July 21, 2025

Hebrews 10: 35, 36 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (NIV)

Confidence is the outcome of faith.*

You would expect that if God had brought someone victoriously through a great trial, that person would meet the next problem with confidence. But, while experiencing God’s deliverance from trouble strengthens our faith in God, knowing there is more to come could cause anyone to feel anxious. Is that a sign of weak faith?

Dread of another trial may or may not be a sign of weakness, but it is a crossroads. At that moment, you can choose to throw away your confidence, or you can decide to persevere. When the fulfillment of his promise seems far away,* will you remember God’s faithfulness? Or will you shrink back and be destroyed (verse 39)?

Don’t throw away your hard-earned confidence. Choose to do the will of God, no matter how intimidating it might be, and you will receive what he has promised.

Focus less on the problems ahead and more on the victories behind.*

July 20, 2025

Luke 9: 10, 11 Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves . . . but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. (NIV)

The way Jesus conducted himself clearly shows us his priorities.*

If anyone could manage to be all things to all people, it would have been Jesus. As the Son of God, he knew everyone’s physical needs and had the power to meet them all. But, as a human, Jesus had physical needs of his own – food, water, rest, relationships. And because his ministry was more about meeting spiritual needs, he accommodated the crowds according to his Father’s carefully crafted plan, not according to any manmade agenda.

Read the gospels and watch Jesus as he demonstrates a balanced life of service. Follow him along with the crowds and see how he gave of his time and energy to preach and teach, and heal and feed the masses. In this passage, see the importance of discipling and encouraging the faithful. And, throughout his story, see him devoting time to be alone with his Father.

I am pretty sure I have never claimed to be too full to eat dessert. Similarly, we are never too busy for quality time alone with God. If it was a priority for Jesus, it should be for us. Follow his example for a balanced and accomplished life.

We treat God as though he were an intruder into our busy and important lives.*

July 19, 2025

Exodus 32: 15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. (NIV)

It may be true that law can’t change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.*

I have driven through communities where many homeowners displayed the ten commandments on little yard signs. There must have been some local campaign to allow the Law to be posted in schools and government facilities. It might change the world if God’s commandments were publicly posted everywhere – but it might not.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he carried the two tablets of the Testimony, directly from God’s hands to his own, to be delivered to people who he expected would receive them with joy. Instead, he found that they were “running wild” (verse 25) – because God’s law was not imbedded in their hearts. And Moses’ showing up with the rules inscribed in stone was not enough to turn their hearts back to the God who had delivered them out of Egypt.

Yard signs, T-shirts, tablets of stone – these are not bad things; but from the beginning of time, God has wanted his people to carry his law in our hearts.* When we do, that’s when we start to change the world!

When Christians believe God placed them in their community to transform it for his glory and respond by committing themselves to prayer, holy living, and sacrificial service, there is no limit to the amount of change God can bring about.*

July 18, 2025

Philippians 3: 17 Join with others in following my example . . . (NIV)

Your spiritual walk has a slight limp.*

We’re all familiar with the “do as I say, not as I do” principle. With or without knowledge or experience, we feel comfortable dispensing advice on any subject. But very few of us are so confident in our Christian walk that we can encourage others to follow our example and not just listen to our words of wisdom. In fact, we should be concerned about the risk of leading others astray – with our actions and our words.

What gave Paul the confidence to encourage his readers to “do as I do”? If we take this verse out of its context in his letter, we can’t help but think he sounds a little too cocky for his own good. But go back a bit to verse 12: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect . . .” he writes. If he isn’t perfect, then why should we feel safe in acting like he does? Because the example Paul urges us to follow is not one of doing everything right but of pressing on. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal . . .” (verses 13 and 14)

Paul isn’t defined by his past mistakes – his sins, that is. Paul can’t show us how to live the life of a perfect person because he isn’t one. Instead, he exemplifies the life of a saved person - one who loves the Lord and who continues to get back up after every fall, graciously and gratefully accepting the Lord’s forgiveness time after time after time after . . . 

You don’t have to be perfect to be faithful.*

July 17, 2025

Exodus 1: 11-14 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor . . . But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. (NIV)

Hard times don’t erase God’s promises.*

After Joseph’s death, his influence on the throne ended, and the Israelites’ quality of life in Goshen began to deteriorate. There were so many of them that their host country – with a new king – began to fear that the Israelites might join forces with Egypt’s enemies, so they made the Israelites’ lives “bitter with hard labor.” It is interesting to note that the king was more afraid of their leaving than he was of their staging an uprising (see verse 10). In Goshen, the Egyptians had their very own “company town.” Picture a mining camp or the community that depends on the big manufacturing plant for their livelihood. Who will do the work for the men who control the wealth if the labor force finds a way out?

The Hebrews lived in a world of slavery, despair, and God’s silence. Hopelessness extinguishes hope -  and produces more hopelessness.  And so, the Children of Israel forgot God’s promise to Abraham. Hope might have found a foothold in the drudgery of their existence if only they had remembered – and believed – that the promise was still in effect. And moving forward. In God’s time. And God did come through for them in spectacular fashion.

We tend to follow the same downward spiral of despair as the Israelites. When things get bad, they get worse . . . because we fail to remember that God is working and that he never fails to fulfill his promises. When hopelessness is your companion, look to God’s word. There, you will find hope for today, for the future, and for eternity. Allow his Spirit to speak to you and deliver you out of the land of slavery, despair, and God’s silence.

We cannot rush the timing of God.*

July 16, 2025

Psalm 81: 10 “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” (NIV)

We take no credit for accepting what we could never earn.*

A friend who had been single for several years really wanted to meet someone and get married again. The first time I visited her home, all I could think was, “Where will you put him?” There was no room in her house for another person or his things. Too much furniture and too many keepsakes sent a message that contradicted her expressed desire to include a man in her life.

In this passage, the psalmist quotes God’s recalling of all he did to get his people out of Egypt. It is a reminder of all that he is willing to do again – if we will only prepare ourselves to receive. The mama bird can’t feed her baby if he doesn’t open his mouth; my friend couldn’t fit a man into her life if she couldn’t let go of her things and her past; and God can’t bless us if our hearts aren’t receptive.

What in your life is preventing you from receiving all that God wants to bless you with? What is keeping your mouth closed? Will God give you over to your stubborn heart, to follow your own devices (verse 12)? Or will you listen to him and follow his ways (verse 13) so that you may be fed with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock to satisfy you (verse 16)?

When a soul sets out to seek God, God sets out to meet that soul.*

July 15, 2025

Philippians 4: 6, 7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Peace does not happen on its own.*

I saw this, posted on a group’s Facebook page: If you are going through something difficult like a death, loss of job, divorce, or anything else that is difficult, what do you NOT like to hear or to be told? Would you rather just be listened to unless you ask for advice? The group members had a lot to say – some of it bitter – about people who say the wrong thing; but most of all, the replies revealed that when it comes to finding comfort, we don’t all look for it in the same places.

What words of comfort can I offer to someone who is in an inconsolable situation? We may quote passages of scripture that offer hope – Romans 8: 28 (“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him . . .”)  – for example. But how does that help to heal a broken heart? Or, Philippians 4: 13 (“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”) But is that any consolation for my loved one whose son has decided that he no longer believes in God? What comfort is that to my friend whose husband was killed when he and his bicycle were hit by a car? Or my friend who is facing dialysis for the rest of her life because her transplanted kidney is no longer functioning?

There are two false – and conflicting - conclusions that we often reach about despair. The first is that there really is something we can say to help – if only we could think of it. The second is that there is no comfort to be had. But here are the facts: there is no magical turn of phrase that is guaranteed to make someone feel better (so quit trying to come up with one); and, there really is a source of comfort that is beyond human understanding.

Here, Paul tells us how to tap into that source. Instead of being anxious, he says, lay it all out to God. Do not be afraid to present your requests to God – and don’t forget to be thankful for God’s provision. As a result, the peace of God which defies all human understanding will be yours. God’s peace is not hope that things are going to get better. It is not assurance that everything happens for a reason. It is the promise that in the midst of suffering, where there is no earthly comfort, there is peace beyond reason, beyond hope. Offer those words to your hurting friend.

Trust the one true King to bear your burdens, to hold your fears close, and to calm your panic and anxieties.*