Who I Am In Christ Devotionals

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! Psalm 20:1‭-‬5 ESV Blessings start with the words, "May the Lord..." The bible is full of them (there are seven of them right here).  Blessings aren't commonly spoken among believers today in my experience. The closest we get is to say, "I hope..." Though not always the case, "I hope," for us is more like saying, "Good luck." And we say that too.  Is good luck a Christian thing to say? I'm not saying that you're not a Christian if you say it, but I'm just suggesting that it needs some rethinki

Note: The audio podcast here is a RambleCast and was recorded before the blog piece was written, so it does not match word for word. Not even close.  I sought the Lord , and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.  Psalm 34:4-7 (CSB) Some days I really beat myself up. Things not going great. Get so down that I get down for being down. And guess what? I don't ever have to do that again. I don't have to. I don't. I can always turn to Jesus. I have the Holy Spirit living right inside of me, right? I am His temple. I get to stand on that. I must.  And that's what the Psalmist of Psalm 34 knows. He owns it.  "I sought the Lord and He answered me." Hey, I could stop right there and think on just that for a thousand years or mo

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23‭-‬28 CSB God answers prayer. And He listens when we bless someone. This passage from 1 Thessalonians is a blessing. It’s like a prayer, but the format is a bit different. In a blessing, I am trying to keep God’s power in mind and the needs of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Blessings in English usually start with the word “may.” What I love about this blessing is this: Paul does not hold back on his words. He expects God to do great things for these Thessalonians. Look at what Paul says: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.” Completely. This word makes it something that only God does. Nobody can sanctify me. I can’t do it for myself. And I certainly can’t do it completely. Complete - that’s a God word. Paul goes on. And no

    Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand, like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until he shows us favor. Show us favor, Lord, show us favor, for we’ve had more than enough contempt. Psalms 123:2-3 Remind Me Who He Is As a believer in Jesus, I must speak those truths that remind me who He is. Who He really is. I so easily imagine that God is an angry fire-breathing person, ready to stomp on me as soon as I get out of line. Satan loves for me to pray to that one, for he knows the damage it does. When I see God this way, I hide. I fill up with fear and resentment. This is not the loving Creator who breathed the breath of life into me. I love that when Adam sinned, God went walking, calling to Him. He didn’t come on like the Wizard of Oz. Nor is God the one preached in so many churches who wants me to be rich and comfortable, wants me to believe in myself (follow your heart) no matter how sinful and unrepentant. Don’t get me wrong, I a

  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-7 He Scrubs Where Only He Can Reach Why did He save me? Well, it wasn’t because of good works I have done. My good works are like building a house with rotten wood in a floodplain. My good works are only good because of Him. I can truly do good works because of the work He has done in me. I would drown in my own yuck without His saving mercy. He saw me and said there’s a man I’m going to clean from the inside out. He scrubbed where only He could reach. He regenerated. That’s new life; He took a dead man and brought him to life. How? By the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Watch this: He POURED the Holy Spirit out RICHLY upon me. Richly. We’re not tal

  Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 It Pleased Him Who am I in Christ? This verse gives an answer. This is one of those read-it-slowly verses. He has blessed me with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. Every blessing? Seriously, every? What? Why? What did I do to deserve such a blessing? Nothing. Jesus died for me? Why? Because it pleased Him to choose me.   Every blessing? Really? I don’t think I understand this very well. Now, for sure, there are days that I don’t feel blessed with every spiritual blessing. But it’s not about my feelings. It’s about what Jesus has done. See, I think my Christian life as been so much about remembering what Jesus did on the cross. And that is primary for sure. But I’ve taken but little notice of what all that entails. One thing is this: I’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Every. I’m not making this up. It says it ri

  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 Who can be against me? Is this verse really in the Bible? Yes, it most certainly is. I am a believer. If God is for me, who can be against me. What a powerful group of words! These words need to live in the heart of every Christian, in me. These words need to bubble up to the surface whenever life seems threatening. He means it. I am His child. He is for me. I matter to Him. Today. Now. Even in my struggles. I don't have to get all better for Him to be for me. He is working on me right now. He loves me in the deepest way. No holding back. I have to remind myself of this because I can have subconscious "tapes" telling me that He doesn't, that He expects me to get it together before He will talk to me. None of that is true. That's just stuff that I thought up in my little-boy head to try to make sense of the world around me. Out of Darkness He is for me. And because He is

  Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faithfulness forever... Psalms 146:5‭-‬6 My Hope Is In The Lord I am a blessed believer. Why? Because I have the God of Jacob for my help. My hope is in the Lord. Today. I've learned the hard way. When my hope is in me or some wonderful opportunity, I can sink into some messy depths when things don't turn out "right." God usually doesn't tell us what's behind the door when we trust Him. Joseph, in Genesis, got sold into slavery, and thrown into prison, for years. And God raised him up to be the second most powerful man in Egypt, even in the whole region. My hope must be in the Lord. I don't know what He has in mind. It's His plan, not mine. My own plans are at best a prayerful guess at His plans. Solid Reasons To Hope In Him And there are solid reasons to hope in Him. He made heaven (and every

  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25 (NKJV) Not a Forgetful Hearer I am blessed by God's grace. And I ask Him for it. I must shower in the Word. I must read and pray in the Spirit, asking the Holy Spirit to teach me as I read. Alright, I can do that. I can look into the perfect law of liberty. "...is not a forgetful hearer..." Uh, I obviously need to confess. I am often a forgetful hearer. It hurts to admit it. Still, I'm hopeful. Because in His sanctifying work, He is doing it in me. I see it. I am being built up. I am remembering. I do some of what I hear. Okay, so I need to hear it 25 times before it begins to sink in! That's why I must soak in the Word over and over and over.  "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Forgiving and Gracious I must read it. Hear it preached. Read the works of godl