Friday, June 30th

“Siting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” Mark 9:35

Dear Jesus, In a simple word you dealt a death blow to my ego.  If I want to be first in recognition, in privilege, in receiving gifts, or in getting my way, then I must be the very last.  Nothing else will confront and kill my selfishness like a clear and opposite than my desires, “No!”  Please make me a servant of all people and make me want to be last, to work behind the scenes and to let others shine.  When I have won the battle between myself and my selfish nature then there will be peace between me and others around me.  Make me the instrument of that peace by crucifying my desire to have others give me what I think I need to be happy.  This can only happen when you and your promised grace are my everything.  Amen.

When you are filled with God and his love, there is no hunger for others to bow to your whims. 

Thursday, June 29th

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Colossians 4:2-6

Lord Jesus, Teach me to pray.  Compel me to pray.  You have given me so many astounding promises about prayer.  I confess that I don’t use it often enough.  I too often depend on my effort, on my working, on my timing, on my wisdom.  I confess that I often depend more on myself than I do on you.  Forgive me for that and all the other sins I confess to you today.  Help me, I pray, see what a great power and promise lay within prayer.  Compel and constrain me by these promises to devote myself to prayer.  Teach me to pray watchfully that I might stay in the faith and guard it for others.  Teach me to pray evangelistically, to pray for the gospel’s working in my life and through missionaries around the world.  Teach me to pray with a thankful heart and to pour out my praise to you.  You have been so gracious to me in more ways than I can number.  Teach me to pray with a thankful heart.  Lord Jesus, compel and teach me to pray just like you taught your disciples.  Amen.

“You cannot find a Christian who does not pray; just as you cannot find a living man without a pulse that never stands still, but beats and beats on continually of itself, although the man may sleep or do anything else, so being all unconscious of this pulse.”  Martin Luther

Wednesday, June 28th

“Let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”  1 Thessalonians 5:8-11

Dear Jesus, You died to redeem my life so that nothing that happens to trouble or shorten it can steal my faith, hope and love.  This trilogy flows out of the great act of redemption that you accomplished for all humanity and me.  Although I feel the wrath of your justice on this sinful body, I know that I have been redeemed.  My body will be renewed on the last day and until then I live in faith, hope and love.  Give me the mental clarity and the internal courage to use this salvation to encourage people around me especially those who are knocked off their feet by health problems and conflict.  Make me an instrument of your hope.  Amen.

Faith, hope and love are real possessions of the redeemed soul.  They make one rich in all circumstances.  

Tuesday, June 27th

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  Colossians 3:12-17

Lord Jesus, you have been so patient, gentle, generous and gracious to me in every part of my life.  You give to me in an open-handed way when I have given to others with a closed fist.  You forgive me without even batting an eye when I have often paused and struggled to forgive those who forgive me.  You have sent people into my life to correct and rebuke me when I needed it, but I have often failed to speak up and speak into the lives of the people into whom you have sent me.  Lord Jesus, control me and rule over my every thought and my every action today that I might be controlled by your grace and forgiveness for me.  Control me by your peace so that I am working for peace.  Work in me by your Word that I might be a tool of your Spirit in the lives of other people.  You have called me to this.  You are working in me for this.  Guide, control, and rule over every part of my life by your grace, your mercy, and your peace.  Rule over my heart and life today, dear Jesus.  Amen.

The things that we have in and through Christ control, guide, and govern our every action toward all people and especially toward the body of Christ. 

Monday, June 26th

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  Colossians 3:12

Lord Jesus, Today help me to remember who I am in you and to live my life out of that identity.  I often assign myself an identity based on how well I am doing in my life as your follower.  I often look at my identity as something that needs to be achieved rather than something that is received.  Help me to remember who I am as I live for you today.  I am one of your chosen people.  Yes, Father, out of all this world you looked at me and chose me in your Son Jesus to be one of your own.  I am not just one in a great crowd of people; I am one of your chosen ones.  I am holy too!  Your Son, washed my sins away and clothed me with his perfect life.  I can say that through faith I am holy and perfect, blameless and blemish free.  And on top of all that, I am dearly loved.  I am dear to you, precious in your sight.  Help me, Father, to remember who I am and live my life out of that.  I am yours!  Help me live my life as the child of God, the holy child of God, the loved child of God that I am.  Let this truth guide and even control my thinking.  Let this truth govern my loving and my living.  Amen.

The disciplined life of the disciple follows and flows out of this complete and perfect identity.  We are not in pursuit of this identity; we already have it as baptized children of God.  

Saturday, June 24th

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.  And who is equal to such a task?  Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.  On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.”  2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Dear Jesus, Since you have captured me with the truth of your law and gospel, I have felt myself being a reflection of your brutal honesty and your tenacious forgiveness.  That’s why your picture of an ancient king leading home captives in a perfumed parade resonates with me.  Those captives meant death to all who made themselves an enemy of the king.  But they meant life for those who followed him.  You are my king and I follow you as a willing prisoner of your love.  Lead me today to speak sincerely about you and the salvation you have brought for all people.  Help me remember that every word I speak is spoken in front of you.  Make me serious, honest, gentle and loving.  And help those who live around me to be the same.  Amen.

Remembering that God is near you changes everything you thing and say.

Friday, June 23rd

“And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.’”  Luke 12:16-21

Dear Jesus, You lived a very short life on earth, only 33 years.  yet you watched everyone else act as if the earth was their forever home.  People work hard, accumulate wealth, live in comfort and then fall prey to death like everyone before them.  Their accumulation is then dispersed.  Some treasures are trashed and the goals they had for themselves evaporate.  I think about how deceiving wealth can be.  It does nothing for the soul.  Only you can give the soul what the security it craves.  This world is a huge disappointment even for the greatest basketball star.  Nothing lasts, except the soul.  Thank you for saving my soul for all eternity and give me the faith and power to aim my keep my possessions toward blessing others instead of quadrupling blessings for myself.  Amen.

Earthly greatness is a mist that vanishes as we pass into eternity.  

Thursday, June 22nd

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.  But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  Colossians 3:5-10

Lord Jesus, help me to see who I really am in you and to ruthlessly rid my life of all the things that cover up that identity.  I have attitudes growing in my heart that are opposed to you and to others.  I have thoughts rolling around in my mind that are not healthy, that are not godly, that are not pleasing to you.  Out of those thoughts and attitudes all kinds of bad things come in my daily life.  I know that I’m still not there yet.  So, Jesus, help me to rid my life of all this wickedness and make my true identity known in the way that I live today.  Make it evident to the world that I am wholly different.  I don’t just call myself a disciple of Jesus; I am working to live that out in my daily life.  Keep sin from killing me and put it to death in my today that I might live and walk and work as the child of God that I am.  Help me to do this, dear Father in heaven.  Amen.

Make your true identity known to the world as the Holy Spirit makes you new and bears good fruit in your life.

Wednesday, June 21st

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’...that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”                1 Corinthians 12:21, 25

Dear Jesus, Help me to be small enough to let myself need my Christian siblings to make it through each day.  Help me be humble enough to ask for their help.  Help me be self-divested enough to give them a meaningful word of encouragement.  Help me be astute enough to take their opinions seriously, and loving enough to correct them gently if they need me to.  When they are honored, give me genuine joy for them with a voice to tell them how proud I am of them.  Make me own them like I own my own self and to seek their welfare even before my own.  You taught me to aspire to these virtues by how you have treated me.  Amen.

A big heart leaves a guest room for other people. 

Tuesday, June 20th

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  Colossians 3:1-4

Lord Jesus, I am often consumed in my heart by the opinions that other people have of me.  I worry and fret about what people think of me and often behave in a way that tries to guard that opinion and guide it into a certain direction.  I am often controlled by the way I think people see me.  More than that, my own view of myself often controls me as well.  I am trying to be and appear in a certain way.  This controls me too!  I’m trying to be someone, to be something, and to get somewhere.  But Jesus this is not the way to see my life.  I am so much more.  You have already made me someone!  You adopted me into your family and I am yours.  I am not just a nobody, but I am a somebody to you.  More than that, you have given me something to do.  This day, this very day that I am living and working and walking in your day and you have already prepared things for me to do this day.  I am someone in your eyes created to do something for you and I am headed somewhere.  You have given me an eternal destiny and nothing can alter that destiny.  It is secure for me in heaven itself.  Set my heart and my mind on these things and control my life by these things.  Focus my thinking on these things as I serve you today and help me see the good things that you have called and given me to do.  Amen.

So, keep your head up.  Keep your eyes and your heart on these truths.  See what no one else can see about your life.  Your life is his; and it is a glorious gift. 

Monday, June 19th

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.”  2 Corinthians 4:7-12

Dear Jesus, Everything in my culture teaches me to mourn, grieve and resist the perplexity of suffering.  It doesn’t matter if it’s natural aging, loss of memory, my clumsiness, or the rejection of others.  I’m taught to hate it all.  But the truth is: you allow and even dictate many fractured moments in my life so the excellency of your power and grace will shine through my life.  You don’t want people to look and me and miss you.  You want them to see you helping me live peacefully and lovingly even with the burden of life.  I’m a jar of clay and you are the wonderful life giving water inside me.  Oh Jesus, teach me to embrace my weaknesses as the stage upon which you shine.  Amen.

Don’t try to hide your weaknesses.  Instead let people see Jesus make you happy in spite of them.  

Saturday, June 17th

“Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”   Galatians 6:7-8

Dear Jesus, Sometimes your word is painfully honest with me.  Here it blows away the lie that I can live for my selfish instincts and get away with it.  It’s the lie that I could be careless with the feelings of others, greedy, lustful and selfishly ambitious and think that I could still live without being lonely, guilty or filled with shame.  I am deeply thankful that you have given me a great “other choice.”  By your Spirit you have confronted my selfishness and through forgiveness you made an escape for me that I can survive.  I want to live by your Holy Spirit who drives me with love, who leads me with grace, and who comforts me with peace.  Help me to follow your Spirit into a life that sows seeds of goodness all around.  Amen.

The life of sowing and reaping is a great game changer for everyone. 

Friday, June 16th

“Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.  Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you.  Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.  They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”      Colossians 2:16-19

Dear Jesus, I often live my life and feel a pressure on my day to get things done.  Even my daily time with you in prayer and meditation often place a pressure on me to get this done.  I carry a burden of certain attitudes that I should have, of certain things I need to do to be a good person at work, at home and in my community.  I have a list of things that I should be doing and I’m burdened and pressured to check things off of that list.  But Jesus, you have done everything God required already!  You have already completed the check-list of God’s expectations and demands for me.  Which means-I can hardly say it because it astounds me so.  Which means that I’m already done with my check-list.  All things that you required of me are already completed for me by you!  Help me to live my life set free from the check-list that has already been completed.  Help me to live with joy that comes out of this freedom you have accomplished for me.  Amen.

Here is good news with which to start the day.  All the things on God’s checklist given to you have already been checked off by Jesus.

Thursday, June 15th

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”  Colossians 2:13-15

Dear Jesus, Sometimes I feel as though I don’t even have control of myself.  Words come out of my mouth that I am ashamed of.  Thoughts fly through my mind that I want to get rid of.  Guilt and shame weigh me down.  I hear voices of accusation and condemnation in my ears, in my thoughts, and weighing down my conscience.  I can’t seem to escape it.  Sometimes I’d rather stay in bed than to get up and face the day.  But Jesus, here you remind me that there is nothing against me.  All the sins that were against me are not against me anymore.  All the things that condemned me in the past condemn me no longer.  All the forces of evil that seek to destroy can’t destroy me anymore because they are destroyed.  Jesus you have taken my sins to the cross and have put my enemies under your feet.  You have made a public spectacle of all of your enemies.  Help me to live this day in the confidence that comes because you have put all my enemies under your feet.  There is nothing that can condemn or destroy me.  You have won for me.  Amen.

The powers of Satan have no power over your life.  They have no power over your eternity.  You are God’s and God is yours. 

Wednesday, June 14th

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.  He is the head over every power and authority.  In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.  Your whole self, ruled by the flesh, was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”  Colossians 2:8-12

Dear Jesus, I find myself craving bytes of wisdom and insight for my life.  I find myself looking for ways to improve my productivity.  I find myself looking for ways to improve my self-control and my discipline.  I find myself looking for ways to improve my marriage and my spirituality.  I find myself seeking bytes of wisdom for my life.  I just want to get better.  But these things ultimately let me down.  Not only don’t I have the power to follow through on what they teach, but these things don’t have the power to improve or transform me.  Jesus, show me what I have in you!  Show me in your Word that I am new in you, that I am complete in you, that I am resurrected in you.  Transform me by your Word and by your Spirit and make me new.  Fill me with your power for a disciplined and controlled life.  You alone can do for me what these books promise to do.  You alone can transform me as these methods promise to do.  Work in my heart and in my life.  Yes, work in every part of my body and transform me into your likeness.  Amen.

“Self-help books” and “five-easy steps” promise something that they cannot deliver.  Jesus fully and completely delivers what he promises. 

Tuesday, June 13th

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.  Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”  Acts 17:24-27

Dear Jesus, As the author of my life you placed me right where you want me in your epic world story.  I will be featured for a while and then I will pass from the earthly story, never to return.  These words from your servant, Paul, help me understand your loving purpose for placing me in the stresses of my particular spot in the saga.  You want me to seek for you every moment and find you.  I sense that pressure to seek you every day.  But I do not always find you.  In fact, it’s often very lonely and frustrating that I do not find you where I look.  But this I know, in my soul where the eyes of faith see without fleshly corneas, there in my heart I have often found you in your word that was once written and has since been spoken many times by teachers and preachers.  There in my soul, I get answers from you through your word.  These answers satisfy my deepest desires for resolution of the stresses that plague me.  They also make me feel close to you and your gracious friendship with your creation.  Thank you for the stresses and the Scriptures.  They blend together to give your meaning to my life story.  Together they make me spiritually whole again and they help me find my way home to you.  Amen.

 Two things God wants every person to know:  1) We are naturally lost.  2)  We get found by finding his Word!

Monday, June 12th

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7

Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! You have done it! All that ever needed to be done for my salvation-you have done it! Father, you laid out a plan for my salvation, not just at the cross of Jesus, but at the crossroads of my life. You put people in my life so that I might know and believe in him; that they might bring me to the font; that they might bring me to the word and even bring the word to me. And then you poured your Holy Spirit out on me. You gave your Holy Spirit to me in all his fullness and all his glory and all his greatness. He resurrected life and faith in me and I believed in you, dear Jesus. I saw you as you really are. True God. Performing miracles. Working wonders. Raising the dead. And true man. Sleeping. Eating. Weeping. Most importantly dying. You have done it! All that needed to be done for my salvation you have done it. You have set me free from sin and death, from hell and all its evil. You have set me free for a life ruled by your power and governed by your grace. Help me to stay right here, Father. Keep me rooted in you and strengthened by your Spirit. Rule over me with mercy and overwhelm me with thanksgiving. Amen.

Our Savior God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-has arranged, orchestrated and accomplished our salvation in time and for eternity. Root and ground yourselves in what he has done and do not leave this behind. Any other root for the tree of your life in unsure and uncertain.

Saturday, June 10th

“By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.”  Proverbs 16:6

Dear Heavenly Father, I love the foundational truths in this word from Solomon.  My guilt over my bad choices is erased by your steadfast love.  That takes the burden off my shoulders and gives me the freedom of grace.  It’s what makes me love you so much.  I should have had to pay for my own mistakes but you knew I couldn’t survive our justice, so in your steadfast love, you redeemed me by giving your Son.  That blows my mind.  It also makes me have deep respect (fear) of you.  I would not ever want to offend you and your love.  Your verse shows me that this respect because of your love is the highest motivation.  It makes me choose to do good and avoid evil from the deepest part of my soul.  You did and do all this for me, when I don’t deserve even a glance from your throne.  You are my amazing God.  Amen.

God is the always the bigger giver in our relationship with him.

Friday, June 9th

“I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.  My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.  For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”  Colossians 2:1-5

Lord Jesus, you have done all things in my life so that I might know you.  There was no thing that was off limits for you when you came to save me.  You did the same thing in my life.  You did everything so that I would know you.  Direct my heart and my life with the same thing that guides your heart.  Give me a heart of service that will bend over backwards for the people around me, always seeking what is good for them, always doing what leads them to you, Jesus.  Give me a heart overflowing with love and mercy for those I meet.  Help me to see things with missionary glasses so that I am always looking for opportunities to share the faith with the people I meet.  Every person is a soul who matters to you.  Every person is a soul who needs to hear, to know, and to believe.  Help me to work hard today with these goals in mind to serve people and to say what you have done.  Amen.

As followers of Jesus we want to do whatever it takes so that people will know the love and mercy of our Savior God.  God help us to do it. 

Thursday, June 8th

“The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.”  Proverbs 15:28

Dear Heavenly Father, How many times I have said let my selfish, evil thoughts slip out of my mouth unchecked!  I love this verse that reminds me that it’s a mark of righteousness by faith to lovingly wait before speaking to see if the thought I’m having is worth sharing.  Teach me O Lord, to slow down and filter my thoughts through the sieve of your word to see if my words would be in line with truth and love.  Words are so cheap and yet their power lingers long after they are said.  I respect the power of words so much that I don’t want to use that power to hurt or destroy.  Instead, I want them to build people up and encourage them.  Help me hit the pause button and think through what I am about to say.  Amen.

Words are like seeds; their true effect is felt long after they are planted.