Category Archives: Devotions

new life

romans 6 4

Newness of life. We humans like newness. Fresh starts. Do overs. We purge our closets and our lives, resolve to change, to do better, we sign up, join up, and promise to not give up. But the problem with our own starting over, the newness we get by throwing out old stuff and old habits, is that it ends at some point. For most of us, our resolutions to change don’t last past the first month.

Every process devised by man to have new life  comes to an end, because nothing we can do for ourselves is eternal.

New life begins with a new heart, not a new routine. 

 

Lord, I want to walk in new life this year. I want to abandon the old ways of last year, ways that did not lead to life or to Your glory. I’m tired of settling for what I can do on my own, so I’m asking that You would revive my heart this year. I want a heart that remembers that on my own, I can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I want to lean on Your power and not my own, and I want to walk by Your Spirit, in Your ways, for Your glory. Thank You Lord, for new life.

one thing

Word“I have created you with great capacity. Your heart can hold many of the things of God. The only way you will be able to walk in the full capacity I have given you, is to let nothing compete with your pursuit of our relationship.Continue reading “one thing”

be great

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” …And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” –  Matthew 18:1, 3-4

Something in us is so prone to the desire to be great, lured by the idea of more, better, greater. So gullible to the lie.Continue reading “be great”

uncovering our unbelief

“So He was not able to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He was amazed at their unbelief.” – Mark 6:5

And I marvel at the power of unbelief, to be able to hinder the miracles of God. To my knowledge, scripture mentions nothing else that causes God to be “not able”.Continue reading “uncovering our unbelief”

distracted

Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,  but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:41-42  

After pulling apart the words used to describe how Martha was feeling in this passage, I discovered two important definitions.

Distracted and drawn away

Martha loved Jesus too, that much is clear. In fact, I think she would have loved to just sit at His feet and drink in His every word. But ‘so much to do’ was pulling at her, too-busynipping her heels and making a lot of noise. People are depending on her, needing her, demanding her attention. Her days get consumed with needs and have to’s and should’s and no-time-for-that’s. I think maybe she would need to get up at 5:00 a.m. if she wants to be a Mary and good gravy that’s early.  And things start to feel no fair and I think Martha was just tired. And a little cranky.

Or maybe it’s just me.

Distracted. Drawn away. Pulled and tugged and nipped at and too tired to get up that early. But then I hear His words and I take the comfort they offer.

Few things are needed. Only one, really. Choose the better thing.

Because in all the pulling and nipping and noisy demanding…I’ve still been choosing. It just hasn’t felt that way. Sometimes, a  lot of times, feelings are liars. What feels like no choice is, in reality, the choosing we are doing.

Getting up early is not a mountain, it’s a choice. Ignoring the pull of need to, ought to and have to long enough to sit at His feet is not a wish, it’s a choice.

One of my favorite lines in the bible is simply this — “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”  I love that line because of what it reveals of Jesus.

He will fiercely protect my choice to sit at His feet.

Quiet_TimeI want to be just as fierce in choosing to be with Him.