Short Daily Bible Devotions

2 Timothy 2:2 – Be A Resource

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:37 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)

Paul was training Timothy, and in doing so, teaching him to teach others. Timothy was called to “entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others”, or to invest in those who would move from mere consumption to a deliverer of the Gospel. In the church today we know that those “who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1), or in the least understand the sentiment that leaders should be held to a higher standard. Often though, we of the congregation misuse this truth as a shield against the scrutiny of Scripture in our own lives. We focus on the supposed “higher calling” of leaders to the exclusion of the “heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1) of every believer. Yes, the mantle of training and teaching was here laid upon a leader, Timothy, but there also exists a calling upon the “faithful men” to be trained, and be taught.

There exists then a unified calling, applicable on both sides of leadership; a calling upon the leader to train, and a calling upon the follower to come forth, count the cost, and pay it. Is it time for you to live as a resource for others instead of constantly consuming investments poured into your life? Consider then,

the “land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (Hebrews 6:7-8).

Are you guilty of living as parched ground that greedily swallows the life giving rain, but never yields a useful crop for others? Do you continually bear the “thorns and thistles” produced by bondage to your sinful flesh? Start using your God given gifts and talents to be a resource in raising up faithful men and women.

Is it time for you to live as a resource for others instead of constantly consuming the investments poured into your life?

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Psalm 127:2 – Vain Life: Your Job

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:00:42 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:2 ESV)

We are on the last devotion for our series “The Vain Life”. You can read the other devotions here: 1, 2, 3.

Our standard work week in America is 40 hours. We work five more hours a week than the French, which totals a whopping nine more weeks a year for Americans. Most of us get two weeks off for vacation, while the average European gets six weeks of vacation. We are also getting less sleep. Two out of three Americans fail to get eight hours of sleep a night. 40 percent of them said they have a hard time staying awake on the job. We are working harder, longer, and sleeping less. This isn’t anything new as we read today’s Bible verse.

We aren’t any happier than we were 50 years ago when we worked less, made less money, and had less productivity. King Solomon had it right when he said that we work too hard and sleep less in vain. We do this in vain because we are “eating the bread of anxious toil”. Essentially, we are worrying too much about having enough money for a new house, our kids’ college, and making a good impression at work. Therefore, we work too much. This is what Jesus talked about in Matthew 6:31-33, when he said we shouldn’t worry about these things.

Instead of seeking money to pay for all of the things we are worried about in life, we should first seek God, his kingdom, and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33). After all, he is the Creator of the universe. This isn’t to say that we should go about our lives without working or having a job, but that we will have a purpose. No longer will we work in vain, but we will work for the kingdom of God. Our job won’t be just about money, but doing what the Lord has called us to do to advance his kingdom. Imagine going to work and not dreading it because you know God has a plan for you there. Sometimes we worry too much about our future instead of asking God what he wants us to do in the here and now.

Are you too busy working for yourself instead of stepping back and asking God where he would have you work?

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Psalm 127:1 – Vain Life: Your City

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:00:14 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ESV)

We are on the third devotion in our series “The Vain Life”. You can start from the beginning by going here.

From Ryan:

We just learned that our lives can be referred to as a house and that Jesus Christ needs to be our foundation in the previous devotion. Now King Solomon has decided to talk about cities. The city was especially important to King Solomon because it is where the Temple was. This was the place that God literally dwelt and was the religious center for the Jews. If Jerusalem went, so did the Jewish culture.

We all can choose whether we want to be a part of a city of light set on a hill (Matthew 5:14) or, follow the path of Lot and be part of the city of darkness where he eventually lost everything he had (Genesis 19). Both cities have watchmen over them. The city of light has Christ watching over it, while the city of darkness has the politicians, celebrities, writers, and people of influence watching over them. While living in Africa as a missionary, we had a guard watching our compound (the place where all the missionaries lived) for a week at a time. Obviously, they couldn’t stay up for a whole week and had to sleep sometimes. There were multiple times that while they were asleep, people would sneak in while we were even sleeping and steal solar panels and other supplies. We felt as though we were being watched over, when in reality we weren’t. Our “city” was being watched in vain. We really weren’t being kept safe by our watchman. You might feel safe in the the city of darkness, but in reality the watchmen are not protecting you.

While Christ should be the head or watchman of your life and family, he is also the watchman of the Church (Colossians 1:18). The Church is really a smaller city within the city it resides. If you aren’t a part of one of these cities, be sure to find one soon!! Make sure that their watchman is Christ and not just a smooth-talking leader/preacher. Also, remember that our watchman, Jesus Christ, laid down His life for the city and does not watch over it in vain (John 10:7-11).

Is Christ the watchman over the city you belong to?

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Psalm 127:1 – Vain Life: Your House

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:00:06 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ESV)

In the previous devotion, we discussed the definition of vain and an overview of our series. You can read it here.

From Ryan:

In the Bible, the building of a house can often be referred to as your life or family (Genesis 16:2, Ruth 4:11, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). The most important part when building a house, or any building for that matter, is the foundation. I have a favorite Starbucks where I live because of how big and open it is unlike the other two Starbucks in town. The reason it is so much larger and open is because it was built from scratch. They were able to lay the foundation they wanted for it while the other two Starbucks were built on foundations that were previously used for fast food joints. They were constrained by the size of the foundation they were using.

All of our lives are built on foundations which determine their direction. If our goal in life is to retire early, then we lay our foundation for that and start building a room for college, for our first management job, for our first business we open, and then maybe we make a small room for a family. Jesus also tells us in a parable that when we build our house on our own foundation, it ends up crumbling when the bad times happen (Matthew 7:24-27). When we build our own foundation, instead of a foundation that is on Christ and his words, we build it in vain. All the hard work we put into it ends up crumbling down from one thing or another.

Lastly, as we lay the foundation for our lives on Jesus, we allow him to do the heavy lifting. When we let God construct the foundation, He is the one who ends up building our house and the direction of our lives. When this happens, all things work for our good (Romans 8:28) and when the storms of this life come, we are still left standing (Matthew 7:24-27). We also begin to pray that not our will, but His will be done (Luke 22:42). We find our lives are no longer built in vain, but on a foundation that will never fail. Be encouraged that you can start anew with Christ as your foundation today.

Examine the foundation of your life today.

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Psalm 127:1-2 – The Vain Life

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:38 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:1-2 ESV)

We are starting a four part daily devotional series called “The Vain Life”. This series focuses on the first two verses of Psalm 127. This Psalm was written by none other than King Solomon. He is the writer of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs also known as the wisdom books. He was considered to be the wisest man in the world. Not because of how smart he was, but because God said he would make him wise (1 Kings 3:12). He had everything his heart desired, yet never seemed to be happy with all the pleasures of the world. Interestingly, King Solomon had a thing for writing about vanity. He writes about it multiple times in Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and here in Psalm 127. If the wisest man in the world writes about something, we might as well learn what it is.

We often think of the word vain as a person who is full of themselves. But, King Solomon was talking about what Merriam-Webster says is: having no real value, worthless, marked by futility or ineffectualness. A person might search for a lost ring in vain knowing that they will never find it. King Solomon tells us in the Bible that we can live our life in vain even if we have everything we want. Our life can be useless or meaningless if it isn’t a life that is living for Christ. This can be very convicting for us. Fortunately, in the two verses we are going to study, we can learn about areas in our life that we can learn to live with a purpose and not in vain. Here are a few questions to think about before we dig into these verses the next couple days:

1. Are there areas in your life you are living in vain?

2. Are the things of the world really worth living for?

3. When you die are people going to say you lived a life with a purpose?

4. Think about what would make you really happy now and examine if it goes with living for Christ.

Remember that God doesn’t want us to live a vain life and has made a way for us to live a life with a purpose through the Cross of Christ.

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Luke 5:1 – Why is the Power Out?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:27 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,
(Luke 5:1 ESV)

As the church, we want change, we want justice, we want equality, and all manner of noble things. We want to see more children waking up in a home where their father stuck around. We want to see more mothers full of grace and wisdom, living as the individual God created them to be. We want to see more pastors living uprightly, leading with integrity. In short, we want to see heaven’s power brought to bear upon the earth, and when that happens, we crowd around it.

What were those people flocking to, what were they amazed by? It wasn’t Jesus’ appearance (Isaiah 53:2), or his social status, but “they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority” (Luke 4:32). The the word of God is where the power is, not clever marketing or cooler looking Christians. The source of power for living, for loving, for changing is through God’s word and the Holy Spirit. Our resurrected heart does rightly long to see these wonderful things come to pass, but our flesh still wages war against us, and wants nothing to do with Scripture. It wants nothing to do with the work of study, prayer, and first being transformed ourselves. In short, we want the power without going to the source. Just as the people came to Jesus to “hear the word of God”, we have the Bible and Holy Spirit to guide us in his word. When you feel discouraged or as though there is no life in your ministry, go back to the words of God and be rejuvenated by their power.

Are you plugged in?

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Luke 11:4b – The Lord’s Prayer: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:03:11 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

Notice that Jesus’ instruction on prayer does not end with “lead us not into sin” but instead “lead us not into temptation.” You may wonder, what’s the difference?

Many times we like to approach sin as an imaginary line. As long as we stay on the right side of the line we’re OK. But, as soon as we cross to the wrong side of the line we’re sinning. The result of this mentality is that we often attempt to get as close to this imaginary line as possible without crossing or sinning. Most of us eventually learn that if we keep walking up to the edge of this line, we’ll eventually cross it.

The motivation of this prayer is not merely trying not to cross an imaginary line or avoiding sin, but avoiding anything that would draw us away from pursuing God. In other words the motivation in avoiding temptation is to have one’s heart, mind, and entire life fully focused on living for God. As the Apostle Paul challenged the young man Timothy, whom he was mentoring: “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).

What are some specific areas where you need to ask God to enable you to avoid temptation so that you can better pursue Him?

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Luke 11:4a – The Lord’s Prayer: Forgive Our Sins

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:00:28 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

As we pray for our needs we can often forget that our greatest need is forgiveness. God wants us to experience the freedom of forgiveness: the freedom of being forgiven by God and the freedom that comes from extending forgiveness to others. Scripture is clear that if we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). Confession literally means to agree with God. We are agreeing with Him that we’ve sinned greatly against Him. We are agreeing that Jesus was a sufficient sacrifice for our sins. We are agreeing that His mercy and grace are much greater than our sins.

King David, in Psalm 51, wrote out a moving prayer of confession:

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
(Psalm 51:1-13 ESV)

In what areas of your life do you need to confess sins and experience forgiveness?

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Luke 11:3 – The Lord’s Prayer: Our Daily Bread

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:00:06 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

Just in case we think He forgot, Jesus reminds us here that God wants us to present our needs to Him. There’s something about praying “Father, hallowed by your name… Your kingdom come…” that puts us in the right mindset to pray about our needs. Although God already knows our needs, presenting our needs verbally to Him brings us to a point of greater vulnerability and dependence. Just a few verses later in Luke 11:5-13, Jesus gives some thoughts on how we approach God with our needs. Here are three very practical implications:

We should pray persistently. Persistent prayer has a way of showing God we’re serious, increases our desperation for God, and even purifies our prayer life.
We should pray specifically. Specific prayers enable us to connect the dots between our prayers and God’s activity in ways that overly broad and vague prayers cannot.
We should pray expectantly. Praying expectantly reminds us that our loving Father ultimately has our best interests in mind even when He does not respond the way we want him to.

What are some specific needs you to need to persistently and expectantly present to God?

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Luke 11:2b – The Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom Come

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:00:28 +0000

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

As Jesus continues His instruction on prayer, His second point is also interestingly not about us, our needs, and our struggles. It’s all about praying for God’s Kingdom to come. What does this mean? Matthew’s description of the Lord’s Prayer includes this statement: “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus’ point is that God’s Kingdom is not simply about where we go when we die. There is a very real aspect of God’s Kingdom on this earth, right here, right now, where we are today. You may wonder, what does God’s kingdom coming on earth look like then?

Jesus gives us a good idea in Luke 4:18-19, as he quotes Isaiah the prophet:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Praying for God’s Kingdom has a way of tuning us into God’s mission on this earth. As we pray for God’s Kingdom He begins to open our eyes to where He is at work, where He wants to be at work, and how He desires to work through us to accomplish His purposes.

How does God want to “retune” your prayer life around His Kingdom’s mission?

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