Sunday, June 24

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Of the single verses in the Bible, this is my favorite verse. I have often heard it said by people, “you may be the only Jesus that someone will see.” In light of this verse it is amazing what God has chosen to do through us! “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” This means that the people that we as Christians come in contact to come in contact with Jesus at the same time. Wow! This is truly a blessing and an eye opener at the same time. What Jesus do people encounter when they come into contact with you?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help us to remember that as Christians people are able to see who Jesus is through us and through our actions. Let us remember this as we bump into other people, pass by strangers, and get cut off in traffic. Give us the strength through the Holy Spirit to show who Jesus really is to the world. Amen.

Monday, June 25

“For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.” Romans 3:28

Once we have faith in Jesus Christ we are granted the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of our bodies, and eternal life. This is given to us by faith. Once we have received faith we don’t need to do good things in order to maintain this salvation. As long as we have faith, we could hide ourselves in a hole and not do anything for anyone and still receive what God has promised to give all who have faith. However, the Holy Spirit drives us to do good things for others and to do our best to obey God’s commands. They will know that we are Christians by our love. Let us go in faith to obey what God commands us and do what is right for the people we come in contact with.

Prayer: God help us to be assured that it is only by the faith that you give us that we are granted salvation from our sins, death, and the devil. Give us the courage also to go out with the Holy Spirit in us to do good to people all over the world. Amen.

Tuesday, June 26

“5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, 6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.” Philippians 2:5-7

As Christians we have been set free from our sin that we could become slaves to others. Jesus showed us what taking on the nature of a slave meant. He bore in Himself our very lives so that we could be free. He sat with the “sinners,” he talked with the Pharisees, and He associated with Gentiles. To top it all off, He bore the sins, burdens, and pains of the world on the cross. In our faith, we are called through the Holy Spirit to do the same to our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even complete strangers. Don’t just share the message of the Gospel with them, but become an active part of their lives. Listen to their pains and joys, let them call you in the middle of the night when they need someone to talk to, be present in their lives, and share with them everything that you are as well. This includes sharing how Jesus, His death, and His resurrection has impacted your life.

Prayer: Dear God, encourage us to bear the lives of others in the same way that Jesus bore our lives in Himself. Help us to be courageous enough to share with them what your act of dying on the cross for our sins means to us. Amen.

Wednesday, June 27

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree").” Galatians 3:13

There was a pastor here in America that always carried with him the burden of a particular sin that he couldn’t forgive himself for. The guilt of this sin haunted him to the point where he left the parish and went to do mission work in South America. While ministering at a church he met a young child who kept saying after worship service that he had a dream that he talked to Jesus. The people would gather around this child to hear what Jesus said to him. The pastor thinking it was complete nonsense walked up to the child one day and said, “If you are really talking to Jesus, then tell me, what is the sin that I committed that drove me to come here to start a new life?” The child went away and did not return for three months. When the child did return, he sat quietly in the pew without saying a word. After the service he walked up to the pastor and whispered, “I had a dream that I talked the Jesus last night, and I asked Him your question.” The pastor replied, “Well, what is it.” The child answered, “When I asked Jesus what your sin was, he looked at me and said ‘what sin?’”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please help us to realize that we don’t have to carry the weight of our sins any longer. We have been redeemed and our sins have been forgiven. Let us live in this joy and freedom and share it with others. Amen.

Thursday, June 28

“27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?’” Numbers 22:27-28

God knows how to get our attention. I mean just look at how God gets Balaam’s attention in this passage; a talking donkey. Try and think back to a time when you felt God’s presence in your life or when you knew that God was helping you through a rough time. When I was praying about whether or not I should take the call that God had given me to go into the ministry I was already on the track to becoming a police officer. I was one application away from getting into police work. In the middle of this God put me to work as a volunteer doing youth ministry. It was from there that God moved and allowed doors to open to get me all the way to seminary. Even now I know that God is leading me through this experience because if He wasn’t I would have given up long ago.

Prayer: Dear God, reveal yourself to us so that we can see how you act in our daily lives. Open our eyes to see the miracles that you perform in our lives each day, and how you have led us to where we are now. Amen.

Friday, June 29

“13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. The man said, ‘Look! I had a dream. I saw a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.’ 14 The other man said, ‘Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.’” Judges 7:13-14

I did this text with the youth group that I work with, and we couldn’t stop laughing. One man has a dream that has a barley loaf that rolls into the camp, and the other man comes up with the only interpretation as to what that dream could mean. How on earth do you get from the dream to Gideon coming in to destroy the camp? Thankfully, we don’t need to worry about it because it was God’s way of providing reassurance to Gideon that he would be able to conquer the Midianite army. In the same way God reassures us when we have questions, doubts, and are just afraid. He can do it by any means even through overhearing people’s conversations about barley bread.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, look out over us again today and put to ease anything that may be making us uncomfortable or stressing us out. Let us know that you’re there to help us through troubled times even if it comes from where we would least expect it. Amen.

Saturday, June 30

“35 Jesus wept.” John 11:35

This is the shortest verse in the Bible. Even though this verse is so short, it contains a lot of meaning. Why did Jesus cry? Jesus had known already that Lazarus was going to die, and Jesus even said that He and the disciples needed to go to Jerusalem in order to wake Lazarus up. Jesus knew what He was going to do from the start. When it came time for Jesus to do this amazing miracle, no one believed that He could do anything. Jesus even laid out what He was going to do to Mary, and even she couldn’t believe that Lazarus could be raised from the dead at that moment. Jesus came bearing an amazing gift of hope that no one would accept. As a result Jesus was overcome with grief and wept. In times of sadness, grief, and hopelessness Jesus comes to each one of us bearing the gift of hope. It is in this hope that is given to us that we can carry on to the next day.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, even when the burdens of this life seem too great to bear for us, you come to us bringing hope. Give us the ability to rest in the hope that only you can give. Amen.