Friday April 22nd

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them.  ‘Greetings,’ he said.  They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’”    Matthew 28:8-10

Dear Jesus, The women had fear mixed with joy. Those two emotions seem so mutually exclusive. But I understand how they could both coexist in the hearts of your followers. I love how you told them to not be afraid. I hear you saying that to me. I don’t need to be afraid when you show your control over my life and allow huge things to happen I don’t need to be afraid after very near misses. I don’t have to be afraid when I can see trouble on the horizon. I don’t have to be afraid ever because you are risen from the dead and you rule over all things .Help me to hear your words whenever fear creeps into my heart so I learn not to be afraid even though I’m going through uncertain circumstances. Amen

Thursday April 21st

“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him.”  Now I have told you.’”  Matthew 28:1-7

Dear Jesus, Those women weren’t supposed to be there at the tomb.  You had told them that you wouldn’t be there to be found.  But even though they loved you deeply, they still couldn’t embrace the unthinkable, that you would rise from the dead.  At any moment in the story you and your angels could have given up on them.  They were slow to believe your words although not one syllable from your lips ever failed to come true.  I understand them because I doubt your word too when I don’t get to use my reason or my senses.  I find great comfort in the fact that the angel said, “Come and See the place where he lay.”  It tells me you are patient with my doubting heart too.  I cling to your resurrection and the grace that makes you coach me into believing the facts.  I get what they got, both the experience of seeing you alive after your death and the grace to process it as my greatest treasure too.  Thanks for loving me so patiently.  Amen.

God’s love waits for our hearts to catch up to his great blessings.

Wednesday April 20th

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24

Lord Jesus, I recently thought about your words, “Why do you worry about your life?  You cannot make it one hour longer by worrying.”  These words from Paul are similar.  It’s misguided energy to worry about my life and illness and how long I have left before heaven.  Our best way to spend our lives is to employ our hands, feet, tongue and teeth, money and time spreading the wonderful good news that you have saved sinners from the dead end they have created for themselves.  Help me find new ways to teach people your spiritual word for their eternal benefit and help me order my life better around making disciples for you, even in my family relationships.  Amen.

Tuesday April 19th

“Jesus did this, the first of his signs; in Cana of Galilee.  He revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.”  John 2:11

Lord God, The Bible is full of accounts from your ministry and life that demonstrate your power and your glory, your grace and mercy, your compassion. Each story presents you to me as my Savior. Each story shows me what you are like and how deeply and dearly you care about me. Each story drives me to believe in you and put my trust in you .As I follow you this year, and dive into your Word, show me who you are that I may believe in you and be saved by you .Amen

Monday April 18th

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  2 Corinthians 4:16

Dear Jesus, Just this week a friend told me I was looking old.  He’s right.  The bell tolls for me too.  My body moves slower and creaks more every week.  But my soul is as young as it became the day you saved me.  I am renewed in eternal youth by the promise of restoration.  I choose to think about this renewal more than about my aches and pains.  I love you for releasing me of the spiritual aging effects of guilt and shame.  Amen.

Saturday April 16th

“…and the tombs broke open.  The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared too many people.”  Matthew 27:52-53

Dear Jesus, You give us one verse about this crazy phenomenon that happened Easter weekend and leave us with so many questions.  Which saints got to come back to life and walk the earth?  How long were they here?  Who did they show themselves too?  When did they leave again?  All tantalizing questions!  But this I do get; your death and resurrection was underscored by their resurrection.  You really did conquer death for us.  They were the early fruit after your first fruit resurrection.  I will be next along with millions of other Christians who will arise on the last day and live forever in glorified flesh and blood.  I look forward to that day and find great comfort in believing this truth, especially when I consider the way my body is slowing down and showing its mileage.  Thank you for raising those folks to encourage me about my future.  Amen.

Friday April 15th

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”  Matthew 26:39

Dear Heavenly Father, I was taught to fold my hands when I pray.  With these folded hands I’m humbly and confidently telling you, “It’s all up to you.  You answer as you think best.”  I don’t know about Jesus’ hands the night he prayed in Gethsemane.  I do, however, know how extreme anguish drove him face down into the dirt.  Before him stood a cup filled to the brim with the poison of the whole world’s sins.  Its every drop would be bitter right down to the dregs.  This horrendous cup was his to drink if he would save mankind’s souls.  And he would have to empty it alone.  No wonder he fell with his face to the ground in prayer that night.  Jesus’ deeply felt sin’s weight but did not refuse to bear it.  He prayed earnestly with tears but did not turn away from your will.  “It’s up to you,” he was humbly telling you.  He also was confidently telling you, “You answer as you think best.”  He trusted a Father who loved him.  How could Jesus do it?  The answer has to be divine love.  Out of love for you he came to this ball of mud where I live.  Out of love for me, a sinner, he stained Calvary’s dirt with his precious blood.  Because of your saving work, I can fold my hands in humble, confident prayer to you.  Even more so, I can live with you forever in your eternal home.  Amen.

Lord, teach me to pray. 

Thursday April 14th

“After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”  John 13:5

Dear Heavenly Father, We use our hands to express love.  With them I caress my spouse, hold my children, and comfort my loved ones in distress.  What would I do if I couldn’t touch those nearest and dearest to me?  Jesus also used his hands to express love.  In the upper room at Jerusalem the night before his death, his hands picked up the basin of water and proceeded to wash his disciples’ feet.  Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?  Shouldn’t they have been washing the feet of their Lord?  He who came to seek and save the lost, now stoops to the work of the lowest slave.  Why?  To give me an example of humble service, of course.  He wants to remind me that he gave me hands to wipe away tears, watch over a soul, forgive a fault, bear with an injustice, invite a sinner, and encourage a saint.  Loving hands change diapers, scrub floors, prepare meals, do homework, bring home the paycheck, fill offering envelopes.  Even more, he wants me to remember how deep his love for me really is.  That night his hands washed feet with water.  The next day they washed souls with his blood on Calvary’s cross.  This night the Savior in love handled the disciples’ feet.  Tomorrow, in a far greater display of love, he handled the world’s sins.  From such wondrous love comes wonderful cleansing for my soul.  Amen.

Lord, help me, the sinner, to pray daily, “Wash me, Savior, or I die.”

Wednesday April 13th

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission .  Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”  Hebrews 5:7-9

Dear Jesus, It’s Wednesday of Holy Week.  We don’t have anything recorded in the Gospel accounts about what you did on Wednesday of that last week just two days before you died for us.  We only know that on Thursday you came back into Jerusalem from Bethany.  I think you spent the day in prayer.  You had been contemplating the great sacrifice you were about to make for millennia.  You talked about it in detail as if it had already happened in Old Testament times.  (Isaiah 49, 50, 53, Psalm 2, 22, 69, 110, Zechariah 3).  You had been telling your disciples this was coming.  You even said this was your last trip to Jerusalem.  So, I think you spent the day wrestling with God in prayer.  Your verse in Hebrews describes how in your earthly life you had fervent prayers, cries and tears to your father who could save you from death.  You prayed not in defiant anger but in broken hearted obedience.  You perfected obedience by doing the unthinkable for the Father and for me.  You were fully engaged and fully aware of what it cost.  It took perfect faith that God the Father would accept the sacrifice for all humans and raise you from the dead.  Today as I spend Wednesday, help me to learn how to obey from the heart and how to suffer all the painful circumstances of my life with faith, hope and love.  Make me a man of God in all circumstances.  Amen.

Jesus was fully engaged his whole life right to the end so that we might have a reason to fully engage with him.

Tuesday April 12th

“’Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.’  When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.  They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.”  Matthew 21:44-45

Dear Jesus, You pulled out all the stops on Tuesday of Holy Week.  You preached pointed words in an effort to give the Jewish leaders what many others were receiving.  You wanted them in heaven with you but they would not admit to themselves their need for grace.  You called yourself the stone that they (the builders) had rejected.  And you said if they would not let you break their pride into pieces then you would crush them in judgment.  It’s judgment now while we can be forgiven or it’s judgment on the last day when it will be too late.  You don’t care what we have wasted when it comes to salvation.  You just want us to be honest and admit our need for you.  I know my sins.  I am broken by your law.  I need your grace.  Forgive me and heal my heart from guilt and shame.  Give me a pure heart that does not pride itself in anything.  But also give me a pure heart that believes it is truly forgiven.  Finally, help me reflect this humble but liberated posture to those with whom I live and move today.  Amen.

Nothing compares to a soul cleansed of self-made pride or guilt. 

Monday April 11th

“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteousness, that he might bring you to God.”  1 Peter 3:18

Lord Jesus, Such freedom and joy is mine.  You suffered for all my sins, all of them.  All of the sins of this week, all of the sins of my past, even for all the sins of my future.  You suffered for all of my sins just once.  And you did it all righteously and innocently.  You didn’t deserve a single lick that you got from your enemies.  You didn’t deserve a single stroke of the justice that your Father doled out to you.  And yet you suffered all of that for me.  You suffered all of that so that you might bring me to God.  You have opened the way for me into God’s presence so that I might see him, live with him, and come to him.  This next week, dearest Jesus, as I see you make your way into Jerusalem to suffer for all of our sins, help me to see what you’re doing.  You’re going into Jerusalem to take away my sins.  You’re going there to die for all of my sins.  You’re going there to bring me to God.  Lord Jesus, thank you for this your deepest passion.  It is my salvation.  It is my entry into God’s presence.  Amen.

Saturday April 9th

“When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:13

Dear Lord God, You called, trained, and then used fisherman to be your disciples, to be your apostles and even to lay the foundation for the church through the Spirit-inspired teaching, preaching and writing.  Father, you have called me to be your child.  You have made me holy by your Son’s blood and by the Spirit’s work.  Use me, just as I am, just as you have created me, to serve you this year.  Equip and disciple me this year for every work that you have prepared in advance for me to walk in it. Inspire and set me on fire to follow you with devotion and dedication this year.  This is your year and the life you have given me to live.  Help me dedicate all that I do to you and to your glory.  Amen.

Friday April 8th

“But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”  Galatians 5:13

Dear Jesus, I heard in the news last week about a man who had just been released from prison who went on a rampage and killed several people.  I thought to myself, “How sad that he used his freedom to continue wreaking havoc.”  Then I remembered how many times I had felt bold to sin because I knew you would forgive me.  In my more quiet moments the guilt of such exploitative behavior haunts me.  How could I do that to you?  I’m begging you to build me up in your Spirit to use my freedom under grace to serve others freely from a loving heart.  Take away the puny strength of the law and replace it with gospel appreciation.  Make me a willing and faithful servant of all.  Amen.

There is nothing in all the universe more liberating than divine love. 

Thursday April 7th

“Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.”  Romans 15:2

Dear Lord Jesus, I will never know perfectly what it’s like to live 100% for others and their welfare.  That’s why this passage and its cousins in Scripture will always resonate with me.  I naturally want to please myself and not people around me.  By your Holy Spirit, cleanse out of my heart today the new selfish motives that have precipitated there.  Give me a deep love for others and their welfare at every level so I do and say what is best for them.  I want to spread the good news and be the good news for everyone I meet.  Amen.

Make someone’s day today and you will create a memory for them that keeps on giving long after today is forgotten.

Thursday April 7th

“After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee.  He revealed himself in this way.”  John 21:1

Dear Lord Jesus, This one word captures my heart: “again.” For three years you essentially taught your disciples the same truths always taking them further up and further into your Word. For three years you appeared to them again and again, taught them again and again. And even after your resurrection when one appearance should have proved the point, you appeared to them repeatedly to make it overwhelmingly clear to them. Again and again. Jesus don’t give up on me. Don’t give up on this world. Keep coming to me by your and sacrament to prove to me convincingly that you are who you say you are. Keep sending your people into this world to show yourself again and again to those who do not yet know you are alive. Don’t give up on me and don’t give up on the world. Send your Spirit and come to gather people to yourself. Amen

Wednesday April 6th

“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’  ‘If I want him to remain until I come,’ Jesus answered, ‘what is that to you?  As for you, follow me.’  John 21:21-22

Lord Jesus, sometimes as I take up my cross to follow you, I look around at other Christ-followers and start comparing crosses.  I start wondering why their cross doesn’t look like mine.  I start wondering why their following doesn’t look like mine.  That’s what I see Peter doing here.  But you have such wisdom for Peter, “You, follow me.  Don’t worry about what his cross will look like.  You do you.  Worry about the cross you will carry as you follow me.  He will do the same.”  Lord Jesus, forgive me comparing my crosses with the crosses of other Christians.  Forgive me for boasting about my crosses when I look at theirs.  Set me free to only carry my cross and help others carry their crosses.  You have called me to follow you, Jesus.  Give me strength and courage to do it.  Amen. 

Tuesday April 5th

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”  1 Corinthians 1:10

Dear Jesus, Unity is in the center of your will.  You want to see people united in love, faith and holiness.  The devil knows this and works hard to whisper doubt and distrust into each of our minds.  He makes us foolishly scheme to fulfill our ambitions and to overcome our fears.  He loves it when we isolate, hate and distrust.  He wants us to be surly loners.  He loves party spirits and negative press campaigns.  Forgive me Lord Jesus for succumbing to all of these at one time or another.  Wash away my guilt and restore me to being an honest, grace filled lover of souls.  Make me a champion for unity and unconditional love even with people who have hurt me.  Use your word to bind us all together.  Amen.

Any fool can separate from others.  Wisdom and love unite people around God and his word.

Monday April 4th

“This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.”  John 21:14

Dear Lord Jesus, You don’t want to leave me in any sort of doubt, none at all.  You didn’t want that for your disciples either.  You kept on showing them in multiple and miraculous ways that you truly were alive and that you truly are Lord of life.  I find doubts rising up inside me.  My ind whispers about your resurrection, “What if it’s not true?  Is it really true?  How could it really be?”  My heart whispers about my purpose and meaning in life, “What are you really accomplishing here?”  All kinds of doubts and questions about who you are and about who I am rise up in my heart and life.  Yet, Jesus, you do not want me to leave me there in doubt and despair.  You keep showing me in the Scripture who you are and what your promises are.  You keep coming to me and proving to me who you are and who I am because of your death and resurrection.  When doubt and despair, skepticism and questions, wash over me, come to me again and again to make it clear to me who you are.  Amen.

Saturday April 2nd

“He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.  After saying this, he told him, ‘Follow me.’”  John 21:19

Dear Lord Jesus, You have such love for Peter.After all that he did to you and against you, you came and you restored him.You welcomed him back with open arms and a glad heart.And then you called him to work for you.You didn’t just restore him, you invite him, called him, and even commanded him to work with you for the care of souls.You called and commanded him to follow you and to go where you led him.Lord Jesus, I can hardly comprehend this kind of love that you’ve also shown to me.You have restored me and welcomed me with open hands and a glad heart.You do not push me away, but instead draw me close.And more than that, you invite, call and command me work with you and for you to bring glory to God.Help me to follow where you lead.Help me to deny myself and take up my cross after you.You have done all this for me.Help me to live my life for you.Amen

Friday April 1st

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”  Hebrews 11:21 

Dear Heavenly Father, The blessings of Joseph on his sons came true because you were speaking through him.  I don’t have special blessings that you have given me to speak over my grandchildren but I do have blessings from you that are for all people including them.  I can learn to speak those blessings to them and over them.  Too many people don’t ever talk about you in their families and homes.  They hear about you at church but then it seems you are put in a box during the week as we go about our personal lives.  Help me to get your promises out of my heart over my lips and into the minds and hearts of my children and grandchildren.  Help me give them the positive destiny and identity that you have promised them.  They are heirs of heaven.  They are your own children that you watch over and encourage and lead.  They are a blessing to many others and their lies matter.  Even hardships in their lives are a way you prepare them for greater impact.  I can tell them these things and give their lives your divine blessing and perspective.  Thank you for giving me so much to give them.  By faith I will bless my family like Jacob did.  Amen.

The promises of God are low hanging fruit to pluck and bless your family .