Tag Archives | Devotions

Monday Devotions – Grateful for Mercy

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’" (Luke 18:13) Yesterday morning Chris Silard, one of our pastors, preached a message from Luke 18:9-14 on the Pharisee and the tax collector. It was wonderfully convicting and encouraging. Chris highlighted many of the differences between the attitudes and actions of the two men. He pointed out that the Pharisee mentions God only once in his prayer, while he uses the pronoun "I" five times. His goal isn’t to seek God but to impress Him. HIs prayer, rather than being an expression …

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Monday Devotions – Receiving Correction as a Gift

This comes from the prayer “Reproofs” in The Valley of Vision:Teach me how to take reproofs from friends,Even though I think I do not deserve them;Use them to make me tenderly afraid of sin,More jealous over myself, More concerned to keep heart and life unblameable.Cause them to help me reflect on my want of spirituality,To abhor myself, to look upon myself as unworthy,And make them beneficial to my soul. May all your people know how little, mean, and vile I am,That they may see I am nothing, less than nothing,To be accounted nothing,That so they may pray for me aright,And have not the least dependence upon me.In His mercy, God often sends …

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Monday Devotions – Preaching the Gospel to Myself

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Col. 1:21-23) Do you find your life is often an emotional roller coaster? Is your perspective dependent on the trials or blessings your’e currently experiencing? That’s not God’s intention. He wants us to remain "stable and steadfast, …

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Monday Devotions – Do I Love God?

One of my historical heros is the hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674-1748). Two years ago, my oldest daughter, Megan, surprised me with a 1798 copy of a book Watts had written on the priority of loving God from the heart. Like most Puritans, Watts never lacked for words when it came to titles. He called his treatise “Discourses on the Love of God And It’s Influences On All The Passions: With A Discovery of The Right Use and Abuse of Them in Matters of Religion. Also, A Devout Meditation Annexed To Each Discourse.” I read through the book in a few days, and was encouraged by the pastoral, biblical, and clear way he promoted the use of emotion …

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Monday Devotions – Where am I Looking?

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. (Ps. 34:4-5) After being married almost 30 years, my wife has developed the ability to know what I’m thinking just by looking at my face. Julie – “What’s bothering you?” Me – “Nothing.” Julie – “No, something’s bothering you. What is it?” Me – “How do you know something’s bothering me?” Julie – “You have that furrowed brow, low eyebrows, ‘something’s bothering me’ face.” She’s right …

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Monday Devotions – I Will Sing

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13) David begins in the clutches of despair, discouragement, …

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Monday Devotions – Approaching God

"O Father of Jesus, Help me to approach you with deepest reverence, not with presumption, Not with servile fear, but with holy boldness. You are beyond the grasp of my understanding, But not beyond that of my love." My view of God tends to one of two extremes. Either I think of Him as familiar, approachable, and very much like me; or I imagine that He’s distant, fearsome, and completely alien to me. These opening lines, from the prayer "The Love of Jesus" in The Valley of Vision, succinctly capture the tension of worshipping the God who is both transcendent and immanent. "O Father of Jesus." I’m reminded …

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Monday Devotions – God’s Heart for the Unborn

This is a little different from my typical Monday devotion, but I thought it might be helpful to share. Yesterday, along with many American churches, we participated in “Pro-Life Sunday.” After singing two songs, we sang O God of Love by Nathan and Louise Fellingham. I then asked everyone to sit down and shared the following comments as part of our corporate worship: We just sang the lines, “You know my frame, you know how I am made, You planned all my days.” These words are taken from Psalm 139, where David writes: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully …

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Taking God’s Word Seriously, Pt. 2

I shared yesterday how my relationship to God’s Word over the past few years has been changing. After reading through the Bible a third time, I immediately wanted to do it again. So last Fall, using the Reformation Study Bible, I began in Genesis, Job, and Matthew. I’m currently in 1 Samuel, Isaiah, and 1 Corinthians and having a great time getting to know my Creator and Redeemer better. My schedule this time is a little more flexible, but I try to read 6-12 pages at a time. I continue to marvel at how little I actually know of God’s Word, how His character is consistent throughout, and how God is eager to meet me in His Word if I just …

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Monday Devotions – Unrestrained Worship

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. (Ps. 40:9-10 ESV) In these two verses, David models praise that is enthusiastic, specific, and corporate. “I have told…I have not restrained…I have not hidden…I have spoken…I have not concealed.” God has delivered David from the pit of destruction and put a new song in his mouth (Ps. …

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Monday Devotions – The Happiest People on Earth

“Serve the Lord with gladness.” (Ps. 100a) God cares whether or not there is joy in our hearts when we obey Him. He feels so strongly about this that in Deuteronomy He tells Israel they will be enslaved because “you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart.” (Deut. 28:47) In Ps. 32:11 he commands us “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” Philippians 4:4 sounds the same note: “Rejoice in the Lord, always; again I will say, rejoice.” Obviously, these verses aren’t referring to a superficial happiness that depends …

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Monday Devotions – Psalm 1

For the last few years I’ve made it a practice to begin each morning reading the five Psalms for the day. I multiply the day of the month times five and read that Psalm along with the preceding four Psalms. I read Psalm 119 on the last day of months that have 31 days. I started reading the Psalms in earnest after realizing that this is the one book God gave us that shows in detail how we should relate to Him in praise, prayer, and petition. There are few books in Scripture that so profoundly teach us about God with such a broad range of emotional expression. Even more importantly, since my job is to lead people in worshipping God corporately, …

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Monday Devotions – Finding Hope in the Depths

I’m writing this after spending most of the last 24 hours in bed with the flu. I’ll spare you the details, but it ended up affecting everyone but Chelsea, my 19 year old. The family we invited over for dinner last night also succumbed. It was a little special "gift" we gave them… What’s been running through my mind at various points is the opening to Psalm 130: Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! I’m not sure what "depths" the Psalmist was going through, but I definitely feel like I’ve been there. No motivation, no strength, no …

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Monday devotions – Grace for Change

O Lord, My every sense, member, faculty, affection, Is a snare to me, I can scarce open my eyes but I envy those above me, Or despise those below. So begins the prayer from The Valley of Vision entitled "Self-Deprecation." In a culture where low self-esteem is the ultimate sin, it’s refreshing to encounter confession that is so honest, so compelling, so familiar. Can you identify with this author’s sad situation? He realizes that our temptations don’t arise so much from things around us as things within us. A co-worker is honored and I wonder why nobody noticed my contribution. I silently applaud myself for buying a slightly-too-expensive …

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Monday Devotions – Mary’s Song

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. (Lk. 1:46-48a ESV) Yesterday, Grant Layman, one of the pastors at my church, gave an outstanding message from Luke 1:39-56, called Mary’s Song. He focused on Mary’s circumstances, Mary’s character, and Mary’s God. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, and have long since dealt with an unbiblical exaltation of Mary’s role in God’s plan of salvation. She was not immaculately conceived, she was not perpetually sinless, and she is definitely not a co-mediator with Jesus. …

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