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Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. — Psalm 80:19 Thoughts on Today's Verse... In the days of Jesus' birth, a group of devout and lowly people called the "pious poor" were looking for God's redemption of his people. We meet some of them in the first two chapters of Luke's Gospel - Zechariah and Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon, along with Mary and Joseph. They knew that salvation could not, and would not, come without great cost - not just to themselves, but also to God. Isaiah had prophesied about this redemption in his Servant Songs ( Isaiah 53:1-12 ). They had experienced suffering and hardship in their own history. So with honest hearts, they confessed that they didn't have the power to bring their own salvation and deliverance. This power had to come from their almighty God. They believed God would release this power for the powerless, yet righteous and devout, people seeking God's transformation in thei...

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. — Proverbs 31:9 Thoughts on Today's Verse... "No room in the inn!" "Placed him in a manger!" "Take the Child and flee to Egypt!" Those were the kinds of words to describe the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and our Savior, whose earthly parents were powerless and poor by the world's standards. Our LORD was born into a world that played favorites and often despised the poor and powerless. So often today, we also play favorites with the rich, beautiful, powerful, famous, and prestigious. Isn't it interesting that God revealed himself as the defender of the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner ( Psalm 68:5 ; Isaiah 1:17 ; Zechariah 7:10 ) and then entered the world as the child of a Jewish carpenter and a young virgin from a small town. God wants us to notice those in need around us. He wants it to be more than an annual good gesture at Christmas. He wants us to be advocates for f...

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. — 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Life can be very tough. Eventually, our bodies are going to wear out and die. In the process of living, we're going to face some challenging circumstances and experience some awful pain. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I do want to be real about life in our decaying world. So, as bad as life's harshest realities can be, we are never abandoned by God ( Romans 8:35-39 ) and are headed for an eternal glory beyond what we can imagine. Life's difficulties can't compare to this glory that awaits us ( Romans 8:19 ). Our pain is "light and momentary" when compared to our future glory. The things that cause our pain are temporary. The treatments, the prescriptions, the therapies,...

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. — 1 Thessalonians 5:6 Thoughts on Today's Verse... So many sleepwalk through life. They are never really spiritually awake enough to be fully alive. However, as followers of Jesus, we choose not to do that with our lives! We are awake. We are alive because we know Jesus has come and brought us life eternal ( John 5:24 ; 1 John 5:11-13 ). The Son has shown us how to live. So we are going to be alert. We are going to be self-controlled. We're going to be fully alive because we know Jesus' return is imminent, and our day of salvation and deliverance is near. Until then, we are not going to be like others - those who sleepwalk through life - we are going to be alert, self-controlled, and anticipating the day of our Savior's return. My Prayer... Forgive me, Heavenly Father, for the times that I have lost my sense of urgency to live for Jesus. Please use the Holy Spirit within me to a...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:14 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus is God's message. It wasn't a message contained in a book or given in a vision. This message from God wasn't revealed on a mountain to only a watchful few. God's most complete message was human flesh, bone, and blood - God's incarnation in human flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. God's message came and lived among us as God's Word - the pre-existent Word. He faced our hardships, got our dirt between his toes, felt our disappointments, struggled with our temptations, suffered our treachery, and bled real blood to redeem us. Yet, living in our world, God's message brought us more than truth; he delivered us from death by his grace and showed us how to live and share his message. My Prayer... Almighty God, thank you for speaking in the past through your pro...

One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. — Romans 14:5 Thoughts on Today's Verse... So often, we let personal preferences, peer pressure, and peer concerns about celebrating certain days, especially holidays, have a divisive effect on our Christian relationships. We're not to try to press our opinion or position on anyone else. We're not to judge others because they don't celebrate a special day to the LORD we celebrated. We're not to judge another because she does celebrate special days. Celebrating certain days as holy is a matter of personal conviction that revolves around our desire to please the LORD and to honor him in ways we feel are appropriate. Let's not be so insecure that we have to do what everyone else does. Likewise, let's not force anyone to do what we prefer. Instead, let's remember the right angle to take with everything: honor God with...