Category: Daily Devotionals

    The Enemy Is An Editor

    Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  John 8:44

      My storytellers can be people around me but I can also be one as I process things with or without God.  Satan is also a storyteller and I will be lied to.  His default language is lies.  A default language is what someone speaks instinctively. Satan lives and breathes falsehood.  In our justice system, someone is considered innocent until proven guilty.  But with the devil, I better realize that he is always guilty. The paradigm is flipped.

      If he’s whispering his version of my own story in my ears, how will I know it?  He will say anything that puts me in bondage.  The most important thing on his agenda is to corrupt my trust in God.  The lies usually start with that goal in mind.  “See, your faith is in vain. God can’t be trusted. You’re foolish to believe His promises.  They’re not for you.”  On it goes.  If trust is breached, my relationship is fractured to the point where I am left completely vulnerable.  If I shut my ears to God, they’re wide open for someone else to fill them.

      If I want to know if I’ve succumbed to the enemy’s re-write of my own story, I need to look for the symptoms that point to the lies; despair, hopelessness, depression, unresolved anger, jealousy, futility.  If any of these have taken over my soul, I can be sure there has been an editor from the pits of hell interpreting my story.  I need to be on guard, take every thought captive, and remember that life is one sifting exercise after another.  Thoughts come in ~ I examine them ~ then I keep them or throw them away.

      I used to believe that certain events, or certain people, ruined parts of my life. It wasn’t true. Yes, they caused pain but it was my interpretation of the events and what I concluded about myself and God that put me in long term bondage. Jesus was never tormented about who His Father was.  He never stopped believing that He was God’s beloved Son.  He was never trapped by futility and despair.  Though He suffered more than any human being, He never believed lies about his pain.  He knew that everything He suffered was redemptive and would lead to glory.

      Each of us need to figure out where we’ve been lied to and renounce it.  We will have a list of things to discard.  We will be telling God, “I used to believe ‘that’ but I renounce it as a lie.  Now, I believe ‘this’.”  I state the lie and replace it with a truth-telling scripture.  The enemy’s stronghold is broken, legal ground is taken back, and abundant life and freedom become mine.

       The only version I crave, and will believe, is Yours.  Amen

      Adapting To Change

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?          Numbers 23:19

      Too many changes in one’s life, all at once, put a person in a fragile place emotionally. It seems too much to process. When I initiate the changes, it’s easier. But most change is what happens to me and I have no control over it.

      How do you handle change? Do you have a strategy? It’s easy to conceive man-made ones. 1.) Deal with today and don’t borrow tomorrow’s trouble. 2.) Lean on family and friends.  This is usually the best that we can initiate without God. If things are really hard though, these won’t sustain. Inner stability will deteriorate.

      There is a certain kind of personality that thrives on change but I contend that it’s change they control. No one likes an unexpected knock on the door that brings tragic news. I’ve had my share of seasons where someone brought bad news. I’ve found that difficult times rarely seem to last a year, but five years, twelve years, even twenty-two years. I’ve learned that I must draw close to Jesus and follow His lead to develop spiritual strategies.

      What did Jesus do when he felt the pressures of his life? He got alone with His Father to pray,  He reviewed the scriptures and His Father’s history. This is the prescription for any of us today who know that the only stability available to us is the foundation of our faith in God.

      • God knows all things future. He’s not wringing His hands over this change in my life.
      • God already knows the outcome and, if I’m willing, will lead me safely to the other side.
      • God is unchanging. Though my life shifts, He is always the same. I cling to Him and not temporal things.
      • God is still a righteous Judge even when it appears evil is winning.
      • God is faithful and true, and good.

      “It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows.” Spurgeon

      I Can’t Hold Things Together

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      He [Jesus] upholds the universe by the word of his power.  Hebrews 1:3

      God is a God of order. Jesus, God in the flesh, holds all things in place. As the Word, He once spoke and all things came into being; perfectly connected, in perfect working order, one molecule perfectly connected to the next one.  There cannot be the slightest disorder in what God creates because He is perfect and everything He touches is perfect. 

      Because I am not divine, I can’t consistently hold things together nor can I speak anything into existence. I can’t orchestrate even one element of my life and make it run with perfection.  I can’t speak over people and cause them to change or to walk in a perfect state of sanctification.  I can’t even make myself do it! 

      I can’t make anyone love me who doesn’t love me.  You know the frustration and the pain of that, right?  Who doesn’t!  But the one whose love I need the most already loves me deeply and completely.  Just one small implication of today’s scripture is that God holds his love for me together and not one thing can break it, not even my disobedience. He declared His love, backed it up with the giving of His Son’s life and He will not, and cannot, end it.  The covenant He spoke into existence rules and upholds it. 

      How do I internalize this?  I am motivated, in a new way, to let the God who holds the universe together hold my life together by arranging and directing everything that pertains to me.  Anything I build on my own, as well planned as I think it may be, is flawed and fragile.  It is simply disordered because my mind and ingenuity have been touched by the fall.  I realize this morning that when I am in control of my life, never am I more insecure and vulnerable.

      God begs for my obedience because He longs for my world to be touched by kingdom order and divine security.  He tells me the kind of person to call a friend, the kind of person to marry. He tells me how to function in a business, or even how to live as a good citizen. He tells me how to exercise the power I have over others and even has a lot to say about how to exercise leadership within a ministry or organization. As long as I follow His lead, I know that His plans, done His way, will be upheld by the same hands that sustain the universe.  Today, my prayer is this ~  

      “Speak Holy Spirit.  Declare Your Word over me and the life You gave me. Amen”

      New Wine That Tastes Sour

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.  Hosea 9:2

          Have you ever been so desperate for a breakthrough that you did everything you could to manufacture it yourself through whatever means you thought it might come to you?  Israel was so hungry for blessing and prosperity again that they practiced idolatry on the threshing floor, the place where they processed grain.  They really believed it would help the harvest.  Not only was it sinful, it was superstitious.  God cursed it.  He will not share His glory with anyone, especially with some sinful ritual.

          What is it that eludes you today?  More money?   No amount of problem solving outside of prayer will bring a provision that will perfectly fit the puzzle you’re constructing with your life. Manipulating a distant relative will cause the money to burn in your hands.  Extorting a raise from your boss will do the same.  Need recognition?  No heroic act originating from self-centeredness will bring the adulation that will fill your soul to overflowing. The praise you receive by setting others up to adore you will be short lived.  Tomorrow, you’ll need to do it again to get the same thrill.  The only One who satisfies us is God, in Christ.  The only pathway to contentment is resting in His love and abandoning all other striving.

          The new wine overflows.  It is the new covenant of Christ’s love, demonstrated so powerfully on a hill, on a cross.  His blood flowed freely to offer a new way to live to anyone who has the courage to put Him to the test.  No longer is love for hire.  It can not be earned but is received as a gift.  This good news is not for the fainthearted.  Only as we give up our propensity to earn it and feel better about ourselves will we know the power of this gift of Love.  Only when I identify with the Servant who denied Himself and walked a difficult path of obedience will my life flow with new wine.  “A breakthrough” will be the last thing I think about.  Yet, that is often the very hour He gives it.

      Oh Jesus, the sweet wine of Your love quenches my thirst completely.  

      Is Pondering Self-serving?

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer.  Proverbs 15:28

      Someone who is shy is very hard to get to know.  It takes a long time for them to feel safe in a relationship. They move slowly toward others and intimacy is not quickly achieved. Many hurt deeply from the wounds of past relationships and, as a result, pull inward to prevent more pain. They are hard to read, safely veiled behind a stoic exterior. They rarely express how they feel about an issue for fear of rejection.  Pondering before answering is a way of life but this is not what Solomon describes.  A fearful person does not ponder for the sake of righteousness.  Considering his words carefully is self-protective and has little to do with God.

      Someone who is manipulative is also careful with his words.  He ponders before opening his mouth in order to successfully posture himself for an advantage. He endeavors not to be genuine, but to say whatever will benefit him. Most every conversation is self-promoting.  He is ambitious, even to the point of ruthless. Beware. His speech is like butter and the flattery he offers, while it feels wonderful, is calculated and well rehearsed. Manipulative pondering is also not what Solomon describes.

      A righteous person ponders before he speaks so that God will be glorified.  He knows that if he expresses himself thoughtlessly, his words will be soul-ish, even foolish.  He understands the power of the tongue and, by God’s grace, exercises the discipline of restraint.  He is neither self-protective nor self-promoting.  His passion is to think like Jesus and, therefore, talk like Jesus. The wisdom that flows out of the heart of the righteous child of God is cultivated in secret. It is the result of many hours spent at the Rabbi’s feet.

      Search me at the place of my motives.  Let my pondering be a holy thing, not self-promoting or self-protecting. Show me how to think like You as You write Your Word in my heart.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

      Emotions and God

      Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

      I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You. Job 42:5

      The scriptures tell the stories of more than a few who saw the Lord. Each time there were strong emotional responses. People cried out, fell over as dead, declared themselves unclean, and were speechless when they beheld him. We’ve been fed some bad information about emotions not being important, about the preference of facts over feelings. It could really be a paradigm called, “Facts first; feelings immaterial.”

      While I agree that feelings aren’t reliable rudders if they run in opposition to the truth of scripture, they are still important. Feelings, when aligned with truth, direct my life just fine. God feels things intensely and I am created in His image. He wants me to experience Him. Love is to be felt. Sin is to be grieved over. Forgiveness is to be exhilarating. Freedom is to be celebrated. Grace is to relax in. Faith is about fact and feeling. Stoicism and Christianity are mutually exclusive.

      Tim Keller says that ‘Emotion isn’t just the caboose to our faith. Christianity needs to make emotional sense before it can make rational sense.’ To see Jesus in all of His glory evokes emotion first, belief next.’

      A testimony without fire should be suspect. While I understand some people are reserved and find it awkward to be outwardly expressive, I also contend that if any one of us was pulled from a house on fire, there would be visible emotional reactions like relief, gratitude, tears, or all of the above. How can one be monotone about having their life saved! This is one of the reasons I am to live a cross-centered live. It’s a reminder that I’ve been saved, someone died in my place and delivered me from eternal condemnation and alienation from God. I’ve been plucked from the fire and this changes the face of a stoic like me.

      If my faith is dry, if I’m out of fuel, what can be done in addition to ‘reviewing and remembering’ my spiritual heroes? I do a self-review by looking back. What has God changed in me that has been most dramatic? About what am I relieved? About what am I most grateful? What has been the darkest area of my life that has seen God’s transforming power? How do I feel about my own sin and His mercy? These answers provide kindling as my emotions engage with the power of God working mightily in me. He is excited about how far I’ve come, He feels intensely about it, and wants to express that to me and through me.

      Ever mention the word ‘Jesus’ to another believer and seen their face light up the room? That’s the kind of emotion I’m talking about. While I know there are desert seasons every now and then, the visible engagement of my heart should be what others see and experience.

      You make me dance. Thank you. Amen

      Bite My Tongue? Perhaps Not!

      Published on by Christine Wyrtzen4 Comments

      We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life.  Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe.  2 Corinthians 4:13   THE MESSAGE

      Who or what has stolen my speech?  God has planted a word deep within me and I can allow others to render me mute, or at best, shy.  If the word is powerful, the enemy recognized it early and sought to shape my world with naysayers.  Insights and opinions that were offered were frequently disputed.  Oftentimes so strongly, there was deep humiliation.  It didn’t take long for this child to second guess her gut and keep her thoughts to herself.

      I remember the day I decided to sit on my tongue.  I was only seven.  When I spoke among those I perceived powerful, I did so with a knot in my stomach.  I seemed to always look at the world outside of the mainstream box.

      I was created to speak the Word of God.  That can take many forms.  Telling stories, writing books, praying creatively, speaking God’s insights in non-conventional ways.  A pen can sit nearby but I won’t pick it up because others keep telling me I have no right to use it.  Powerlessness defines my existence as long as I remain silent.

      Two things will keep me from engaging my mouth.  1.) I’m not sure that I have a right to speak because powerful people told me I should be ‘seen and not heard.’  And, 2.)  I was paralyzed by the grief of past humiliation.  I was made to feel stupid and am still feeling the leftover aftermath of others’ rejection.

      Isaiah 49 says that my mouth is to be a sharp sword.  Just as the Word of God is a sword, inserted into situations that will divide truth from error, my mouth is to have the same effect when God is in charge of it.  This kind of influence commences when I rise up out of defeat and inactivity to say what I was created to say under the power of the Holy Spirit.

      Though I am already using my mouth and my pen, there is something deep in me that may not have found its way out yet with the full power of God’s anointing.  When that happens, the kingdom of darkness will be jolted and the bride of Christ will tremble under its influence.  I will know the exhilaration of saying what I was created to say without the slightest hint of reservation.  I’m not there yet.  Where is timidity melted?  In the presence of Love.

      Confirm Your message in me.  You are my audience.  In Jesus name, Amen

      How Do You Handle a Broken Promise?

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. Genesis 38:13-14

      People can make promises to someone in pain. “If you’ll just stop crying, then …..” Distress makes them uncomfortable and they’ll promise about anything to make the pain go away. Here’s the flip side. Never are we more vulnerable to a promise-maker than when we are in great need.

      Tamar married the first son of Judah. God killed him because he was evil. She married the next son of Judah. He was wicked also and God killed him. Though He was protecting her, it probably didn’t feel like it. Perhaps she wondered if she was a curse. Everybody connected to her was getting killed. Can you imagine her grief and confusion?   People in that culture did not grieve quietly. They wailed. In this environment, Judah stepped up and offered his youngest son but Tamar would have to wait years for him because he was young.

      While others her age were having children, she was waiting. While others were enjoying their young families, she was waiting. It was a painful day when she realized that Judah forgot or disregarded the promise he had made to her. Realizing that she might remain a widow forever, she took matters into her own hands. She dressed up as a cultic prostitute and waited at the gate where those attending a Canaanite sheep-shearing festival would pass. There, she hoped to snare Judah and sleep with him to get her heir. The one who had broken the promise would be tricked.

      When someone makes me a promise, I can own it and feel entitled to it. It’s already mine. When denied, I can set out to force it out of the promise-maker’s hands. “You owe me!” Manipulative tactics instead of prayer are implemented.

      Those who intentionally break promises are betrayers. Never are they in more danger than when I put them in God’s hands instead of my own. ‘Forgiveness is taking someone off my hook and putting them on God’s hook.’ I must remember that when someone breaks a promise, God is the One who joyfully keeps His Word and redeems every broken promise with something infinitely better.

      I lay down my need for revenge. Like Jesus believed, I know You rule righteously. Amen

      When Someone’s Mother Was Absent Yesterday

      Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

      Many elderly have died in the past few months with COVID19.  The ones who are left cried their way through Mother’s Day because the loss was fresh and seemed so senseless.  Two families close to me lost their mothers just this week.  Though they were not COVID19 related, grief is still grief.  My own mother died in 1984 but every mother’s day is bittersweet.

      It’s easy for a loved one to get stuck in grief if they rarely talk about their loss. Feelings swim around in their heart in pools of sadness.  Everyone needs to talk with other people who love them enough to ask questions and listen well.  Instead, how many get a  scripture verse followed by a pep talk?  It’s not too late to express our hearts toward those who didn’t have a mother to celebrate yesterday.  We can engage even by acknowledging our struggle to know what to say.  (They like that.)

      Think of what happens when funerals are over.  How many will tell a grieving friend how much they loved their mother and miss her?  Instead, they’ll do anything to avoid making their friend cry but that’s such an unfortunate choice because we’ve left them alone in their grief.

      Eighteen months after my mother died, I happened to run into one of her friends in the post office.  She saw me and started to cry.  “I miss your mother.  It’s August and this is the time of the year we’d pick blueberries together.”  Did her story make me cry?  Yes, I bawled when I got in the car but I was still comforted.  I said to myself, “Oh, thank goodness, someone else misses her too.”  

      Don’t let someone grieve alone today.  Send them a note or call them this week.  Encourage them to tell some stories that give release to their sadness.  They will dig deeply to discover words they didn’t even know were there as we help their grief find a voice.

      Lord, I need not fear other’s tears.  Your Spirit, the Spirit of Comfort, is with me. Amen