THANKFUL

Friday, August 13, 2021

 “Lord, I want to be a more devoted Christ-follower, so please increase my faith.” I had no idea that was such a dangerous prayer! Why couldn’t You to just say, “Here, take this increased faith!” No, You don’t work that way. Increased faith involves pain. Lord, Your ultimate purpose for me is the increased faith suffering produces in me. Reading Romans and James looking for encouragement, both James and Paul said the same: “Got pain? Let’s party!” (Romans 5; James 1) My first thought — “Are you kidding me?” I calmed down as they expounded on their theology. Suffering has a higher purpose for the Christ-follower than for the unbeliever. Increased faith comes in stages, First, suffering produces perseverance. With You, God, I can make it through this crisis. Perseverance builds character. God comforted me and gave me abundant grace to endure the suffering. He gave me a strength I had not known.  Character produces hope. How can I be disappointed by putting my hope in God’s Word? The Lord brought me through my darkest hours. He is true to His Word. Hope in the message of the Gospel, that we can have a personal relationship with God and eternal life through Jesus, develops spiritual maturity and increased faith.

Lord, may I live “dangerously” and be willing to pray for increased faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Lord, fear dominate the news. Headlines predict calamity and doom. You can feel the anxiety in the air. For many, hope is slipping away. For those who don’t know You, the uncertainty of the future can be frightening.  Your followers face the same issues, yet we don’t have to live in fear. Your wisdom encourages us: “All who listen to Me will live in peace, untroubled by the fear of harm” (Proverbs 1:33). We won’t be exempt from disasters in this fallen world, but Your grace will give us the freedom from fear of sudden disaster (Proverbs 3:25). When God’s people face uncertainty, You promised, “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you . . . You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. Between a rock and a hard place? it won’t be a dead end— I am God, your personal God, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you . . .” (Isaiah 43:1-2 MSG) Child of God,—relax, God has this!

Living free of fear of the unknown since my personal God, the Lord God who redeemed me, holds my future. Amen.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Lord, help my unbelief. I struggle at times to believe You work all our circumstances for my good and Your glory as recorded in Romans 8:28. In this broken world, unexpected life crises happen to everyone, good or bad. No exceptions. As a Christ-follower, my default should be to seek You first in uncomfortable situations. Sadly, I don’t always do that. I’ve found out the hard way, without Your help, I can really make these quandaries worse. Unbelief causes me to see circumstances through my flawed-human eyes. Faith causes me to see things through Your eyes. Oh, Lord, increase my faith—give me Your eyes! You know my pain. Don’t let what I’m going through be in vain, but teach me how to use this pain to minister comfort to those suffering just as Your Spirit has comforted me (2 Corinthians 1:4). As we wait in faith and speak what You say concerning our circumstances, in due time we will see how You work all things for our good.

Thankful You are working on my behalf even when I can’t see You, Lord. Amen.

Monday, August 09, 2021

Lord, when I laid helpless in the hospital with covid not knowing if my next breath would be my last, You heard our many prayers and showed mercy, restoring my health. You have been faithful all along this road to recovery. So yesterday as we sang “It’s Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise . . .” I clearly heard Your message to me: “My child, it is My breath in your lungs.” Lord, If the breath in my lungs is not mine but belongs to You, then my attitude cannot remain the same. If Your breath is in my lungs, how can I ever complain again? If Your breath fills my lungs, how dare I judge others without knowing their hearts? Pointing a finger at someone’s flaw—what about the log in my eye? How it must break Your heart to hear me berate and criticize another one of Your children, one of my fellow Christ-followers, who is like me, created in Your image. Or worse yet, slam someone who is watching me and in their heart is seeking You, Forgive me, Lord.” Help me from fulfilling James 3:3-12. And I give You permission to slap a muzzle on my mouth to keep me from being reckless, carrying out Your warning in verses nine and ten: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. My brothers, this should not be.”

Lord, may I use Your breath to bless others and share the Good News with the world. Thank You Jesus, amen.

Lord, You are trustworthy. You are who You say You are—the Great I Am. You say, “I Am your Savior. Trust Me. I Am the one who paid for your sins.” All who have trusted Your sacrifice on the cross know the grace of Your forgiveness. You say, “I Am your Restorer.” You restore to Your followers what the devil destroyed. You say, “I Am your Healer.” You heal us in body, soul, spirit, emotions, memories. You say, I Am your Peace.” Your peace is inexplainable when the world around us is falling apart. You say, “I Am your Provider.” You continue to supply our needs. You say, “I Am your Strength in your weakness.” You give us courage and abilities beyond us. You say, “I Am your Comforter.” You comfort us in our darkness hours with a comfort that human words cannot describe. And You say, “When your time comes to cross the Jordan, my angels will carry you for I Am waiting for you with open arms. Your are the Great I Am for whatever we face.

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Lord, Your servant and my buddy Jimmy Vanderberg gave a powerful devotional about how You never said, “I will love you [if]. . . you love Me in return” Lord God, You do not just love—You are Love (1 John 4:16). To put this truth in contemporary words, You declare, “I will love you even if you . . . do not love Me in return!” Put still another way, God loves us regardless, but He doesn’t approve our ungodly, sinful behaviors. Our sins separate us from God.  For Christ-followers, our lingering sins hurt our relationship with our heavenly Father. The apostle Paul clarified this issue when he wrote, “But God proves His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” to pay for our sins, those ungodly, sinful behaviors (Romans 5:8). God loved us even when we did not love Him or thought we had a need of Him. God is Love. Thank You Lord.

Your boundless, even reckless love, draws us to You in repentance, Lord, Amen.

Monday, August 2, 2021

Lord, help us tell our story to give hope to those seeking meaning and purpose. So many today feel like their lives are just ebbing away, every day the same mundane existence. Christ-followers are not perfect, but because of Your grace, we are different people, which makes us stand out from the herd. Holy Spirit, use our behavior to cause people to ask about our lifestyle and demeanor. And when You open the door, empower us to tell all who will listen how You changed our lives and made us a new person (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is the Gospel, what You have done for us. Help us make clear what You did, Jesus, how You came to save the lost—that would be me and you! (John 3:16, Luke 19:10). We may not know all the theological answers, or have the education of the religious elite, but we have one strong stance. We know how Jesus saved and changed us, like the disciples are described in Acts 4:13. Nothing can change that.

Lord, we want to share with the world what You have done for us. Jesus, You are our Savior. Amen.

Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

“Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,”— Psalm 107:2

Lord, our redemption from our sin nature to becoming a child of the Lord Most High was completely unmerited. Without Your grace, we were helpless to save ourselves. So, with a grateful and humble heart, we must tell our story of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. If not only for the sake of those who are seeking You and needing a new lease on life, but for us as well. Recalling Your goodness in changing our lives increases our faith and we love You more. Your Word says in Psalm 107 You “redeemed us from the hand of the foe.” Because we are born with a sin nature, we all are captive to our foe, the enemy of our soul, the devil. When our spiritual eyes were opened and we saw that Satan owned us, we cried out to You. But our heavenly Father put His plan for our redemption through Jesus in motion before we were conceived in our mother’s womb. Christ’s shed blood on the cross gave us forgiveness of our sins and snatched us from the hand of our foe (Hebrews 9:22). How can we not give thanks to the Lord? He is Love. He is good. He is kind. He is merciful. He saves all who call upon him (Romans 10:13). Additionally, telling our story of redemption annoys the devil!

Love telling my story of Christ who saved me. Amen.

Monday, July 26, 2021

Lord, we give You thanks, for You are good. Your love never runs out; it endures forever! Because of Your great love, how can we, the redeemed—Your redeemed— remain silent (Psalm 107:2). You plucked us out of Satan’s kingdom of darkness and planted us firmly in Your kingdom of Light. How cool is that! In addition, You gave each of Your followers a beautiful story of love, redemption and purpose to share.  Psalm 107 describes Your goodness and mercy to all who call on You out of their distress. You delivered some imprisoned by harmful habits they couldn’t break. Others have stories how You rescued them from the horrors of destructive addictions that controlled their lives. Many were rebellious and anti-God, having no need of Your forgiveness, choosing to walk their own paths of destruction until they encountered You on their Damascus road.  Sadly, a vast multitude followed the misguided theology of salvation by works. They were moral people who trusted in their self-righteous goodness to save them, but they were lost.  Lord, regardless how Your Spirit reached us, we are all redeemed sinners, saved only by Your grace. And to seal us permanently in Your kingdom, You gave Your Holy Spirit to live within us as a deposit on our eternal inheritance (Ephesians 1:14).

In the coming days, give us a new passion as we’ve never known before, and show us how to tell our stories to a world looking for answers. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

Friday, July 23, 2021

Lord, today may I bless others as You have blessed me in many divine ways. In Your sovereignty, You are more interested in my spiritual well-being and making me like Jesus than blessing me with houses, cars, and frills that only make others envious (Ephesians 1:3). From Your throne in Heaven, You pour out every spiritual gift on me through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are spiritual blessing that identify me as a Christ-follower in Your kingdom. Who can argue these are not from You? Once we have identified with You, Lord, people watch us just like they closely watched You. Some who are seeking You watch us and ask questions what makes us different. Others with a self-righteous, pharisaical attitude watch, waiting for a chance to accuse us of hypocrisy. May we live these virtues regardless how people view us. Help us employ our spiritual gifts to bless other, especially those that doubt who You are.

Living the spiritual gifts before the world to show who You are, Lord Jesus. Amen.