Christian Daily Devotionals

by Marilyn Ehle

“The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.� John 14:10 (NLT)

When I heard this morning of the death of a female singer popular in the 1960’s, I could hear her singing as clearly as I did over 40 years ago. Without turning on the radio or inserting a disc, that distinctive voice rang in my ears.

Jesus challenged His listeners with these words, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…� In remembering a conversation they had with the risen Jesus, two of His followers said, “Were our hearts not burning within us while He talked with us on the road…?� Another friend wrote, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…"

Words have a strange and wonderful power. As we submit daily to the leadership of Jesus Christ, as we continue in the practice of silence and solitude in order to more clearly hear God’s words and thus have our own words transformed, I believe the message that we speak and the life we live will take on new radiance.

I wonder what will be said of me when I die? Although I am definitely not a singer, I wonder if what I have said, the directions I have given —more importantly, the message of the life I have lived—will still be heard clearly. Will it be said of me, “When I heard of her death, I could still hear her voice�?

Father, thank you for the freedom we can experience as we daily walk in the light of your Word and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your gentle nudging when my words have been my own and not yours. May my words—and my life—have eternal influence.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/11/05/me_words/

by Max Lucado
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"David sang this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, and gave orders that everyone in Judah learn it by heart."
2 Samuel 1:17-18, The Message

David called the nation to mourning. He rendered weeping a public policy. He refused to gloss over or soft-pedal death. He faced it, fought it, challenged it. But he didn't deny it. As his son Solomon explained, "There is...a time to mourn" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,4).

Give yourself some. Face your grief with tears, time, and ‘one more’ face your grief with truth. Paul urged the Thessalonians to grieve, but he didn't want the Christians to "carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word." (1 Thesselonians 4:13 The Message).

God has the last word on death. And, if you listen, he will tell you the truth about your loved ones. They've been dismissed from the hospital called Earth. You and I still roam the halls, smell the medicines, and eat green beans and Jell-O off plastic trays. They, meanwhile, enjoy picnics, inhale springtime, and run through knee-high flowers. You miss them like crazy, but can you deny the truth? They have no pain, doubt, or struggle. They really are happier in heaven.

And won't you see them soon? Life blisters by at mach speed. "You have made my days a mere hand breadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:5).

When you drop your kids off at school, do you weep as though you'll never see them again? When you drop your spouse at the store and park the car, do you bid a final forever farewell? No. When you say, "I'll see you soon," you mean it. When you stand in the cemetery and stare down at the soft, freshly turned earth and promise, "I'll see you soon," you speak the truth. Reunion is a splinter of an eternal moment away.

So go ahead, face your grief. Give yourself time. Permit yourself tears. God understands. He knows the sorrow of a grave. He buried his son. But he also knows the joy of resurrection. And, by his power, you will too.

Question: Why is it so often so difficult in our culture to face our grief, not as God's confident sons and daughters, but "like the rest of men, who have no hope"? (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/09/11/ml_grief/

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Max Lucado
From: Facing Your Giants
© (W Publishing Group, 2006)

Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/about/

by Darren Hewer
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We will always experience suffering during our lives here on our fallen Earth. When we experience pain, especially the death of a loved one, our natural response is to question, to ask why, and perhaps even to doubt God. Because it hurts.

Some people will respond to evil they see by denying that evil exists. But what is perhaps easy to say is quite difficult to live, or as C S Lewis put it: "Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later." There is a name for the person who denies good and evil: a sociopath. Clearly the proper response to evil is not denial.

Other people will respond to evil by removing God from the equation. But removing God does not make evil less evil, nor pain less painful. In fact, removing God also removes ultimate hope. Without God, our world seems permanently and irredeemably evil. Without God, there is no ultimate relief from pain, only pain.

With God we cry out to a loving Father who remains with us and comforts us as we hurt and Himself came to Earth as a human being to suffer and die for us. But without God we cry out into the empty void of nothingness that neither hears our cry nor cares for our pain. Removing God results in no gain and much loss.

When we have God in our lives and hearts, we have hope during difficult times and comfort in the midst of tragedy. We have hope grounded in the fact of God's mighty power, His limitless mercy, and everlasting love. No matter what happens, God loves us because God is love. And nothing can separate us from Him.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Question: What do you need to say to God today in prayer? What questions do you have to ask God?

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/06/10/dh_hope/
Not to be reprinted without permission

by Vonette Bright
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“May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.� Psalm 119:76

Pat burst into tears.  She was weak-kneed and sank down to the floor.  People rushed by, ignoring her.  No one seemed to care and that made it worse.  Finally she gathered herself and thought… “How many people have I walked by who were hurting?� 

So, rather than focusing on her own pain, she determined, with God’s help, to be sensitive to others’ pain.  God was teaching her the lesson of choosing to become a blessing or to become bitter.

Dear one, someone near needs you to be a blessing today.

Inspired by Where Women Walked by Jean Blackmer and Laura Greiner

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/04/23/vb_needs/