of His resurrection and walk in newness of life. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the atonement to our experience. The more we know Christ, the greater our relationship to, with, and in Him, the greater the power.

Am I seeking that power OF … am I seeking daily that deeper relationship to Christ… am I walking each day, or even expecting to walk each day in that power OF … do I recognize it? On this day after Resurrection Sunday 2025 I once again ask: Where is the “dunamis” power of His resurrection in my life?

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Hallelujah!

Sunday’s Here! Risen With Him! Every Day!

Amen & Amen

I often think of the day between the cross and the empty tomb as “Silent Saturday,” a day of great sorrow.

Luke reports in Chapter 23 about the trial, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus. Towards the end of that chapter is a verse that defines the atmosphere following the death of Jesus. “And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow [beating their breasts].” [Luke 23:48 NLT]

Hope was gone, replaced with a stunned bleakness. The anticipation of great victory gave way to misery and defeat. The only sound to be heard was weeping and anguish.

They could not even imagine what was happening on the other side of the veil. They could not hear Satan’s cries as he was vanquished, the keys of death and the grave ripped from his hands. They could not hear the cries of the imprisoned rejoicing in freedom as the gates of hell and the grave were being opened. They could not hear the angels’ song of victory as they saw God’s Son awakening.

They could not know – yet – that “Death is swallowed up in victory.” That it has lost its sting forevermore!

But they would soon. Sunday’s Coming.

Nothing’s free. How often have we heard that if something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is. The world often tries to seduce us into buying something that will cost us far more than originally thought.

That’s true of this world, nothing is freely given. That’s NOT true of our Father God!

“In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” [Ephesians 1:4-7 NIV]

We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God; but He, by the grace He FREELY GIVES, makes us accepted in Christ. This is our eternal position which will never change. Because of God’s grace in Christ, we are accepted before Him.

When Paul wrote to Philemon to encourage him to accept his runaway slave, Onesimus, he used the same argument. “If he owes you anything, I will pay it. Receive him as you would receive me”

Grace freely given.  Accepted in the Beloved (God’s Son, Jesus the Christ). Every time I struggle with something, God reminds me, GRACE FREELY GIVEN, GRACE FREELY GIVEN, GRACE FREELY GIVEN!

It’s all about grace, grace, grace.  The mountains in our lives are not going to be removed with our small shovels of human effort.  They are going to be removed because of GRACE FREELY GIVEN at the Cross.

“And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ …” [Ephesians 1:9 NIV]

Ooo … a mystery!  The word mystery here has nothing to do with things eerie or the junk novels that are so much a part of our culture. It means a “sacred secret, once hidden but now revealed to God’s people.”

We believers can share in a secret, the secret that God will one day unite everything in Christ.

Ever since sin came into the world, things have been falling apart. First, man was separated from God, then from each other. God scattered us across the globe and gave us different languages.  God even set a difference between Jew and Gentile when He called Abraham and made a covenant with him.

It stayed that way until the cross, when we became reconciled to God, and to each other.  In Christ, that wall of differences between Jew and Gentile was erased – now both stand even, accepted by faith, or rejected through lack of it.

Sin tears everything apart.  But God, in Christ, brings it all back together – that’s the best mystery of all!

Some things never get old. A baby’s laugh. Spring flowers. Autumn trees. Fresh snow. Holding hands.

Some things never get old. No matter how many times I read Ephesians 2:8, no matter which translation I read, the marvels of that verse never get old.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” [NKJV]

I never tire of reading of God’s gift of grace. It never loses its wonder. We have been saved by God’s gift of grace. We do not merit salvation. We do not earn it. We were God’s enemies. And then God said, “here’s a gift for you, purchased with the life’s blood of my Precious Son. A gift of grace to become my child.”

During this season, my thoughts turn to the cross. There were many people around the cross, watching Jesus die. Some wept. Some reviled. God reminded me once to not be so sure I would have been among the weepers.

I know my sin. I know my shame. And now I know God’s gift of grace … I am a sinner saved by grace. How amazing is that!

Ever noticed how many books are written, how many songs are sung, how many stories are told about “love.” This country has an entire day devoted to “romantic love” (Valentine’s Day). There is a cable channel that is devoted to love movies (Hallmark). One of the angsts of life is finding someone to love who loves us back.

It’s been proven that babies thrive on love and suffer in its absence. And it’s not just babies who thrive on love. Ever spend time in a home for the elderly where there is only cold sterile assistance? I remember going to a convalescent home as part of a group that ministered with music, the Word, and lots of hugs … and the joy on the faces of those we ministered to was evident.

We need the touch of other people. We need to love and be loved by others in this life. But I venture to say that we need the love of God more than any other love.  ^“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins.” [1 John 4:10 NKJV]

“In this is love.” It is not my flawed, feeble love of God where the greatest love is found, it is His marvelous, awesome, unconditional, never ending, reckless love that sets the standard for love. He loved us when we were enemies. He loved us while we were shaking our fists and shouting “we will not have this God rule us!” He gave His most precious Son to die for us – to bring us back to Him.

“In this is [truly] love.”