Tag: God Loves You

I am the WAY

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

When I asked God what he wanted me to tell his people today, He laid this verse on my heart. Many of my devotions talk about my relationship with God but only a few talk about my relationship with Jesus. For some reason it makes me uncomfortable to talk about Jesus. I think it is because most people believe in God. I mean look around you. How can you not believe in God? There is no way this earth could come to exist any other way than by the hands of my amazing God. But Jesus. Jesus is another story. Jesus was a man. Just like you and me. But he was God at the same time. That is hard to believe.  So until now I’ve shared what is easy to share and I’ve left the hard theology for the scholars. Well that stops today. I am going to do my best to share what I believe.

Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Jesus is that narrow road. It is not hard to find the road but only a few decided to walk that road. It is narrow because there is only one way to the Father and that is Jesus.    The wide gate and the broad road is the road of popular opinion. The wide gate has many different worldly lifestyles and it leads to eternal ruin.

Jesus is the only way to God the Father. Some people may argue that this is way too narrow. But in reality, it is wide enough for the whole world, if the world chooses to accept it. I chose to accept Jesus when I was a child but I didn’t really have a relationship with Jesus until about 6 years ago. Now I walk the narrow road.  I am happy on the narrow road. I know that Jesus is with me every step of the way. Jesus makes his presence known to me every day in little ways and it lights up my day when I realize that He has had a hand in making my plans come together.  If you have not given your life to the Lord, you can do so today.  

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Amen

Be Still and Linger with Him

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.

Have you heard the saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, “Life is about the journey, not the destination”?  To me, that means that we should search for joy in the preparation of the journey and savor every event along the way.  We have been on a journey over the past 5 weeks of social distancing and working from home and we have been preparing to return to normal (whatever that may look like).  For me, the preparation and journey has included lots of quiet time, quiet time to be still and to linger with God. 

One of the words God gave me in my heart this year is LINGER. The definition of linger is to stay in a place longer than necessary because of a reluctance to leave.  Up until now, it has been hard to be still and linger with God because of the demands of my career and being a mom of 3 teenage boys.  But now I can.  I have found time during this journey to linger with God and to hear from God.  In Job 33:5 it says, “For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it.”

In order for me to hear from the Lord, I need to be still.  I need to tune my ears to Him.  Jesus says in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me.”   What a sweet time it is to hear His voice over all the other noise that is normally around us.  If we use this time to be still, hear his voice and become familiar with it, then when things go back to “normal”, we will still be able to hear Him.

I do not know where this journey is taking us, but I am making it a point to enjoy the quiet time with my Lord.  I am savoring these moments with Jesus, and I will continue to be still and make time to linger with Him.

Lord, thank you for wanting to spend time with me. Fill me with peace and hope and love so that I may be a blessing to others. Amen.

Because He Lives

So many things go through my mind about Easter.  But I wonder if everyone that reads my devotions knows the full story.  From the beginning of the Bible all the way to Jesus’s death and resurrection.  The “why” behind why Jesus had to come to earth as a human, die and rise again.  So here are the cliff notes:

  • Man sinned and was put out of the garden – removed from the presence of God. 
  • Man became so wicked that God destroyed the earth – except for one family and one set of each animal.  We know this as Noah’s ark.
  • After much time, God chose one family to be his chosen people – his sons and daughters – the Israelite’s.
  • To keep his chosen people mindful of God, He gave them rules to follow.  Animal sacrifices and grain offerings were required for atonement when they sinned, but they had to keep doing the sacrifices because they kept sinning.
  • Over time, His chosen people would forget about God and fall into wicked ways. Bad things would begin to happen because of their sin and then they would call out to God.  God would always take them back.  Grace, such amazing grace God has.
  • Eventually God sent his son, Jesus, to earth as a human so that he could teach His chose people, free them from their sin, and lead them to everlasting life through God.
  • His chosen people rejected Jesus.  They did not believe he was God’s son.  They were scared of his teachings because it was different from the law that they had been following and so they conspired to have him killed.
  • They rushed him through an unlawful trial overnight and demanded the Romans to execute him, to crucify him on a cross.  After He died, he was quickly buried in a tomb, without all the traditional customs because it was the sabbath day and they could not do any work after sundown. This day is called Good Friday.
  • On Sunday, after the sabbath was over, a few of Jesus’s followers went back to the tomb to perform the traditional customs on Jesus’s body but Jesus was not there. Only an angel that told him Jesus was no longer dead.  This is called Easter.
  • Jesus became the FINAL sacrifice that was needed to give us forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life.

Because Jesus lives, I am free to have a relationship with God.  Because of God’s grace, I am set free of my sin.  Because the Holy Spirit resides in my heart, I am encouraged to tell others what God has done. 

Because He Lives!

Dear Lord, thank you for dying on the cross for me.  Thank you for rising again.  Thank you for saving me from my sins. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to guide me through this life and to help me lead others to your amazing grace.  Amen.

How does God speak to you?

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Have you ever heard someone say that they were talking to God and he gave them a word? What does that even mean? Did they hear an audible voice that said something like, “Hey Debra, I have a word for you today?” No, of course not. It would be nice if God lit a bush on fire like he did with Moses or spoke directly to you in a dream like he did with Joseph, but that is not usually how it works. 

It’s a good desire to want to hear God’s voice. But many times, we make it out to be a lot more mysterious and harder than it should be, because we look to the wrong places for God’s voice. It is actually very simple. The Bible is where God’s voice can be heard. So, if you want to listen to God’s voice, then you need to read God’s word.

I suggest that you set aside 30 minutes in the morning or evening and call it your quiet time. Protect this time. Add it to your calendar. Create a special space for your quiet time and let everyone in your household know that you have set aside this particular time of the day to seek the Lord. Then start off with a short devotional, a Bible reading and then prayer journaling. God’s Word will pop up to address your prayer concerns. Sometimes immediately, sometimes over time. But it’s those breakthrough moments that are the incredible miracles that cement our faith and cause us to crave more time with Him.  I read a quote online that said, “I was praying, talking to God and then I opened my Bible and God won’t stop talking to me!”

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me the Bible so that I can hear your voice.  Please help me to set up a quiet time so that I can hear from you every day.  Amen