DEVOTIONALS
Devotional 1
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”—Psalm 23:1
How much do you know about sheep? Do they care for themselves? Lead themselves? No, they have a shepherd to do those things for them. In fact, the sheep do nothing for themselves; they put all their trust in the shepherd whose job it is to take care of all their needs.
How does this lesson apply to us? The Lord is my shepherd… He’s my shepherd, and He’s your shepherd, and we are His sheep. Because He’s our shepherd, we will not be in want. We, like the sheep, can put our full trust in our shepherd to take care of us in every situation that we face. He feeds us, keeps us warm, leads us to shelter, makes sure we get the exercise we need, nurtures us, and even fights for us when something or someone threatens to attack us.
Want to know more about this shepherd of ours?
John tells us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). Have you ever thought of it that way? The shepherd is so caught up with the needs of the sheep—takes his responsibility so seriously—that he will even give his life in order to keep them from harm. Jesus did that. He gave His life on the cross—took our place—when the enemy threatened us with eternal death and separation from God. He sacrificed Himself for our safety, even knowing that we would have the ultimate choice of whether or not to accept the safety He offered us.
Luke tells us that the Shepherd loves each individual sheep so much that he will go after one lost sheep in order to bring that sheep back to the safety of the fold. Each sheep matters to the shepherd; he’s not too busy for the needs of one single sheep. Each us matter that much to God too. We, as God’s sheep, have no reason to fear or worry or try to take care of our own needs. We can rely on the Good Shepherd and know that we are safe in His hands. If we start to wander away and get lost, we can be sure that God cares enough to come looking for us and draw us back to the security He provides for us.
Now do you see why David would say that because the Lord is our shepherd we will not be in want? This verse is so commonplace—one of the most popular verses in the Bible—but it doesn’t mean anything to us unless we really understand the message behind the words. Because God is like our shepherd and takes care of all our needs, we truly shall not be of want…
-HK-
Devotional 2
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us
from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."--Romans 8:38,39
This is one of those verses that is always good to have in the back of
your
mind. Before I get started, read it aloud to yourself- it is a pretty
profound statement. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate
us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our lord. What does that
mean?
If you cut to the heart of the message, God’s love is more powerful
than
anything else you will ever encounter. Wow!
At the time when Paul wrote this letter, the church as a whole was
experiencing persecution because of their faith in Christ. Nothing
seemed to
be going right for the believers and their situation seemed hopeless.
But as
we know, the situation someone is in does not change the reality of who
God
is, nor make us any farther from him. The early church was able to
endure
because of the presence of God. He did not take away the persecution,
but
was there with the believers through it all. Without him, all that they
lived and died for would have been in vain.
While the modern Christian in America isn’t being faced with the threat
of
death or imprisonment, we all have our own hurdles to overcome during
our
walk with God. There are times in life when we are really on fire for
God
and “feel” closer to Him than ever before. That’s Great…but what
happens to
those feelings when your perfect world crumbles down at your feet? Do
you
still feel close to God? Probably not, but He is still the same God he
was
before your boyfriend broke up with you, or you failed an important
test.
Emotions are fickle; God’s love is not. Nothing can separate you from
God’s
love.
Nothing? Not even sin. God loves you even if you have strayed from
him.
Think about it, if God didn’t love us in all circumstances, then why
would
He die for us? It doesn’t matter what happened in your past or even
what
your life is like now, God is ready and waiting for you to acknowledge
him.
Now, think about some of the non-Christians you deal with in your
everyday
life. As believers, we should never give up on a person; no one is a
lost
cause in God’s eyes. It may seem that they will never accept God, and
maybe
they never will, but it is our responsibility to demonstrate the love
God
feels for them. You can never tell when God might be using you for just
this
reason.
-This devotional was written by Kristen P.
Devotional 3
"Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”—Matthew 22:37-38
The Pharisees were hoping to catch Jesus by surprise. They desperately wanted to find Him guilty of something, so they spent a lot of time questioning Him, testing Him, and making up possible (though oftentimes ridiculous) situations for Him to answer to. This time was no different; they wanted to stump the man whom the people thought had all the answers.
“Teacher,” they said, mocking Him, for they certainly didn’t respect Him as their teacher. “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Ha, Jesus would have to choose and He’d surely leave something important out in the process, they thought. But Jesus’ answer surprised them. He said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your being…your heart, mind, and soul. That was not only consistent with all of Jesus’ teachings throughout the New Testament, but it was also consistent with the first of the Ten Commandments given in the Old Testament. The Pharisees failed to trick Jesus.
Still, the fact that Jesus caught the Pharisees in their own game wasn’t the point of His answer to their question. His answer was full truth, not just tact, and it was an answer that is just as valid today as it was back then. Do you want to know what the greatest commandment is? What God considers the most important thing that you and I can do? Just love Him. Love Him with all you’ve got, all you are. Don’t just love Him with your mind…but with you heart too. Don’t just love Him with your heart…but with your soul too. You see, Jesus told the Pharisees that if we followed that commandment and the second greatest commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we’d be following all the laws. Loving God and others is as the root of all His commandments.
The Pharisees were only interested in tricking Jesus, but Jesus used their question as an opportunity to give us the greatest commandment packaged and delivered to anyone who is ready to receive it. The Pharisees weren’t ready to receive it because they had ulterior motives, but are you ready to receive it now? I’ll leave you with this one last thought of encouragement… Love God, love Him with your whole heart and every emotion and feeling that your heart controls. Love God with your mind, paying attention to the details that so clearly speak of God’s qualities. Love God with your soul, the eternal part of you that was created in the image a God who is so full of love for you that it only makes sense for you to return that love to Him.
-HK-
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