More & More Devotionals

Our devotion this week, Dangerous Prayers, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Life.Church. For more information, please visit: https://www.life.church/

Show Me What I’m Afraid Of

Yesterday we asked God to search us, reveal the hidden things in our lives, and help us to get rid of them. Usually when we think of God revealing sin, we think of things like sexual immorality, lies, and gossip. These are definitely sins God wants to bring to the light. However, there is often darkness in us that’s even better at hiding.

Is there anything you keep avoiding? Is there a certain responsibility, level of relationship, or step of faith you always run from? You may be experiencing fear. What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. Does every single conflict with your spouse freak you out? Maybe you need to learn to trust God with your marriage. Are you a helicopter-parent constantly hovering over your children? Maybe you fear their failure, separation, or death. Do you fully trust God as your protector? Do finances cause you endless anxiety? Do you really trust God as your provider? We all have some hidden fear and trust issues.

Fear tries to call God powerless. It says, “You may have God, but He’s not enough. You should still be worried.” Now do you see how fear is at enmity with God? There is good news. Perfect love casts out all fear. Who has perfect love? God does. That’s what makes Him our good King who’s so dangerous to our enemy.

Think about it like this. Pretend you’re a mansion. Which rooms does fear live in? What about the nursery? The kitchen? The bedroom? The family room? The office? Now, imagine inviting God’s perfect love into all those rooms. Fear and all its baggage get kicked to the curb. What’s left? All sorts of places for the Holy Spirit to come fill you, renovate you, and … well, surprise you with His incredible blueprint for your new life.

Pray: Holy Spirit, show me what I’m afraid of. Show me how fear tries to discount the enormous power of the Almighty God. Father, I want Your perfect love to destroy fears I’m facing. I want to live out Your plans for my life. Amen.

Read 1 John 4:8.

¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Read 2 Timothy 1:6-7.

⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Read 1 Peter 5:6-11.

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lionlooking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Our devotion this week, Dangerous Prayers, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Life.Church. For more information, please visit: https://www.life.church/

Is He Safe? No, But He’s Good.

Driving a motorcycle with no helmet or headlight on a two-lane highway through the mountains in a snowstorm at night. That’s dangerous. Asking a woman her age. That’s dangerous. But praying? How is praying dangerous? Isn’t praying what sweet grandmas do in the safety of their living rooms? What could we possibly mean by Dangerous Prayers?

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis’ fantasy fiction about talking animals and kids traveling to other worlds, a little girl named Susan asks Mr. Beaver an important question about Aslan the lion. Aslan, if you didn’t know, is the God-like character in the stories. The conversation about Aslan goes like this.

Susan: Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.
Mr. Beaver: Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.

We serve a King who isn’t safe, but He’s good. When we pray, our prayers shouldn’t be safe; they should be good, big, and dangerous like God. We tend to come to God with our dirty laundry, or our laundry list of what He can do for us. What if we came asking what we could do for Him? That’d be dangerous.

True prayer holds in it this tendency to push us beyond our comfort zones. What’s a comfort zone? It’s the me-circle where everything endlessly revolves around our own needs and wants. It’s our kingdom where we are the king or queen. Prayer pulls us out of these me-circles because prayer is about His Kingdom coming and His will being done. Prayer is how we realize, like Mr. Beaver, that He’s the King.

Pray: Heavenly Father, You made time, and space, and me. Forgive me for praying and living like I know better than You. Help me to pray dangerous prayers. Father, let the desires of Your heart become the desires of mine. Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.

Read Psalm 37:3-6

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

Read Matthew 6:5-13.

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standingin the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

Search Me And Know My Heart

You’re still reading, you thrill seeker. You must want out of your me-circle. You must want the scary-good life on the edge, in full submission to the Maker and Master of everything. You want to have a heart that chases after God’s own heart. You and King David both.

King David prayed a famously dangerous prayer in Psalm 139 (NIV) when he said, Search me, God, and know my heart … Why is this a dangerous prayer? Is it because God might find some bad stuff in King David’s heart and then get him in trouble? No, God knows everything, always. He’s not going to find anything new in King David’s heart. A “search me” prayer is dangerous not because of what God might find, but because of what He might reveal to us.

Think of selling a house with a realtor. You clean your house perfectly before your realtor arrives, hoping they’ll think your house is a quick sell. Instead, they tell you to get rid of the green velvet couch, clean up the nasty corner of carpet where the dog sleeps, and please take down that baby cherub wallpaper! Asking God to search us is like that. He comes in and opens our eyes to all the trash we couldn’t see. Just like with the realtor, we get to decide whether to keep the junk or to clean house.

Merely having junk doesn’t condemn us. King David committed murder and adultery, and God still called him a man after His own heart. So, let’s get over the fear of being found out. God already knows everything in our hearts. Let’s ask God to show us what He knows. Let’s haul out the junk so we can get the most bang for our buck in our pursuit of God’s heart.

Pray: Holy Spirit, please show me the junk in my life that offends You. Cause it to offend me like it does You. Let it smell like old trash to me. And Father, help me to trade this garbage for the full life You promised me.

Read Psalm 139.

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.
⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.
¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.
¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Read Philippians 3:7-9.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowingChrist Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

Our devotion this week, God So Good, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Life.Church. For more information, please visit: https://www.life.church/

Take a moment and listen to Where the Spirit of the Lord Is here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/landing-pages/god-so-good/god-so-good.html

The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:17: 

… where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 

Paul did not follow Jesus during His earthly ministry. Instead, he spent his days persecuting people who followed Jesus. It wasn’t until years after Jesus’ death and resurrection that Paul was on the road to Damascus and had a supernatural encounter with Jesus that changed his life forever.  

This framework really enhances the meaning of the phrase, “where the spirit of the Lord is …” because Paul was a living example of what could happen when the Spirit of the Lord intervenes. 

If the Spirit of the Lord could take someone like Paul—who spent his days trying to kill followers of Jesus—and transform him into one of the most influential voices in the early church and the author of most of our New Testament, then there truly is nothing God cannot do. 

When you are in Christ, you are not the sins you have committed, the person you once were, or the labels the world has thrown at you. When you follow Jesus, you are forgiven and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. You are free, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Read Acts 9:1-22.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
⁷ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
¹⁰ In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
¹¹ The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. ¹² In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
¹³ “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. ¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
¹⁷ Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, ¹⁹ and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. ²⁰ At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” ²² Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-18.

¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Read 2 Timothy 1:7-10.

⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Read Galatians 5:13-14.

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Our devotion this week, God So Good, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Life.Church. For more information, please visit: https://www.life.church/

Take a moment and listen to When I Say Jesus here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/landing-pages/god-so-good/god-so-good.html

“When I say Jesus, the very mention shatters the darkness and calms my soul.”

When we call upon Jesus, we’re not just stringing together words or names. There is true power in the name of Jesus. 

In the name of Jesus, we find salvation. We are told to pray in the name of Jesus because it is through Him that we have a relationship with God. The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the church in Philippi that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” 

If the forces of evil in the world must bow at the mere mention of His name, then when we, as followers of the living God, call upon His name our very fears, anxieties, addictions, and sicknesses must bow to Him. There is freedom in the name of Jesus.

Read Philippians 2:9-11.

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Read Romans 10:9-13.

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Read Acts 4:8-12.

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’
¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Read Luke 10:17-19.

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Read John 14:12-13.

¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing,and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.