Got good news? I’m all ears!
Today’s devotion is based on Week 4 of “Resolve”: Listen to the right source! (WATCH HERE)
I love good news. Don’t you?
Your child comes home and says, “Guess what? I got a 100% on my math test!” Good news!
A friend or family member announces, “We just had a baby!” Good news!
A spouse comes home from work, “I just got a raise!” Good news!
Good news is great to hear…and exciting to share.
There was a buzz in Nazareth as Jesus, the hometown boy, had come home and was in town for the Sabbath. As was his custom he went into the synagogue (A great reminder that regular time in worship with other believers around the Word of God is so important and is best when it is “our custom”!). As one who was recognized as a budding rabbi, Jesus was invited to speak on the Scripture before his home crowd.
Unrolling the scroll of Isaiah, he turns to the verses from chapter 61:
Luke 4:17-19 Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus recognized he was set apart by the Spirit to fulfill the prophecy given by Isaiah.
First in the list: Proclaim good news to the poor.
The poor were not those that were struggling with their finances. The good news wasn’t a forgiveness of student loans or credit card debt.
As with all of these phrases from Isaiah, they have spiritual connections.
The good news was the lifting of the spiritual burden from souls that were burdened with the weight of guilt and recognition their relationship with God was not something they could solve by personal ambition, pride or accomplishment.
Jesus said as he taught the crowd on the mount: (Matthew 5:3)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus came to not just proclaim good news, but to accomplish all that was necessary to lift the weight of guilt from the spirit of every soul. As Isaiah said in chapter 53, “The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Every spirit that recognizes their deep need for the grace of God receives the good news that your sins are removed, the kingdom of heaven is yours.
Just when you thought you would never experience the joys of heaven, the message and work of Jesus doesn’t just proclaim good news, he gives us good news…
…and that’s news worth sharing!
Apply: What good news truths from Jesus lift your spirit and give you joy?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for not only proclaiming good news, but doing all that was necessary to unburden our souls with the promise and truth of eternal life through you. AMEN.
Trust in Him!
Today’s devotion is based on Week 3 of “Resolve”: Trust the right person!! (WATCH HERE)
“I have to see it to believe it!”
Perhaps this phrase is made most famous by the Apostle Thomas when he missed Jesus’ appearance after his resurrection and didn’t believe his fellow disciples that Jesus rose from the dead. He wanted to see and experience Jesus’ resurrection for himself.
For this he has earned the nickname “Doubting Thomas.”
I kind of feel bad for him.
Why?
Because I probably would have done the same thing.
Much of our truth is confirmed by our senses. If we see something with our own eyes…it’s true. If we feel something with our hands…it exists. If we smell a fragrance…we know it has a source. If we taste something…we label it “good” or “bad.” If we hear something…we confidently repeat it as authentic.
Our senses were given to us to operate in this world. All of them give input to our minds and our hearts and we interpret the world around us through them.
Perhaps this is what makes believing, trusting, having faith in Jesus difficult at times.
Our five senses can’t help us in this.
So we have to rely on the credibility of those that did experience Jesus.
His disciples.
They were there in Cana of Galilee when Jesus performed his first public miracle.
They saw Jesus.
They heard Jesus direct the servants.
They held a glass of the wine Jesus made.
They smelled the fragrance of a fine wine.
They tasted the best of wine.
But they knew the source. It didn’t come from a local liquor store. It didn’t come from the neighbor two doors down. It didn’t come from a secret stash the wedding couple forgot to tell people about.
It came from Jesus.
Their senses overruled their minds. Logically, this is not how wine was made. But they couldn’t deny what they heard, saw, felt, smelled, and tasted. All of it confirmed a miracle had been performed and Jesus was the one who did it.
So they put their trust in Jesus.
John 2:11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
But over the course of Jesus’ ministry he would ensure that saving faith was not based on the five senses, but rather on the evidence and work of Jesus. The witnesses confirm the truth. They speak of what they saw and heard. And we get to believe it and trust it for ourselves.
Jesus told Thomas:
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
And then John records the whole purpose of his Gospel:
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)
So we can do just as the disciples did after the miracle in Cana of Galilee:
Trust in Jesus.
Apply: How does the recording of Jesus’ miracles help to strengthen and solidify your faith in Jesus?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive my unbelief. Strengthen my faith and trust in you as the Son of God, my Savior. AMEN.
Don’t miss God’s glory…
Today’s devotion is based on Week 3 of “Resolve”: Trust the right person!! (WATCH HERE)
Perhaps one of the challenging aspects of trust as a Christian is to believe that God is going to be glorified in all things.
The panic of the moment at the wedding in Cana was real. The lack of wine before the celebration was over was an embarrassing thing for the wedding couple and family. But in this case it teed up Jesus to display his glory. He made wine out of water.
When you start looking for the glory of God to be displayed, it begins to pop out all over the stories of the Bible. Here are just a few…
Moses and the people of Israel are surrounded by the Red Sea, cliffs on either side, and the army of Egypt pursuing them.
Exodus 14:13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Jealous brothers sell Joseph into slavery. After years God’s glory is realized.
Genesis 50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Three faithful believers were thrown into a fiery furnace for defying the decree of Nebuchadnezzar. A seeming loss for the Lord turned into a glorious win for the Lord.
Daniel 3:28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
A man born blind and those around him wondering what sin he had committed that he was sentenced to a life of blindness. None of this was the case…but it set up the showing of God’s glory!
John 9:3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Our Savior falsely condemned and nailed to a cross.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Maybe…just maybe all these examples the Spirit of God has preserved for us to realize that in every challenge of life, the glory of God is made more evident. In every problem we face, the glory of God is made more visible.
Start looking for it.
John 2:11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Apply: What challenges are you facing currently? Begin to see the glory of God and marvel at how he is working through your challenge to make himself more visible to you!
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for seeing the challenges I face as negative reflections of you. Open my eyes to see your glory shining brightly in the problems I face. AMEN.
Trust the process!
Today’s devotion is based on Week 3 of “Resolve”: Trust the right person!! (WATCH HERE)
Trust the process?
One of the many things that my wife is good at is helping individuals better understand themselves and how best to use their gifts and talents. But it’s a process. To get to a conclusion takes a number of assessments, conversations, time in reflection, and coaching calls to figure it all out.
Individuals can be tempted to give up on the process because it is not an immediate answer. In fact, it can be a roller coaster of emotions as the process sorts itself out. However, for all those that she has helped, their clarity and satisfaction in using their gifts was worth the process.
It’s hard to trust a process when we don’t know what the outcome will be.
We can give up on the process and will never know the blessings that we miss out on.
The Lord invites us to trust the process.
But it’s tough because when we are in the middle of a problem, we want a solution yesterday. In our “get it now” culture, it’s hard to wait, engage the actions needed and “trust the process.”
But sometimes the process is where we learn to trust the most.
The issue was no wine. Mary told Jesus and then…
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:5-10)
If you were the Apostle John and standing nearby to watch this all playout, it had to cross your mind…”Fill the jars with water? How does that help? We need wine, not water.”
Imagine if you were one of the servants. Fill the water jars? Perhaps you were used to odd commands that didn’t make sense to you, but to fill water jars to solve a wine problem must have leveled up the odd requests they had received. Then to take a scoop from the jars and bring it to the master? Perhaps at this point the water was now wafting of a perfect wine smell. But it had to be a little tenuous to scoop what they new began as water and bring it to the master of the banquet to taste.
But they did as Jesus told them.
Jesus could have said, “Let there be more wine” and there would have been more wine. But he worked through a process to solve the wine problem. His mother Mary trusted he would do something. The servants did as Jesus said.
Problems we present to Jesus are not always a quick fix. Often there is a journey that we embark on that leads to the solution, but rarely does every step make sense or get shown to us in a super clear way. We have to trust the process through which God works.
Sometimes the process involves activity, even when it seems odd. Sometimes the process involves being still, even when you feel you have to do something.
Why trust the process? Because like in Cana, the one behind the process of showing the glory of God is God himself, Jesus Christ.
Remember, when God works in our lives, his ultimate goal is to show his glory and lead us to trust him more.
And when he chooses to make a process out of it…we can trust the process!
Apply: Perhaps you are in the middle of a challenge. Present it to the Lord. Pray for clarity to see and step confidently on the pathway of the process. Most importantly pray to see the glory of God and to have your faith strengthened.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the process you choose to work all my challenges for your glory and the strengthening of my faith. AMEN.
Here’s the problem…
Today’s devotion is based on Week 3 of “Resolve”: Trust the right person!! (WATCH HERE)
Children are good at just sharing the problem.
“Mom, I can’t tie my shoe.”
“Dad, my bike is broken.”
“Mom, I’m hungry.”
“Dad, my car doesn’t start.”
Why do children do this?
One simple reason. They trust their parents can do something about it.
Sometimes they might propose a solution, but often its just the problem. Sometimes a parent might say, “I don’t have time right now,” but the child doesn’t stop trusting, they know their parent will do something about it.
When you trust the right person, you can trust the problem will be taken care of.
Early in Jesus’ ministry, Mary, his mother, set forth a problem to her son.
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” (John 2:1-3)
Mary doesn’t propose a solution, but presents the problem.
She trusts Jesus with the problem.
Have we lost the childlike trust in our Savior?
Do we present problems with asterisks? Or propose specific solutions as though we give God a multiple choice of possibilities that we think will be probable solutions?
It’s almost as though we need to not just figure out one solution, we have to figure out three to four possible solutions for God to pick one.
Forgive us Lord for failing to tell you the problem as well as trying to give you possible solutions. Both exhibit a lack of trust.
Mary knew Jesus was the Son of God and simply let Jesus know the problem. She trusted the problem was in better hands with Jesus than it was in hers.
Our problems are in better hands with Jesus than in ours.
He doesn’t need our solutions.
He doesn’t need our rationale about the problem.
He doesn’t even need to rate the size of our problem.
He just wants our problem and our heart to trust he can and will do something about the problem.
The problem is not the problem. The problem is when we fail to trust that Jesus can deal with our problem.
The amazing thing is Jesus even dealt with that problem.
He forgives it.
Which gives us a reason to even trust him more.
If he can take care of our biggest problem, he certainly can take care of our smaller ones.
So Jesus, here’s my problems…
I trust you to handle them better than I would.
Apply: What problems are you facing? Take time today to share them with the Lord. Just the problems. No rationale. No multiple choice solutions. Just the problems. Trust they are in better hands with Jesus than with you.
Prayer: Forgive me Lord for not trusting you with my problems. Strengthen my heart to trust you with all aspects of my life, especially my problems. AMEN.