Preparing for Easter Personal Devotion (Day 3) - Jesus Prayed

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for You!”
Mark 1:35-37 

Crowds were forming wherever Jesus went, hoping to be healed. Imagine the joy on people's faces as Jesus freed them or their loved ones from blindness, crippling diseases, or mental torments. Yet when He awoke early each morning, He didn't hurry back to the crowds but went to a deserted place to pray. 

No doubt even more people had arrived during the night, seeking Jesus' help. But the most important thing to Jesus - even more important than healing the sick - was for Him to set aside time to talk to God. Jesus needed the strength and revitalization that comes from deep and heartfelt prayer. Even though the needs of others were heartbreakingly great, it was even more important to remain fully connected with the Lord.

There's a tension that speaks to our own spiritual life. Many times we feel torn as we decide where to focus our energies. Do we pray? Or study? Or care for others? Do we evangelize? Simon Peter didn't understand. He hunted Jesus down and demanded that He get back to healing the people. But without time spent in prayer, we are choosing how we spend our resources instead of following God's guidance. 

Jesus had only three precious years on this earth to tell the world and His disciples all that He wanted them to know. Yet in His incredibly busy and eternally important schedule, He took time every day to pray and commune with God. If He did this, surely we should set aside that time, each day, to pray to our Heavenly Father. 

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for thinking I am too busy to pray. Teach me the importance of constant prayer. Create an eagerness in me, Holy Spirit, to set aside time, throughout the day, to come into Your presence and gaze on Your beauty and power through prayer. In the name of my example, Jesus, Amen. 


** This devotion was taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Preparing for Easter Personal Devotion (Day 2) - Heaven Opened

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:21-22

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus prayed after His baptism and the heavens opened. In ancient times, people believed that the sky was like an inverted bowl over the earth, which kept out the chaos of the cosmos, but also restricted one's access to the heavens. In this passage, while Jesus prayed, the sky cracked to let in the powerful presence of God.

Yet every heartfelt prayer can crack the sky. God is not closed off from us, but always hears our cries of anguish, our shouts of praise, and our quiet meditations. Our fears and our questions all find their way to God's ear. Psalm 34:15 reads, "The Lord's eyes watch the righteous, His ears listen to their cries for help." 

Through prayer we allow the powerful presence of God into our own lives. We think of prayer as talking to God, but true prayer is also focused listening. It is how we open the door to God's transformational power to teach us and to guide us. 

It's impossible to have a relationship without communication. When we don't pray, we are restricting our own access to God's blessings, power and grace. When we "crack the sky," we offer God His greatest desire: our devotion, our obedience and our love. Such an offering will be answered with blessing, "In you I am well pleased." 

Prayer: Lord, may my prayers "crack the sky" and bathe me in Your presence. Help me to realize what an awesome privilege it is to be able to come into Your presence anytime, anywhere, simply through prayer. In Your precious name Lord Jesus, Amen. 


** Devotion comes from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Preparing for Easter Devotion (Day 1) - Holding Onto Hope

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as You have promised,
    You may now dismiss Your servant in peace.

For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

 Luke 2:25-32 

Devout Jews had been waiting for the Messiah for centuries. Simeon, a righteous man of God, was especially eager for the Messiah to come because he wanted to see Israel escape from Roman oppressors and be restored...he wanted to see God's plan of salvation in action, before His very eyes, as God had promised him. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. The Messiah would be there that day! The Holy Spirit had told him!

Imagine him scanning the crowds. Who would be the new king of Israel? Suddenly his eyes rested on an unlikely family - a peasant man with his teenage wife, holding their infant son. They were even too poor to give anything but a peasant's dedication to the Lord, offering two pigeons instead of the usual lamb. Yet Simeon swept this baby into his arms and blessed the Lord for sending the Messiah. 

The moment Simeon looked into Jesus' face was the most important moment of his life. He could rest in peace. He had seen salvation, not only for himself, but for all the world. 

Simeon held the hope of the world in his arms that day, but we have the same promise as Simeon. If we follow the Spirit, we will find the hope of the world too. The moment we look into Jesus' face is the most important of our lives, when our eyes have seen God's salvation and we know that we can rest forever in the peace of God. 

Prayer: Lord, thank You for showing me Your salvation. Thank You for Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, my Messiah, the hope of the world. Help me to put my hope in Him each and every day of my life. Help me to realize that like Simeon, I hold the hope of the world. May I share that hope with others this day. In Jesus holy and precious name I pray, Amen.  

** This devotion was taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Preparing for Easter Devotion (Ash Wednesday)

And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for He has been mindful

of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

holy is His name.

Luke 1:46-49 

Imagine for a moment that you are Mary. You're a teenager, poor, Jewish, and female, all reasons that you would be marginalized and disrespected in an ancient, occupied land. Added to all that, you are unmarried and pregnant. How many people would ever come to believe your incredibly implausible explanation that you were actually still a virgin and that you were carrying the Son of God by the Holy Spirit? How many people would whisper behind your back for the rest of your life?

Yet read Mary's remarkable prayer of praise. Even though God had placed Mary in an extremely difficult situation, she praised God with every fiber of her being. She completely trusted in God's care for her. Not only would she survive this difficulty, but she would be blessed and honored for her obedience. In the midst of a puzzling and shameful situation, she rejoiced with all her heart. 

Mary was told the reason that God had chosen her and caused her pregnancy, and she obediently agreed. The angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:30-33

We don't always know the reasons why God places us in difficult situations. But like Mary, we can trust that God will honor us for our obedience. We have a reason to sing praises to God, even in our darkest times. 

Prayer: Lord, teach me to trust You enough to always sing Your praises! In the difficult times, show me how to praise you and offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Keep my eyes focused on You, on Your promises, on Your presence. I love you and commit my life, my dreams, my future, into Your loving care. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

** This devotion was taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Easter Devotions (Introduction)

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday...the beginning of the Easter or Lenten season. This time will culminate with Good Friday on April 14th and Easter on April 16th. This is the greatest celebration for Christians and Lent is a 40-day period in which the believer can prepare his or her heart and mind for the Holy Week.

The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial, and resurrection.  I will do my best to post a Lenten devotion for each day of Lent until Easter. I pray these devotions will help you learn more about the meaning of Easter and draw closer to Jesus Christ. 

Advent Devotion (Merry Christmas) - He is coming again!

Jesus said: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:1-6

Today, around the world, Christians celebrate Jesus’ first coming to earth as a time of hope and joy and peace. Our world today does not contain much hope, joy or peace. Hope is gone, joy is fleeting, and peace cannot be sustained. 

But Christmas did not end in a manger, it did not end on the cross, and it did not end at the door of the empty tomb. Christmas will be completed the day Jesus returns to this earth to fulfill all the rest of the prophecies of the Bible. 

God’s plan was never to just send the Messiah (Savior) as a baby. His plan was not even to just have the Savior die and rise again. His plan included all those things – but the final victory is to provide a complete eternal life for each one who responds to God’s love-gift, believing and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

The day is coming when the just and righteous judgment of all sin will be completed, and then all effects and consequences of all believers’ sin will be finally and forever buried in the “blood of the Lamb of God.”

Jesus said He came to display Truth to us (John 18:37). He tells us that Truth sets us free (John 8:31-38). He says Truth purifies us (1 Peter 1:22). He gives us Truth as part of our armor against evil (Ephesians 6:14). He says Truth should be the way we live our lives here on this earth (2 Corinthians 4:2).

May we anticipate with hope and joy the return of our Lord Jesus Christ for He is coming again!

Advent Devotion (Day 28) - No Condemnation

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.
John 3:17

What a beautiful statement! The God of the universe, speaking through one of Jesus' closest disciples,  John, wanted to make sure that all of humanity understood His heart.

John wrote this within 60 years of Jesus' return to Heaven. Some of his first readers might have even witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus. With memories of such violence against God Himself, these readers, and those who would follow, may have wondered what God thought of the people He created after what they did to His Son.

In this statement, God reassures them that His purpose in sending Jesus remains...Salvation! Jesus revealed the heart of God the Father in sending God the Son...to bring salvation - rescue, hope, healing -to the world through Him.

Paul goes on to repeat this truth in Romans 8:1-2 when he says "Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death."

For those who believe in Jesus as their Savior...there is no condemnation...no eternal punishment for our sins. We don't have to fear death and what comes beyond because we have been saved from the penalty for our sins. We are free in Christ!

Paul reiterates this truth again in Romans 8:34 when he asks, "Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God --and He is interceding for us."

So not only are we not condemned for eternity, we have an intercessor who, even now, speaks up on our behalf...the Lord Jesus Christ.