Devotion.al

Category: Devotional

All the devotionals written by Ian.

  • Put Ahead

    Psalm 150, Mark 11:23-25, James 3:11-4:6

    “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. HALLELUJAH!”

    Psalm 150:6 (NIV)

    “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”

    Mark 11:25 (NIV)

    “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”

    James 3:16 (NIV)

    Without question, Psalm 150 is a song of praise and adoration, and it is often best to start with adoration. Some people have been taught to use during was ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. Adoration, though is often too easy, and we skip to supplication, because confession and thanksgiving are harder. Confession is probably the hardest.

    In Mark and James, and James (respectively) about putting ourselves above , especially when it comes to prayer. Praying for others, especially those with whom we are in conflict, is essential to a functional framily.

    Jesus ties forgiving others into our own forgiveness. This serves as a litmus test of sorts. You see, when we have fully accepted, embraced, and embodied the of forgiveness we’ve received through the cross, we are able to forgive others, and that can be very difficult. When we don’t forgive others, can we really say in hearts that we are forgiven? Forgiveness isn’t about those who hurt us, it is about us.

    James address a different, but similar issue in his letter. Envy and selfish ambition are signs of a heart that puts itself first, and not God, and certainly not others. In a framily, putting oneself ahead of others breaks the essential bond of framily.

    1) In your own words, why is forgiveness essential?

    2) Why do envy and selfish ambition create disorder?

    3) Agape is self-sacrificing love. How is agape love fulfilled in forgiveness, and the lack of envy and selfish ambition?

    KD) Supplication is a that means ask for something. Why is that last in the order of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication?

  • Stones Alive

    Psalm 148, Acts 7:37-53, Hebrews 2:9-13

    …[‘] followers began to shout and sing…” on the King who comes in the of the Lord! in heaven, and in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” [Jesus] replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (Luke 19:37-40, NLT)

    All of Creation knew and knows the Creator (Psalm 148). Jesus’ walk upon the earth was even transformational for the non- aspects of Creation. Creation has its own part to fulfill, and that was to second what humanity was crying out. In the law, a testimony wasn’t true without at least two witnesses. As a whole, Jesus’ followers were witnesses, and Creation wasn’t going to be silent either!

    In the story of Israel, piles of stones or a single large stone were physical memorials (i.e., witnesses) of what God had done. When Jesus says the stones would cry out it was reminiscent of the stones of .

    Stephen (Acts 7:37-53) reminds the Jews of what God had done, sending witnesses (prophets) to remind them of who God is. While they were alive, sometimes the Israelites would listen, but after they died, their hearts were dead stone. In other words, their hearts of stone were unable to proclaim God’s glory, unlike the stones that were on the road that Jesus walked.

    Jesus, who for a time was slightly lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9), brought the world to , so that Creation (that man too often thinks of as mute) wanted to sing out the of the world.

    • 1/KD) What would you do if a stone started singing (or shouting), “Great is the Lord!”?
    • 2) Does thinking that all of Creation celebrates redemption through Christ how you celebrate?
    • 3) What symbols (e.g., stones) do you use/have that remind you of God’s faithfulness and love?
  • Through the Hurt

    Through the Hurt

    Psalm 97, Hebrews 1:1-2:9, Galatians 4:4-7

    During this Day, in the midst of gift-giving, family, loneliness, heartache, healing, hurting…look to God.

    Two holidays often are the most bittersweet, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The of (Thanksgiving) and celebration of the Savior (Christmas) can get confused with family struggles, financial struggles and family losses. These two gatherings will often stir up our deepest emotions, both good and bad. It can make the holidays some of the most stressful of the year.

    It’s okay. Joseph and Mary were expecting their first child. The mysterious and amazing circumstances only heightened that expectation. They had to travel in the midst of that. The stress of bearing the probable condemnation of their families, plus the confrontation with the Roman authorities (they were traveling to be counted and taxed) would have strained their joyful expectation.

    If you are questioning how could a person be stressed during this time…GIVE !

    If you are questioning your value or faith or walk, because you are stressed during this time, give yourself a break. The mother and earthly of God were stressed, too. You are not alone.

    Stressed or not, Christmas is time to be present. Spend time with one another. If you know someone is alone, invite them. If you are alone, it’s okay to to come and visit. This day is for Framily.

    Heavenly Father, continually make us glad and joyful in this remembrance of the birth of your only Son, Jesus Christ. As we receive His , help us receive him as our Redeemer. Help us, through the Holy Spirit, be assured of our salvation and with you. May your love through Holy Spirit help us look forward to the earthly of our Messiah. Give us confidence to bear your into the world. This we pray in the grace and love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

    May you have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!

  • Wait For It

    Wait For It

    Micah 5:2-4; Psalm 96; Luke 2:1-20

    The beauty and mystery of God’s comes alive when it comes to Jesus. Much of the prophecy that surrounds Jesus is in the middle of statements that on their own may have seemed insignificant. However, when so many words and phrases, seemingly disconnected, are by the coming, life and of one person, one cannot help but take notice.

    We think of Bethlehem as significant. For Christians, it is. For the Jews, it was a backwater. Yet, God set it down in his word as the origin point of the great of Israel. From a human perspective, it seems that God is rewriting what was written. The reality is that mankind cannot comprehend the depth of God. Only as scripture was revealed through Christ could people have a “duh” moment.

    On Christmas Eve, there is a old song being sung, but with a new meaning. to God in the Highest!

    God came down. God came down here. God power, might, glory, , and became a baby born where animals lived. Just as Bethlehem was looked down upon, where Jesus was born was looked down upon, as an outcast. There was no room for them.

    In our Western culture, too many people are concerned about dates of such and such event. The date? That is a point in time. Perhaps we ought to look to those not of Western culture where the event (the presence), not the time (or date), takes precedence. GOD CAME DOWN! God came down where God promised! The world has become concerned about time and date, for then we can be distracted from the event.

    On this day, can you sit and just wait? Are you able to not look at your watch (or phone)?

    The Jews waited centuries for their Messiah. The event, the , of the Messiah was what they waited for. . Advent and especially Christmas Eve are all about expectation. Expecting the Messiah.

    1) Are you actually expecting the Messiah? Have you replaced expectation of the Messiah with expectation for gifts or food?

    2) With the first Christmas in the past, why is important to wait expectantly for Christmas now?

    3) If the Messiah were to come tomorrow, would you be looking for him?

    KD) Why did God decide to start life as a baby? What does that say about God?

  • Pieces of Love

    Pieces of Love

    Isaiah 52:13-53:12, John 15:7-21, Luke 1:68-79

    This passage in Isaiah does not use the love. In fact, it sounds that God is cruel.

    This passage does not use the word love. It preaches and lives it from its very core.

    How? Through Jesus. Only through Jesus was such a horrific event transformed from terror-inducing to life-. Only God can take something soaked in and turn it into something that produces life, and only through the very being of God’s self: the second person of the Trinity, Jesus.

    Jesus’ words to his disciples were just words. It’s not that they didn’t think Jesus’ words were unimportant, but they were lacking the understanding of how deep their meaning was. As we quickly approach Christmas, we should hold in our hearts and minds, as we celebrate the gentle, warm and easy baby in a manger, that Good Friday and Easter are coming. A simple child will the world.

    Zechariah’s prophecy for his , John, was both filled with of and fear for his son. Such a prophecy means that his son would expect a life of hardship and opposition. Prophets are often unloved by those that God sent them to. A ‘s joy of birth, overshadowed by what was to come. God the Father, and all the Heaven’s, filled with joy of the coming birth of the Messiah, yet that simple life-giving act was known to not be the act of salvation, but merely the starting point of salvation fulfilled by the cross.

    When we speak of Christian love, it is a hard love. This is not the soft and gentle love that the world wants, but the love the puts other ahead of self, and the lower above the higher. Jesus shows us what godly love is, and we struggle to do it. We often think of it as easy, but it violates the world’s love, and the world will do anything to oppose it.

    Christmas is love in . Christmas is the celebration of a loving act, by a loving God, fulfilled by a loving God, to back to love a world filled with fear, anxiety, prejudice and hatred.

    Most parents have learned a of love. Having a child is having part of your heart forever outside of yourself. Imagine how God feels. Billions of pieces of God’s heart are walking on this planet right now.

    1) What are your thoughts about being “a piece of God’s heart”?

    2) Often when following God, we have to release those we love to Him. If you’ve done that, how does it feel? If you haven’t, can you imagine what it feels like?

  • Flourishing Love

    Flourishing Love

    Psalm 36, Psalm 42, Psalm 52

    We see people all around us who do not believe in God. There are those who know of God, but do not have a with God. There are those whose relationship with God has been confused by the world or others. There are those who knew God, and for many reasons walked away. God loves them all.

    In Psalm 36:5 we read, “…your love reaches to heaven…” A love that reaches to the heavens does not abandon those not now in the fold of God. Also, God is faithful, and remains true to himself. The love of God is always there, even for those in full opposition to God. God’s love is faithful.

    In the midst of heartache, the Psalmist of Psalm 42 notes that God continually sends his faithful love (v. 8). This in God flows from the Psalmist’s recognition that he thirsts for the living God (v. 2). In many respects this is a key to understanding those inside the fold and those outside the fold of God. Searching and aching (or thirsting) for God is no weakness. It is recognition that we are not the masters of our domain, as we like to think. It is a realization that our pride is nothing in comparison to the glory and holiness of God.

    This is when we become the flourishing (not just surviving) olive tree in the house of God (Psalm 52:8). The flourishment is trusting in God’s eternally faithful love. This love praises God through and sun, through good times and bad, as it is not based upon situations, but a relationship with God.

    This understanding of flourishing helps us when we to Psalm 42:8. “…[God’s] song will be with me in the night…” When we understand that night (lack of ) represents and/or evil, we see that the Psalmist is not speaking/singing during a time of joy and , but from the depths of . Yet, the Psalmist’s joy is based upon God, therefore it is a firm foundation.

    1) Why do you think flourishing is tied to God’s faithful love?

    2) Much of what we strive for is just for survival. How do we often confuse that with what we need to flourish?

    3/KD) There are many people near and far who are protecting us. Those in the Armed Services are away from their families, often in foreign countries. Police, and EMTs are nearby. We don’t see them much of the time, unless 1 or 2 are family or friends. We trust them to protect us and we don’t know most of them. We can know (or do know) God, who we cannot see. Yet, we seem to often not trust God to help us flourish. Both are remote and/or invisible. Why is it often easier for people to trust the military and first responders and not God?

  • Embracing Difference

    Embracing Difference

    Genesis 29:18-35, Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Psalm 5

    Jacob found himself in a strange situation. The wife he thought he had spent 7 years of his to earn the right to marry was not the one his -in-law had presented to him. Laban set up a dysfunctional marriage (two, actually) by doing this. The sisters would be competing for their husband’s affections. Children became trophies over the other sister. Yet, God chose these children born in a of broken to become (eventually) the leaders of a tribe that changed the world.

    All of us have experiences of family brokenness, whether it was our immediate family, extended family, spouse’s family, the family of a friend, or the family that we have in the . Sadly, the majority of relationships involve brokenness, whether ours or someone else’s.

    In the midst of his last commission to the Israelites, Moses brings in two forms of brokenness. The first is in the form of family: fatherless and widowed. This truly would be a of familial brokenness, as there were no family to take care of: children with no parents, and widows with no children. In a culture that valued family, and relied upon family to function, this was catastrophic. The orphaned and widowed could be viewed as cursed. Being so alone without family was inconceivable. Then Moses goes a step further and brings in the . This person, whether by war, slavery, abandonment, fleeing, was not only not with family, they were among people of completely different families.

    The orphan, the widow and the foreigner were the ultimate example of broken family connections, as they had none. Even today, we avoid those that are different than we are. There is something in the case of orphaned, widowed and foreigner (even in the U.S., a country of immigrants) that triggers some of our deepest fears and insecurities.

    Moses calls on the Israelites to them anyways. As we are called through the love of God, we are also called to live this life of love.

    1) How can we show love to ?

    2) Orphaned, widowed and foreigner are relational terms. Think beyond their immediate definition. For example, the foreigner may be the new person in the neighborhood, at work or at church. Who are the orphaned, widowed and foreigner that God has placed in your lives?

    3) Why do we often get so obsessed with the differences between ourselves and others, rather than focus on the similarities?

    KD) How do welcome and love people different from you?

  • Joy in Redemption

    Joy in Redemption

    Genesis 25:25-34, Exodus 15:12-18, Psalm 23

    The life of Isaac and Jacob—the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel—is not ideal. Favoritism of love is shown. Despising of family and property is displayed through hunger. This is not a family form to follow. God’s often shows that the people that God chose to carry his and blessing weren’t perfect. In fact, some of them seem to have very few redeeming qualities. In other words, God chose to carry his name and blessing through people just like us.

    Moses’ exultation of God in Exodus can seem overbearing toward people who don’t follow God. The entire purpose of that overbearingness is to show God’s and glory through a people despised and rejected. In fact, this is an echo of the passage in Genesis, for some of the people who are opposing of the Israelites return (coming into their inheritance) are the descendants of Esau who despised his inheritance. God leads and loves those on the outside.

    Psalm 23 is probably the best-known Psalm, even outside of and Jewish circles. In it, God’s care of his people is first presented in the role of a shepherd. As the shepherd, God makes the sheep lie down and rest. When the shepherd (God) does lead the sheep, they are so confident and in God, that they followed through and .

    The Psalm then transforms from sheep to a person for whom the table is set. In other words, the sheep has now become the guest. That is not a small transformation, to go from stubborn (won’t rest), to following (through fear and ), to guest.

    1) The family in Genesis is not great. How are the relationships shown between people: Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, Jacob? Think of how scripture shows and doesn’t show those relationships.

    2) is one of the biggest ways God shows his love. How is redemption shown in each of today’s passages?

    3) What imagery attracts you most in Psalm 23? What do you think that shows you about a need in your life that should be filled by God, rather than the world?

    KD) Why do you think that God uses the image of sheep when he talks about his people?