Daily Devotional Free

  For most English-speaking people, the acronym ASAP means "As Soon As Possible" or immediately. But for the Christian, it can also means "Always Say A Prayer". King Hezekiah was one of Judah's best kings. He restored the worship of God to his nation after his father Ahaz's evil reign (2 Kings 18:3-4). Yet when the Assyrian king attacked Judah, Hezekiah capitulated to the king and stripped off the gold from the temple in Jerusalem to placate him (2 Kings 19:13-16). That did not satisfy the Assyrian king, however, who returned to issue another threat. It was then that Hezekiah turned to the Lord. He prayed, "You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. . . Save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone" (2 Kings 19:15-19). When Hezekiah prayed, God answered him in a remarkable way and delivered him from his enemies (2 Kings 19:35-37). You may be facing a problem that leaves you fe

  Dear God, I resolve to spend this day in the presence of the Holy Spirit, filled with his joy and energy, that I might accomplish Your will and do what I can to deserve the joys of the day, for I know my time here is short. Be with me, oh Holy Spirit, to fill me with the energy and positivity and comfort that only you can bring. Glory and praise to You for filling me with life to live another day, for it is You who made me and not me myself. Help me, heavenly Father, to stand up against sin, to resist whatever temptation I may encounter this day, in whatever form it may come. Your Word promises that You will provide a way out of any temptation. And, I pray to be able to find it and to have the wisdom to use it, and to walk away when temptation arises.  Now, to God the Father, who first loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved; to God the Son, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; to God the Holy Ghost, who sheddeth the love of God abroad in our hearts, be a

  Two of Australia's indigenous creatures, kangaroos and emus, have something in common - they seldom move backward. Kangaroos, because of the shape of their body and the length of their strong tail, can bounce along with forward movement, but they cannot shift easily into reverse. Emus can run fast on their strong legs, but the joints in their knees seem to make backward movement difficult. Both animals appear on Australia's coat of arms as a symbol that the nation is to be ever moving forward and making progress. The apostle Paul called for a similar approach to the life of faith in his letter to the Philippians: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (3:13-14). While it is wise to learn from the past, we shouldn't live in the past. We cannot redo or undo

  Dear God, I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of Christ Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to His infinite merits. And, I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of His Merciful Love. I hope and pray that I will at least not do anything today that I am certain will displease You, and I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always. Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for You are ever with me and You will never leave me to face my troubles alone. Now all glory to God, who is able to keep me from falling away and will bring me with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all ti

  I was driving my son home from school one day when snow began to fall. The cottony fluff came down steadily and quickly. Eventually, we slowed to a stop, boxed in by traffic. From inside our vehicle, we watched a transformation take place. Dark patches of soil turned white. Snow softened the sharp outlines of buildings; it coated the cars around us, and accumulated on every tree in sight. That snowfall reminded me of a spiritual truth: Just as that snow covered everything in sight, God's grace covers our sin. But grace doesn't just cover sin, grace erases sin. Through the prophet Isaiah, God appealed to the Israelites, saying, "Come now, and let us reason together. . . though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. 1:18). When God made this promise, His children had a painful problem with sin. God compared them to a physical body plagued with "wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil" (Isa. 1:6

  Dear Lord, I have tasted Your goodness and it has satisfied me, yet it has made me thirst for even more. I am so painfully aware of my need for even more grace than I now enjoy; and even when I do not want more, I am ashamed of my lack of desire. I want You completely and I want to want You even more than I do. Give me courage to confess, to bare my sinful heart to Thee; forgiving love You long to show and from my sin to set me free. Fill me with longing for You; make me even thirstier. Show me Your glory, I pray, so that I may know You always better and better, growing in my faith and love.  In utter humility, I thank You and glorify You, that You might hear the prayer of one so small as myself, amidst the billions of souls among billions of stars in one of billions of galaxies in Your universe. Let me go forth in your peace, keeping Your Spirit always in my mind. And bless me, I pray, that I might always follow Your will and live in the radiance of Your blessing. Amen

  Jordyn Castor was born blind. But this doesn't hold her back from living a full and productive life. The documentary "Can You See How I See?" tells her story. She excels at school and with a little help she enjoys biking and downhill skiing. Of her sight, Jordyn says: "If I could give my blindness back, I wouldn't do it. I think God made all of us the way we are for a reason . . . and I think my blindness is part of what I am going to do with my life". She is now a university student majoring in computer technology. Her dream is to assist in developing new computer software that will help the blind. How can Jordyn maintain such a positive outlook on life? As a Christ-follower, she understands that God is in control of the circumstances of life. This gives her confidence to pursue opportunities that others might not have believed possible. Certainly, Jordyn's life illustrates this truth from Philippians: "I can do all things through Christ who stre

  Dear God, our one hope, everlasting light of heaven and earth, we break the silence of the peaceful night. Saviour Divine, cast thine eyes upon us! Pour on us the fire of thy mighty grace, that all hell may flee at the sound of the voice; Banish the slumber of a weary soul, that brings forgetfulness of thy laws! Look with favour upon thy faithful people now gathered here to praise thee. Receive their hymns offered to thy endless glory. May they go forth filled with thy gifts. Let me not forget my prayers as I go out into the world. Holy Spirit, be with me, and let me praise you and remember you in my every action and thought, for the entire day long. In Christ's name I ask this. Amen

  In J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit, the dwarves gathered to go up against Smaug, the fierce dragon, to retrieve their stolen treasure. In spite of the dangerously frightening quest, Balin, the second-in-command dwarf, expressed confidence in Thorin: "There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King". His commitment to the mission, as dangerous as it was, was empowered by his confidence in his leader. At the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, He gathered a group around Him that would join Him in the kingdom task of rescuing the treasure of lost souls from our enemy, Satan. When He called them, He said, "Follow Me" (Matt. 4:19). For them, following Jesus would mean a radical transition from catching fish to the enterprise of being fishers of men and women who were lost in the grip of sin. But the task would not always be easy; Jesus referred to the quest as taking up our cross to follow Him (See Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). How do we stay eng

  Dear Lord, give us a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, a love of You. Take from us all lukewarmness in meditation, dullness in prayer. Give us fervor and delight in thinking of You and Your grace, Your tender compassion towards me. In the face of intimidation and fear when seeking to engage others with the gospel, remind me that they are Your lost treasures. I count it a privilege to follow You into other's lives. Help me dear Lord to do your work.  Pour Your love into my heart, that I may love You above all things, and my neighbors as myself. Fill me with the fire of Your Holy Spirit and give me the words and the strength, if only to witness how much You have meant to me in my own life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

For years after the Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investor's confidence. Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990, Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their theory. Like those jittery investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a "crash" in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a "Markowitz Moment", when one big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure. We forget that Jesus has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose from the dead, when we "fall", we can "arise&qu

  Dear God, You make me glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of Your Son my Lord. Give me the peace to worship You with my whole heart and mind, forgetting the cares of the world, and dwelling with You for a short moment with my entire being. And give me this day such blessing through my worship of You, that the week to come may be spent in living knowledge of Your peace. This life can be so hard and painful. But You are right there with us, loving us, keeping us, holding us! And You promise never to leave us or forsake us. May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to Himself. May the power of the Lord Jesus strengthen us in his service. May the joy of the Lord Jesus fill our souls and may the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us and remain with us always. Amen

  In her fascinating book Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, Ruth Reichl reflects on her 6 years as a New York Times restaurant critic. Because she was the most influential critic in the country, top restaurants posted her photograph so their employees could recognize her. Hoping to earn a high rating in the New York Times, the staff intended to provide her with their top service and best cuisine. In response, Reichl developed a clever strategy. Hoping to be treated as a regular patron, she disguised herself. On one occasion, she dressed up as an old woman. The restaurant made her wait a long time to be seated and then was unresponsive to her requests. In the early church, James spoke out against favoritism: "[If] you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, 'You sit here in a good place', and say to the poor man, 'You stand there', or 'Sit here at my footstool', have you not shown partiality among yourse

  Dear Heavenly Father, You welcomed us into Your kingdom, not because of who we are but because of who You are – our loving and merciful God. Help us to open our arms of fellowship to all who enter in. Restore me as You would have me, that I may better serve You and show Your Glory to all the world. Thank You for the peace of mind that comes from knowing You are standing watch over the events of our lives. Help us to rest securely in Your protection. I depend on Your without any backup plan, Lord; for You and only You have the power to change me. The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant; Make me perfect in every good work to do your will, working in me that which is well pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

  The language of Proverbs 6:16-19 is strong. In the citing of seven things the Lord hates, sowing "discord among brethren" makes the list. The reason for naming this sin is that it spoils the unity that Christ desires for His followers (John 17:21-22). Those who sow discord may not initially set out to create divisions. They may be preoccupied instead with their personal needs or the interests of a group they belong to (James 4:1-10). Consider how Lot's herdsmen argued with those of Abraham (Gen. 13:1-18); Christ's disciples argued about personal preeminence (Luke 9:46); and divisive groups in the church at Corinth elevated party factions above the unity of the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:1-7). So what is the best way to promote unity? It begins with the transformation of the heart. When we adopt the mind of Christ, we develop an attitude of humility and we focus on service toward others (Phil. 2:5-11). Only in Him can we access the power to "look out not only for [our] ow

  Dear Lord, Your blessings every morning know no limit. Yet I often rush by not seeing them, I fear. Let me take a moment this and every morning, God, I pray, to remember all of them, and know that you are here. Hold me in the palm of your hand. I pray that You will mold me into what you want me to be. May I joyfully fill the role you have given to me and feel your peace deep in my soul, today and always. I bless and thank you for finding me, Lord. May I never more take a breath without a heart filled with your Spirit. This is all we ask, through Christ our Lord. Amen

  Not long ago I developed a physical problem. My left shoulders and arm were aching. I had a painful rash on my forearm and thumb, and I struggled daily with fatigue. When I finally went to do the doctor, I learned that I had a case of shingles. The doctor put me on antiviral medication and said it would take several weeks for the disease to run its course.  Because of this illness, I had to force myself into a new routine. A short nap in the morning and one in the afternoon were necessary to give me the strength to be productive. Until I recovered, I had to learn to pace myself. At one point when Jesus sent His representatives out to teach in His name, they were so excited with all they were doing that they neglected to take time to eat and rest properly. When they returned, Christ told them: "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). Everyone needs rest, and if we go too long without it, we will suffer physically and emotionally. We also w