Category: Daily Devotionals

The Enemy’s Narcotics

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

THE ENEMY’S NARCOTICS

I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor should be in vain.  I Thess. 3:5

We weren’t created for pain, but for the garden.  Adam and Eve loved God and life was absolutely perfect.  Their world was utopian!  Then, the serpent spoke, they listened, and their first introduction to heartbreak occurred.  God judged their sin and they felt shame, remorse, and other emotions that had no fix.  Life was never the same again. Continue reading “The Enemy’s Narcotics” →

Will I Get Away With It?

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WILL I GET AWAY WITH IT?

For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice and saw the naive, a young man lacking sense, passing through the street near her corner; and he takes the way to her house.  Proverbs 7:6-8

            A young man sets out to conduct his business in town but it just so happens that he takes the route that allows him to pass by the house of the prostitute.  There is another way but at the juncture where he must choose, he turns from the safer alternative.  And so, the decision to pass her way gets easier with each passing day.  After all, nothing bad has happened on previous days.  The conclusion he makes is that flirting with temptation won’t hurt.  Continue reading “Will I Get Away With It?” →

Admitting That I Don’t Know Something

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ADMITTING THAT I DON’T KNOW SOMETHING

Every prudent man acts with knowledge.  Proverbs 13:16

            “She’s blowing smoke.” “She’s full of hot air!” Both comments, when said about us, bring humiliation.  It’s as if we’ve been exposed as imposters. The shame is profound and causes us to wonder, “Do we pretend to know what we have no knowledge of?”

            No one likes a know-it-all.  I know I don’t.  No matter what the subject, he has to rise up to act like he’s an authority on the topic.  Those who listen to him steal the floor and expound at length as if he’s been asked to ~ can usually tell if there’s real knowledge and experience behind his words. It’s pretty clear whether or not he’s credible or just likes to hear himself talk.  Continue reading “Admitting That I Don’t Know Something” →

When My Soul Comes Up Empty

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WHEN MY SOUL COMES UP EMPTY

What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted.  Proverbs 10:24

            A self-fulfilling prophecy is a frightening phenomenon.  I know, for I experienced one after another for the first forty years of my life.  I structured my life to do whatever would get approval, love, and respect.  While I received good measures of each, it was never enough. The feeling of ‘full’ eluded me. Emptiness, the thing I feared most, became my companion.

            If I want another person’s affection so badly that I will do anything to get it, the person I target starts backing up from me.  He senses my unbalance.  I wear the severity of my needs on my sleeve even though I might think I’m clever enough to conceal it.  He instinctively knows he cannot (and should not) feed such an insatiable appetite.  He knows his personal boundaries are being threatened.  He perceives that I am about to feed off his very soul.  What is the outcome?  Unless he has the need to rescue, there will be a painful backing away. The rejection I fear will surely come upon me. Continue reading “When My Soul Comes Up Empty” →

I Have Three Parents

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

I HAVE THREE PARENTS

Observe the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.  Bind them continually on your heart. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will talk to you.  Proverbs 6:20-22

            I have three parents; the father and mother I was born to and my Heavenly Father.  Of the three, my Heavenly Father takes priority.

            Solomon advises me to observe the ways of my father and mother.  If a trait is godly, then I am to observe it and bind myself to it.  The problem is, without intention to do otherwise, I will naturally embrace all their ways.  I walk their paths by default. Is that a good thing?  Only if I embrace the good and discard the bad.  I must love God more than I love the ways of my parents!

            My father, now in heaven, was a man with a huge heart for God.   He counseled, taught the scriptures, walked out his faith beautifully and, in the process, was revered for his wisdom.  He lived in a small New England town where he is still talked about with reverence by those who knew him.  As I remember him, I hold his good traits close to my heart and they guide me.  But at the same time, I discard the bad.  My dad was consumed with worry and was driven to avoid criticism at all costs. I inherited these tendencies and lived crippled by them for many years.  It wasn’t until I severed my attachment to his sinful ways that I was free to follow my Father in heaven.     Continue reading “I Have Three Parents” →

An Illusion of Power

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

AN ILLUSION OF POWER

The wicked are overthrown and are no more.  Proverbs 12:7

        Those who practice wickedness often look formidable but their feet are unsteady.  The least bit of trouble brings them down.  The power they possess makes us tremble but it’s really an illusion. Though their behavior is intimidating, we don’t realize how easily they could crumble.  Here’s what else I’ve learned. The ones who look the strongest can be the weakest!

            A woman wrote to me this week to tell me this story.  An angry brother had controlled her for many years.  Though he lived several hundred miles away, he had a way of controlling the entire family network.  For the past year, she has been bringing her fear of her brother to God and He has been healing her.  So much so, that at a recent family reunion, she laughed out loud when she saw him for the first time.  He seemed several inches shorter to her.  That is not uncommon.  I have heard others say that once God showed them the true stature of the person they feared, they appeared smaller. The big bully became a stubborn two year old. Continue reading “An Illusion of Power” →

Lifting Up What Is Nearly Dead

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LIFTING UP WHAT IS NEARLY DEAD

Hagar said, “Let me not look on the death of my child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Genesis 21:16-18

         Hagar held her nearly dead child in her arms.  Voice weak, completely dehydrated, half starved.  No water or provision of food was in sight.  She smelled death but refused to succumb to what seemed to be the inevitable.  She poured out her complaint to the God of Israel.  Where did she learn this?  From the very ones who forced her out of their presence.  Oh, the irony.

         I’ve cupped my hands around things, and people, who appeared to be dying.  Dreams, health, ministries, faith.  From all appearances, hoping was foolish.  Death was staring me in the face.  All options were gone.

         Hagar, the least likely ministry leader, shows each of us the way to glory.  She prayed, listened, cast her hopes on God, and then obeyed.  She lifted up her boy to the God who breathes life into dead souls.  She could not know that a thousand years later, Ezekiel would watch God breathe over a whole valley of corpses and bring them to their feet.  By the breath of His mouth, He would transform skeletons into warriors.

         Has God been true to His promise? Did he make Ishmael the father of a great nation?  Yes.  Many Palestinians have, and will, trust Christ.  When they meet their Lord, how passionate they are!

         Will God hear me when I take what is weak, infirmed, perhaps even dead, and lift it toward heaven?  Yes. Hagar was told to lift Ishmael up and hold him fast with her hand.  Instead of laying him down in defeat, she embraced him in heartfelt prayer.  And oh, what an outcome.

I’ve laid some things down prematurely.  I’m picking them up again.  You defeated death and long to breathe over all things expired.  Amen

Journal Question:  Hopeless talk infects an atmosphere of faith.  What have you recently declared hopeless?  Pick it up.  Cup your hands around it.  Lift it up to feel the breath of a life-giving God.

What Have I Done With My Past?

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                                        WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MY PAST?
 
               Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay straight.  Proverbs 4:25

This is the question each of us has answered by our choice of actions.  We’ve run from our past.  We’ve hidden shameful memories.  We’ve chosen to embrace only the good parts.  Or perhaps we’ve come to idolize and rely upon our pedigree.  These are but a few of the options made available to us and whatever evaluations we made, our past has been, and is, an issue.  This verse from Proverbs is not an excuse to ignore what’s behind us and to give no thought to what’s shaped the person we’ve become.

    Everything I am today is due to the choices and influences of long ago.  It took the breadth of my past to craft my beliefs about myself, about marriage and family, about God, about matters of faith, and about how life works.  My biases were born in the past.  My deepest wounds were probably born there, too.  To ignore my history turns me into a shallow person who functions on denial.

    I’ve often thought, “What happened to me is over.  I can’t change it.  Why dwell on it?  It’s painful.”   That may be true but the future I create will only be as good as my ability to see my past through the redemptive threads of God’s grace.  He wants to reveal my personal history from His vantage point so that I can see any assumptions I’ve made about life that are distorted.  He also wants to heal what has emotionally disfigured my soul.  I do not need to live plagued by the shadows of yesterday.  I am being re-parented by God and I can anticipate a future worth living.

     If I turn a blind eye to former things, the past will repeat itself. I know people who have encountered trouble, moved out of town to start fresh, only to experience the same thing happening again.  They didn’t leave their history, they took it with them.  I like this Katherine Porter quote.  “The past is never where you think you left it.”

I want Your straight paths.  Reveal anything crooked in my old paradigm. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Pet Treatment and What It Reveals About Us

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

 PET TREATMENT AND WHAT THAT REVEALS ABOUT US

A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the compassion of the wicked is cruelty.  Proverbs 12:12
     With the seriousness of our times, everything I’ve been writing has been sober.  Today, let me speak of something lighter.  I know that my soul needs a break.
     Ok, I admit it.  Our pets are pretty spoiled.  We used to have a dingo dog named Freska.  She was temperamental and territorial.   I’m embarrassed to say that the only way I could get her to ‘come’ was to promise her cheese.  Well, let me clarify.  That only worked for a while.  One day, she decided it was better to run free in the yard than to come and get the cheese.  I had to appeal to her more carnal side.  I called out, “I’m going to go give the kitty cheese.”  With that, she came like a shot.  Jealousy worked every time.
    Now, we have a Golden Retriever rescue dog named Mollie.  While she’ll come when called, she gives retrievers a bad name.  She has a bucket of balls and when we throw them, she’ll catch one and drop it.  She’s waiting for the next one!  Dog training and a mountain of treats have not changed this behavior. Guess who is retrieving all the balls to replenish the bucket?!
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   Our two grey tabbies, Portabella and Steve, are also our treasures.  I put words in their mouth daily.  “What’s that you say?  You don’t want Meow Mix anymore?”  My kids have laughed at me over the years but I swear that the cats have acquired a more superior attitude since I insisted they have so many opinions.  (By the way, you could also rightly assume that I’ve written songs for every pet we’ve ever owned.)
    Want to know what the heart of a person is like?  See how he treats his animals.  My great, great grandfather was notorious for his cruelty to animals.  Though he died long before I was born, I have repented for his behavior before God. Respect for God’s creation, whether a flower, a cow in the field, or your pet, is among our highest duties.  In the Old Testament, God mourned the animals that were among the fallen in battle and judgment.  You may think I take the following to an extreme but here goes. I really hesitate to trust anyone who doesn’t like animals.
    Today, you may look at your pet with wonder.  You may consider the work of God’s hands.  And, here’s food for thought.  In Randy Alcorn’s book, HEAVEN, he addresses the fact that in the Garden of Eden, the serpent could talk.  He is prone to think that all animals talked before the Fall, and might talk again in heaven.  If they are able to tell us a story or two, won’t their tales be interesting, even indicting?
 Thank you for the gift of our four legged friends.  You do all things well and they are fearfully and wonderfully made.  They are just another reason to worship You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Continue reading “Pet Treatment and What It Reveals About Us” →

How Do I Make Others Feel?

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HOW I MAKE OTHERS FEEL

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.  Proverbs 10:7

Positive emotions and rich images abound when the righteous are mentioned.  Joseph. Abraham. King David. John the Apostle. Martin Luther. D.L.Moody. Franklin Graham.  Negative images and conflicting emotions rise up when the names of wicked men are spoken.  Jezebel. Ahab. Herod. Judas. Hitler. Bin Laden.

    To make this truth even more personal, what happens when I speak the names of family members I know well?  The names of good people make me smile.  The names of those who mis-use others, or at the very least, are just self-centered, make me wince.  I count the days until I can see the righteous.  I number the days, in dread, when I know I have to see their counterpart.

The whole law rests on two simple, scriptural principles.  “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind.  And, love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  As I think about legacies, it really does boil down to these.  The people I desire to be around are the ones who walk humbly with God and love others.  Pretty simple.  I have no desire to spend time with those who know a lot and never let me forget it.  I do not wish to fellowship with someone who dresses well and drives the nicest car, especially if that person has a need to make me feel sub-standard.  Yet, how often do people begin their day by asking, “Who can I love today?”  Perhaps that is the greatest sign of spiritual maturity.

I recall the years I felt it was most important to impress others.  Wanting their respect, I calculated my behavior ahead of time.  I obsessed about what I would wear.  I spent extra time styling my hair. I worried about how much I would contribute to conversations, all the while failing to realize that these very preoccupations would distance me from others. No one would feel a desire to draw close to me when all I appeared to think about was my own image.

When my name is spoken today, how do others feel?  A frightening question to ask but necessary if I wish to leave a righteous legacy to the glory of God.

Jesus, even You were preoccupied with Your Father’s glory.  You drew others to Yourself because of His love for them.  Give me your heart for people today so that love is first on my mind.  In Jesus’ name, Amen