Friday, May 25th

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on. - Mark 12:41-44

Dear Jesus, you and the widow confront my selfish heart on Tuesday of your last week.  She gave all she had to your Father on a Tuesday.  You were going to give all you had to your Father on the following Friday.  I so easily get proud of my meager gifts.  Yet I invariably leave for myself more than I give to you. None of my gifts have equaled your gift of your whole life for mine.  Teach me deep in my soul to freely let go of everything I hold dear for the love of your Father and my fellow humankind.  I lose only what I try to keep.  I know you have secured my place in your heart by your generosity.  You love those you have given to. I am thankful to be one of them.  AMEN

Gifts are not measured by the decimals and commas between their numbers but by the beliefs and feelings in the heart that moved the hand to give.”

Additional Readings: 1 Chronicles 29, John 12:1-11

Thursday, May 24th

The heavenly Father said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” - Isaiah 49:3-6

Dear Jesus, you sat outside Jerusalem and deeply contemplated what was about to happen to you. Your life was in your own hands.  You could slip away quietly to Galilee and avoid being betrayed, tortured, and crucified.  But you ran toward the trouble instead of away from it.  You contemplated your prize, my very soul, and you waited anxiously to sacrifice yourself to save me.  Help me to contemplate your great work of love today and to spend less time doing and more time thinking deeply about you and your deep commitment to save me.  I'm tired of doing.  I want to be more than I do.  Come and be the Savior of my soul and captivate my thoughts. While I must do many things throughout this day, help me to be in that other place where you were, thinking deeply about your cross.  AMEN 

Jesus' entire person is engaged for us.  Our worthy response is to be engaged as much as possible for him.

Additional Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9, Luke 9:43-51 Hebrews 12:1-3

Wednesday, May 23rd

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. - Matthew 27:57-61

Dear Jesus, your friends and faithful followers respected your body and placed it in their own space.  Their hearts were breaking. Now here we are 2000 years later respecting your resurrection.  We celebrate it with special services on the day commemorating the day that you burst open the tomb and restored hope and joy to all humanity.  No matter what our disappointments in life, no matter what our medical prognosis, your resurrection gives us hope and joy. Help your Christians everywhere to live in Easter joy no matter what is going on in their lives.  Shield them from the heat of day in the shadow of your cross and heat up their cold winter nights with the sunshine from your empty tomb.  AMEN

It is through the foolishness of preaching Christ crucified and arisen that people are rescued for eternity.

Additional Readings: Matthew 27:62-66, 28:1-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Tuesday, May 23rd

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ... Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. -Isaiah 53: 1, 4-6

 Dear Jesus, I love to meditate on your six hours on the cross for me. When I read these words from Isaiah that were written 600 years before you were born, I realize that, as the eternal God, your heart and soul has always been on the cross.  You are always there suffering, always risen, always sending the Holy Spirit, always loving me.  Thank you for taking away the thousand plus ways I have disappointed you.  Help me to let that same grace flow through me to those who have let me down.  I want to live in the shadow of the cross being forgiven and learning to forgive everyone.  AMEN

Grace for me means grace through me.  Grace through me means grace from me to others.

Monday, May 21st

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” - Matthew 26:26-29

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35

Dear Jesus, you are love personified and on the night before you died, you gave us two commands (mandates) that are natural desires for anyone changed by your love. The first was that we would draw near to you often in the Lord's Supper for a hug from heaven from you as we take your very body and blood shed for us.  The second is that we love one another as you have loved us. Both mandates given on Maundy Thursday are a delight for my redeemed soul.  I love drawing near to you and I love forgiving and loving those around me, both friend and foe.  Please deepen my understanding of how the Lord's Supper and the command to love are foundations for my life.  Give me insight into how I can reflect what you are teaching me to others in a simple and powerful way too.  AMEN

Additional Readings: Matthew 26, John 13-17

The Lord’s Supper is the closest we get to heaven before we pass from this life to the next.

Sunday, May 20th

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. - 2 Peter 1:16-18

Dear Jesus, as a leader of people and a public speaker, I know how easy it is to build my teaching around any story that comes along.  The story about your life is not something that was made up or refashioned every time an apostle spoke or wrote.  It is all bona fide history that demands a response.  You came as the only Son of God and humanity's only hope of forgiveness and eternal life. You came to be trusted, followed, and proclaimed.  Someday, every one of us will pass before your throne to be judged.  This was Peter's point when he said he saw your majesty when you were transfigured before him. You are the only God and he knew it.  So, right before he died, he pressed us to learn that his teachings were based on truth and not perception.  Help me live today as if your word is the truth and not just one group's suggestions. AMEN

The truth about Jesus is the concrete foundation under every day of a Christian's life.

Saturday, May 19th

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” -Acts 20:35

 Dear Jesus, these words that the Apostle Paul spoke to the elders from Ephesus, before he left them for the last time, give me "core values" for my day. Help me to find joy in the hard work that helps people who need my help. Stop me from stressing myself out by constantly counting how much I have done and how much I have yet to do. Instead, help me be joyful that you have made my life so full that I can work hard with significant purpose in every moment. Also, help me to turn off time wasting screens (phone, computer, TV, etc.).  I want to go out and live my own reality instead of only observing the "reality" of others. You worked hard for me so I could happily lose myself in working hard for others. Help me live in that happiness. Amen

 Hard work for the benefit of God's greatest creation (people) is never wasted.

 Additional Readings: Proverbs 24:27, Proverbs 24:30, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Friday, May 18th

Whoever would foster love will cover over an offense. But whoever repeats the matter will separate close friends. Proverbs 17:9

Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be that guy who fosters love not only between others and me but between all people and their friends. This passage makes me think before I tell anyone about someone else’s mistakes.  Help me to leave the sins and mistakes of others unmentioned so they are not left lonely as others think negatively about them because of my gossip. Put a guard over my mouth and a peace in my soul as I encourage grace and loyalty between friends and family. Amen

Love delights to see other people grow in their friendship with one another.

Additional Readings: 2 Samuel 15, James 3

Thursday, May 17th

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. - 1 Peter 2:2

Dear Jesus, I naturally crave many things, like recreation, financial stability, praise, money, a nice car, and a nice home. I naturally desire to be right or at least to be thought to be right. I naturally desire the affection of others. But I do not naturally seek the pure spiritual milk of your word. Even though I have tasted how wonderful it is to get pure truth, I often grow bored with it.  it is hard to admit.  I have noticed that when I neglect your word I often regress in my attitude.  I get grumpy and petty.  My soul seems like it is bogged down in fog.  But your moral truth burns off the fog of my generation's confusion about right and wrong. Your grace washes away the gooey guilt of self-righteousness. Once I get back into the word I feel so much better.  Oh Jesus, make me hungry for your word so that I grow up in my salvation without interruption.  Amen

The word of God is spiritual health food.  A steady diet makes us strong and resilient when life comes at us fast.

Additional Readings: Psalm 119, John 8:31-32, Colossians 3:12-17, Hebrews 4:12-13

Wednesday, May 16th

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. - Galatians 3:23-25

 Dear Jesus, it is so easy to see the Christian faith as a set of theological precepts and rules to govern our lives. But what you have done by bursting forth from heaven and living a perfect life for me has rendered all religious rules obsolete for producing righteousness. Your sacrifice has removed my fear of punishment too. Now I live by your love. Your moral commands are now something that free me from myself and give me a way to know that I am pleasing you. All other rules are just guides that help me learn to love. They do not threaten or define me. Sometimes I even need to break those man-made rules in order to show love for someone you put in my life. Help me to know the difference between godly love by breaking a man-made rule and simply using my freedom as an excuse to be rebellious. And help me to be a lover of all people because I am a lover of you, oh God. AMEN

 God's love, shown to us in Christ, makes us trust him so much that we want to do what pleases him even when it's hard or unpopular.

 Additional Readings: Luke 6:1-11, Romans 13:10, Galatians 5:1-12

Tuesday, May 15th

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. - Ephesians 1:3-6

Dear heavenly Father, when I read the passage above with my heart wide open, it occurs to me that you are telling a story about me and how you chose me from eternity, saved me in my lifetime and still plan to bless me from now on.  You include me in your story because you carry me in your heart even when I am an embarrassment.  You love me 1000 times more than my earthly father did.  Thank you.  Thank you. Thank you.  My heart is full of your fatherly love.  It amazes me that you are pleased to you in your heart to choose me, of all people, to learn about your Son and believe.  AMEN

 When you know your heavenly Dad loves you, you can face anything life has waiting for you.

 Additional Readings: Psalm 23, 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, 1 John 3:1-3

Monday, May 14th

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:32

Dear heavenly Father, sometimes the hard things in my life make me wonder if you are there or if you have good plans for me.  Then I remember this verse and think, "If you gave up your own Son for me, surely you have my best interest at heart. It's just that you haven't brought the "good" to its completion yet. Help me to practice my faith by waiting with sublime faith that you have everything planned for my good, instead of fretting and doubting and making others stressed with words and actions that come from my own anxiety.  Give me the strength I need to live above my natural inclinations. AMEN

God is working everything out for your good whether you enjoy peace from that thought or not. Cash in on the blessing of faith now.

 Additional Readings: Genesis 22:1-19, Malachi 3:17-18, Matthew 6:22-34, Romans 8

Sunday, May 13th

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”  “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”   “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him.  “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” - Matthew 17:24-27

Dear Jesus, I usually think of taxes as something I have to pay, but you show me in the same way you showed Peter that you give me what I need to pay my taxes in this world.  Since I know you will provide for my tax bill, help me to live free from worry or the begrudging spirit that makes me despise government, so I can be positive and glow with the hope that comes from being in your kingdom.  Thank you for the deeply flawed government you have given me as an American.  It is my government as a gift from you, warts and all!  And finally, if you can pull a coin from a fish for your friend Peter, I trust you can find money from wild places to help me in my needs from now until I step into heaven. So, I will live in peace and freedom. AMEN

If Jesus will use a fish to give a dollar to a friend, anticipate some wild stories in your own life about his provisions.

Additional Readings: Deuteronomy 8:1-5, Luke 5:1-11, Romans 13:1-7, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sunday, May 13th

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”  “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”   “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him.  “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” - Matthew 17:24-27

 Dear Jesus, I usually think of taxes as something I have to pay, but you show me in the same way you showed Peter that you give me what I need to pay my taxes in this world.  Since I know you will provide for my tax bill, help me to live free from worry or the begrudging spirit that makes me despise government, so I can be positive and glow with the hope that comes from being in your kingdom.  Thank you for the deeply flawed government you have given me as an American.  It is my government as a gift from you, warts and all!  And finally, if you can pull a coin from a fish for your friend Peter, I trust you can find money from wild places to help me in my needs from now until I step into heaven. So, I will live in peace and freedom. AMEN

 If Jesus will use a fish to give a dollar to a friend, anticipate some wild stories in your own life about his provisions.

 Additional Readings: Deuteronomy 8:1-5, Luke 5:1-11, Romans 13:1-7, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Saturday, May 12th

I pray that you, being rooted and established in Christ love, may have power together with all of God's people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:17-19

Dear Heavenly Father, I awakened this morning, as always, with conditions placed on my love for others. Unconsciously, I put them in different classes, some deserving my love more than others. It's like they are on a huge bell curve.  I know this is wrong.  But without your supernatural, unconditional love working in me, I will be stuck here all day. So, fill me with your love that makes me forget whether I like someone or not. And give me at least one moment today that I consciously choose to love someone that would have been low on my conditional "love scale." Work in me the love that is wider, deeper, and higher than my mind and heart. Amen

 The heart of Christ is to love without discrimination.

Friday, May 11th

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. - Proverbs 18:2

 Dear Lord, give me the grace today to not so much seek to be understood as to understand. Help me to honor the fact that you have given me two ears and one mouth and to trust that I can do more with my ears as I listen with the intent to understand.  When I do open my mouth, help me to ask kind and thoughtful questions that reach deeper into the heart of the other person.  After I have fully comprehended what they are feeling, thinking, and saying, then help me to answer in such a way that shows humility and love as I give whatever two cents I have left to give.  AMEN

To seek to understand is the first-fruit of wisdom.

Additional Readings: James 1:16-27, James 3:12-18

Thursday, May 10th

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. - Proverbs 19:11

 Dear heavenly Father, I sometimes sit and wonder why you do not act more quickly to discipline and punish those who make grave mistakes or commit sins in broad daylight. But I see in this passage that you are practicing the wisdom that you lead me to embrace.  You are perfect in your patience. You even let the mistakes of people work a good plan and ultimately help both the sin maker and sin's victim.  It is to your glory to overlook my offenses and refrain from nagging me all day long with how I have, yet again, failed you.  Now, oh Father, full of love, make me the same kind of wise leader that you are.  Help me to exude patience and to overlook the many ways I could be slighted every day.  Help me focus on the big things like love, restoration, and encouragement.  AMEN

 Eagles do not swat at gnats.  Neither should God's people become petty and picky.

 Additional Readings: Psalm 130, Proverbs 16:32, Colossians 3:12-14,

Wednesday, May 9th

"Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go." – Deuteronomy 1:29-33

Dear heavenly Father, this candid discourse from your servant Moses to the children of his peers, who had left Egypt with him, reminds me how easy it is to have you right there helping me and yet still complain and lose trust.  They had your miraculous deliverance from Egypt. They had signs of your presence every day and still their challenges in the upcoming "Promised Land" made them cower and complain.  I want to learn from their mistakes. I want to be optimistic today in the face of the challenges I am experiencing.  Thanks for forgiving me of my recent grumbling.  Now, pull my eyes toward you and all of the promises you give me that apply to my life and the path you have chosen for me.  Make me a positive influence and joyful servant in my family, my church, and my community.  AMEN

Joyful service to God by meeting one's responsibilities without fear and grumbling is the gift of faith from God.

Additional Readings: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10, Philippians 2:12-17, Jude

Tuesday, May 8th

And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) - then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that. - Mark 7:9-13

 Dear Jesus, I have so many friends and family that are feeling the heavy burden of grief as their parents' health wanes and the flesh like grass loses its beautiful flower.  The challenges of role reversal and life altering decisions leaves them overwhelmed with worry.  They want to do the right thing. They want to fight their own selfishness and honor their parents the way you ask us to.  But it is no easy task.  It is so counter intuitive to tell the ones who have given you life that they must lose their independence and become more the child than the parent.  It is all part of the fallen-ness of our existence.  Help both parents and children to rise up with love, faith, and hope and to cooperate with each other as they suffer through the last days together.  Give them your bright light of forgiveness when they don't get it right and hope for the life beyond when they grieve over the end.  Oh, God, help us be your people of love and truth as we struggle through caring for one another.  AMEN

 Honor your parents in all circumstances even if it means honoring them with a holy struggle for their own safety of body and soul.

Additional Readings: Exodus 20:12, 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, 

Monday, May 7th

"Better is open rebuke than hidden love.  Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.  Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.  As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."  Proverbs 27:6,7,9,17

Dear Heavenly Father, just as you have given me Jesus, you have also given me Christian friends who honestly love and serve my best interest.  help me to appreciate their honest meddling in my heart.  I do not want to  be like a school boy playing dodge ball jumping this way tand that to avoid penetrating conversation.  Make me bold to let my friends affect me.  But also, help me to affect them with the same loving, honest, god-pleasing advice.  It is so easy to imagine everything is good and nothing should be changed while I live with a blind spot that you sent friends to remove.  Give all of us the grace that forgives and makes us vulnerable to one another in that good and holy way.  AMEM

Deep personal friendship is dangerous for our vain ceramic egos.

Additional Readings: Psalm 141:5, Proverbs 20:30, Proverbs 28:23, 2 Corinthians 7:8-13