Category: Daily Devotions

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1

His Love Endures Forever

It’s been said that we could thank the Lord for something different every day of our lives without ever running out of things to give thanks for. It’s true, the Lord has blessed each of us in too many ways to count. Today’s verse helps us remember the all-embracing source for all those blessings: The Lord loves us.

Focus on this: The Lord loves you. When Jesus the Savior died on the cross, he died for you. When he rose from the dead on the third day, he rose for you. Everything Jesus did he did for you, and all of it counts for you. And if the Lord has given up his Son for you, won’t he also give you everything else you need in life and more?

It’s easy to forget how much the Lord loves us. We might be feeling the guilt of a sin we’ve committed; it might be hard to imagine that the Lord loves us after that. We might be going through troubles and hardships that make it hard to see the Lord’s love in a given moment. On the other hand, when things are going well, it’s easy to forget the source of our happiness.

It’s true that your sins do indeed offend God, and you do indeed deserve punishment from him. But Jesus has paid for your sins. Even as you confess your sins and ask for God’s mercy, keep your eye on the cross of Jesus, and remember: The Lord loves you.

What’s more, there are no strings attached to the Lord’s love. Some may think that if we aren’t thankful enough, the Lord will take his love away from us again. But the Lord’s love doesn’t depend on our thankfulness. The words of today’s verse are clear: his love endures forever. How can we help but give thanks for love such as this?

Happy Thanksgiving Day. God loves you!

Prayer:
Dear Lord, today and every day, help me remember your unchanging love, and give me a thankful heart. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:1-3

Give Thanks to the Lord

When we give thanks to the Lord, we think of things like family and friends, food and clothing, shelter and possessions. Today’s Bible reading reminds us that we have even more blessings in view of the coming judgment day.

We have Michael and many other angels watching out for us. They keep watch over us and our loved ones, and they guard us in all our ways. With calamities going on all over the world, they watch and guard God’s people, eventually taking them safely home to heaven.

We have the promise of resurrection to eternal life. Through faith in Jesus, we are connected to his forgiveness and his righteousness. So when we awake from the temporary separation of soul and body that we call death, we will awake not to shame and contempt, but to everlasting life. We have that same promise for family and friends who have died in the Lord.

We have the Word of God. Those who build their lives on its foundation are wise, and they will shine in eternity like the brightness of the heavens. Those who speak the Word of God lead many to the righteousness of Jesus, the basis of our salvation, and they will shine like the stars for ever and ever.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

Prayer: (Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal – 613:4)
Even so, Lord, quickly come
To your final harvest home;
Gather all your people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified,
In your garner to abide.
Come with all your angels, come;
Raise the glorious harvest home. Amen.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this: . . . “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Hebrews 10:11-15,17-18

Stop Working So Hard

There are some tasks that never seem to be done. No matter how often we brush our teeth, we always have to brush them again. No matter how many times we clean the house, the dust keeps reappearing. No matter how much time we spend working on the cars and lawnmowers, there’s something that will need to be fixed, tweaked, improved, or replaced before too much time goes by. Day after day, task after task, our work is seemingly never done. “When,” you might ask, “have I ever done enough to feel perfectly satisfied that my work is done?” With many tasks, the answer may simply be—never.

Do you ever ask the same question about your life? When do you have the right to feel perfectly satisfied with yourself? Have you done enough to love your spouse? Have you taught your children enough about God and his Word? Are you faithful enough at work? Have you dedicated enough time to serving others? Have you walked away from that temptation enough times to feel good about where you are in life? Day after day, task after task, in every area and relationship of life, there is seemingly more work that must always be done.

This was true also for the priests in the Old Testament. Their work was never done. Day after day, again and again, they offered sacrifices.

When we evaluate our lives according to how closely they model God’s will revealed in his Word, there is always more that must be done. That truth might compel us, then, to work harder and to sacrifice more of our time and energy to do better.

But that’s not what Scripture tells us to do. We are told, rather, to stop looking at the quality of our work and of our life and look instead at the quality of the work and life of Jesus. “By [his] one sacrifice, he has made [us] perfect forever.” The sacrifice of his perfect life was enough to cover over every sin and, therefore, enough to compel God to declare that “Their sins . . . I will remember no more.”

And if God does not remember your sins; if God already feels perfectly satisfied with who you are in Christ, then you can as well. You can stop working so hard to find what has already been given to you in Christ.

Prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, let us forever find rest in the sacrifice of Christ, so that we will be free to use our time and energy to sacrifice for those around us. Amen.

John 5:25,28,29
“…the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live…all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.”
John 5:25,28,29

The Life-Giving Voice

Various voices vie for our attention every day. Yet there is one voice among them all that offers everlasting refuge and relief. From the immutable message of the Bible I hear the comforting voice of Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ voice stands in sharp contrast to the enticing voice of the world. Daily, the sinful world seeks to deceive me with its empty promise of pleasure and its vain pledge of treasure. In the midst of the earthly temptations which allure me, the voice of my conscience is speaking too. It convicts me of my guilt and sin. Furthermore, the holy voice of God thunders with the verdict of death upon me for my sin.

Jesus’ voice cuts through the hopeless clamor of despair. He comes with his good news of life! His message reaches the ears and changes the heart. His word provides the answer to the curse of sin. The curse of my sin was placed upon him as he offered his life upon the cross. From Calvary Jesus cried, “It is finished.” In death, his voice was the voice of victory for a dying world of sinners. Through the gospel Jesus freely gives pardon for all my sins. While I live on earth, his word is my life. His message provides heavenly hope that revives me and divine peace that comforts me.

The gospel message will also comfort me as death draws ever nearer. One day my voice will be silenced by the grave. Yet even in the sleep of death, I will hear that victorious voice of the risen Savior. From the dust and ashes of death, Jesus will call me to come forth from the grave. By his grace, he will give me eternal life.

When I rise to live with Jesus in heaven, I rejoice to know that all of the voices that plague me in this life will be silenced. No longer will the voice of the world tempt me; no longer will the voice of Satan accuse me; no longer will the voice of fear disquiet me; no longer will the voice of death shake me! My living Savior will bring me to that home of endless life and boundless joy.

Amidst all the voices vying for your attention, one voice stands out. Trust the voice of Jesus. He gives life now and promises eternal life to come!

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, continually renew my life through your word. Calm my troubled heart with the promise of your love. Inspire me with the sure hope of eternal life to come. Amen.

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Circle of Life

I miss my dad.

He died when I was ten-years-old. Automobile accident. I remember the ache in my heart in the following months as our family adjusted to life without him.

Death stinks! It rips a huge hole in the heart of loved ones left behind. It tears them apart. It leaves them wishing for a few more joyful days with the person who passed.

Death stinks because of sin. Death became part of the “circle of life” when the human race chose to rebel against God. Our sin separates us from God, the source of all life. Without him, every sinner dies. We can do nothing to change this reality.

But God could and did.

His Son Jesus volunteered to die for us. The Father and Son worked out a plan that Jesus would die under God’s curse. God redirected his curse away from us and blasted Jesus with eternal death. Jesus suffered horribly, but he did it willingly to take the stink and sting out of death.

Death still hurts really badly because we miss people who have died. But we know that if they died in Jesus, we’ll see them again in heaven. (Dying in Jesus means dying with the trust that God will take you to heaven all because of Jesus.) When a Christian dies, we mourn, we cry, we hurt, but we also hope. We hope our loved one is in heaven because of Jesus. We hope we will be in heaven too, because of Jesus.

Unlike hoping for good weather tomorrow, our hope of heaven is guaranteed, rock solid, unchangeable, undeniable. Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead himself. He floods our hurting hearts at the side of a casket with the hope of eternal life. We can and do depend on this hope.

So, while I miss my dad, I know I will see him again. I will get to know him man to man. I’ll hear his laugh again and experience that big heart of his. Most importantly, we’ll both enjoy spending time with our Savior and our God. Because we’ll be with the Lord forever.

How can I be sure? Jesus died for him. Jesus died for me. And Jesus died for you.

Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for dying to take away our sins. Thank you for promising to give us heaven. By your love, take us home when the time comes so we can be with you and our loved ones forever. Amen.

This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.

Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion. For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.” … Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”
Isaiah 52:1-3,6

Just Wait

How many times have you had to say “Just Wait” in the last week? When kids get a little antsy about what they want from a parent, when co-workers are a little overbearing about a favor that they need, yes even when a spouse makes the same request one too many times, the response comes out so easily: “Just Wait!”

God told his people “Just Wait!” In fact that could be a theme of the whole Old Testament, “Just Wait!” God promised Adam and Eve that he would make one of their offspring the Savior, and then he told them to wait! God told Abraham he would give him a son and then made him wait for 25 years for Isaac to be born.

Isaiah wrote to people who were waiting. If they listened to Isaiah’s message, they were waiting for judgment. Like a mother that tells a disobedient child, “Just wait until your father gets home!” that was Isaiah’s message to his people. “You’ve been impatient; you’ve turned to other gods; you’ve rejected the true God. Now you just wait!”

And we’ve been there, too. We want God’s promises fulfilled today! We want health restored, relationships reconciled, comfort granted. We want what we want and we want it now! And when God doesn’t grant it, when he tells us “Just wait,” we grow angry with God and turn elsewhere, to other gods really, for comfort and happiness and hope.

For that, we deserve the judgment that Israel received. We deserve worse than captivity at the hands of a foreign army, we deserve eternal slavery in hell.

But wait! Isaiah’s “Just Wait!” message was not only about judgment, it was about forgiveness as well. God said, “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.” God would bring his people back from slavery and restore them to the land that he gave them. Without money God has redeemed us as well. It cost far more than money, but God paid it nonetheless. In love he gave us his Son. Jesus offered his body and his blood as our redemption price. On the cross he won us back from our impatience, our lack of trust, and all our sins. As he walked from the tomb, he destroyed death’s power and bought us the promise of our own resurrection. The promise of peace that Isaiah gave is ours now in part through Jesus, and it will be ours in full when we become Saints Triumphant in heaven everlasting.

Now we live here on earth, and though it might be hard, we can “Just Wait” for his return. And while we wait and watch, we can serve him and others with our lives. We can tell others that Jesus has come and that he will come again. We can tell the world what we know to be true, that Jesus and his heaven are worth the wait!

Prayer:
Strengthen me, Lord Jesus, while I wait for you to return. Make me to be strong in your Word and to trust in your promises. Help me to wait on your timing for the things in this world and for you to extend to me the riches of your glory. Amen.

This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105

Light for Your Heart and Path

What good will a light do if you refuse to open your eyes?

God calls his Word a “lamp to my feet” and “a light for my path.” Does God’s light do us much good if we’re vigorously squeezing our eyes and hearts shut?

In his Word—the Bible—God tells us what to do and not do. Does the light of his commands do us much good if we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves? We are mean to others. We lie. We fail to help when we could and should. God tells us to do good and love others, and we shut our eyes to his light.

In his Word—the Bible—God gives us great promises. Does the light of his promises do us much good if we don’t trust him? God promises us his forgiveness, care, wisdom, and love. Yet, we continue to carry our guilt and shame. We think we are the only ones taking care of us. We doubt God’s love in what he allows into our lives. We hear God’s promises and think, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

One of the truly awesome purposes of the Bible is that God’s Word is much more than a light that shines. The Holy Spirit works through the Word to open the eyes of the spiritually blind—people like you and me! The Spirit of God shines his light—his Word—in our souls, hearts, and minds. The light, God’s Word, creates faith. The Holy Spirit turns the light in our hearts brighter and brighter, so that we more closely follow God’s commands and more deeply trust his promises.

The apostle Paul, a follower of Jesus and missionary, wrote to some new Christians: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Read, learn, and meditate on God’s Word. May the Holy Spirit make his light shine brighter and brighter in our hearts and on our paths.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, you give me such a precious gift—your Word. Forgive me for failing to see and trust it as the light and treasure that it is. Work powerfully through your Word. Shine your light in my heart and on my path. Amen.

Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight.
Psalm 119:143

Delight in the Word of God

The hardest time to remember that God loves you is when you’re in trouble. It’s easy to know God’s love when your checkbook is flush, and your body is healthy. But when you’re in distress, God’s love is hard to see. How can you believe that God loves you when you’re broke, when chemo makes your hair fall out, or when a loved one is dying?

Where is God’s love in all of that? Worse, when trouble and distress strike, our natural reaction is to pray, “God, why would you let this happen to a good person like me?” But here’s the thing: I am not a good person.

Who can claim to be perfect in God’s sight? Who doesn’t forget to praise God when life is good? Who doesn’t doubt and complain when life isn’t? Scripture is clear: “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12). Because of sin, we are not good people. We do not deserve God’s love; we deserve trouble and distress.

But notice what today’s passage says: Our delight is God’s Word, not the outward circumstances of life. Trouble is part of an invaluable lesson that God teaches in the Bible and reinforces through experience. We are weak, but he is strong, and he will never let us down.

When you are hard pressed on every side, that’s when you see Jesus exactly where he has promised to be—right beside you. He knows trouble firsthand. Jesus suffered for the sinful world to forgive your imperfection and guarantee you an eternity that has no distress.

Until then, the troubles of life are a tool in God’s hand, and your faith is like a nail. The harder God hits it, the deeper it goes. Distress drives your faith even deeper. It sends you back to your baptism, back to the Word, back to the Lord’s Supper for proof of God’s love and for strength to endure.

So find your delight in God’s promises. You never have to wonder if God loves you. The cross proves it: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Prayer:
Lord, strengthen me to trust your promises and remember your love in good times and in bad. Amen.

“For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.”
Malachi 4:2

Sunrise is Coming

There is something about a sunrise, isn’t there? Whether you’ve had to pull an all-nighter or if you’re an early morning riser, there’s something energizing about those first rays of sunshine piercing the darkness of the fading night. In a sense, it is healing.

For us who are believers in Jesus, that is what the end of the world will be about; it will be about healing. And what healing it will be! God’s healing rays will drive all of sin’s darkness out of us once and for all! When Jesus returns and takes us to heaven, there will be no more temptations, doubts, fears, anxieties, pride, bitterness, hurt, feelings of inadequacy, messed up relationships, substance abuse, broken promises, shading the truth, and the list could go on and on!

Wow! How much I need that healing! As I read through that list and look at myself, I see failure after failure after failure. I’ve wounded myself; I’ve wounded others! How much I need healing! I so often feel like I am in such deep darkness!

Sunrise is coming, my brothers and sisters in Christ! Jesus is coming back! Yes, the same Jesus who was willing to be laid in a manger, to be led to a cross—he is coming back! He loves you dearly! He paid for your sins in full! He won heaven for you!

And someday the darkness will be pierced once and for all! He’ll return in glory, driving out the darkness of sin forever! You and I will be healed, forever! Sunrise is coming!

Prayer:
Come quickly, Lord Jesus, to heal us! Amen.

[Christ] has appeared once for all…to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:26

Replace

Harry Truman was taking a bath on the second floor of the White House one day when his bathtub nearly fell through the floor. If it had, the president would have landed in the middle of a tea party being hosted by Mrs. Truman for the Daughters of the American Revolution. He immediately called in experts to investigate the building’s condition. What they found was appalling. The 150-year-old structure was on the verge of collapse. As one inspector said, “The White House is staying up through force of habit alone.”

The inspection also revealed something ironic. It revealed that, over the years, every time there had been an effort to “improve” the White House, the improvement had only made matters worse. In light of all this, President Truman was determined not only to save the White House, but to do it in such a way that no future president would have to worry about such a project ever again.

Here’s what happened. Highly trained crews arrived. They carefully preserved the building’s outer shell. They constructed a new foundation, making sure it reached all the way down to solid rock, and not just sand. Finally, they replaced the entire inner structure. They took out all the tired, cracked wood and put in skyscraper-caliber steel. Thanks to Harry Truman, the saving of the White House is about as permanent as permanent can be in this temporary old world.

By nature, your life and mine resembles the condition of the White House when Harry Truman was taking his bath. On our own we may manage to maintain a decent-looking outer shell. But left to us our foundation rests on sand. Inside we are broken. Total collapse is just a matter of when. In addition, anything we do for self-improvement may seem helpful in the short term, but without a radical rescue it only makes matters worse.

And that’s why Jesus came. But when he did, he came not just to shore up our lives here and there for a little while longer. He came to deal with our problem in such a way that we would never have to worry about that problem again. He saw how our sin had broken us. He saw how our sin had given us only shifting sand, only the uncertainty of drifting from one thing to the next.

Then he addressed the problem. He confronted our sin head-on. He took it all to the cross and paid for it in full. In its place, he covered us in the holiness of his own perfect life. Now, through faith in him, we are new. Our foundation is Christ. Our future is secure. And because it is, our days of brokenness and uncertainty are no more.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, apart from you I am broken. In you I am whole. I am yours. Amen.