Category: Daily Devotionals

If They Could Only See Jesus In Me, Then . . .

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. John 12:37 

My husband, Ron, is a seasoned Bible teacher. At the conclusion of almost every lesson, he prays for everyone before they leave. “Lord, help others see Jesus in us this week.” Now, he’s praying this with his eyes wide open, knowing the possible outcomes of what happens when unbelievers encounter Jesus in a believer. They are either warmed and move closer to Jesus or they are repelled and reject Him.

I do well to remember this as I’ve often possessed magical thinking. I’ve believed that if people could just see Jesus in me, they would love Him and want Him in their lives. But when Jesus was here in the flesh, John revealed that the opposite is true. When someone comes into contact with the Light of the world, the majority is offended by holiness. They feel exposed. Unclean. And then, angry.

This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:19-20

Should I pray for others to see Jesus in me? Yes. I’m told to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. My life’s purpose is to glorify my Father in heaven by the way I live. But I should also be aware that if someone sees Jesus and feels the impact, and they are an unbeliever, I shouldn’t be surprised by a combustible reaction. The very presence of Light in me will be felt by children of darkness. The more oppressed the person, the more violent will be his reaction to me. A simple business exchange at the dry cleaners, grocery store, restaurant, can become contentious because there is a ‘darkness and light’ undercurrent happening. Often, what we chalk up to a mysterious ‘rub’ is really two kingdoms colliding and giving off sparks.

The more I am Your image bearer, the more I will be despised. Just like You. Re-align my expectations. Amen

A Garment And Wings

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

He asked her, “Who are you?” She answered, “I’m only Ruth, your servant. Spread the edge of your garment over your servant, because you are my related redeemer.”  Ruth 3:9

God never meant for any of us to live in the center of tragedy.  It goes against the very reason we were created; to worship God and to behold His glory.  To go down to the deep, away from the heights of God’s glory, is to subject our soul to dark plots and despair.  If our eyes focus on nothing but sad things, how can know joy in the midst of pain?

I’ve been feasting on the beautiful love story in the book of Ruth.  Her life had taken some dark turns and loss had become her companion.  With no husband, no heritage, no children, and living in a land as the most vulnerable of widows, she looked up from her circumstances long enough to to cry out to the one who could redeem her story.  She approached Boaz in an outrageous moment, as he was sleeping on the threshing floor to protect his store of grain from being robbed.  She startled him, and then proceeded to ask him to spread the edge of his garment over her.  Symbolically, it was an intimate request.  To be under His garment, his tallit, was to be united to him in covenant love.  In Hebrew, the account reads like this ~ ‘she pulled his wing over her.’ The four corners of a Jewish man’s tallit symbolizes being under God’s wings.

Jesus’ tallit, his shawl and outer garment, was touched by many who were sick and they became well.  He spread his garment over Jairus’ daughter and raised her from the dead.  The woman with the issue of blood, a woman who was ceremonially unclean, entered the crowd in an attempt to just touch the fringe of Jesus’ tallit. In doing so, Jesus felt spiritual power go out of Him and the woman was healed.

These days, it’s easy to be pulled into hopelessness.  We may grieve but we don’t  grieve without hope.  We can not rehearse the days’ events until they overwhelm us because God’s tallit beckons.  He lifts us up out of the shadows and hides us under His wings where there is protection, perspective, and healing.  Near to Glory Himself, our story is being transformed into a narrative of redemption.

David said, “When my heart is overwhelmed, I shall cry to You from the end of the earth; lead me to the cliff that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower against the enemy.  I shall stay in Your tent forever: I shall trust in the cover of Your wings.”  Psalm 61

There is an invitation to dwell in God’s tent, in the cover of His wings.  In doing so, we are lifted out of tortuous thoughts to praise our Healer and Redeemer.  He lifts us up to the cliffs, away from the carnage of the valley, where the billows of His wings descend upon the shoulders of the afflicted.  The cacophony of this world gone awry subsides. A holy calm invades to drown out the storm.

I am under Your wings, listening to the music of Your promises.  Amen

 

The Spiritual Gifting of Jesus

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Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.  Luke 4:1

And so began Jesus ministry.  After His baptism, He emerged from the water full of the Spirit and went into the wilderness for testing.  

There are things I often wonder.  Did Jesus have an edge over the rest of us as He functioned in ministry?  There are reasons I suspect this is true.  He came from the Father and perhaps had memory of their relationship and how the kingdom worked. He was perfect and, because of that, sin did not bring its bedfellow called deception. He had clarity the likes we’ve never experienced.  He could hear God perfectly and discern each situation with pinpoint accuracy. 

I consider the times He knew people’s thoughts before they spoke.  In the book of John, He said that ‘He trusted no one for He knew their hearts.’  If He was never fooled by anyone, then He must have known them through and through, unlike us.  He was the discerner of thoughts and read them like a book.  

He might also have had foreknowledge of everything that was going to happen next.  When He said that He ‘must needs’ go to Samaria, maybe He knew exactly who was coming to the well, her name, her story, and her ultimate conversion.  Perhaps there was no suspense as He sat on the side of the well and waited for her arrival.  

He did know that Peter was going to betray Him while in the upper room but perhaps He also knew that their relationship would be restored on a beach after His resurrection.  This is probable because Jesus also predicted Peter’s crucifixion.   

Yes, Jesus was God-man.  He was tempted like us.  He hurt like us.  But the spiritual gifts that defined Him were not similar to ours.  He was God – and possessed the mind of God – even though He was man and subjected to many of the physical and emotional limits of man.  

Nonetheless, powerful moments in Jesus’ life invite us to ponder them once again.  What have we missed?  And how will these new discoveries change how we see Jesus and ourselves?   

I think I know You well, Jesus.  But how could I?  You are vast beyond measure.  Surprise me and I will be humbled to worship.  Amen

Satan Will Use God’s Word Against Me

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Hold not your peace, oh God of my praise. Psalms 109:1

Has the Word of God ever tormented you? Conviction is one thing; torment is altogether different. God is not a tormentor and yet, when it’s the Word of God that appears to eat at my soul, it can do tricks on my spiritual view of God. He becomes a tease.

 I need to know that Satan is cunning. Paul warned me. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Cor. 11:3   The Word, rightly revealed, brings me closer to Jesus. My appetite for Him increases and I can’t help myself from drawing nearer. But Satan will quote scripture (as he did to Jesus) and weave truths together in a way that triggers my issues. How will I know that it’s him working against me rather than the Spirit of God convicting me? I will be led astray from my devotion to Christ. I will find myself backing up, growing shy, beginning to feel distrustful of God’s love for me. I’ll give you an example.

Up until my early forties, Satan did a number on me through hooking two spiritual truths together. 1. God loves me just the way I am – enough to come and die for me. And, 2.) God’s will for my life is that I grow to become more like His Son. Combine those and it’s deadly. How can God love me just like I am if He wants me to spend my whole life changing to become like Jesus? Feeling continually inadequate, I feared drawing close to Him. I could only trust His love if I felt I was acting Christlike. See the trap?

Where are you stuck in your relationship with Christ? Where are you shy of Him? Over what do you back up rather than move closer? Find the answer to those questions and I’ll guarantee that God’s Words have been used against you. The devil knows scripture better than any of us and is not above quoting it out of context. We could be paranoid and say that we’re helpless against such craftiness but we must remember that we have the Spirit of God inside to guide each of us into the way of truth. When I identify feelings of torment, I know to go hunting for the lies that caused it.

Lord, I don’t know who this devotional is for today. Reveal the mis-used scriptures and set the captives free. In Jesus name, Amen

The Object of Someone’s Wrath

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? Psalm 90:11

Many live as the object of someone’s wrath. Through no fault of their own, they share the same last name with someone who harbors rage over the ways their life has failed to deliver what they think they deserved. As the list of offenses pile up, so does their anger. The reservoir is full and it just takes the mildest of annoyances to cause an overflow. When I think about an explosive person, I picture them as having no elastic left in the rubber band of their patience. It has already been stretched out by stuff prior to a present day encounter. It just takes something minor for the band to snap.

If you’ve lived long enough as the object of someone’s wrath, these things are probably true of you:

  • You assume that you’re the problem. Angry people are skilled at blame shifting.
  • You suffer from extreme anxiety. You never know what is going to cause an explosion.
  • You cease to become yourself. A life of appeasement is your insurance policy against outbreaks.
  • You hate yourself for being weak. But you fail to see that what appears as weakness is often prudence to ensure survival.

While implementing spiritual coping skills is the topic of another devotional, there is something far more pressing to talk about. If I am a child of God, I was once the object of God’s wrath. Now that is terrifying. I could do nothing right. My sin marked me. I couldn’t fix it. Only Jesus could. His wrath condemned me to an eternal place of wrath. But hell was not created for me.

Paul said it like this ~ We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us . . . Eph. 2:3-4 Never has there been a transition in scripture more beautiful than this. “But God. . .” Because Jesus took the wrath God had stored up for me upon Himself, I am now under His favor. When the heavens open, the light of God’s radiance pours down on me. I can stand tall, cast off the shame, and look up confidently for reassurances of God’s love.

Now the real tragedy is this ~ many of God’s children act as though God is still angry with them. The news from the soapbox of this ministry today is broadcasted loud and clear. God is not mad at you.

I am loved with Your everlasting love. In Your name, I silence the mouth of the enemy who tells me something is still wrong with our relationship. Amen

The Compliant Person and Regret

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen1 Comment

Oh, how I love your law!  It is my meditation all the day.  Psalm 119:97

I will value something more if I’ve suffered from the want of it.  If I lived much of my life without the daily revelation that comes through a relationship with God and His Word, then I will embrace it now with intense passion.  The contrast between how desperate I was without the words of Jesus compared to what it’s like to live now with His presence and guidance will be stark.  I’m not speaking hypothetically here.  I’m speaking from experience.

But some who know me say, “Wait!  You’ve been a Christian since you were seven years old.  What do you mean you didn’t know the joy of following God’s ways?” I will tell you that it might have appeared I did.  But I took the paths other Christians prescribed for me.  I was a compliant person and when put me in the company of strong willed visionaries, I caved to fit in.  I wanted acceptance more than I wanted to know the joy of pioneering my way with God.

For the first 40+ years of my life, I lived by other people’s rudder.  When faced with any challenge, I asked those around me, “What would you do?” It seemed there was always a plethora of answers to follow.  Most were given with good intentions and with firm conviction.  Not knowing how to really hear God’s Spirit speak to me, I felt I needed their direction and chose to always trust it.  While some advice was solid, much of it was not.  Over time, I harbored bad feelings toward those whose advice led me astray.  I also punished myself for being so weak as to listen to them.  There was no winning, no peace.  Regrets buried me.  I had to work my way through the mire of disappointments to find the sovereignty of God.  He has more than redeemed it all as I’m writing this.

Do I echo David’s words and proclaim my love for His personalized instruction in scripture?  Oh yes!  Have I turned into a lone ranger who never asks others for counsel?  No.  It’s just that now I have a place to go to weigh their words.  God will confirm the validity of their input or direct me to go a different way.  His law is life and throughout my day, I have the absolute joy of being utterly preoccupied with it.

I am only compliant to Your Spirit, the place where my independence melts away.  Amen

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Spiritually Street Smart

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To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.  Proverbs 1:4

It would have been completely safe for a naive person to live in Eden.  There would have been no need for discretion since there was no need to protect yourself from anyone or anything.  No need to discern good from evil.  No need to weigh wisdom and foolishness.  Sin had not yet been introduced into everyday life.

I used to be extremely naive.  If a person claimed to be a Christian, I believed them and instantly considered them trustworthy.  If that person were a pastor, not only were they allowed to define my theology but I gave them the power to dictate how I was to live out my faith.  A pastor was like “God” to me, yet I wouldn’t have admitted that to anyone.  Since my ministry has involved rubbing shoulders with pastors and platform people over the course of 40 years, perhaps you can imagine my shock to discover that Christian leaders have feet of clay.   Discovering my own has been the most painful.

No one person trained me to become street wise.  My parents had many sterling qualities but they didn’t intentionally train their children.  Dad and Mom lived by example and while we learned a lot from their modeling, there was a lot of wisdom that should have come from personalized instruction. In the absence of intimate interaction, the Holy Spirit took up where my parents left off.  Life introduced many painful realities and with a lot of scars to prove it, I have grown to be discerning.  Miraculously, without much cynicism. That is a testament to the healing work of God’s grace and forgiveness.

To be completely naive is to be childish.  Kids under the age of ten possess magical thinking.  They have not learned how the world works yet.  God calls us to be His children; childlike but not childish. Can we be childlike yet discerning?  Can the two traits coexist?  Absolutely.  I am childlike because I trust God completely.  I am prudent because I trust people to be human. I remember John’s words about Jesus. Many people noticed the signs he was displaying and entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them. John 2:23-25

Teach me how to see the best in people without being deceived. Only you can help me navigate the blurred lines, Jesus. Amen

Lame and Dislocated

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Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.  Hebrews 12:13

Perhaps you remember the moment you stood against the gale-force winds, ran out of strength and just gave up.  Every muscle in your body went limp.  Your shoulders drooped.  Your iron turned to mush.  It was too hard to fight the good fight anymore as you realized that you were running on empty.

I’ve had such moments in my life.  One, in my early forties, lasted 3 years.  By God’s grace, these are made up of moments instead of spans of time.  They are comprised of bad days, not months or years.  But oh, how I know what it is to live with lameness; every spiritual bone dislocated.  Please know that I am not discounting spiritual burnout. There is a time to acknowledge the need for rest.  There is a place for critical care.  This scripture is not to deny any of God’s children a dark night of the soul.  But I believe that the point is this ~ we do not need to live there nor were we designed to make that our dwelling place.  The night has a defined beginning and end before the dawn of renewed faith.

Much is forfeited when I throw up my hands.  While at the time it feels like a relief, the payoff is short lived.  Faithlessness and despair surround me with dark shadows.  I pay dearly if I throw my faith away and give up on God.  But here’s the thing ~ I’m not the only one whose faith suffers.  When others see my tired hands and weakened knees, when they see that my way is no longer straight, they will fail to be inspired when their own faith is tested.  My testimony of God’s goodness and grace are infectious and instructive.  By holding on to Jesus, I teach others to do the same.  “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.”  Isaiah 50:4 Those who throw in the towel lose credibility to speak to weary pilgrims. 

The writer of Hebrews would be greatly displeased if we interpreted his words as a rebuke to just suck it up and paste on a smile. We must read between the lines.  God promises to strengthen our hands.  God gives strength to weak faith muscles.  He leads us in straight paths.  He heals the lame.  While the scripture in this passage sounds like a command to self-heal, it is an urging to turn to God for renewal.  We cry out in need, we submit to the Great Physician and Counselor, and He heals.

Like the pied piper, are we leading others onto the path behind us to unshakeable trust in a God who does all things well?  Moving through seasons of suffering is critical to the other members of the body of Christ.

By Your grace, don’t let me bring lameness to Your body starting with myself.  Amen

Making Someone Feel Worse With My Good News

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen2 Comments

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 

Someone else’s shame is so easy to feed and I can do it without knowing it. How? By sharing my good news with a person who is experiencing struggles in the very same area as my victory.   Here are a few examples.

  • I’m in the peak of health and have just finished a 5k. I’m excited and want to share my success with a friend. The problem is, that friend has physical limitations. She is struggling with her health and discouraged by what she can no longer do. By sharing my good news in great detail, she feels worse but may never tell me because she loves me. There should have been a filter on my storytelling.
  • Over lunch, someone very well off financially shares news about their upcoming trip to Europe. She forgets the fact that one of her friends at the table is barely making ends meet. Nonetheless, stories of exotic travel continues. It’s very possible the woman who is fighting to stay afloat already feels shamed. Many wealthy people believe that if someone is poor, they had to have done something wrong. There should have been a filter on the storytelling.
  • You get together with a friend you haven’t seen in a while. You go armed with pictures and stories of your children, even your grandchildren. Talking about them brings you such joy. The problem is ~ your friend and her husband are struggling with family issues. Your friend lives wondering what they are all doing wrong. Without thinking, you share story after story about your family. Your friend is polite as she listens and long suffering as she looks at all the pictures. Meanwhile, while she cares about you, her grief has doubled. She’s too ashamed now to talk honestly and finds that her stories are caught in her throat. Shame has won. There should have been a filter on the storytelling.

You might be asking, “Shouldn’t the person who is hurting be able to share in someone else’s joy?” The answer is yes but the other person’s news should also be told with some sensitivity. If you’re the one who is fighting despair, a flood of good news feels far more painful than a simple condensed version. Applying a filter to my storytelling fits in with Paul’s words from Colossians. I clothe my ‘stories’ with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, and gentleness. To regard my hurting friend as more valuable than the joy I would get from telling my good news is what Jesus would ask of me. If I love her more than I love myself, if I am her servant, I refrain from exacerbating the pain inside her already wounded heart.

Help me prayerfully anticipate my audience – being willing to edit a story or two. Amen

 

Before I Can Forgive

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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isa. 55:8-9

Before I can forgive, I must know what it is I’m forgiving. I must see another’s offense as God sees it. But one of three things will play out. 1.) I think what happened is no big deal but God disagrees. 2.) I think what happened to me is a huge deal but God says I’ve overreacted. 3.) I see what happened as God sees it and am ready to take the leap of faith called forgiveness. I take people ‘off my hook and put them on God’s hook’.

Where are you, usually, among the three options? If you’re an angry and suspicious person, you most likely overreact. You over-inflate the meaning of others’ actions or just read into them what isn’t there. If you’re a person who absorbs guilt and shame by default, whether deserved or undeserved, then you don’t see the offenses as big as God sees them. You’ll be bent to minimize them and say that, somehow, it must be your fault. Only a person who has spent time with God and with His Word can have the mind of Christ and see events as He sees them.

After relating a difficult period in my past, someone asked me. “How in the world did you get through that?” My nature caused me to answer, “It wasn’t all that bad!” and shrug my shoulders. Only as I saw their reaction to my story was I able to view the events more clearly.

Forgiving some re-fashioned, minimized offense is pretty safe but it’s not true forgiveness. This is what we usually do when called to an altar to forgive but go prematurely. Forgiving the real thing is excruciating, very messy, and takes time. It takes a season for God to reveal to us how the offense affected us. Until we know that, forgiveness isn’t complete.

Who will lead us through the minefield of anger, loss, and grief? The Holy Spirit, our Counselor. God said, “I will lead the blind in a way they do not know. In unknown paths and unchartered territory I will guide them.” Never is there more frightening ground to cover than that of forgiveness.

It’s good to look at the most painful parts of our stories, to wonder if we’ve truly forgiven the real offenses as God sees them. If we want the mind of Christ, He promises to give it, and deliver us safely to the other side.

Seal, by the power of Your Spirit, the journey of forgiveness for the one who reads this. Protect them. Give them Your wisdom and guidance. Lead them through unchartered territory. Amen