Looking at the Good News we have to share, one cannot escape the unique good news of Christianity: What was impossible for man…was made possible by God.
No other world religion can make the claim that God reached down to do for us what we could not do. That God would pay what was needed out of His grace and love and give it as a gift. It is something we could never earn. God gave us a Cross to bridge from an earthly mortal existence to true eternal life.
Since the fall of Adam, there has been a great chasm, impossible to traverse because there was no bridge. No amount of good works could erase a sin nature and somehow make it possible for us on our own merits to walk into heaven, into the presence of a holy God.
How many of us would prefer to do it ourselves? Whether it’s a matter of control or pride or self, we cannot do the impossible. For a Do-It-Yourself culture, this is hard to swallow. We can act as perfect as we can, avoid sinning to near perfection, and do as much good as is humanly possible. But it’s not enough because once sin stained mankind, that sin cannot be hidden by good works.
There’s only one way to get rid of our sin nature and that is to give us a new nature. In Christ, we are not only forgiven, we are redeemed and given a new nature. There is forgiveness covering repentant hearts for the sins we have committed, ones of omission where we failed to do the good we knew to do, ones of our thought life that is only known by ourselves and God, our unspoken hatred of others, our unspoken and articulated self-hatred, and the proud intents of our hearts that rob God of His glory. In place of the punishment we deserve for such audacity and affront, God gives grace. He sent His Son.
For God so loved the worldthat He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Thank You, Father, that You loved us this much. You gave us a Cross to bridge the chasm between ourselves and You because You see Your Image in us. No matter how fallen, how stained, how broken we are, yet You see Your Image in us and sent Your Son Jesus Christ to redeem us. It is His blood shed for us that accomplished this impossible endeavor. Jesus saves. Jesus alone. We bring nothing to the table, there is nothing we can offer You but our gratitude and our praise. You are holy. You are righteous. You are perfect. Your goodness, faithfulness, and love extend to all generations. Give us words to speak Your Good News to a hurting world. Use me, Lord. Send me today. Amen.
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:11-15 )
One of my favorite passages in Scripture (2 Chronicles 20) provides us with Perfect Vision for Troubling Times. Summing up this perfect vision, 2 Chronicles 20:20 tells us, ‘Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m watching the world implode. It means I’ve been offline more than online, less writing and more praying, daily anchoring my hope in His promises, and giving myself encouragement, a 20/20 vision for 2021 and all the troubling times surrounding us. How can one remain encouraged? By where our eyes are focused.
There are bombs in the Middle East, but my eyes are on You. There is fiscal uncertainty, but my eyes are on You. There are terrorists at home and abroad, but my eyes are on You. There is a virus unleashed upon mankind, but my eyes are on You. There is fear amplified among the masses and some use it for terrible ungodly ends, but my eyes are on You. There is hatred and unrest, but my eyes are on You. There is child-sex trafficking and my heart is breaking, but my eyes are on You because You care immensely about these little ones who bear Your Image. There is fraud and deception in this world and no news source in which we can trust, but my eyes are on You, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There are seeds of division being sown by the evil one, seeds of racism, seeds of anti-Semitism, seeds of politics, seeds of jealousy, seeds of injustice, seeds designed to scatter, to enslave to fear, to enslave to government, and to divide people from each other and from God Almighty, but I will remain steadfast. My eyes are on You who came to heal, forgive, and save. There are enemies outside and infiltrators within to destroy, but my eyes are on You, the Rock of my salvation, the greater One than the one that is in the world. There is death and injury, but my eyes are on You because Your resurrection proves You conquered death and the grave. There is a battle of spiritual evil, a terrifying axis aligned in war against Your people, but You are my God and my eyes are on You. There is weariness in the journey of faith, but You give us a yoke that is easy and light to stay the course. My eyes are on You. There is fatigue, but my eyes are on You who promises a crown of life to those who persevere by faith. There is false doctrine and apostasy in the Church, but my eyes are on You, the author and perfecter of my faith, the One whose word is right and true.
Strengthen my heart for this battle, Lord. Give me courage to stand firm and after having done everything … to stand. To stand for You in an increasingly hostile world. I love you, Lord Jesus. You are the Amen, “the faithful and true witness, the ruler of all creation.” (Revelation 3:14) Amen and Amen.
My dear readers, now see if you don’t love 2 Chronicles 20 like I do:
2 Chronicles 20:1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. 2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. 5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said: “LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
10 “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them?
For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.
14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. 15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”
21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ (Acts 2:22-28 )
The world was steeped in sin, But God…sent a Savior.
The world followed then failed to listen and fell away. But God was faithful.
The world rushes on the wide path of destruction. But God gave us the Way.
The world killed our Savior. But God raised Him from the dead. Praise God for the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! Happy Easter! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Jesus didn’t die a victim. He says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me– just as the Father knows me and I know the Father– and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life– only to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:14-18)
ButGod did more than let it happen. He orchestrated its happening by His own authority so we would be witnesses.
You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. (Acts 3:15)
On Holy Saturday, far more than just a placeholder between death and resurrection, we are witnesses that the author of life itself—the Word incarnate—was dead to this earth. Because of human sin. Because of God’s great love for His Image bearers. But God had something amazing planned…
Thank You Lord Jesus for being the Good Shepherd, for laying down Your life for us. As we ponder in silence on this Holy Saturday, fill our hearts with gratitude for what You have done. You are amazing Lord and we praise You. We exalt You. We bless Your holy Name. Amen.
God didn’t wait for us to clean up our lives. God didn’t wait for us to earn our own salvation. Praise God, He didn’t wait.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Father God, we can’t thank You enough for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins… that we might be made right with You by Your grace through faith which itself is a gift from You. We praise You for the faithfulness of our Lord and Savior. We praise You for the work that He did on the cross and for the way that He prepared a place for us. And even now reaches out to us in the midst of our trials and struggles and sins. He calls us into relationship with Him, into relationship with You, our Father in heaven. Make us mindful of the depth of human sin that required Good Friday to be necessary. We praise You, Lord, and we offer You thanks and glory now and forevermore. Amen.
If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM Godwhich can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
It’s Maundy Thursday and Jesus knows He’s being betrayed. He tells His disciples He’s going to lay His life down for them, for us, to display that He alone is the Way. That’s how He would be our Savior.
If Jesus was going to come and be our Savior, Paul writes a rhetorical question in Galatians 3:19-20 that makes perfect sense: “Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.”
Jesus is the Seed to which Paul refers. He is both our Savior and our mediator, but Paul points out that oddly, there’s only one in the mediation process: God. All that is confusing on its own and this whole Father-Son-Spirit of the Triune Godhead is already confusing enough without the Crucifixion. What do I mean? Jesus died. The Scriptures want us to know that He didn’t faint or swoon or experience some “Beam-me-up-Scottie” moment as His going from living being in one location to same living being in another.
Nope. Jesus’ dead body was in the grave. He was deader than a doornail and makes about as much sense as that idiom when you stop to think about how confusing this makes the Trinity.
Here’s what I mean: When Jesus died, did the full Godhead experience a parenthesis because the Son was gone? Jesus’ body and spirit were in different places. Where did Jesus’ soul go?
Among His last words, He told His Father “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.” That would have been the life-breathing-living-beingness of Christ. His spirit. His body immediately died. But what happened to His soul?
I don’t know. Jesus said that the criminal would be with Him in paradise (Luke 23:40-43). In Paradise, but His body, we note, would still be on the Cross, dead, then prepared a bit, dead, and placed in a tomb, dead, dead, dead. What did Jesus mean “with Me in paradise”? What part of “Me” was that?
On Maundy Thursday, Jesus says He’ll only be with us a little while longer, that we’d look for Him and be unable to find Him. But wait, His body was visible even after death. They’d find Him on a Cross. Dead. We could not go at that time where He was going to go because He had to first return to the Father, to be proven acceptable as a sacrifice that He mediated.
So all this leads to a really deep question: At what point between Good Friday’s earthly death and Resurrection Sunday’s bodily resurrection was Jesus…fully Himself…the Second Person of the Trinity but no longer Incarnate? I tend to think it was immediately after He breathed His last upon this earth. He just resumed a temporarily body-less existence…maybe like exactly what He had before the Incarnation. He never stopped being God, but He did stop having a human life and a human body for a time.
More than just theological curiosity, we ought to ponder the Trinity in light of the Crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Lord Jesus, You are amazing! Please open our eyes to the deep spiritual truths of Your existence before time began, of Your having created this world and everything in it, the amazing truth of the Incarnation and exactly how impossible all that is apart from God. You are One: Father, Son, and Spirit! So Lord help us to see in whatever ways our minds can absorb, what happened in that moment that You died on the Cross… what it means to have a body… what it means to have a soul… what it means to have a spirit, that life-breath that God gives to each one of us in the human race. May we value life because You value it. May we value the Image of God because that is what You rescued on the Cross. We praise You and thank You for Your faithfulness, for the new commandment that You give us to love one another as You have loved us! Tall order! Oh, Lord it is something that we cannot accomplish on our own apart from You but we praise You and thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for us to love one another in this amazing way! Thank You that You love us. We thank You. We praise You. We glorify You. We exalt You as holy, and as our One True God! Amen.
If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM Godwhich can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
Psalm 74:1 A maskil of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed– Mount Zion, where you dwelt. 3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary. 4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees. 6 They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets. 7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
9 We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be. 10 How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever? 11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
12 But God is my King from long ago; He brings salvation on the earth.
13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert. 15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. 17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name. 19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever. 20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. 21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. 23 Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.
During Holy Week, Jesus pressed into His mission. He told His disciples over and over again that He would be handed over to be crucified. Maybe they didn’t want to believe Him in this one. Maybe they thought He was nuts. Maybe they didn’t want to hear it, preferring to believe the dream of Messiah. But Jesus said it enough times that it should have been no surprise that the crescendo of evil would culminate in the death of Christ. It would all seem very hopeless for a time. But God was still in control.
Lord Jesus, help us to remember how bleak the world must have looked to the disciples during Holy Week as You told them again and again that You were going to be handed over to the chief priests and handed over to the Gentiles and that You were going to be crucified. How depressing! But then You give the hope that You will be raised to life! Sometimes the things that give us hope seem so impossible and yet Lord, we know that with You all things are possible. Thank You for the gift of faith. Thank You for seeing us through the difficult times, the deep waters, and the nights of many tears. Help us to remain faithful so that when You return, we will be found to be hard at work… bringing glory to You. For we know Your Word is just as true now as it was before You were crucified. It teaches us that You will return and You will bring us to be where You are. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for paving the way for us, for paying the price to redeem us as Your people… from every tribe and nation and language and people to be Your own. We praise You, Lord, and we give You all glory and honor and power and praise! Amen.
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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM Godwhich can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
Do you feel weak, powerless? Do you ever wonder if it’s all worth it, trying to live the righteous life, and bringing glory to God? Do you ever just get tired of pressing on? Sometimes, the closer you get to your destination, the heavier the weight seems.
A psalmist known as Asaph knew that feeling all too well. Read through Psalm 73. His feet had almost slipped. He envied those who seemed to get away with everything all while he attempted to stay right with God. But as you read through this psalm, you’ll see he crowns his poem with praise to God Almighty.
You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds. (Psalm 73:23-28)
Father God please be with me and strengthen me during these days when everything seems so oppressive, so gloomy! And yet this is such a holy season during which we celebrate. But we also grieve…Oh, we grieve what we have done to You, we grieve that Jesus had to die because of what mankind has done through the ages. We repent of any wrongdoing that we know brings pain to You and wounded our Lord Jesus. We ask, Father, that You would forgive us our iniquities and that You would make us mindful during this Holy Week the high cost of forgiveness. May we never take forgiveness lightly. May we never withhold it from those who seek forgiveness from us. May we be quick to ask forgiveness from those we have harmed. We ask, Lord, that we would keep short accounts with You and that we would draw closer to You, this season most of all. For our heart and our flesh may fail but praise God! You are our strength and portion forever. Amen.
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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM Godwhich can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The march from Triumphal Entry to Easter is so routine that it’s way too easy to forget the reason why Jesus had to come to die. (Human sin.) And that for Jesus, this coming week was anything but celebratory. It was a death march.
The psalmist remembered the fate of mankind apart from a Savior who paved the way for the redemption God has planned.
Psalm 49:1 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, 2 both low and high, rich and poor alike: 3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. 4 I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: 5 Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me– 6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? 7 No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them– 8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough– 9 so that they should live on forever and not see decay. 10 For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others. 11 Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. 12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. 13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. 14 They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. 15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself. 16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; 17 for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them. 18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed– and people praise you when you prosper– 19 they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. 20 People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.
Lord God, You have prepared us for the day of destruction. You have given every opportunity for receiving Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus died for me and all who hear my voice. But the lure of worldly things easily seduces us away from the simple trust in You, our loving Father, and keeps us from hearing the humble invitation of Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd. When we feel like the end is surely near, Lord Jesus, give us confidence to remain in You, to abide in Your peace, and to know the magnitude of Your love. Thank You, Lord Jesus. We praise You. Amen.
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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM Godwhich can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
