Category: Daily Devotionals

God Can Not Be Fooled

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She conceived and gave birth to a son.  And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”  Hosea 1:9

Another child was born to Hosea and Gomer, and, once again, God gave a name with a stigma.  It bore this message.  “You are not my people and I am not your God.”   The people of Israel proved that they didn’t want to be the people of God.  They turned their backs on Him to worship the gods of the Canaanites.  God never plays games.  We can’t pretend to be His child nor can we expect Him to pretend to be our Father.  Some are able to deceive people but no one can deceive God. Either we are His sons and daughters, or we aren’t. 

 As for those who move among us, pretending to be in the family of God, one day Jesus will say to each one of them, “I never knew you!”  Whom He rejects may surprise us because, for now, they’ve perfected the art of pretension.  God is never fooled, not for a minute.  And, if we stay under the shepherd’s crook and listen to His voice, we will grow to discern others as they truly are.  That takes time, doesn’t it?

I will confess that I have been confused, even deceived, by a few who turned out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Yet, looking back, I clearly remember moments when I was highly uncomfortable and wondered why.  As I’ve matured and gained wisdom, I’ve come to realize that the telltale sign was whether or not I felt comfortable praying with them.  In each case, I remember dreading those moments.  That should have been a red flag, a clear warning. 

In spite of Israel’s prodigal heart, God would eventually embrace them again.  They would come home and repent.  We can not miss the broken heart of God in the story of Hosea.  He, as a parent, knows how it feels to be spurned by children but He also knows the joy of a wayward son or daughter returning to the fold.  Pretention, trickery, repentance and fidelity, all are themes in this story which promises to teach us so much.

Grow me up to be wise, humble enough to hear You and see people as You see them.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

There Is a Point Of No Return

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And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen.”  Hosea 1:6-7

It is the nature of rebellious people to need more than one warning.  Throughout history, God raised up prophets to sound numerous alerts.  He never, as far as I know, spoke just once and then delivered a judgment. He was gracious and never left them wondering what in the world they had done wrong.   Chapter after chapter throughout the O.T. showcases the long-suffering of Yahweh as He outlines the wrong course they are taking, also showing them the way back into God’s favor.

The name of Hosea’s first child, Jezreel, foretold that Israel would be scattered and rendered powerless.  His second child’s name, Lo-Ruhamah, would render a second message.  “I have run out of mercy for Israel but will eventually save the house of Judah.”   Even God has a breaking point.  He does not restrain His hand forever when sin is repeatedly ignored.  Lest we think He is a vengeful God, Israel’s rebellion spanned generations.  His merciful hand reached out many times to point out their sin and give them a chance to repent so they could be saved.

It would be the birth of Hosea’s daughter and the message she would bear through her name that would yield its fruit.  God is a God of His Word.  The armies of Assyria destroyed Israel, but when the same army attacked Judah, they could not conquer them. God fought for them. The angel of the LORD killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.  Why did He spare one nation and not the other?  Judah had been faithful to God through the righteous reign of King Hezekiah.  2 Kings 18-19

No matter what portion of the Bible you read, the themes are the same.  Obey my commandments, and you will prosper.  But disobey, and you will be led into captivity.  God’s hovering presence vanishes with longstanding rebellion.  Captivity serves as a cruel teacher but leads those who are teachable to repentance.

Today, I’m again reminded to stay open-minded about my sin. That way, I never need to forfeit the warmth of God’s smile on my shoulder.

Your patience with Your children far exceeds human levels.  Thank you for mercy and undeserved favor throughout my lifetime.  I even thank you for times of captivity.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Would You Name Your Baby Something Like This?

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So he went and took Gomer, she conceived and bore him a son, and the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, I will punish the house of Jesu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it will come about on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” Hosea 1:3-5

I can not imagine the emotions a parent would feel if God told them to name their baby something with negative connotations. Did Hosea struggle with God’s command to name his son Jezreel? We are not told.

Picking the name of a child was a holy act in Jewish culture. When people walked with God, He often told them what they were to name their children. In this case, the naming of Jezreel would tell the nation of Israel that they were about to be scattered. Before the prophetic ministry of Hosea would finish, Israel would be defeated, destroyed, and taken captive by the mighty Assyrian empire. (2 Kings) The name Jezreel meant that God would break the bow of His chosen people, crippling their fighting power. The message overall was this: “Your power will be broken, and your nation will be scattered.”

Hosea gave this prophetic word during a time when Israel was prospering under Jeroboam’s reign, but it was also a period of significant spiritual and moral decay. The long-term consequences of degradation wouldn’t become evident for some time. I’m sure many in Israel thought Hosea was a naysayer, fabricating stories of doom.

With sin comes consequences.  The baby, Jezreel, lived as a reminder of this kingdom principle. Many who sin today (and who seem to get away with it), still live under God’s laws. Times of prosperity may deceive them, lulling them into even greater recklessness, but their good times are temporary.  God said so, and history proves that His Word is always true.

May I be like Hosea, willing to proclaim the laws of the kingdom during times when it appears ludicrous. Just as Noah built the ark and bore the brunt of jokes, I will be asked to stand firm when God’s truths have not yet been made evident. But why should I be surprised? I live by faith, not by sight.

I am but one servant, in a long line of prophets and apostles. Give me grace for long obedience. Amen

Will You Live As One With The Spirit?

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I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. John 17:22

God came to earth the first time ‘in Christ’. He came to earth the second time ‘in the Spirit’. The first time, glory was resident in a baby. The second time, glory was in the Spirit as He arrived at Pentecost. The first time, the earth saw perfect unity as God and Jesus lived as one person. The second time, earth saw unity as God took up residence in each of His children and they allowed Him to live through them in dazzling color.
Jesus’ prayer in today’s scripture, said just before His arrest, was prophetic of the unity that happens when the Holy Spirit lives in me. The indwelling of the Spirit is meant to be a take-over but not of the hostile kind. Though the Spirit moves in with all the essence and attributes of God (because He is God), the visibility of oneness is bold, or faint, depending on whether I allow Him to have all of me. His glory is either brilliant, or dulled, by how willing I am to die to self and live by the Spirit.

Jesus was completely one with His Father and that is what I love and admire about Him. He never did His own thing. At all times, God‘s character, God’s glory, and God’s agenda was being lived out through the life of His Son. It was not snuffed out by a renegade ‘Son’ who took detours and turned a blind eye to the promptings of His Father. At all times, He was keenly listening for instruction.  But when the noise was too loud to discern the right way to go, He withdrew to a place where stillness could reveal the whispers of an engaged Father.

Am I going to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer today? Will I live as one with the Spirit? Will His glory be seen in me? Kingdom potential is magnificent if He is not restrained. My own flesh must step out of the way.

And I will, by Your grace. Amen

 

Favoritism Never Ends Well

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Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. Genesis 37:2-3

Favoritism can be complicated. Jacob didn’t make Joseph his favorite to spite other righteous sons. Many of the others had already proven themselves to be troublemakers, bound up in foolishness. They had spurned their father’s ways, leaving a trail of disappointment and hurt.

I’m not defending the fact that Jacob showed favoritism. He acted unwisely and set things up for the other sons to hate their brother. From any sibling’s perspective, favoritism never ends well.

But from a parent’s perspective?  Well, the heart is a complicated thing. It can be difficult to have the same affection for each of your children. If one is bent toward evil, disrespects authority, and has no regard for family, isn’t it difficult to feel as attached to that one as much as another whose heart clearly belongs to God? It can be hard to disguise the pleasure you feel over the one that is righteous. It’s equally hard to hide the pain the other one inflicts when they act out against members of your family.  

This is where each mother and father needs Jesus desperately. Only He can heal the hurts caused by a wayward child. Only He can give the spiritual fuel necessary to love the renegade wisely. Only He can show parents how to bestow unconditional love to two kinds of children. How will the child who loves rebellion not see the delight in his parent’s eyes over the ‘good’ sibling? God is the only one who can write the relational roadmap for these dynamics.

In the long run, Jacob should have learned from his own troubled childhood. Favoritism hadn’t worked out well between he and Esau either. Unfortunately, he will repeat it again by failing to disguise his deep affection for Joseph. He will give him a coat, the kind of coat only a royal child would wear. This will fuel the other’s hatred for their brother. In spite of Jacob’s mistakes, God’s purpose for Joseph and the future of Israel will not be thwarted. That is comforting, isn’t it?  In the days ahead, we’ll be in awe of a God who does all things well ~ even when it appears our sin has destroyed all hope of a future.

You are the God of grace and redemption. Bind our families together in righteousness so that we still stand in the last day. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Strange Bedfellows For Partners

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“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” John 17:22

Several years ago, Saudi Arabia and Israel flirted with making an alliance. The reason? They shared a mutual concern over a common enemy ~ Iran. These two nations were strange bedfellows, and under any other circumstances, they would have been adversaries. There was no way their temporary alliance could be strong.

The same is true of personal connections. Friendships, even marriages, are pursued for similar reasons. Two people come together because they are against the same things. Their bond is, likewise, fragile. Common values are missing. Unity in the things that really matter is absent, and well-founded unity is what creates strong fibers between people.

This matter of unity was so important that Jesus prayed about it the night He was betrayed. This was His ‘goodbye prayer’ before leaving His disciples. He asked God to help them experience the kind of unity that He and His Father enjoyed. When hard times hit them in the days ahead, Jesus knew that only spiritual unity would keep the early church strong.

I have had many soulish friendships over the course of my life. We would often recount all the things we shared in common. They were good things, but it took maturity to realize they weren’t deep things. Our fellowship was only as deep as our passions, and without Jesus at the center, we were just playmates.

I’ve gotten to know a lot of people who married for reasons other than spiritual kinship. Things were fine until life tested their values. They discovered that they were worlds apart in what they deemed most important. Unity was impossible as long as only one of them was passionate about Jesus. The fiber of their marriage eroded until God intervened by saving faith for the unbelieving spouse.

So, it is good to put each of our relationships to the test. Upon what is our unity based? How deep does it go? What issues would put us at odds? What things are we most passionate about, and are we unified? If Jesus is not at the center of our shared affections, we can expect the stability the likes of a Saudi/Israeli treaty.

As I remember Your words, “Let them be one as we are one”…I celebrate and I also lament. Strengthen the bonds of my holy alliances. Expose all unholy affiliations and show me how to pray for change. Don’t let me lose my voice to keep the peace. It is false peace, Lord. Amen

Invest In Someone’s Future ~ Pray

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There is no gift more valuable than the gift of prayer. When we craft prayers for others, we invest in their future. Lianna Klassen, a Celtic Christian artist in the early 2000’s, wrote a song called, ‘The Future Belongs to the Intercessors.” As soon as I heard it, it was one of those phrases that stuck like glue.

While the most valuable of all gifts is prayer, casual and insincere promises of prayer can leave something to be desired. ‘I’ll pray for you’ is often the quick go-to line when someone needs to make a quick exit. It’s the believer’s equivalent to, ‘Have a nice day!’ Does everyone who says, ‘I’ll pray for you’ actually do it? We know the answer.

The person who needed it so desperately would be very discouraged if they knew that the one who promised to pray didn’t actually do it. It’s comforting to know that Jesus prays continually. We are never in a position where we have no one talking to the Father about us. Jesus sits at His Father’s side at this very moment and is praying for us with great detail, with intense passion, and with divine knowledge.

The night of Jesus’ arrest, He showed us the value of prayer. When He was preparing to say goodbye to His disciples, He broke into the longest prayer in the Bible. (John 17) It’s so weighty that we could spend years meditating on it and not scratch the surface. When my prayers habitually sound like this ~ “Jesus, please be near them and bless them”, I should know that I’m only skimming the surface. Scripture fuels my prayers with substance and fire.

Here are a few ideas from personal experience and from hanging around other intercessors.

  • Ask the one you are praying for, ‘What is it you need from God?’  Listen before you begin praying. It need never be guesswork.
  • Ask God to lead you to the right scriptures to undergird your prayers. Put their names in the passage.
  • If someone is open, offer to pray for them right after they have shared their need. Be intentional to pray their story. Let them hear you verbalize to God why they need Him. Be sure to end your prayers with God’s promises!
  • Say their name throughout the prayer and if the relationship warrants it, touch them. Hold their hand, put your hand on their arm or shoulder, because this may be the only tenderness they ever experience.
  • Finally, I often ask the one who has asked me to pray for them, if they are also praying for themselves. It’s easy to expect someone else to do what I’m too lazy to do for myself. Corrie Ten Boom quote ~ “Dear Jesus…how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.

Lord, You know that effective prayer takes time.  I need Your help knowing whose spiritual soil is tilled and ready. Amen

The Perfect All-around Prayer Map

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

If Jesus, when asked to teach His disciples how to pray, composed this prayer out of the perfection of His holiness, is this not the perfect prayer?  Perfect in comprehensive content, perfect in composition, even perfect in length.

How does it look for me to use this prayer as a template – expanding it as the Spirit leads?  Here is one of endless possibilities of personalization.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. I bow low, prostrate before Your throne.  You are my Father, holy, and perfect. I am nothing.  You are everything.  Unless You enter my world today, it will be of no value.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I see my need right now, Lord.  I see my family’s needs.  Your kingdom needs to come down to our little place on earth.  In Your kingdom, there is righteousness.  Thy kingdom come to us.  In Your kingdom, there is peace.  Thy kingdom come to us.  In Your kingdom, there is structure and order.  Thy kingdom come to us.  May Your will be done here, in every way, just as it is done in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Give me hidden manna, Lord.  I embrace Your Word to my heart.  Open the eyes of my heart to see Your Word and understand it. Give me the grace to apply it.  May every member of my family today hunger for your daily bread.  Feed them so that they might live in Your abundance.  May we be a family who feasts on daily manna.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. I stand in the flow of Calvary.  Wash me clean, make me holy, that we may fellowship together without restriction.  I forgive those who will wrong me in any way today.  I put on Your forgiving Spirit as I live out my day.  I pray for every member of my family.  Mold each of them into a child of Yours who walks in Jesus’ lifestyle of forgiveness.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I stand on Your promise that you will not give me more than I can bear.  The challenges, the sicknesses, the trials have all passed through Your sovereign hand.  Wherever I am assaulted, deliver me from evil.  Fight for me while I sleep, while I trust, while I do Your kingdom work.  Battle the unseen forces that I can’t see.  Make me battle ready to take every thought captive today, to put on the armor and stand in the victory You won for me at Calvary.

For Thine is the power, and the kingdom, and the glory forever, Amen.

A Prayer Map for a Broken Son

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Let’s make a prayer map for the following life scenario:

Your son, Tom, has grown up to be a distant and cold person. He was born during a very turbulent period of your life and you suspect he felt unsafe and unwanted.  At the time, you were extremely depressed.  From the time he was born, he has been closed off emotionally.  No matter how kind people are, no matter how warmly they reach out, he does not respond.

Legal Foundation:       

Lord, before heaven and earth, I stand in these truths. 

For he [Jesus] was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For I also am weak, but I will live with Him by the power of God.  2 Corinthians 13:4

 I trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.  Isaiah 26:4

It is he who made the earth by His power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.  Jeremiah 10:12 

God, who rules by His might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations, let not the rebellious exalt themselves.  Psalm 66:7

Heart of Stone:You know the circumstances of Tom’s birth. You knit him together in the womb and understood his primal responses to pain in a turbulent world.  This brings me comfort because You know how he is wired and what has comprised his heart of stone.  Kiss it to life, Lord Jesus.  Give him a heart of flesh.  Write Your Word on his heart so that he can know You and trust You.  Give him the courage to ‘feel’ again, even if that means working through the many painful memories Tom needs to confront.  Just because Tom has always been this way doesn’t mean You can’t do a new thing.  By faith, I perceive it. 

Lord, bless Tom, and keep him; Lord, make Your face to shine upon Tom and be gracious to him; Lift up Your countenance upon him and give him peace.  Numbers 6: 24-26

A Prayer Map for an Irrational Family Member

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

Let’s make a prayer map for the following life scenario:

Your mother-in-law was rushed to the hospital after suffering a mild heart attack. They admitted her for further testing and believe her heart has suffered some permanent damage.   This has sent your husband, David, into a tailspin. 

        1.) David and his mother have a love/hate relationship and he says he can’t live without her.  (*Soul tie)

        2.) David is irrational about her condition and her future.  He fears she will  die soon, but at the very least, her life as she’s known is over.  She has no future. He makes one gloomy prediction after another to the family. (*Fear and unbelief)  

Legal Foundation:

Lord, before heaven and earth, I stand in these truths.

For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.  2 Corinthians 13:4


He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? Job 9:4

To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice.  Psalm 68:33

Soul Tie:  Because I am one flesh with David, I am asking You to break the soul tie between David and his mother.  This is not of you.  Sever the toxic connection and forgive him for his idolatry.  Cleanse him of all effects of this unholy alliance.  Strengthen the connection between him and You.  Help him turn to you as His helper, for the things his mother has provided that has fed this co-dependency.  He can live without her because You are His life-source.  

I pray that the eyes of David’s heart will be enlightened so that he may know what is the hope of Your calling, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of your power for David if he believes. Ephesians 1:18

Fear and Unbelief: Lord, David forecasts doom. In Your name, I ask you to be longsuffering about every potentially untrue and faithless word David has spoken regarding the future.  Use his mother’s frail health as a catalyst to teach David about faith in suffering.  Help him lean on you and the power of Your promises.  

Bind David to the truth and loose him from the effects of his faithless words.  May they have no binding effect over his mother’s life. Your Word says that You ‘deliver even the one who is not innocent because he is delivered through the cleanness of another’s hands.’   In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

You might be asking ~ ‘Can we ask God to hold back the consequences of another’s sin?’  Yes, we can ask God to withhold judgment for a while longer.

“He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”  Job 22:30 

“Therefore he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.   Psalm 106:23

If we are right with God, our intercession for others moves the heart of God and often results in God withholding judgment. He is long-suffering, historically, giving room for repentance and heart change.