Category: Daily Devotionals

Need A Foundation?

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

“And He shall be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” Isaiah 33:6

Today, I need to plant my feet on something solid.  I need to be sure of something and someone.  I need to know that my feet won’t slip and what’s under me won’t shift.

    Isaiah reveals that three building blocks make up my spiritual foundation.

  • Salvation ~ Though I was saved from eternal condemnation when I became God’s daughter, I am delivered from other things every day.  This very moment, if I turn to Abba, I can be saved from the temptation to sin, to self-condemn, to feel insecure and fearful, to indulge in self-pity, and to cave in to any other threat that would steal my sense of belovedness and peace.
  • Wisdom ~ My life can’t be navigated successfully without it.  Abba is my storehouse of wisdom.  When shall I speak?  When is silence more prudent?  What is my defense?  Which way shall I turn at the next fork in the road?  At the very foundation of my spirit, I know that Wisdom is a Person and He is not stingy with instruction.
  • Knowledge ~ Knowledge is information.  For any who love to learn and expand their mind, God is the most brilliant instructor!  While a spiritual journey is, most importantly, a journey of the heart, it is not exclusively emotional and soulful.  My mind is also engaged.  Spiritual transformation starts cognitively with knowledge and with my choice to believe that the final authority for Truth begins and ends with God.

God is the solid foundation for our times, offering us salvation, wisdom, and knowledge as cornerstones.  His offer of salvation supports the weight of our trials.  His offer of wisdom supports the weight of our fears.  His love, daily poured out, supports the weight of our distrust.

I won’t be afraid of today, Father.  Everywhere I choose to go, you give me sure footing.  I can’t help but live successfully.  Amen

Save

Not Meant For Time Travel

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children– Psalm 103:17

I’ve done it. Have you? I’d not only attempted to live in the present, which is God’s will for me, but I’ve lived in the past and in the future. Neither of those options is good for me.

How can I know if I am living in the past? When I rehearse the past and wish there had been a different outcome. I review what was done to me and fantasize what life might be like had I not been victimized. I also review my sins, even the unintentional mistakes I made from not knowing better, and then I ache to travel back to fix them. I live in the wonderland of wishful thinking.

How can I know if I am living in the future? When I borrow tomorrow’s trouble and decide that I can’t possibly handle what’s coming. I assess things today and think enough of my fortune telling ability to cast the future in stone. Believing that my prediction is accurate, I succumb to a lifestyle of fear. How many times have I lived in the distress of ~ “I won’t be able to handle tomorrow because . . .”

How can I have peace about the past? How can I lay aside regrets? By believing that God is a redeemer of the past. I can’t mess anything up so badly that He can’t bless me today with abundant life. His mercies started afresh at 12:01 a.m. this morning. I put the past behind me and get up every morning in the faith of His goodness.

How can I abandon a fear of what’s coming? By trusting that He’s already written the future. Nothing is going to take Him by surprise. The scriptures about tomorrow are rock solid and will sustain the weight of my expectations.

The past and the future are out of bounds. I’m not supposed to play God. He is the only one who operates outside of time. He equipped me to live today on the wings of momentary grace. The spirit of Abba Father is within me. He’s speaking scripture to my soul. He reminds me of His sustaining presence. And when needed, He sends angel reinforcements to help me in my battle.

For my yesterday’s, redeem. For today, sustain. For tomorrow, give me confidence that You’ve got it covered. Amen

We Have Been Changed

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. Genesis 35:10

God has always been an identity changer. One cannot be near someone like God and not be severely affected. Either one is repelled and runs the other way or is smitten by His glory and wants to make Him their home. The identity-changing nature of God has never been more evident than when He personally changed the names of people. Jacob, in spite of all of his failures, persevered with good faith intentions and God acknowledged the change in his heart with a name change. The name Jacob means ‘supplanter’….one who takes something by force through treachery. Fitting, since he tricked his brother and stole his blessing. Years later, God saw that Jacob was one who literally wrestled with Him in order to receive God’s blessing. He persevered until faith in God defined Him. God chose the name Israel for him….one who perseveres with God.

While God may not give new earthly names to every person, my identity has radically changed if I was adopted into His family. God says that I’m no longer an alien, but a resident of heaven. He says that I’m no longer an enemy, but friend. I’m no longer cursed, but blessed. I’m no longer lost, but saved. I’m no longer rejected because of my sin, I’m chosen. I’m no longer unclean, but righteous. I’m no longer without purpose, I’ve got a calling. I’m no longer hopeless, but hopeful.

Many more pages could capture more identity changers but is this short list not enough for me to ask myself, “Have I really embraced my new identity? And if not, why?” It’s hard to digest that I’m no longer who I was if people around me treat me as if nothing has changed. I’ve also got a spiritual enemy, Satan, who is bent on reinforcing, through hurtful circumstances, that I’m the same old sinner without hope.

How can I immerse myself in the wonder of a changed identity? By spending more time with the Name-Changer. He will whisper each new name in my ear if I’m engaged in a two-way conversation. Prayer is not about me talking. It’s more about Him talking. Never has His voice been more clear than in the pages of His love letter to me. Scriptures are not primarily for study. They are for the strengthening of faith. They are the words of a Father to His child. In the stillness of today, God would want me to hear, “You’re mine!”

Let me bask in the spiritual cooing that comes from running home. Amen

Fallen Through My Fingers

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

He who goes forth and weeps, scattering the seed, will doubtless come back with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves. Psalm 126:6 

A harvest never comes overnight. A farmer plants seed in early spring but doesn’t expect to see anything come up in a week. He knows that seeds require early and late rains before they bring a yield.

The harvest portrayed in this verse comes to the person who walks, weeps, and then walks and weeps some more.  “Goes forth” means a continual and repetitive motion.  But the mourning isn’t hopeless.  While doing so, there is also an intentional perseverance to plant heaven’s seeds ~ the Word of God. 

Perhaps this has characterized a period in your life. You have faithfully sown the seeds of scripture. You have salted the pages of your Bible with tears. You have asked God for the faith to stand another day in the promises that transcend this season of life. But times of weariness and disillusion have set in and the seeds have fallen to the ground as you opened your fingers to let them spill out. You quit walking the boundary lines of your garden. You put your arms down and have let your hands stay limp. Expectations have been nullified by time and one disappointment after another.

So many saints know these periods. Weeping is not a sin, it is encouraged, and in fact, even a command. But for any who have given up, dried their tears, and stopped praying….our Father reminds us today to regroup. Gather the seeds again. Regard them as precious. Speak them. Pray them. Stand in them. Be assured that God’s Word always bears fruit. He says so. When His Word is spoken, the environment changes. Anywhere His Word is sewn, kingdoms are shaken up. I may not feel the tremors nor see the stirrings of coming harvests but the unseen world knows it’s coming. Angels rejoice and demons tremble. Battles are being waged and God’s army is on the move.

Does this guarantee that things will turn out as I wish every single time?  Not necessarily. People we love still have free will. Sickness and death come to all of us because of the fall.  Man’s sin continues to infect our environment.  But sowing the Word of God ensures that God’s plan comes to my world.  Fertile soil is tilled up from hardened grounds of unbelief.  Sowing scripture sets the stage for a righteous outcome within a fallen world.  Many will believe who have denied. Many will be healed who have been terminal. Many will walk through an open door that was once closed tightly. And most of all, in the process of sowing ~ our own hearts draw close to Jesus and are changed. As we wrestle with faith, an intercessor begins to think, and feel, like the One they worship. Even while weeping.

Futility is not in my vocabulary. I get up and engage with faith again. Amen

Poised In The Perfect Position

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebeccah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac, she fell off the camel. Genesis 24:62-63 

Human eyesight and spiritual eyesight are far from being the same thing.  Each perceives life differently. A total stranger can stand ten feet away from me and if I am looking at him with human eyes, he may not be significant to me at all. But, that person might actually be God-sent and someone important to my future and if I was in tune with God, as Isaac was in today’s scripture, I might recognize that person as significant somehow. I’d know deep in my spirit that that God put him in my path.
One day, Abraham gave his servant specific instructions on how he was to go about securing a wife for his son, Isaac. Concerned that Isaac would marry someone in close proximity (a Canaanite woman), Abraham went to great lengths to make sure Isaac married among his own people. He sent his servant on a long journey, back to Abraham’s home country, to find a bride from his own tribe. Isaac, it appears, knew nothing about this as he worked a southern piece of land in his father’s territory, far from home base.
Isaac was a young patriarch and his connection to God was alive. He had seen God reveal Himself by providing a lamb on Mt. Moriah. How could any person ever be the same after that! One evening, as Isaac went out in the field to meditate and enjoy God’s presence, he looked up to see his father’s servant approaching with a young girl on a camel. He wasn’t expecting anyone nor did he have any idea who the girl was. But because he was aligned spiritually and in God’s presence, his whole being responded to the significance of this young woman. And as for her, she viscerally reacted to the sight of Isaac. She had obeyed God by leaving home and was also walking in the light of His favor and guidance. And don’t you love it that she fell off the camel at the sight of her future husband?
Bible study is one thing. Meditation on the scriptures is quite another. The latter centers our thoughts on God’s thoughts. It aligns us with heaven’s purposes in such a way as to enable us to recognize the movements of God all around us. I wonder how many holy moments I’ve missed because I was out of sync with the Spirit. When I fail to make biblical mediation a way of life, I not only miss the voice of God, I miss the unveiling of sandaled footprints in front of me.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more important on this day as resting in Your Word and Your presence. I don’t want to miss you. Amen

I Start With Myself

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Jesus became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began to look at one another, perplexed as to which of them He meant. John 13:21-22

The atmosphere at the Lord’s Supper grew tense. Jesus announced that one of the twelve would betray Him. In that pregnant moment, I do not believe that each wondered which of his brothers had done such a thing. I believe a dark cloud came over each of them personally as they feared it might be them.  I believe they knew some of their own weaknesses.  After all, they had been with Jesus for three years to see the stark contrast between holiness and sinfulness.

Three years is a long time to travel with someone. Their relationship with Him was intimate. What they expected Him to do, He rarely did. What they anticipated He might say, He rarely said.  Whom they didn’t expected Him to heal, He did.  When they expected Him to honor sacred Jewish traditions, He surprised them by doing the opposite.  They had had plenty of time to understand their own sinfulness in light of the contrast.  They knew pretty quickly that they fell short of God’s glory – resident in Christ.

For Judas, the bait was money. His love for riches challenged fidelity. But for any one of the disciples, there might have been another temptation to hit home and cause them to walk away.

It is imperative that I know my own weaknesses well. Self-indulgent introspection doesn’t reveal them. Only the mirror of the Word of God does. I must let the Word judge my heart. I must accept what God shows me, and then I must allow God to start changing what I love too much that could threaten our relationship. Yes, I could easily be a Judas. I have had Judas moments.

I have known the bitter gall of failure. I have drunk the wine of self-hatred. I have questioned God’s radical forgiveness. But grace won. Failure, repentance, and forgiveness are great teachers. I remember from where I’ve fallen and, because of the grace of God, He will empower me to finish the race well and avoid a Judas kind of detour.

I don’t love others unconditionally without Your help. I can only love YOU unconditionally by Your grace, too. Challenge me and my affections. Amen

Coming Home With Words

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Psalm 32:5

King David is clear in today’s scripture about the importance of words in the process of repentance.    He’s not preaching a sermon to his subjects.  He’s reveals his own path back to God by letting us hear the nature of his personal prayer.

Imagine if you had a prodigal son who spurned your love and went off on a long journey.  You mourned for him, prayed for him, and waited for his return.  One day, you wake up to see him sleeping in his old room.  He gets up in the morning and says little.  It’s obvious that he’s come home to stay because he unpacked completely.  He started engaging in household routines but gave no explanation about where’s been or why he’s come back.  It wouldn’t be long until you’d erupt and say, “Look, we have to talk about this.  Where have you been?  What have you been doing?  Why are you home?”  

We can never stray from God and go back without a language of repentance and self-disclosure.  “Lord, I went away because ___________.  I’ve been off doing _______________.  My heart feels ______________.  Please forgive me for ____________.”

The only way to make a solid return is with words.  It’s not because He needs to hear them. Unlike we human parents, He knows the thoughts and intents of His children’s hearts.  We need to speak because, by speaking, we are changed.  The dam breaks and acknowledgement of our actions and feelings brings what was hidden into the Light.  The elephant in the room of our relationship with God has been acknowledged.

Words are a gift we give to God that only come back to benefit us in the long run.  When we speak words of repentance, we are bathed in forgiveness.  When we speak words of praise, we are delivered from the chains of darkness.  When we speak words that reveal our own story, we gain self-awareness.  When we speak words of faith, we surmount the barriers of unbelief.  When we sing, we push back the darkness.  Let’s take our words and live in the presence of the Lord today.

If I am wordless, I am poor.  Breathe on my tongue, Jesus.  Release my language of remorse and repentance.  Amen

At What Point Do You Give Up?

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together and exalt his name. For I cried to him and he answered me! He freed me from all my fears.  Others too were radiant at what he did for them. Theirs was no downcast look of rejection!  This poor man cried to the Lord—and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles.  For the Angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence him. Oh, put God to the test and see how kind he is!  Psalm 134:1-8  TLB

I shared a meal recently with someone who just needed to talk. She admitted that her heart had shut down. One storm after another had overtaken her but for a while she believed things were manageable. There was more right than wrong so she stayed optimistic. She believed in her natural problem solving skills.   Eventually though, things fell apart with most every family member. She wept as she admitted that she had lost her voice, lost her hope, and lost her fight.

What’s missing from this picture is a mention of God. Prayer, faith, and strategy, are absent. It’s not that she doesn’t know God. She does but her prayers are way too sporadic. Passivity means that she has abdicated the outcome to stronger forces she doesn’t have the will to fight anymore.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, I don’t have to stand back and wring my hands over the invasion. When sickness overtakes a family member, I can do more than watch. When bad news is announced, I can do more than listen. When sin dominates another part of the house, I can do more than worry. When a family member succumbs to depression, I can do more than offer platitudes. When the bank account is depleted, I can do more than expect destitution. God will raise up a standard and He will use me to be His temple of faith and praise.

If you’re lying down because you feel hopeless, get up. If you’ve lost your voice, get it back. If you’ve stopped praying, fall to your knees. The language you need is the language of the scriptures. If you have a mouth that can read the Word of God out loud, you’re not wordless. No home need permeate darkness when praise music plays twenty-four hours a day. No mother need cry herself to sleep with hopeless tears when God gives her scriptures to address every single thing that assaults her household. God’s daughter is meant to walk the house and pray scripture out loud. She does it in the morning. She does it again at night. Her faith is revived as she speaks God’s promises. They are the battle cry that declares war on God’s adversary.

What happens when the enemy hears her scriptural pronouncements and when God’s Word assaults his ears? His schemes are threatened. He is reminded of his limits and flees. Know this ~ he will try to re-group, only to be met again with the the child of God who knows that the secret is persevering. Let that be you. Have a word ready for his next act of aggression.

Is everything you’ve read merely my attempt to give a good sounding pep talk? No. I’ve lived long enough to have experienced life falling apart on many fronts and, oftentimes, it happened all at once. There were periods when I capitulated to a serious depression. But somewhere in the night, there was an infusion of faith and God tutored this child to learn strategy and warfare. The turnaround didn’t happen all at once. His Word drove out the despair like the slow drip of a life-giving IV and it revived me. What I thought I needed to tolerate became history. God’s glory came to rest but not without my full engagement and cooperative effort. There’s a reason scripture trembles in my hands. It’s wonder – not fear. Let me pass along my well-founded confidence to you. It is a gift from someone who once lived in the pit of nothingness.

I’m praying for the one whose hands are limp and whose tongue is silent. Nudge her to pick up her sword. Help her conceive a strategic plan to take back what the enemy has plundered. Lead her to scriptures for every area of defeat. Give her a voice to speak them out loud. Let the enemy know that You are raising up a standard against him with a resurrected daughter. In Jesus name, Amen

Will It Be You?

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

Last night was the night for dreams.  This was one of them.

**************************

There was a gathering at church.  There were a few who believed that God was going to do something powerful in the meeting.  They saw hints of glory, the stirrings of something holy, but their expectations were dormant so nothing ever manifested.  People mingled normally, hugged each other and said how long it had been since they’d seen one another and before long, the scheduled time for the meeting to end was upon them.  For the few who had hoped for God’s presence, it felt like the time had been a waste.  People had gotten dressed up, came a distance, spent the time, made refreshments, brought gifts to one another, but if the point was meeting together with God’s Spirit, the time proved empty.  The people were so used to a dry outcome that the majority didn’t even register disappointment.

The emcee looked around for someone to close in prayer.  Then it happened.  A servant, with a heart alive to God, opened her mouth with an imploring, passionate plea for the Spirit of God to touch people’s hearts.  Need after need was verbalized and the possibilities of what would happen if God came to breathe on each one was born.  The desperation for such a move of God was acknowledged.  The desire for a miraculous outcome was painted with words and then time stood still as the Spirit of God began to stir the hearts of God’s people.  The tease of heaven entered the room.  Normal disappeared.  Extraordinary came into view and no one knew where God would take them.

How many meet together without an expectation of glory?  How many know, and quote, the verse of God being in the midst of two or three but rarely anticipate anything out of the ordinary?  How many have stopped hoping to see God?  How many have never felt Him, or heard Him, nor seen what happens when His Spirit takes over the room?

Someone needs to step up to pray; some dreamer who is in touch with heaven’s possibilities, some quiet saint who knows God and what He can do, some experienced child of God who understands people and sees their desperate need and steps forth to set the stage in prayer.   Fresh fire needs to fall.  Who will rise up to shatter the form of godliness  with petitions for the real thing?

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.  Acts 11:15

 

Wasted Tribulation

Published on by Christine WyrtzenLeave a comment

For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. Psalm 44:4

 Resilience is wonderful unless God, who is the source of all strength and life, is an afterthought and human beings take credit for having what it takes to overcome hardship.

I wonder how many Israelites took credit for conquering the Promised Land. I hope none of them did but I know human nature. We are proud beings with fragile egos. We will think better of ourselves if we believe we had something to do with our victories. How sad if any one of them went through 40 years of wandering, testing, victory, defeat, even judgment, and came out the other side not understanding that it was God who spared them. It was God who saved them. It was God who showed mercy because He was the covenant God. The suffering (upon those who ended up boasting of their own power) was wasted.

Tribulation can be for naught in my life too. Don’t these sentiments sound familiar?

  • I come from strong stock. I will get through this.
  • Nothing is going to take me down. I’m a survivor.
  • They haven’t heard the last word from me yet.
  • It will take more than this to defeat me.

What’s missing are acknowledgements of need. I am alive because God gave me breath just a second ago. What does it take for me to come to the end of myself and confess complete dependence on God? Unfortunately, it takes a lot. And not hard to fathom, there are some who will never feel they need God despite crushing personal pain.

How about you? Don’t you want to squeeze the most wisdom out of hardship? I do. We are not sadists. We don’t wish for travail but we also know that, when it comes, it is a trial or two that brings the treasures of darkness to the children of God. Christ is sweeter and sweeter when need increases.

If I am strong, You made me strong. If I survive, You have gifted it. If there is re-building, You gave the resilience. Let me never forget. Amen