Celebrating Our Work in You
Note from Jesus Dear Friend, I want you to learn to rejoice in Our work in you. We — Father, Son, and Spirit — delight in your obedience and service to the kingdom of heaven. Angels rejoice when you find lost people and bring them to know Me, to experience the Father’s grace, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 15:7, 10). Yes, I want you to be passionate about the mission to which I have called you. I also want you to be equally passionate about celebrating My work done through you. Learn to rejoice with Us in the work we have done through you (Philippians 4:4-7). I mentioned several things in My note yesterday that Paul and Barnabas did as they completed their missionary journey — their first missionary journey. Today, I want to focus on one of those things that many of My disciples have forgotten to do: celebrate Our work done through you, among you, for you, and within you (Acts 14:27-28). We are always at work in you (Philippians 2:13). Even when things look bad and life is hard, We continue to work and redeem the messes of your life for your good (Romans 8:28-29). We know that you are not perfectly mature. We are far more aware of the undone things in your life than you are. However, We will carry those things to full completion and bring you to us in holiness to share in Our glory (Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). Please recognize your progress in grace. Please celebrate your victories for grace. Please acknowledge the work We have done through you! Rejoice! Celebrate! This enthusiasm is not bragging on yourself, but giving glory to Us and blessing the family of believers. This kind of joy encourages others to live out Our mission in their lives. This kind of celebration gives other believers hope that their service in My name can be a blessing to the kingdom of heaven. Learn to rejoice with Us in the victories won over sin, death, hell, and the hold they have on the children of your world. Celebrate Our work done in and through you! Verses to Live The following is Luke’s summary of the end of Paul and Barnabas’ mission trip. You will notice several things these two do to establish and strengthen the churches in the cities they had previously visited. I want you to spend some extra time on the last three sentences, the ones in bold. Paul and Barnabas spent time with the believers who sent them out, and they reported to them all that We had done through them. When’s the last time you’ve taken a significant amount of time with other believers and celebrated our work done among you, through you, and within you? We want you to celebrate with Us! Paul and Barnabas and the church at Antioch surely did. Won’t you? After they [Paul and Barnabas] proclaimed the good news there [Derbe] and taught many disciples, they returned to some of the cities they had recently visited — Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. In each place, they brought strength to the disciples, encouraging them to remain true to the faith. Paul and Barnabas: We must go through many persecutions as we enter the kingdom of God. In each church, they would appoint leaders, pray and fast together, and entrust them to the Lord in Whom they had come to believe. They then passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. They preached their message in Perga and then went to the port of Attalia. There they set sail for Antioch, where they were first entrusted to the grace of God for the mission they had now completed. They called the church together when they arrived and reported all God had done with and through them, how God had welcomed outsiders through the doorway of faith. They stayed with the disciples in Antioch for quite a while. (Acts 14:21-28) Response in Prayer O Father in heaven, I confess that I often grow discouraged by my own lack of spiritual progress. I sometimes feel as if all of my spiritual efforts are in vain. Even worse, Father, I recognize now that I have let a false sense of humility rob me of rejoicing over Your work done in me, through me, with me, and for me. Forgive me God. I recognize that without Your grace, Your mercy, and Your power I would be lost. O God, I know how empty my life would be if it were not for Your grace to work through me, in me, and for me for Your glory. Teach me to rejoice in You, Your work, and Your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2025, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is part of the Heartlight Network.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Voice™. © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Creator Brings Grace
Can you drown out all the noise and simply listen for the Creator’s voice in the Bible’s first chapter? We were in a boat along the west coast of Florida. Big thunderstorms had blown up all around our horizon. So my fishing buddy fired up his Coast Guard frequency on the radio to try to see the best way for us to return safely to the boat launch. What he got back on the radio was a muddied voice in the middle of a ton of background noise. Little by little he turned up the squelch button until the voice on the other end was clearly heard. There are few chapters of the Bible that match the beauty and transformation content of the first chapter of our Bibles (Genesis 1:1-31). Unfortunately, when most people think about this incredibly important message they only hear the arguments and controversies surrounding creation, evolution, and the truth of Scripture. So I am going to ask you to turn up the squelch button in your brain. Tune out all the arguments, litmus tests, and debates. Then take a few minutes to calmly read this important chapter through slowly. (Click this link to read Genesis 1:1-31). Before reading, ask the Holy Spirit to help you tune out the noise so that the voice of your Creator can be clearly heard. Embedded in this wonderful message is God’s truth about who we are and the nature of the universe in which we live. Keep the squelch button turned up and drown out the noise. The Spirit can help you hear God’s voice telling you how precious you are and how he longs to do his new creation work in you. Before time and anything we know from our world, God existed. In the mysterious pre-primal nothing of formlessness, emptiness, and darkness, our God was (Genesis 1:1). Before there was matter and energy there was nothing… just the fearful nothingness and God. God as Creator, Son (John 1:1-3), and Spirit hovering over the vast void. The Spirit waiting to create out of nothing in response to the Creator’s word of grace (Genesis 1:1-2). We know that something doesn’t come from nothing… unless you are God. We intuitively realize that before there can be a big bang, there must be a Big Banger, who brings into being energy, light, matter, design, and purpose. So with a word, God speaks. His word overcomes the fearful nothingness of pre-primal and primordial existence. Into nothingness, God speaks diversity. God calls into existence variety out of the inane void of nothing. God’s gift is a dazzling variety of everything. Diversity carries a fingerprint of God’s design. Variety is God’s favorite color. If you don’t believe it, then look at a lifetime of sunsets. The Creator defeated the monster of nothingness with variety and diversity filling a multitude of terrains, spaces, expanses, and seas. Jesus told us that only God alone is completely good (Luke 18:19). So we shouldn’t be surprised. Goodness is the divine thread that runs through the tapestry of unspoiled creation. God overcomes the indistinct formlessness of pre-creation with the goodness of his creative work. Out of formlessness, our Creator makes beauty. As the creative Master does his work, we find an oft-repeated phrase that goes very much like this: God saw that it was good! Then, when his creative work needed its weekend’s rest, God saw all that he had made and it was very good! The ancients feared the chaos monster. This fear sounds very superstitious and crazy to us until… Then we are confronted with this monster in a severe drought, a raging fire, a rampaging thunderstorm with hail and lightning, a class 5 tornado, a storm surge of a hurricane, a slow rumbling vibration of a major earthquake, a mountain-moving explosion of a massive volcanic eruption, or an uncontrollable advance of a tsunami. These events bring chaos. They re-awaken us to our fear of chaos. They alert us to our terror at the hideous monster that lies behind such disasters. God defeated this pre-creation chaos by creating order and by creating with order, symmetry, and purpose. (See the chart in the image below.) As we meet the Bible’s God of creation — our Creator as Father, Son, and Spirit — we are reminded of God’s eternal desire to connect life with relationships. So out of the impersonal emptiness of pre-creation, God brings relationship to life on earth. We are made to reflect the divine relationship in our Creator. God did not make us to be alone. We are, after all, made in his likeness. We are made for life with him and with others. The Creator’s intentionally repeated commands to love him with all we are and to love our neighbors remind us of God’s relational imprint in us. This imprint testifies to both our need for others and our Creator’s desire to bring us into relationship. For all who struggle with loneliness and the emptiness of not connecting to others, God beckons you back to him first. Without him, we have a God-shaped hole that no other person or thing can fill. Anything or anyone else is merely weak imitation, a counterfeit become addiction that can never fill that hole in our soul. By drawing close to our God, we find ourselves in the company of others. We find life together. We were made for relationship, so God defeated the impersonal emptiness to bring relationship to life. Yet all of this variety, order, beauty, and relationship can become predictable. God’s gracious gifts can devolve into meaningless monotony. This boring sameness squeezes out life as we lose any sense of purpose to our Creator’s gifts. We were created with purpose and for a mission. Over time that mission changes. It shifts as the Creator keeps calling us to go on the mission for his fresh creative purposes. While God’s mission for us may morph over time, underneath these changes is an undergirding truth. We are
Daily Prayer for July 11
So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. Hebrews 10:22, TEV Lord our God, grant us true unity with your Son Jesus Christ, so that his power can be revealed in us and we may find new life in which we can truly serve you. Protect us from all error. Be among us with your Spirit to make us people who are genuine. Let your will be carried out more and more in this age. Let your will again intervene so that a new creation may come, a new heaven and a new earth, as we have been promised. May your name be great among us, may your kingdom come and everything in heaven and on earth be done according to your will. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Healing at Annoor Heather M. Surls A hospital in Mafraq, Jordan, cares for patients with tuberculosis. Read now The Return of the Family Doctor Brewer Eberly The direct primary care model aims to put relationships over profit. Read now Daring to Follow the Call E. Stanley Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, Teresa of Ávila, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Eberhard Arnold, Meister Eckhart, Leonardo Boff, C. S. Lewis, Hermas, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Insights on the Sermon on the Mount from a wealth of traditions. Read now What My First Psychiatric Patient Taught Me Abraham M. Nussbaum Sharon could hardly leave the house. She showed me the wonder and limits of therapy. Read now An Animated Film That Asks Questions Casey Kleczek Gints Zilbalodis’s film Flow is a work of art my young family could wrestle with as well as enjoy. Read now
Today’s Verse – Philippians 4:11
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. —Philippians 4:11 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Paul tells Timothy that one of life’s greatest treasures is to find contentment in godliness (1 Timothy 6:6). With this treasure, our physical circumstances become far less important to us than the character we display in all of life’s circumstances. Our bottom line becomes far less important than loving God wholeheartedly. Those who are wealthy and show godliness — a very difficult challenge according to Jesus (Mark 10:23-27) — have demonstrated that they are content to be godly and will be that kind of person with or without wealth. Those who are poor and are godly have shown the same ability. So the bottom line is not how rich we are in money, but how rich we are in faith and grace! My Prayer… Steadfast and faithful Father, please calm my restless and sometimes covetous heart and help me find my contentment in your presence and character in my life. I want my “great gain” to be godliness and for that to be enough for me in every situation. In the name of Jesus, I ask for the Holy Spirit’s help in making this true in me. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
First Mission Is Completed!
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, In today’s verses, Luke writes about the last part of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey. As you saw yesterday, they developed a strategic rhythm in sharing the gospel. They would share My message first in the synagogues with Jews and God-fearers. Then, when resistance and opposition mounted, they would go to non-Jews in that same city. The methodology was quite effective. However, it brought a lot of resistance among some in the Jewish community: Finally the Jews and outsiders who opposed them joined forces and enlisted the political leaders in their plan to beat and stone Paul and Barnabas. They learned of the plan and escaped to Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia, and the surrounding countryside, where they continued proclaiming the good news. (Acts 14:5-7) This resistance, even when in the form of persecution, did not stop Barnabas and Paul. The power of the Holy Spirit and the joy of My grace buoyed them. Furthermore, the resistance did not keep additional people from believing their message. Along the way, Barnabas and Paul met some challenges that were quite different from the ones of their Jewish upbringing. In places where superstition and false religion were the customs, Barnabas and Paul found their miracles didn’t always point people to Me. Instead, the miracles sometimes created confusion and false worship of the miracle workers. Rather than accept the worship and adulation of the crowds, Paul and Barnabas taught the truth and pointed the people to Me: Friends! No! No! Don’t do this! [That is, don’t worship us, Paul and Barnabas.] We’re just humans like all of you! We’re not here to be worshiped! We’re here to bring you good news — good news that you should turn from these worthless forms of worship and instead serve the living God, the God Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that they contain. Soon, My faithful emissaries, Barnabas and Paul, were facing attacks from hostile non-believing Jews, non-Jews who did not understand their message, and political leaders who were incited by leading Jewish officials to oppose My messengers. To prepare the new believers for what was ahead, Barnabas and Paul did two very important things. First, they warned these new believers that they must face “many persecutions as we enter the kingdom of God.” Second, they appointed leaders — godly older men called elders — to help guide these new communities of believers. When they returned to Antioch (in Syria) where they began their mission efforts, they reported on the great work We — Father, Son, and Spirit — had led them to do and empowered them to accomplish. Verses to Live As you read the verses below, a new era in the life of My people and a new era in sharing My message had fully begun. Now there were disciples of different nationalities, cultures, and languages coming into My family. This diversity was a glorious beginning. However, many roadblocks, difficulties, hardships, and persecutions lay ahead. But nothing could stop the advancement of the good message of the Father’s grace. That message focused on what I had done in My life, teaching, death, burial, resurrection, exaltation and sending of the Spirit. This message was empowered and validated by the Holy Spirit. This first mission of Barnabas and Paul wasn’t easy. But when they returned, they could truthfully say, “Our first mission is completed!” In Lystra they [Paul and Barnabas] met a man who had been crippled since birth; his feet were completely useless. He listened to Paul speak, and Paul could see in this man’s face that he had faith to be healed. Paul (shouting): Stand up on your own two feet, man! The man jumped up and walked! When the crowds saw this, they started shouting in Lycaonian. Crowd: The gods have come down to us! They’ve come in human form! They decided that Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes (since he was the main speaker). Before they knew it, the priest of Zeus, whose temple was prominent in that city, came to the city gates with oxen and garlands of flowers so the Lycaonians could offer sacrifices in worship to Paul and Barnabas! When they heard of this, Paul and Barnabas were beside themselves with frustration — they ripped their tunics as an expression of disapproval and rushed out into the crowd. Paul and Barnabas (shouting): Friends! No! No! Don’t do this! We’re just humans like all of you! We’re not here to be worshiped! We’re here to bring you good news — good news that you should turn from these worthless forms of worship and instead serve the living God, the God Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that they contain. Through all previous generations, God has allowed all the nations to follow their own customs and religions, but even then God revealed Himself by doing good to you — giving you rain for your crops and fruitful harvests season after season, filling your stomachs with food and your hearts with joy. In spite of these words, they were barely able to keep the crowds from making sacrifices to them. Then unbelieving Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and incited the crowds against the Lord’s emissaries. The crowds turned on Paul, stoned him, dragged him out of the city, and left him there, thinking he was dead. As the disciples gathered around him, he suddenly rose to his feet and returned to the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. After they proclaimed the good news there and taught many disciples, they returned to some of the cities they had recently visited — Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. In each place, they brought strength to the disciples, encouraging them to remain true to the faith. Paul and Barnabas: We must go through many persecutions as we enter the kingdom of God. In each church, they would appoint leaders,
10 Jul 2025
We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But God is rich in mercy and desires and relationship with us. May we never tire being close to Him. We are designed to walk with Him. We are wired to reflect Him. He is willing to help us do so. Let us remain humble and teachable. Psalm 25:1-22.
Daily Prayer for July 10
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6–7, NIV Lord our God, strengthen in us all that comes from you and is eternal, all that is good and right and genuine. Let this shape our outward life and help us triumph over need and death. Help us to wait quietly, even when we don’t know the answers to our questions, because we are certain that the outcome will be good and life-giving, to the glory of your Spirit and your name. We entrust ourselves to your hands. Stay with us, that we may receive your calling for our lives. Stay with us, so that in all our work and activity we may be aware of your guiding Spirit at work in our hearts. Amen. Recent articles on Plough The Return of the Family Doctor Brewer Eberly The direct primary care model aims to put relationships over profit. Read now Daring to Follow the Call E. Stanley Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, Teresa of Ávila, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Eberhard Arnold, Meister Eckhart, Leonardo Boff, C. S. Lewis, Hermas, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Insights on the Sermon on the Mount from a wealth of traditions. Read now What My First Psychiatric Patient Taught Me Abraham M. Nussbaum Sharon could hardly leave the house. She showed me the wonder and limits of therapy. Read now An Animated Film That Asks Questions Casey Kleczek Gints Zilbalodis’s film Flow is a work of art my young family could wrestle with as well as enjoy. Read now Desire, Use, Repeat James Mumford An addict looks for a way out. Read now
Today’s Verse – Proverbs 31:10
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. —Proverbs 31:10 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… What would happen if we valued our spouses more than expensive jewelry, great riches, or wonderful and unexpected blessings? What would happen if we publicly valued a faithful wife more than a voluptuous starlet? What would happen if character was valued more than money? I believe these changes would transform our culture, enhance our marriages, and produce stronger and better-adjusted children. Plus, I know God would be pleased because we would then be valuing in people what he does, and not seeing women as something we can exploit, misuse, or abuse. My Prayer… Thank you, Holy Father, for the great women of faith I meet in Scripture. Thank you for the godly women I’ve met in your Kingdom and in my family. Please use me to show these women of noble character that I value them, especially those who are wives of virtue and godly character. Transform our sense of values, O God, so we can see people — especially the women in our lives — the way you do. In Jesus’ name, I pray for this grace among your people and in me. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
For All People
Note from Jesus Dear Precious Believer, You were saved by grace when you fully trusted Me and participated in what I did to save you. This truth was the message that I gave the apostle Paul to share with all people, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Remember, when I commissioned Ananias of Damascus to go and share the message of grace with Paul, I told Ananias this about Paul’s mission: “Yes, but you [Ananias] must go! I have chosen him [Paul] to be My instrument to bring My name far and wide — to outsiders, to kings, and to the people of Israel as well.” (Acts 9:15) Paul was chosen even before he was born to bring My message of grace to those outside the people of Israel! (Galatians 1:15-16) So what you read today in the verses below helps you understand how he began to live out that purpose in his mission efforts with Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas began their mission to Pisidian Antioch in the synagogue sharing My message with Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas’ message was rooted in the teaching of the Law and Prophets. They tried to help these good people understand the Father’s plan. As Paul said, that plan was to send Me as the Messiah and as the fulfillment of those teachings of the Law and the Prophets: “God has selected one of David’s descendants as the long-promised Liberator of Israel. I am speaking of Jesus.” (Acts 13:23) However, Paul and Barnabas also emphasized a theme from the prophet Habakkuk — that righteousness comes from living by faith: “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) This theme was central to Paul’s message to both Jews and non-Jews. He was never ashamed of this message. He saw it as the good news of grace that comes to all people who fully entrust their lives to Me. He and Barnabas encouraged people to “remain steadfast in the grace of God.” When opposition to their message arose among the Jews, Paul and Barnabas saw it as their signal to reach out to non-Jews in Pisidian Antioch. The Jewish prophets of old had spoken of being “a light to the nations beyond Israel” and bringing “redemption to every corner of the earth.” My parting words to My disciples had been to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Paul was “My instrument to bring My name far and wide.” So the mission strategy Paul and Barnabas would use in many cities they visited was simple: First, they would go to the synagogues and speak to Jews and God-fearers about Me as the Messiah. Then, they would share that message with non-Jews. Soon, just as Barnabas and Paul had experienced in a different Antioch (the one in Syria), My church was made up of people from all sorts of different backgrounds (Acts 11:19-26). The promise of the Jewish prophets was being fulfilled. All peoples, Jews and non-Jews alike, were coming to believe in Me and being made righteous by their faith because of grace. This progress was good news. Neither threat, intimidation, persecution, nor rejection could stop this message. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit at work through My people and in their message of grace, there was great joy wherever that message was received in faith! I want you to experience that great joy! I want you to share that same message! I want all peoples — young and old, rich and poor, of all races and nationalities and languages — to find this joy that comes from knowing Me. So believe in Me. Trust Me. Share Me with your world! Verses to Live In these verses, we get to see Paul’s mission methodology and strategy emerge. He went to Jews first, and then to non-Jews. We also discover Paul’s source of power found in his message: God’s grace experienced through the joy of salvation empowered by the Holy Spirit. Finally, you see how My emissaries, My apostles, could be completely resolute in their mission. They knew I called them to this task, and they were not ashamed to share the message about Me. Their strategy of sharing the message about Me changed the world! Want proof? Go look in the mirror. You are following Me nearly two thousand years later because of their work! Paul and Barnabas prepared to leave the synagogue [in Pisidian Antioch], but the people wanted to hear more and urged them to return the following Sabbath. As the people dispersed after the meeting, many Jews and converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas. Privately Paul and Barnabas continued teaching them and urged them to remain steadfast in the grace of God. The next Sabbath, it seemed the whole city had gathered to hear the message of the Lord. But some of the Jewish leaders were jealous when they saw these huge crowds. They began to argue with and contradict Paul’s message, as well as slander him. Paul and Barnabas together responded with great confidence. Paul and Barnabas: OK, then. It was only right that we should bring God’s message to you Jewish people first. But now, since you are rejecting our message and identifying yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the outsiders. The Lord has commanded us to do this. Remember His words: I have appointed you a light to the nations beyond Israel, so you can bring redemption to every corner of the earth. These words created two strong reactions. The outsiders were thrilled and praised God’s message, and all those who had been appointed for eternal life became believers. Through them the Lord’s message spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders united the aristocratic religious women and the city’s leading men in opposition to Paul and Barnabas, and soon they were persecuted and driven out of the region. They simply shook the dust off their feet
09 Jul 2025
The assurance that God’s presence is with us brings peace. I pray that we shall all operate in that assurance, especially in challenging times. There is no better feeling than that. 1 John 4:13-16.