The Light at the End of the Tunnel

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7

Jesus reigns. It's one of those sayings we have in church that's almost cliché, but, really, it would be tragic for us to let this phrase lose its power.

Let's look together at our verses for today and find five aspects of Jesus' reign that will help reinvigorate this phrase in our understanding.

First, Jesus' reign is wonderful. What's so wonderful about it? Well, just think of why He came to Earth in the first place-to take up the whole world upon Himself on the cross so that we could be saved. If that doesn't define wonderful then I don't know what does!

Second, He's also the Counselor. This counselor is a lawyer, one who argues on our behalf. And truly, that is what Jesus does for us every day, so that when we mess up, Jesus just says, You know what, Father? I already paid for that one, and that guy believes in me.

Third, He's our Mighty God. And why would we worship anyone else? Who else has created anything? Who else rose from the dead? Who else holds all creation together with the power of their word? Who else calms storms and gets us through life? Only our Mighty God.

Fourth, He's our everlasting Father. This Father will never leave you, never abandon you, never abuse you, never miss a thing in your life. He is everlasting! And He's our Father, the one who gives us our name, our identity, changing us so completely by bringing us into His very own family.

Fifth, He is the Prince of Peace, the ruler over our safety. The Hebrew word for peaceshalom-is not a lack of conflict; it is safety. And truly we know that the only safe place to be is hiding under the wings of our Prince of Peace.

This is what it really means that Jesus reigns, that when He reigns, these five things enter into our lives and rule over them. If you want that, then ask God for it today.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You want the best for me, and when You reign over my life You bring such wonderful things with You. Please come today and reign over my life. Be my Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace!

Amen

Fender Mender

There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. Proverbs 11:24-25

Does it really belong to you? You know, your money; is it yours?

Well of course, Bob, it's my money. I earned it. It belongs to me.

Really? I want you to know up front that this devotional is a test of your heart, a test to see what and where your treasure is. The payoff at the end, though, is worth the read, because God wants to do miraculous things in your life if you will simply let Him.

Everything in life ties into the issue of stewardship, and money is perhaps the chief test of our faithfulness. The standard for our faithfulness is Jesus, who gave us more than just all we have, but He gave us all of Himself. And His generosity is such that He withheld nothing from us. He has given us everything-not the crumbs, not the scraps, not after taxes-but off the top, all that He has.

Can you see the heart of God in that gift? Imagine it. Picture it. Meditate on it. Get that thought, that feeling, that concept inside you of God's generous heart that uses what He has for the benefit of others.

Is that how you think of your finances?

Well, Bob, I don't have enough finances to be generous.

I understand that a lot of people are going through hard times right now. But I also understand that God promises to be our Provider when we trust Him and do things His way, which means using our finances the way His Word instructs us.

Read our verses for today. Did you see what they say? They tell us that God blesses those who are generous. Whoever makes their life about blessing other people will be blessed by God, but whoever makes their life about blessing themselves will lose the little they did have.

God's example is that He did not withhold His only Son, giving Him as a ransom for mankind. Yet in that generosity, He gained millions of sons and daughters.

Will you trust God to bless you as you follow His Word?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your Word! I confess that I do not understand how it works that generosity brings a blessing, but I choose to trust You. Please work on my heart and help me to be generous like You.

Amen

High Noon

A woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste?' Matthew 26:7-8

Has Jesus become commonplace for you? I can tell you if He has. Just answer these simple questions:

When you hear a passage for a sermon announced, do you think you already know all there is about those verses? Oh, I already know the story from Matthew 26. Yeah, yeah, it's the thing about the perfume bottle and all.

When it's time to join together in worship, are you caught up in the presentation of the music-whether it's a hymnal or worship choruses on a screen, whether it's organ music or guitar, your favorite songs or someone else's-or are you caught up in the beauty and holiness of Jesus?

And when you leave church on Sunday, do you realize that worship never ended, only the corporate aspect of it did? Do you realize that your whole life is a worship service unto the Lord, lived out every day as you prove your love for God by making Him the highest priority in your words, attitudes, thoughts, actions, and time?

The woman in our verses today understood true worship, so when she got a chance to be with Jesus she made the absolute most of it and poured out her whole life to Him. But when the disciples, who ate every meal with Jesus, went everywhere He did, slept in the same places, and did the same things as Him saw her genuine worship, they said, What a waste.

Jesus had become common for them, and this was especially true of Judas. When Jesus declared the beauty of what the woman did, eleven disciples accepted His words. But one of them immediately went out to see how much the chief priests would pay him to betray Jesus.

Maybe you're saying today, You know what? I grew up in church. I've been a Christian my whole life! That's great, but it doesn't make you a worshiper.

In fact, if it means that Jesus has become common to you, it might mean that you are one step away from betraying Him. If you're not sold out to Jesus, then you're open to being bought away from Him.

Don't live like Judas. Choose to let Jesus hijack your life today.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are truly beautiful, more wonderful than anything I can even imagine! I confess that I have let my heart grow cold towards You and You haven't been truly special to me for a long time. Please change my heart and hijack my life for Your glory today!

Amen

Heavenly Conditions

And I saw...those who have the victory over the beast...They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!' Revelation 15:2-3

You know the picture of Heaven. We'll all be sitting around on clouds, with wings like angels, and we'll all be playing harps, right?

Well, actually, no. Our verses today talk about certain saints who are standing on the crystal sea and playing harps, but the harps are just a symbol to tell us that they are praising God. And what I want you to see is the song that they're singing. The song that they sing is the song of Moses, and the words they are singing are so powerful for us today.

See, I think it's getting harder and harder for us to put a positive spin on life if we're living it for anything other than the Lord. And it almost seems like sin is winning. But we need to remember what scripture teaches us, that greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world. You can be that witness out there in the world. You can be that light that God's calling you to be. You can sing this song, Great and marvelous are Your works!

Then it says this: The Lord God Almighty. They're singing the song. The first time they sang this song was when all Israel sang together once they crossed onto the other side of the Red Sea.

Now when they got to that Red Sea, they were freaking out because they saw those Egyptians coming down on them fast in their chariots. And they're like, What are we going to do? And all of a sudden, Moses puts that rod out and sees the salvation of the Lord. This great wind comes along and parts the waters. They get over to the other side and they break out in this amazing song, which now these tribulation saints pick up their version of the same song. It's a song of deliverance, a song of declaring that great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, that the Lord God is almighty, that just and true are His ways.

Moses and all Israel sang this song when God delivered them from Egypt. The saints from the Great Tribulation sang it when they had overcome the beast. What are you facing right now? Where do you need the Lord's deliverance? He's there for you, just as He was there for Israel and will be there for the Tribulation saints.

Call out to Him today and let Him give You a song to sing.

Prayer Lord God Almighty,

Thank You that You know what I am facing today! Please come and deliver me, because I certainly cannot overcome these circumstances by myself. Give me a song of deliverance to sing for You!

Amen

Who Do You Love?

Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.' They said to him, We are going with you also.' They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. John 21:2-3

I'm telling you that it just won't work. Go ahead and try to return to your old life; once you've turned to Jesus, your old life has anything but life for you.

Just look at the disciples to prove it. Here in our passage today, the disciples had already seen Jesus die and met Him after His resurrection. Despite all that, they didn't get it. They were still saying, Yeah, I know all that stuff about Jesus, but how does that impact me directly today?

They were clueless, so Peter decides to go fishing. And this is not just some way that he decided to pass time. It was an intentional choice to return to his old way of life, and everyone else went with him.

It's like Peter still wasn't sure he could rely on what Jesus had done for him. He thought, I'm just going to have to go back to relying on my own abilities to get me through. He showed that he trusted himself more than Jesus at that point, so he fell back into his old life.

How did that work out for Peter and his friends? Well, it didn't. They caught nothing. They fished all night long and caught nothing! I think that was probably a very long night for them, and maybe that's how you feel today. You've had a very long marriage, a very long career, a very long life.

But I can tell you why it felt so long and hard for them-it's because they had returned to relying on themselves. And if you haven't realized yet that your net is empty, please get there as fast as you can, because what happens in the morning is so beautiful.

In the morning, Jesus came. And He asked them, Do you have any food?

No.

Try casting your nets on the other side of the boat. You'll catch something there. And boy did they! As soon as they moved back into relationship and dependency on Jesus, they caught so many fish that they couldn't pull their nets back into the boat.

Don't try to do life on your own. Don't return to the old way you used to do things. Instead, let Christ fill every part of Your life, leading it and directing it. For when you do, you'll be blessed.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I know that I have been trying to do life on my own for far too long now and I'm ready to be done. I want to be with You in every part of my life, listening for Your leading, and living for You in everything I do!

Amen

Crossing the Finish Line

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?' 1 Corinthians 15:54-55

Everyone likes to be on the winning team. Well, thanks to Jesus, every Christian is.

What is it that Jesus won for us that puts us on the winning team? It's simple-Jesus gave us victory over sin and death.

I heard a story about a dad and his boy who were on a journey to a village where they were about to conduct some business with the villagers. As they went, they got to this raging river together, the father and the son. Well, the bridge across the river looked super rickety, and the son is freaked out. He's scared. He's like, Dad, I'm afraid. I don't think we're going to be able to cross this.

But the dad says, Son, I'm with you. I'll hold your hand. We'll be very careful and we'll make it. So the two of them forged ahead and got across that river and into the village where they blessed and ministered to everyone, taking care of the business. And at the end of the day, they started to make their way out of the village to head for home.

The son, however, knew what was waiting for them. And as much as he was afraid of the river by day, now it's night. He's like, Dad, I am really petrified of that water and it's moving so fast. And it's scary and it's dark and how will we even see? Then, without saying a word, the dad leaned down, picked up his son, and put him in his arms. The moment he did, his son fell fast asleep. The next thing the son knew, he woke up in his bed safely at home.

This is what death is like for the believer. As much as we might want to let ourselves get riled up and all freaked out, you have a Savior who picks you up in His arms and carries you across. And the next thing you know, you're home and you're safe. And what you feared the most is something you don't even experience because of the promise of our verses today. Christ has won the victory for us; the sting has been taken out of death. It's just a toothless, old lion, a gateway through which we find our Savior's face.

If you know Jesus, your last bed is the best bed you'll ever sleep on because the sting of death is gone. We are not afraid, for we know what comes next. There is no pain or rejection in death for the believer in Christ. It's the resurrection that proves that we've been set free.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for setting me free from the sting of death! Thank You that I am free from the fear of death, so that I can be truly free to live for You! Please show me how to live in this freedom every day until the day You carry me across that river.

Amen

Better Families

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck. Proverbs 1:8-9

How do you plan to raise your children? Wait, you do have a plan, don't you?

Many parents unfortunately seem to have paid a lot more attention to bringing a child into the world than they did to preparing that child for life in the world. The fact remains, however, that bearing a child and rearing a child are two very different things. And while you can bear a child on accident, you cannot successfully raise a child unless you put some hard work into making and keeping a plan.

Fortunately, God is a good Father, and He has shared with us some of His secrets. Here are three of them:

First, we must train our children to treasure what the world thinks is trash. In our verses today, God drops two very unpopular words. Instruction and law are not things we generally like to hear about, but God's promise is that when we hold fast to them then there is a reward. The picture we get here is one of a champion athlete who has won the race and has received the garland and medal that proves to everyone their quality. This is something worth treasuring!

Second, the world treasures freedom, but God treasures honor. Honor is the heart value that leads to obedience. It is the attitude that causes another person's words and actions to hold weight in your life. If our children have honor in their hearts toward us as parents then they will listen to what we say, hold us in higher regard than their friends, and restrain their own actions with good choices instead of needing punishment or nagging.

Third, the world treasures independence, but God treasures insight. We must train our children to value our experience, insight, and advice. They have to have ears that listen without rolling their eyes.

Discipline is the key to getting at your child's heart. The last thing you want is outward obedience without a change of heart, because they will follow their heart as soon as they leave your house. So focus your discipline not on your child's behavior, but at the heart behind their actions.

This is a good plan for parenting. It will take hard work and diligence, but you can do it. And I promise that your family will be a blessing beyond all you thought it could be.

Prayer Father God,

My family is so important to me, and I want to do it right! Thank You for helping me make and keep a plan for raising my children. Please help us to be a better family!

Amen