Today’s Verse – 1 Corinthians 15:25-26
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. —1 Corinthians 15:25-26 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… How many times have you stood over the grave of a recently departed friend or loved one? It hurts! When was the last time you tasted grief and separation from someone you dearly loved? Oh, my, that hurts deeply! I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that the Bible identifies death as one of Jesus’ enemies. I am grateful that Jesus hates death and the damage and separation it causes. I rejoice! The LORD hates death even more than I do and came to earth and suffered death to destroy the evil one’s power over us in death. I am filled with joy to know that death ultimately will be destroyed when Jesus gives immortality and life to us so we can share in his glory forever! My Prayer… Holy Father, please triumph with life and mercy in the lives of those I know who are wrestling with emotional, spiritual, and physical illness and death. Triumph in their lives through your power and your grace. I look forward to the day, dear Father, when death is no more. LORD Jesus, I not only pray this in your name, but I ask you to speed this day of victory for all your disciples! 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.
17 Apr 2025
The reason for the coming of Christ was to restore mankind back to God. May we realise that we need restoration. May we be broken and humble enough to accept that we need His help, and may we return to Him. May He restore our relationship with Him and with those around us, our health, our priorities, our finances, etc. May this Easter not just be a routine. May the death and resurrection of Christ count for something. And that is growth. Luke 15:11-24.
Cruciformed #4: Only by Prayer
Unlike the father of the boy with the tormenting spirit, we don’t confess our unbelief and then ask for help in believing more is possible. Have you ever thought about what it was like for Peter, James, and John coming down from the mountain after Jesus’ transfiguration? Do you ever wonder what stirred inside their hearts? Incredible. Unbelievable. Inconceivable. They had experienced Jesus and the shekinah, the very glory of God as it surrounded Jesus. They had also seen their childhood heroes, Moses and Elijah, visiting with Jesus. Three fishermen who followed an itinerant teacher and prophet from Nazareth and they got to see the most significant leader and lawgiver (Moses) and the greatest prophet (Elijah) in Jewish history. Incredible! Unbelievable. Inconceivable. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah had disappeared, and the voice from heaven told them to listen to Jesus, focus on him and not their heroes because Jesus was God’s Son, the one the Father loved. Their lives should be devoted to his life and re-fashioned by his words. Incredible. Unbelievable! Inconceivable. But then they had come down from this mountain top experience with Jesus only to find reality waiting for them: When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not” (Mark 9:14-18). “But they could not!” Incredible. Unbelievable. Inconceivable! This episode from Jesus’ ministry with his closest followers is all too real. Most of us have lived it. Sometimes we’ve been those folks who had a mountaintop experience and can’t understand the lame and limp discipleship of those who appear to be placed in front of us to wear the shine off our new-found spiritual passion. Other times, people have been off having a great spiritual retreat while we’ve stayed back and tended to the needs of ministry and found ourselves insufficient to meet them. And we wonder why weren’t those “mountaintop navel gazers” with us when we faced such a hard ministry crisis? Spiritual, real-world, true-to-life, ministry and vibrant faith are hard to accomplish in a world where the evil one tears down what we try to build and our limited abilities smack us in the insecure places of our hearts. So, what is the point of this episode? If it rings with the authentic tones of our troubled world and faulty discipleship, then what are we to take from it? We don’t pray enough, and when we do pray, we pray wimpy prayers. You can dress up the point any way you want, but that’s the truth in cornbread English. Notice how Mark made the point in his story of Jesus: “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” … After Jesus had gone indoors [after healing the boy with the tormenting spirit], his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:19, 28-29)> Deep in our hearts, we know it is true: We don’t pray enough, and when we do pray, we pray wimpy prayers. You know it. I know it, and I have thousands of prayers out there in daily devotionals. It’s true of us. We don’t praise and give thanks to God nearly enough for what he is done to bless us. So, we don’t expect much when we do pray because we’ve forgotten all our Father has done for us. Oh sure, most of us have Ephesians 3:20-21 printed on a decorative plaque about God being able to do immeasurably more… yadda yadda yadda. We even want to believe it’s true. The problem is, we fill our hearts with thoughts of our insufficiency for the challenges ahead of us. We hold bitterness in our hearts for our disappointments with our prayers that we feel have gone unanswered. We believe, but unlike the father of the boy with the tormenting spirit, we don’t confess our unbelief and then ask for help in believing more is possible. We believe, but we forget the power of prayer is in its simplicity (Matthew 6:9-13), from hearts filled with expectation (James 1:6-8), and accompanied with our thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2; Philippians 4:6). We forget the thousands of needed things in our lives God has done for us out of his overflowing love and grace. We forget he has chosen to partner with us in HIS kingdom work by HIS power for HIS glory to benefit those HE longs to grace with HIS blessings. So, we say today: Forgive us, Father. We believe, but we need help with our unbelief. You have blessed us with your grace, mercy, and love. You came to us in Jesus and defeated the powers of sin, death, and hell that held us. You have poured your blessings into our lives through your rich mercy and overflowing grace. Forgive us, Father. We pray, but we pray selfish and small prayers. You have repeatedly and graciously answered those prayers. Still, we forget to praise you and thank you. But today, dear Father, please help our unbelief. Trouble us to awaken us to your power available to us in prayer. And, most of all dear Father, thank you for Jesus. We pray by his authority that you defeat the evil one and liberate our loved ones from his tyranny. Break down the walls of our self-doubt and insufficiency. We ask for you to do in our time
Today’s Verse – 1 Corinthians 15:24
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. —1 Corinthians 15:24 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Closing time! That’s when everything is counted, the doors are locked, and the final tally is made. Jesus is LORD of closing time. Even though he won the victory over death and sin while on the cross and with the empty tomb (Colossians 2:12-15), we’re still waiting to get swept up into his victory march. That day is coming. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess Jesus’ power, glory, and reign (Philippians 2:10-11). Every evil power will face destruction. However, the hearts that are yielded to God will be placed into his loving and mighty hands forever and share in his glory (Colossians 3:3-4). Our LORD reigns! My Prayer… Almighty God, Father of grace and mercy, I appreciate your tenderness and patience with me. However, Father, I am also comforted to know your power and might will exert itself fully upon the earth and against the powers of hell. I am heartened to know that Jesus will assert his rule and destroy everything false, malicious, evil, and wicked. Maranatha!* May that day, and our LORD Jesus Christ, come soon! In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. * In 1 Corinthians 16:22, Paul uses the Aramaic phrase Maranatha, which is translated, “Come, Lord!”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.
16 Apr 2025
Growth comes partly from revelation. May the Lord reveal Himself to us over and over again. May we be increasingly acquainted with Him and be transformed to be more like Him. Genesis 35:6-15.
Cruciformed #3: Listen to Him!
In a world full of noisy distractions and competing messages, how do we know which voice we should obey and which sign we should follow? I thought to myself, “I will count the signs I see as I exit the freeway and drive the four blocks to the church building.” I was thinking about using the number of signs as an illustration of the many distractions we face in our daily lives. Distractions can derail the most simple of trips, processes, and errands. For someone like me who lives on the ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) side of the street, these distractions easily become a ricochet of focus. We forget our purpose, our mission, and our to-do lists regularly because of the flood of competing messages and tantalizing opportunities. Before I made it half-way through my four blocks, I lost count. I was somewhere over the two-hundred mark. If I hoped to get close to the accurate number, I was going to have to slowly re-walk the short trip. Even going very slowly, there were too many signs to count. Well over four hundred signs were vying for my attention. They bombarded me with all sorts of messages. How do we choose which voice to hear or which sign to follow? In a world full of noisy distractions and competing messages, how do we know which voice we should obey and which sign we should follow? When it comes to the purpose of each of our own lives, who or what are we going to let set our agenda? Whose truth will we believe? Whose message will we heed? As Jesus moved closer to Jerusalem for the final time, God made his answer clear. For the Lord’s closest three disciples, an incredible experience on the mountain became the tuning fork for their future: Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:2-7). We could spend a lot of time talking about how Moses and Elijah were God’s greatest teachers, leaders, prophets, and representatives in Jewish history. All that is true. The respect Moses and Elijah rightfully had was warranted. Still, the voice from heaven declared a re-orienting truth with absolute certainty. As important as Moses and Elijah may have been, those heroes of the past didn’t compare to Jesus. Peter, James, and John must not allow anyone or anything to distract them: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! In a world of competing voices, whose voice am I going to choose? Which message will I use to orient my life and set my trajectory for the future? With so many messengers and authorities vying for my attention, where will I find my truth? Of the many intriguing teachers, Which one will I choose to set the direction for my life? Jesus is God’s ultimate message to me (John 1:1-18). No matter how or through whom God spoke in the past, in these days, he still speaks through Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-3). God’s message on the mountain to the three closest disciples of Jesus still speaks through the centuries to remind me: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! Will I listen? Will I choose to make his example and teaching my source of truth, my guide for the future, and my hope in the storms of life? Will Jesus be more than my religious mascot? Will his truth shape my life or will I try to redefine what he taught by what I want, feel, and believe? With so many competing visions for my life, just saying that I follow Jesus isn’t enough. His story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John must be the dominant voice I choose to hear. His life must be the example that re-engineers my own. His cross must be the imprint on my heart that re-shapes my character and inspires my compassion. Anything else, or anyone else, is less. We must not settle for less than Jesus. As God said: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! Special thanks for the use of the Jesus images in Phil’s blog, “The Jesus Window,” to Free Bible Images and the The Lumo Project. About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
Today’s Verse – 1 Corinthians 15:20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. —1 Corinthians 15:20 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… The angels at the empty tomb of Jesus asked the women (Luke 24:5), “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” These words are also the angels’ words to us. Jesus is risen, and one day, so will we be raised from the dead: Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). He guarantees that God’s harvest of all people will one day occur. He is our assurance as believers and disciples that we, too, will be raised from death and death will no longer have a hold on us! We are God’s eternal children, and death cannot separate us from his presence or love (Romans 8:37-39). My Prayer… Father God, I praise you for your redeeming grace. I rejoice in your conquest over Satan and over his power to wound and destroy through death. I thank you for your power over the grave. Thank you for raising Jesus from the dead and giving me the assurance of life forever with you. Please bless me, dear Father, with a life that reflects the power that you have now working in me. In Jesus’ name, I pray this. 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.
15 Apr 2025
My expectation is to grow in knowing God and my life reflecting Him in all areas. May the Lord help me to reflect Him always. I may be in a similar environment with others, but I pray that my life will stand out for His glory. Matthew 14:22-33.
Cruciformed #2: Beyond Our Blurry Vision
As we journey with Jesus down his way of the cross, something grabs our hearts. That drawing power reaches through the centuries. When our kids were small, they were both avid TV learners. Our daughter loved Mr. Rogers. She would answer him when he asked questions. She would say, “Goodbye, Mistuh Wojuhs!” at the end of the show and tears would roll down her cheeks. Our son was the Sesame Street kid, for sure. One of the segments that he loved when he was very young had a song that would stick in your brain all day — sometimes to the point of wanting to beat your head against the wall because it became the incessant background noise of the day. That segment? “One of these things is not like the others…” (Yes, I bet some of you can hear that song now and will for the rest of the day!) In that “not like the others” segment, kids were supposed to figure out which one of the objects on the screen was not like the other ones — notice the controversial example below, as the comments on YouTube emphasize some of the higher reasoning needed to make this distinction. If you cannot see the above video, check it out online. At the first turning point in the Gospel of Mark, he tells us about a miracle of Jesus that was not like any other. NONE of the other three gospels has an account of it. Mark chose this miracle to emphasize what he was doing in his story of Jesus. See if you can determine what makes this miracle so perplexingly unique: They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village” (Mark 8:22-26). Did you catch the way this miracle is different? This man’s blindness required a double-dose of Jesus’ healing power! What? Why was a double-dose of Jesus’ healing power required? What was going on in this miracle? Mark wasn’t worried that we might think Jesus couldn’t do the miracle. He had stilled storms and calmed raging winds. Jesus had cast out a legion of demons. He had raised the dead, restored sight to the blind, helped the lame to walk, cleansed those in advance stages of leprosy, restored shriveled arms, and fed the multitudes. The issue wasn’t Jesus’ power, but something that Jesus wanted to teach his closest disciples. Mark also saw that this lesson would be indispensable for us, too. Jesus chose to do the miracle in two moves to alert us to our need for deeper healing of our out-of-focus wrong-sighted view of him as our Savior. The previous interactions of Jesus with his apostles and the crowds showed that they were not “getting him”: they had trouble understanding what Jesus did, why he did it, what he was about, and what he wanted them to learn. The episode that follows Mark’s account of the blind man’s healing is Peter’s confession. Peter confessed Jesus’ rightful identity (Mark 8:29), but he did not understand (or would not believe) that Jesus’ role as Messiah and Son of God required him to die on a cross (Mark 8:31-33). Peter only partially saw Jesus! Like the rest of the apostles and the crowd that followed Jesus, Peter desired the all-powerful and liberating Jesus. He yearned for a Messiah who could do anything for him and the people. He wasn’t ready for nor did he want God’s Messiah, the one who would submit himself to death on a Roman cross as a ransom for all people (Mark 10:45). Peter, the other apostles, and the crowds wanted Jesus as the triumphant and all-powerful Savior; they didn’t want him as the Suffering Servant for all people (Isaiah 53:1-12). They sure didn’t want Jesus to be the Lord who called them to follow him in the way of the cross and sacrificial service to others (Mark 8:34-38; 9:33-37; 10:35-45). Like the blind man, Jesus’ followers needed a double-dose of healing to see completely. Mark wanted all of us to recognize that “one of these things is not like the others”! Jesus’ definition of the Messiah, Son of God, is different from every other human definition. Mark wanted us to realize that this blind man and his story of a double-dose of healing is about us — about you and me and our persistently confused ways of seeing. What followed this healing is a series of episodes in Jesus’ ministry where he repeatedly spoke about the necessity of being rejected (betrayals and trials), reviled (crucified and mocked), and resurrected on the third day (Mark 8:31-32; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). All along the way, the disciples of Jesus said and did things that showed they still needed this second dose of healing. They refused to accept the way of the cross and sacrificial service. They argued over who would occupy the places of prominence. So, they had to journey with Jesus. They had to endure watching him being rejected, reviled, and resurrected before they could begin to see clearly. Jesus’ way of coming as Messiah, Son of God, and Savior, meant that he lived as the one who was not like any others. He refused to be defined by the shallow human definitions of titles. Jesus chose to redefine these titles by what he did and what he sacrificed as he journeyed to the cross and through the empty tomb. As we journey with Jesus down his way of the cross, something grabs our hearts.
Today’s Verse – Proverbs 10:2
Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death. —Proverbs 10:2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Wealth, especially wealth gotten through greedy and wicked means, proves to be of no lasting value. This rancid kind of wealth rots the heart of the one who gets it. Even when we have this rotten wealth, it cannot save us from our ultimate demise. Righteousness, however, is a far more precious treasure. True righteousness comes from God as his gift to us from his grace we received through faith in Christ Jesus. This righteousness transcends our mortality, is greater than any financial wealth we could accumulate, and saves our souls from death. My Prayer… Holy and Righteous Father, thank you for making me righteous in your sight through Jesus’ sacrifice and your grace. I want my enduring legacy to be my righteous character — character and righteousness you have given me — not my status, achievement, or wealth. I know my accomplishments will be forgotten after my earthly life is over, but I am fully convinced that the righteousness you develop in me will be a blessing and an influence for generations after I am gone and will be my accompanying treasure when I share with you in your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. 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.