Chapter One
January 1
Resolutions
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?"
JOHN 21:15
Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail
Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us.
He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He
takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.
Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples
from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied
that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had
been capable of being Jesus' disciple when he was unfaithful to
Jesus in His most crucial hour.
As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you
have failed your Lord in many ways. Perhaps you were not faithful.
Perhaps you disobeyed His word to you. Perhaps you denied
Him by the way you lived. Jesus will take you aside, as He did
Peter. He will not berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will
ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, "Do you
love Me?" If your answer, like Peter's, is "Yes, Lord," He will
reaffirm His will for you. If you truly love Him, you will obey
Him (John 14:15). Jesus does not need your resolutions, your
recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your
resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it
will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love. If
you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be
of the quality that He desires.
January 2
Woe Is Me!
So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts."
ISAIAH 6:5
An exalted view of God brings a clear view of sin and a
realistic view of self. A diminished view of God brings a
reduced concern for sin and an inflated view of self. Isaiah may
have been satisfied with his personal holiness until he saw the
Lord in His unspeakable glory. Isaiah's encounter with holy God
made him immediately and keenly aware of his own unholiness
and the sinfulness of those around him. It is impossible to worship
God and remain unchanged. The best indication that we
have truly worshiped is a changed heart.
Have we so conformed ourselves to a sinful world that we are
satisfied with unholy living? Have we sunk so far below God's
standard that when someone does live as God intended, we
consider that person "superspiritual"? If we only compare our
personal holiness to those around us, we may be deceived into
believing that we are living a consecrated life. Yet when we
encounter holy God, our only response can be "Woe is me!"
You will not see those around you trusting Jesus until they
recognize a clear difference between you and the rest of the
world. God wants to sanctify you as He is holy. When God deals
with you, there will be a radical degree of purity about your life
that is absolutely different from what the world can produce. The
world, including those closest to you, will be convinced you serve
a holy God by your consecrated life.
January 3
Making a Difference
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not
defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies.
DANIEL 1:8
Would you dare to believe that God, who called you to
Himself and equipped you with His Spirit, could work
mightily through you? Have you made the connection between
the time and place in which you live and God's call upon you?
World events never catch God by surprise. He placed you precisely
where you are for a purpose.
Daniel did not let the temptations of his day interfere with his
relationship to the Lord. He knew that to make his life useful to
God he must be obedient in all things. Regardless of what the
most powerful king in the world commanded, Daniel refused to
compromise what he knew God required of him.
History is replete with examples of Christian men and women
who believed that God would work through them to make a significant
difference for His kingdom. God placed Esther strategically
in the king's court at a crucial time when she could save the lives
of God's people (Esther 4:14). God placed Joseph strategically
to become the most powerful adviser to the pharaoh in Egypt
and to save Jacob and his family from a devastating drought
(Gen. 41:39-40).
Are you allowing your surroundings to determine how you
invest your life? Or are you letting God use you to make a difference
in your generation? Ask God to reveal His purposes for you
and His will for your life today.
January 4
Trembling at God's Word
But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word.
ISAIAH 66:2
Do you tremble when God speaks? When was the last time
you were physically affected by the reality that almighty
God just spoke directly to you? John lost all physical strength
when God spoke to him (Rev. 1:17); Paul fell to the ground
when Christ met him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4); Moses
trembled when God spoke to him (Acts 7:32); and Peter, when
he realized who Jesus was, "fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,
`Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'" (Luke 5:8).
Have you lost your sense of awe that the Creator still chooses
to speak to you, His creation? Do you approach the reading of
your Bible with a holy expectation, listening for the life-changing
words that God has for you that day? Scripture says that "The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 9:10). There are
things you will see and hear out of your fear and reverence for
God that you will not experience in any other way.
As you study your Bible, you may sense that God has something
to say directly to you through the verses you are reading.
Take a moment to consider the awesome reality that the God
who spoke and created a universe is now speaking to you. If Jesus
could speak and raise the dead, calm a storm, cast out demons,
and heal the incurable, then what effect might a word from Him
have upon your life? The possibilities should cause you to tremble!
The next time you open God's Word, do so with a sense of
holy expectation.
January 5
Ritual or Relationship?
Neither did they say, "Where is the Lord,
Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness?"
JEREMIAH 2:6
Christianity is an intimate, growing relationship with the person
of Jesus Christ. It is not a set of doctrines to believe,
habits to practice, or sins to avoid. Every activity God commands
is intended to enhance His love relationship with His people.
God designed worship for us to see Him in His glory and to
respond appropriately; for many it has degenerated into "religion,"
one more meeting to attend out of habit. God established
the sacrificial system so that we, His people, could express our
love to Him; but we often diminish our gifts to our Lord into
futile attempts to appease Him and to pacify our guilty conscience.
God gave us prayer so we could have conversation with
Him, but we often distort this by "saying prayers" and hurrying
off without ever listening to what is on our Father's heart. God
instituted His commandments as a protection for those He loves,
but the commandments can become a pathway to legalism rather
than an avenue for a relationship with our Father in which He
protects us from harm.
Religious activity apart from fellowship with God is empty ritual.
The people of Jeremiah's day were satisfied to have the ritual
without the manifest presence of God. They became so comfortable
with their "religion" that they didn't even notice God's
absence. Is it possible to pray, to attend a worship service, or to
give an offering yet not to experience the presence of God? It certainly
is possible! And that has been the sad commentary on
many a Christian experience. Don't settle for a religious life that
lacks a vital relationship to Jesus Christ. When God is present, the
difference will be obvious.
January 6
God Looks for Clay
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?"
says the Lord. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand,
so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!"
JEREMIAH 18:6
God knows how to bring salvation to your family, your
friends, your community, and your world. Accordingly,
He looks for those who will allow Him to shape them into the
instruments He requires to do His divine work. Clay has no plans
of its own, no aspirations for service, nor reluctance to perform
its given task. It is just clay. Moldable, pliable, totally submissive
to the will of its master.
At times we excitedly announce to God: "I've discovered my
strengths and gifts, and now I know how I can best serve You!"
At other times we inform Him, "I am aware of what my weaknesses
are, so I know which tasks I'm not capable of doing for
You." Yet this is not characteristic of clay. God is not limited to
working with our strengths (2 Cor. 12:9-10). He can mold us
into whatever kind of instrument He requires. When God's
assignment demands humility, he finds a servant willing to be
humbled. When His work requires zeal, He looks for someone
He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds
those who will allow Him to remove their impurities. It is not a
noble task, being clay. There is no glamour to it, nothing boastworthy,
except that it is exactly what almighty God is looking for.
Compliant, moldable, yielded clay.
If your tendency is to tell the Father what you can and cannot
do for Him, submit to His agenda and allow Him to shape you
into the person He wants you to be. Like clay.
January 7
We Live by Revelation
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.
PROVERBS 29:18
The world operates on vision. God's people live by revelation.
The world seeks grand and noble purposes and
goals to achieve. People dream up the greatest and most satisfying
things in which they can invest their lives. Institutions
establish goals and objectives and then organize themselves to
achieve them. God's people function in a radically different way.
Christians arrange their lives based on the revelation of God,
regardless of whether it makes sense to them. God does not ask
for our opinion about what is best for our future, our family, our
church, or our country. He already knows! What God wants is
to get the attention of His people and reveal to us what is on His
heart and what is His will, for God's ways are not our ways!
(Isa. 55:8-9).
Whenever people do not base their lives on God's revelation,
they "cast off restraint." That is, they do what is right in their
own eyes. They set their goals, arrange their agendas, and then
pray for God's blessings. Some Christians are living far outside
the will of God, yet they have the audacity to pray and ask God
to bless their efforts!
The only way for you to know God's will is for Him to reveal
it to you. You will never discover it on your own. When you hear
from the Father, you have an immediate agenda for your life:
obedience. As the writer of Proverbs observed: "Happy is he who
keeps the law."
January 8
Exceedingly Abundantly
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us.
EPHESIANS 3:20
At times we feel as if we could impress God with all we are
trying to do for Him and His church. Yet God has yet to
be impressed with even the most grandiose human aspirations
(Ps. 8:3-4). You will never set a goal so big or attempt a task so
significant that God does not have something far greater that He
could do in and through your life. Saul of Tarsus worked harder
than anyone else to impress God with his efforts, only to discover
that his greatest achievements were but rubbish compared to
God's will for his life (Phil. 3:7-8).
Our problem is that we become too easily enamored with
our own plans. If we are attempting to do noble or difficult
things, we assume that we must be experiencing the maximum
potential for our lives and that God must, therefore, be pleased
with us. Until we have heard from God, we cannot even imagine
all that our lives could become or all that God could accomplish
through us.
We need to remind ourselves that the Father sees the "big picture,"
that His power far exceeds our limited imagination. Wemust set aside our own agenda, however lofty. We must never
become satisfied with our own dreams, for they are finite at best.
When we follow God's direction we will witness things happening
in our lives that can only be explained by His powerful presence.
How could we be satisfied with anything less?
January 9
Prayer Discovers
God's Agenda
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight,
He went out and departed to a solitary place;
and there He prayed.
MARK 1:35
It was common knowledge among the disciples that they
would find Jesus praying during the early morning hours.
When they needed Him, they knew to go to the place of prayer. When
Judas betrayed Jesus, he led his cohorts to Jesus' place of prayer.
Every time the Lord Jesus faced an important decision, He
prayed. When He was being tempted to do things by the world's
methods instead of the Father's, He prayed (Matt. 4). When it
was time to choose His disciples, He prayed the entire night
(Luke 6:12). If the Son of God required a night of prayer in
order to determine the Father's mind, how long might it take us
in prayer to clearly determine our Father's will?
Because Jesus was so often surrounded by crowds, He knew
He must find a quiet place so He could clearly hear His Father's
voice. Jesus had many people seeking to influence the direction of
His life. His disciples wanted Him to go where the crowds were
(Mark 1:37). The crowds wanted to crown Him king (John 6:15).
Satan tempted Him to make compromises in order to draw a following
(Matt. 4:3, 6, 9). Jesus knew that His mission was not to
attract a crowd, but to remain obedient to His Father. It was prayer
that set the agenda for Jesus' ministry (Luke 6:12). Prayer preceded
the miracles (John 11:42-43); prayer brought Him encouragement
at critical moments (Luke 9:28-31); prayer enabled Him to
go to the cross (Luke 22:41-42); and prayer kept Him there despite
excruciating pain (Luke 23:46). Follow the Savior's example, and
let your time alone with God, in prayer, set the agenda for your life.
January 10
When God Speaks, It Is So
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
ISAIAH 55:11
When God speaks, nothing remains the same. At the beginning
of time, God spoke, and a universe was created out of
nothing. God followed a pattern when He created the earth: He
spoke; it was so; it was good (Gen. 1:3-4). This pattern continued
throughout the Bible. Whenever God revealed His plans, things
happened just as He said, and God considered the result "good"
(Phil. 2:13). God doesn't make suggestions. He speaks with the full
determination to see that what He has said will come to fruition.
Whenever Jesus spoke, what He said came to pass. Lepers
found that a word from Jesus meant healing (Luke 5:13; 17:14).
The blind man discovered that a word from Jesus meant sight
(Luke 18:42). Through a barren fig tree the disciples saw that a
curse from Jesus meant destruction (Mark 11:20). The sinner
experienced forgiveness through a word from Jesus (John 8:11).
How many attempts did it take Jesus to raise Lazarus from the
dead? Only one (John 11:43). There was never a time that Jesus
spoke that what He said did not happen.
What happens when Jesus speaks to you? Have you been reading
the words of Jesus in your Bible without experiencing His
word that transforms everything around you? Jesus condemned
the Pharisees because they assumed that knowledge of the written
Scriptures would give them life. They were satisfied with having
the words instead of experiencing the person who spoke the
words (John 5:39). How powerful a word from God is to your
life! As you read your Bible and pray, listen to what God has to
say to you about His will for your life.
January 11
Sowing Seeds of
Righteousness
But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.
PROVERBS 11:18b
There are many ways to invest our lives, but none offers
greater reward than devoting ourselves to the pursuit of
righteousness. Every area of our lives should reflect the holiness of
God that is ours by salvation: our thoughts, so that nothing we
think about would be inappropriate for a child of God; our
actions, so that our lives demonstrate that we serve a holy God;
our integrity, so that we are above reproach in all our relationships.
Are you taking God's righteousness in your life for granted?
Righteousness is something you must allow the Holy Spirit to
work in your life. Instead of sowing holy thoughts, are you allowing
evil and sinful thoughts to grow in your mind? Are you
allowing lust to grow unchecked within you? Does enmity, bitterness,
jealousy, or unforgiveness remain in your life? Jesus said
if we seek first God and His righteousness, everything else will
follow (Matt. 6:33).
There is great reward in sowing righteousness. What
are you presently doing to plant holiness in your life?
(1 Pet. 1:15). How are you putting righteousness in your mind
so that your thoughts are holy? How are you cultivating righteousness
in your relationships so that you maintain your integrity?
Are you instilling righteousness in your activities so that your
life is above reproach? If you want to harvest righteousness in
your life tomorrow, you must plant seeds of righteousness today.
January 12
The Key to God's
Redemptive Mission
"That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You; that they also may be one in Us,
that the world may believe that You sent Me."
JOHN 17:21
God often speaks of human relationships as a part of His
mission to redeem a lost world (John 13:20; Matt. 25:40).
One reason He gives for a husband and wife to live in unity is
so they can produce a "godly seed," that is, children who love
and obey God, who can be used in God's mission to bring
redemption to a lost world (Mal. 2:14-15). Similarly, the church
is the body of Christ. A church cannot be on mission with the
Father in our world if its members are waging war with one another
(1 Cor. 12:12). There is a crucial connection between our relationships
with others and the salvation of those around us.
We might assume that during Jesus' prayer before His crucifixion,
He would have prayed that His disciples would have
courage, or would remain faithful, or would remember what they
had been taught. Yet He asked that His followers would remain
united in their love for one another. Jesus understood that it is
spiritually impossible to love God but not love others.
A test of your love for God is to examine your love for others.
Our tendency is to say, "Heavenly Father, the problem is not
between You and me. I love You with all my heart. I just don't
love my brother." And God says, "That is an impossibility. You
cannot love Me without loving the ones for whom My Son died"
(John 13:34-35). Your life will not convince those around you
of the reality of Jesus if you cannot live in unity with your
fellow Christians.
January 13
The Penetrating Word
of God
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul
and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
HEBREWS 4:12
Does God's Word ever cause you discomfort? When you
read the Bible, does what you read make you uneasy?
Do you find, when you listen to sermons, that the Scripture
seems aimed directly at you? You are experiencing the reality that
the word of God is alive and can read your thoughts and judge
your intentions.
When God's Word speaks to you it is always for a purpose. God
knows your heart and knows what you need to do to bring your life
into conformity to Christ. If you have a problem with sinful talk, the
word that comes to you will address the tongue. If you are struggling
to forgive, God's Word will confront you with His standard
for forgiveness. If pride has a stronghold in your life, God's Word
will speak to you about humility. Whatever sin needs addressing,
you will find you are confronted by God's Word on the matter.
One way you can escape the discomfort of conviction is to
avoid hearing God speak to you. You may neglect reading your
Bible and stay away from places where it is taught. You may avoid
those whom you know will uphold the truths of Scripture. The
best response, however, is to pray as the psalmist did: "Search me,
O God, and know my heart" (Ps. 139:23). Regularly allow the
word of God to wash over you and find any sin or impurity
(Eph. 5:26). Always make the connection between your life and
what God is saying to you through His word. Make a habit of
taking every word from God seriously, knowing that it is able to
judge your heart and mind.
January 14
Warfare . or Discipline?
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.
HEBREWS 12:6
There is a tendency among Christians to view anything
unpleasant that happens to them as the result of "spiritual
warfare." When a difficulty arises, many immediately ask God to
remove their distress. The problem is that their predicament
may have nothing to do with Satan or with spiritual warfare. It may
appear far more glorious for us to explain our hardships as Satan's
determined attacks against us, rather than admitting that we are
merely reaping what we have sown and are being disciplined by our
heavenly Father (Gal. 6:7).
What is often mistaken as Satan's attack may actually be chastisement
from our loving Father. If you have neglected your role as spiritual
teacher to your children, God may allow them to fall into sin. If
you have been dishonest at work, God may correct you by letting you
face the consequences. It would be foolish to pray that God would
ease your discomfort. God is disciplining you in order to gain your
attention and bring necessary change to your life. How tragic never
to make the connection between your problems and God's discipline.
God's discipline will not help you if you dismiss it as Satan's doing or
spiritual warfare. Not every hardship you face is the chastisement of
God, but Scripture indicates that God will discipline you.
If you misunderstand God's chastening, you may actually blame
Him for not answering your prayers or failing to protect you from
Satan. Meanwhile, God is warning you of the danger you face
because of your sin. Are there difficult circumstances in your life?
Could it be the discipline of God? God, whose nature is perfect love,
will correct you because He has your ultimate good in His heart.
January 15
Compelled to Serve
Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power.
PSALM 110:3
One mark of revival, during which God comes to His people
in power, is that God's people are compelled to offer
their lives for His service. Many churches lack people who are
willing to get involved in carrying out God's redemptive work.
The mission fields are crying out for Christians to go and share
the gospel with those who've never heard it. What we need is not
more pleas for volunteers, but an outpouring of the power of
God. When God comes among His people in power, there is
never a shortage of volunteers or resources for His work!
When Christians today are asked what aspects of the Christian
life are most important to them, missions is not usually ranked as
a priority. This is because we have lost track of why God called us
in the first place. We were not saved from our sin simply so that
we would qualify for heaven. God delivered us so we would have
a relationship with Him through which He could carry out His
mission to redeem a lost world.
Only the power of God can free us from our natural self-centeredness
and reorient us toward the mission of God. There is
no need to pray that God would come in power. That is the only
way He ever comes. We need hearts that are so responsive to Him
that He will choose to demonstrate His power through us. Is
your heart so filled with love for God that you are watching for
the first opportunity to say with Isaiah, "Here am I. Send me!"?
January 16
God's Eternal Perspective
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
GENESIS 12:2
Big assignments require big characters. God will give you a
responsibility in proportion to the size of your character.
In Bible times, a person's name represented his character; to know
someone's name was to know what the person was like. That's
why God changed the name of some when He transformed their
character. For example, the Lord wanted to bless all the nations of
the earth through Abram, yet Abram's character was too weak for
such a great task. God said He would make Abram's name great
so that He could make him a blessing to future generations. Then
over the next twenty-five years, God developed Abraham's character
to match the name He had given him.
God sees your life from His eternal perspective. He will take
whatever time is necessary to grow your character to match His
assignment for you. If you have not received a divine commission
lately, it may be that your character needs maturing. Are you
impatient to begin your work before God has refined your character?
A small character will fail in a large responsibility every
time. Don't be too hasty to get to the work. Character-building
can be long and painful. It took twenty-five years before God
entrusted Abraham with his first son and set in motion the establishment
of the nation of Israel. Yet God was true to His word,
and thousands of years later people continue to be blessed by the
account of Abraham's life and by his descendant, Jesus.
How is God building your character? Do you sense He has a
task for you that will require a far greater man or woman than
you presently are? Will you yield to God as He works in your life
to prepare you for your next assignment?
January 17
Be Reconciled!
"Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.
First be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and offer your gift."
MATTHEW 5:24
It is useless to give offerings to God while you are at enmity
with your brother. Jesus said that His followers should
be reconciled with anyone who has something against them. The
world seeks reconciliation on limited terms. Christians are to be
reconciled, whatever it takes.
You say, "But you don't know how deeply he hurt me! It's
unreasonable to ask me to restore our relationship." Or, "I tried
but she would not be appeased." Jesus did not include an exception
clause for our reconciliation. If the person is an enemy, Jesus
said to love him (Matt. 5:44). If he persecutes you, you are to
pray for him (v. 44). If she publicly humiliates you, you are not
to retaliate (v. 39). If someone takes advantage of you, you are
to give even more than he asks (v. 41). The world preaches
"Assert yourself." Jesus taught, "Deny yourself." The world
warns that you will be constantly exploited. Jesus' concern was
not that His disciples be treated fairly but that they show unconditional
love to others regardless of how they are treated. Men
spat upon Jesus and nailed Him to a cross. His response was our
model: "Father, forgave them, for they do not know what they
do" (Luke 23:34).
If there were ever a command that is constantly disobeyed, it
is this mandate to be reconciled. We comfort ourselves with the
thought, "God knows that I tried to make things right, but my
enemy refused." God's Word does not say "Try to be reconciled,"
but "Be reconciled." Is there someone with whom you
need to make peace? Then do what God tells you to do.
Continues.
