Category Archives: Daily Devotion

God’s Constant Presence

Living in the Spirit

November 10, 2021

Scripture Reading: Daniel 12:1-3 and Psalm 16

‘At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. –Daniel 12:1-3

Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
   I have no good apart from you.’

As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
   in whom is all my delight.

Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
   their drink-offerings of blood I will not pour out
   or take their names upon my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
   you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
   I have a goodly heritage.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
   in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
   because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
   my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
   or let your faithful one see the Pit.

You show me the path of life.
   In your presence there is fullness of joy;
   in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

The lectionary listed two scriptures noted above for today, and I thought about using Psalm 16. It is joyous. The above snippet from Daniel is just a tease about the whole book chosen, most likely because it foretells the coming of a savior.

The morning news often grabs my attention and shifts my thinking in a different direction. Actually, I read this story the first time yesterday. A man in a small Nashville church sitting on the front row rose, turned toward the other congregates, and pointed a gun at them. The Pastor, out of the man’s sight, slipped behind him, wrapping his arms around him, taking the man and the weapon to the floor. Others quickly helped restrain him, and the police soon removed him. No one was hurt. Hopefully, the man who needed mental health services got it. News reports indicated that the congregation credited the Pastor with saving their lives. However, he explained their lives were in God’s hands the whole time.

While I do not enjoy trying to identify all the hidden meanings in Daniel and other apocryphal writings, I do appreciate their message that our lives are in God’s hands all the time. It is to our great benefit to rejoice and be glad in that fact.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for guiding us as we serve you. Open our ears to hear your advice and give us the courage to follow it. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

King of the Mountain

Living in the Spirit

November 9, 2021

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah prayed and said,

‘There is no Holy One like the Lord,
   no one besides you;
   there is no Rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
   let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
   and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
   but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
   but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
   but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
   he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
   he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
   he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
   and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
   and on them he has set the world. –1 Samuel 2:1a, 2-8

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:8

When I was in grade school, one of the games we played was King of the Mountain. We would find a naturally raised spot in the playground or create such a place as our mountain. The goal would be to push, pull, or shove off our “mountain” whoever made it to the top and take their place. Unfortunately, what was a game to us readily transferred into adult behavior. I have occasionally considered sending our governmental leaders books on how to deal with a child experiencing the terrible twos because that is how they act. I am not sure if Hannah’s prayer above includes a bit of that sentiment or if it suggests that God is the great equalizer. Indeed, most Kings that bully their way to the top of the mountain do come down.

Micah prescribes an alternative way that prevents one-upmanship allowing all to prosper in the love of God while experiencing the abundant life of enough for all. That is to do justice, be kind, and walk humbly with God. In practice, it might work better if we started by walking humbly with God.

Prayer: God of Grace, forgive us when we seek the ways of the world rather than prospering in your love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

All Made in the Image of God

Living in the Spirit

November 8, 2021

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 1:4-20

On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year after year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.’ Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favor in your sight.’ Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

 They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.‘ –1 Samuel 1:4 -8, 16-20

The Bible is a record of the history of God mingled with particular cultures in specific times. It is a story still being written in our culture and our time. In Hannah’s time, women were most likely perceived only as incubators to hatch the seed planted by a male. Not being able to perform that function was the cause of great shame for a woman. This reality, coupled with the burning desire to be a mother no matter what the culture dictated, left Hannah in great distress. She laid her anguish before God. When Priest Eli heard her plight, he assured her that God would grant her petition to have a child. The Prophet Samuel was the answer to that prayer.

We, too, pray in the angst of culture created by other gods of our world trying to dictate divide and conquer measures of worth.  We humans seem to be drawn to the need to judge human value by identifying traits and statuses that create hierarchies of some people being better than others. We need more people of God looking deeper into people’s pain, enabling all to recognize that all are created in God’s very image. Samuel grew up to become such a witness.

Prayer: Lord, help us look deeper into “The ways we have always done things” and sift out the wheat from the chaff.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

A Just Nation

Living in the Spirit

November 7, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 11:32-44

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ John 11:38-42

Soon after I graduated from college and started my first job as a social worker, I participated in a Bible study based on the story of the raising of Lazarus. We explored the question was our faith dead or alive? Did our faith need to be unbound and let go? If so, where was it leading us? This was a good time in my life to consider, as a young adult, how I would live my faith. I am a cradle Christian who never experienced life without being a part of a Christian community of faith.  I attended a Christian College. I accepted Jesus as my Savior as a youth.  But the time had come for me to choose how to live my faith beyond the influence of family and the church’s culture. My life experiences discerning how my faith defined me coincided with my first experiences as a social worker providing direct services. I only spent two years working directly with the poor and families caught in the child welfare system. While I spent 33 years more working in social work administration, those prior two years provided me with a lifetime of lessons in the need to do justice and see that the world’s systemic ways must be addressed for justice to be realized.  Jesus was very clear about our need to address such issues.

While we readily think that we are the most powerful nation globally, we fail to see if that were true that could classify us as what the Bible calls an empire. The question with which we must struggle is whether there can be justice within an empire. Unfortunately, history does not give us much hope for that. Greed and lust for power have overtaken most empires. Can our faith in God unbind us from these snares of empire?

Prayer: Lord, Paul tells us that faith, hope, and love abides and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13). Fill us with your love, renew our hope, strengthen our faith toward building a world ruled by love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

What Ifs

Living in the Spirit

November 6, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ –John 11:2-37

Was Mary merely stating the obvious in the scripture above, or was she blaming Jesus for not coming when he was called? Maybe both, grief clouds our thinking. I had wondered why Jesus did not go immediately when he was notified of Lazarus’s illness. He would have been entering dangerous territory crossing from Galilee to Judah. Did Jesus need time to prepare himself for this next phase of his ministry? Many of us have tossed and turned throughout a sleepless night trying to discern God’s plan for some action, the consequences of which we cannot be sure. I often write a serious post and let it lay fallow for a night before I post, reword, or toss it. However, those instances are not life or death in nature. “What ifs” are lessons to be learned. We cannot change the past; we can avoid making the same mistakes. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We can note that the raising of Lazarus was a pivotal point in Jesus’s sojourn on earth.

That said, we would do well to remember that Jesus taught and practiced preventive behavior. The Ten Commandants are excellent guidance for living a fruitful life. Jesus seems to have taken those rules a step further in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus prescribes a preventive form of righteousness dealing with the causes of the sins outlawed in the Commandment. If we address the anger that leads to murder, we save ourselves from sin and another person’s life. If we love our enemies, we will not take advantage of them.

Prayer: Lord, grant us your shalom when we face situations that are not clear to us at the moment. Guide our thoughts and our words in such a time as these until we gain greater understanding. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Water of Life

Living in the Spirit

November 5, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 21:1-6a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

We do not know how important water is in our lives until we have none. In the late 1970s, I moved to Denver, which was the first time I was introduced to the importance of conserving water. In Oklahoma, waitpersons usually brought water to the table for everyone often when they brought the menu. In the Rocky Mountain area, one had to order water. Hearing about the water problems now in the west is heartbreaking. I wonder when the writer of Revelation describes seeing a new heaven and new earth meant to leave out a new sea. The section of Revelation ends with the phrase, To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. All life is a gift from God. Those who recognize that are the ones who will call on God when they thirst for God and God’s righteousness now and in the Kingdom to Come.

Psalm 63:1 describes this relationship well

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

My doctor advised me a few years ago that I was not drinking enough water. Thus, I started a regime of measured drinking amounts of water. In that process, I discovered that I did not like the taste of the water from my tap. So, I started adding a dash of peppermint flavoring and solved my problem. I wonder if our fulfilling our thirst for God requires us to improve our relationship with God so that we desire God as God is not the way we want God to be. God’s spring water does not require the addition of peppermint. If our souls do not like the taste of what we are giving it, we are sipping from the wrong cup.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we chase after things of this world that separate us from you. Draw us back to your spring of living water. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

gods of our creation

Living in the Spirit

November 4, 2021

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:1-6a
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

The word translated “dwell with” above is the Greek word skēnóō, which in English more precisely represents tabernacle and means dwelling in intimate communion with the resurrected Christ – even as He who Himself lived in unbroken communion with the Father during the days of His flesh*.

The poetic vision described above is far afield from our world today. We are more divided than I can ever remember. We are not the one people of God; Jesus longed for us to be. We cannot be the one people of God because we worship many gods we create in images we desire. If our most significant concern about the world is whether the ideal Christmas toy for our child is on one of those boats that cannot unload and thus will not be available to purchase in time for Christmas, we are in deep trouble. The toy or the microchips needed for cars could have been manufactured in the USA if we had been willing to pay our fellow citizens living wages. Instead, Our companies contracted with businesses in countries that allow low wages, child labor, and unsafe working environments.

Empires fail when they get too greedy for their own good.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we turn away from you toward the lesser gods that entice us. Open our hearts to the worth of your peace and love. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/4637.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Changing for the Better

Living in the Spirit

November 3, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 24

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
   the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
   and established it on the rivers.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
   And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
   who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
   and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
   and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
   who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Psalm 24:1-6

The indigenous peoples of the Americas did not recognize individual land ownership. They believed that the earth was created for and shared by all peoples, much as the above scripture describes. This idea differed markedly from the European culture when they came to occupy the Americas. The Europeans not only practiced land ownership but used it as a definer of ones worth. This collision of culture laid the groundwork for much misunderstanding and wars. I am not acquainted enough with world history to know where the Europeans developed their land ownership philosophy. Basic laws regarding land were laid out following the Norman invasion of 1066.

As the world progresses, people make changes to accommodate new ways of living. Horse and buggies changed to cars. I read an interesting discussion about the observance of not working on the Sabbath regarding electric lights. Did flipping a switch constitute work? That was the question that arose with the introduction of electric lights. Our culture deals daily with new ways of living as we communion with many diverse cultures. Our challenge is determining how we insert these changes into our lives while discerning how they mesh with our faith. The Psalm above handles that self-examination by asking Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in his holy place? The Psalmist is challenging us to act with intentionality in all we do to assure that we are in sync with the Lord we serve. We should never assume that our way is always the better way. And better ways should not be the source of greed and discrimination which are never in sync with God’s plan.

Prayer: Open our hearts to grow from the diversity of the world you created for all. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Faith and Hope

Living in the Spirit

November 2, 2021

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
   the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
   for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

There is a feeling now in our world that a shroud is cast over all peoples. The COVID virus is undoubtedly taking its toll. About the time we seem to get it under control, it rears its ugly head again. Scriptures like the one above were, most likely, written to give people hope in what seemed like a hopeless situation. God knows we need hope now. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. A lesson I have learned from studying the history of God is that God is rarely if ever, magic wane waver. Jesus, on occasion, healed by touch and forgave immediately, but he added things like pick up your bed and walk (John 5:8-16) or go and sin no more (John 8:7).

We most often think of Jesus’s primary task being our salvation, but he spent most of his time while on earth training disciples to carry on his work when he was gone. Once I read the first chapter of Acts, which is essentially a board meeting making plans to further Jesus’s work, I followed immediately by reading the second chapter, which describes the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Faith is the knowledge that God is with us in all we do, especially in bringing forth God’s Kingdom on earth, but God always expects us to do our part.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your abiding presence. Help me clearly see the task you set before me and complete them to your glory. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Death Penalty

Living in the Spirit

November 1, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect.

Oklahoma has jumped back into the desire to execute prisons with great enthusiasm. A new governor and his newly appointed Attorney General are anxious to correct the state’s requirement to do this job. I wish they had the same enthusiasm for solving our homeless problem or that we are in the top ten worst states in the nation for public education and health care. Oklahoma placed a moratorium on execution in 2015 after a second botched attempt at executing persons sentenced to the death penalty. Last week we used the same protocols to execute a man and got the same results. Witnesses reported that while he was strapped on a gurney like Jesus on the cross, he vomited all over himself twice and convulsed two dozen times immediately after being given the sedative that was the first step in the process. The second shot paralysis him. And finally, they administered the lethal drug that killed him.  

Prayer: May John Marion Grant rest in peace, and may God have mercy on all responsible for his execution, including me whose taxes helped pay for it.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.