More & More Devotionals

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 Life to Me here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/landing-pages/god-so-good/god-so-good.html

Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He came so that we may have “life and life to the full.” This life is meant to be more than just going through the motions. We are meant to experience life through the lens of eternity—through the lens of Jesus. 

Because of Jesus’ extravagant love for us, we have life, we have freedom, and we have hope! Our challenge is to then go out and love others the way Jesus has loved us. We show others through our words, thoughts, and actions that life with Jesus is just better. 

Lamentations says that His mercies are new every morning. Your sin is erased, your past is forgiven, your shame is undone in Jesus. In Jesus, you have true life.

Read John 10:10.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Read Lamentation 3:22-23.

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Read John 4:10-14.

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Read John 10:7-10.

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Read John 13:34-35.

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

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 To God be the Glory here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/landing-pages/god-so-good/god-so-good.html

“To God be the glory! He has done great things. He will never change. To God be the glory!”

It is incredible to look not only through Scripture but also through your own life to see what amazing things God has done. Sometimes, you just need to shout about it and give God glory! 

Our God is in the business of miracles. There are countless Scriptures that describe God’s great works, endless mercy, unrelenting love, and constant forgiveness, but we believe it doesn’t stop there. Our God is still at work, and all you have to do is look around you. He is changing hearts, saving lives, and working miracles.

Read Psalm 66:1-20.

¹ Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
²     Sing the glory of his name;
    make his praise glorious.
³ Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power
    that your enemies cringe before you.
⁴ All the earth bows down to you;
    they sing praise to you,
    they sing the praises of your name.”
⁵ Come and see what God has done,
    his awesome deeds for mankind!
⁶ He turned the sea into dry land,
    they passed through the waters on foot—
    come, let us rejoice in him.
⁷ He rules forever by his power,
    his eyes watch the nations—
    let not the rebellious rise up against him.
⁸ Praise our God, all peoples,
    let the sound of his praise be heard;
⁹ he has preserved our lives
    and kept our feet from slipping.
¹⁰ For you, God, tested us;
    you refined us like silver.
¹¹ You brought us into prison
    and laid burdens on our backs.
¹² You let people ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and water,
    but you brought us to a place of abundance.
¹³ I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
    and fulfill my vows to you—
¹⁴ vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
    when I was in trouble.
¹⁵ I will sacrifice fat animals to you
    and an offering of rams;
    I will offer bulls and goats.
¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God;
    let me tell you what he has done for me.
¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;
    his praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened;
¹⁹ but God has surely listened
    and has heard my prayer.
²⁰ Praise be to God,
    who has not rejected my prayer
    or withheld his love from me!

Read Philippians 4:19-20.

¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Read Psalm 19:1.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Read Psalm 40:5.

⁵ Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.

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 God So Good here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/web-assets.youversion.com/landing-pages/god-so-good/god-so-good.html

Maybe you’ve heard this popular phrase at church or in Christian circles: “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” It’s easy to say and easy to remember, but that truth can be difficult to feel. This song is a reminder that no matter what you’ve done and no matter what may come your way, God is good and in His never-ending goodness, He will not give up on you.

“This freedom purchased by the highest price, this grace outweighing all my shame. I’m made new through the power of sacrifice. From death now raised to life again.”

God’s goodness is not a prize to be won or something to earn—it is freely given.

Romans 5:8 NIV says

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

When you feel like you are unworthy of forgiveness, or when everything around you seems lost, remember there is nothing that could separate you from His love and goodness. Even at our worst moment, God sent His Son to die for us so that we would have everlasting life. 

So in every season, may we remember this good news: God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.

Read Romans 5:1-8.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Read Romans 8:37-39.

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Read 1 Chronicles 16:34.

³⁴ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Read Psalm 23:1-6.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Our devotion this week, Pray Effectively, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Answers with Bayless Conley. For more information, please visit: http://www.answersbc.org

YIELD: The Fourth Step in Effective Prayer

Psalm 37:4 provides us the “Y” in the acronym P-R-A-Y, the four elements to effective prayer we have been discussing over the last few devotionals.

Here is what Psalm 37:4 says,

⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now the Hebrew word for delight in this verse literally means to become soft or pliable. This means that “delighting” in the Lord is assuming a yielded posture before God.

So the “Y” in P-R-A-Y stands for yield. The question is: How do you practice yielding to God when you pray? Yielding is when you stop talking, and you wait, listen, and seek to hear from God.

In my own practice of prayer, I will often bow before God and ask Him, “God, is there anything You want to say to me? Do You have any instructions for me? Is there anything You want me to change?”

Then I silently wait for Him to speak to me.

As you assume this posture of being yielded and waiting quietly before Him, you will be surprised at some of the things that come to your attention: “You need to spend more time with your daughter,” “Take your wife out on a date,” “Bake your neighbor a pie and build a bridge over which the gospel can travel,” “Spend more time praising Me,” “Show your gratitude and appreciation for those who have been helping you in your life.”

You will indeed hear from God if you ask Him to speak into your heart, and wait silently before Him.

That is the last element of effective prayer: praise, repent, ask, yield. Your prayers can indeed be effective if you commit to these four principles. That is how to P-R-A-Y.