Story 7

 The story of Rahab and her inclusion into the lineage of Jesus is inspiring and eye opening. The message of salvation is for all , regardless of background. I’m guilty of hiding behind my boundaries, playing it safe. I’ve often missed opportunities to be a witness to a vulnerable or hurting person. I want to do better in 2025. 

New 4

 What one word describes how your 2024 went?  I’d like to think it was authenticity in who I was. But that I’d for our Lord to make the final call. A few years ago, while teaching a high school class, I challenged my students to identify one word that could describe how they wanted the year to go. We had one of Jon Gordon’s books, who challenges others to have one word for the year, then live up to it. Today’s devotional reminded me of this challenge. May 2025 be filled with kingdom opportunities to live out His presence in us. 

John 8

What has been the step by process for you to discover who Jesus is?  Was it sudden or did it take several experiences?  Jesus’s revealing of who He was and is confronted people from all walks of life. The powerful religious leaders, common observers, and the woman caught in adultery were confronted with the loving God. Each person accepts or rejects who the Triune God is. Each mini decision of allowing His presence to saturate us prepares us for the next situation. He is all powerful, yet intensely personal. Accepting who He is means accepting who we are in light of the Great I Am. In the process, we are transformed into who He wants us to be.

“To follow Jesus is to have a radically different scorecard of success and significance. God’s rejection of our cultural brand of success (wealth, health, power, influence, and so on) upsets many who base their lives on it. It’s not that God despises people who are comfortable; it’s that he knows the benefit of spiritual disruption, especially when prevailing assumptions about the good life are dangerous.” - Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus

“Jesus just exposed the sin of the scribes and Pharisees who brought the guilty woman to Him. They were just as guilty as her, and they had to run. Jesus just turned on the light, and sin and rats and bats and bedbugs cannot stand the light! 

First John 1:5 tells us that “God is light.” He’s holy, righteous, and just. The Lord Jesus Christ is spiritual light. Just as we have enough sense to turn on a light in a dark room, any sinner—though he be a fool—can come into the presence of Jesus Christ. 

The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus’ claim, calling Him a demon one minute and illegitimate the next. They understood very little of what He was saying. Human knowledge today can be understood by anyone who has a human nature. But divine knowledge must be loved to be understood, and only the Spirit of God can take the things of Christ and show them to us. (See 1 Corinthians 15:47, 48.)” - J Vernon McGee

John 7

 Have you ever felt alone when you knew that you had to follow through on what God wanted you to do?  How many times have you had to stand on your own two feet, unwavering, knowing that you had to go it alone?  I think there are countless opportunities to refine our character and moral stamina. We can think others will stand with us, but we are never sure. Thinking ahead, preparing ourselves for those ‘what if…decisions can help. But there is no prediction what the next scenario will be. Finding friends we can trust certainly helps. Talking out those scenarios and sharing past mistakes or successes are the training camps for tomorrow’s challenges. Reminding ourselves that Hod will NEVER leave us or abandon us is wisdom for all situations.  His grace and mercy are new for all circumstances.  Jesus paved the way and knows our issues.  

“The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly, for eternity.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

“A storm was brewing around Jesus’ ministry, drawing Him closer to the cross, now just six months away. During this last year of ministry, Jesus stayed mostly in Galilee because the religious leaders in Judea wanted to kill Him. Jesus guarded His time on earth, according to His Father’s schedule. Everything He did honored His Father’s plan, His Father’s timetable—His Father’s will. 

Next, Jesus showed up in Jerusalem at the temple to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Everyone marveled at how He taught. Such authority! Such insight! 

Jesus invites anyone and everyone to Himself who wants to investigate if God is really good. The wonder of God’s Word is that if you’re willing, God will make His truth real to you. 

“But do men want to hear God?” If they do, God will speak to them in His Word. Some think the Bible is foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14). This shouldn’t bother us since that’s the way God said it would be.” - J Vernon McGee

Prayer:  “Lord Jesus, the world we inhabit is often marked by superficiality and easy answers. The temptation to engage the world from this place is very real. But you have called me to witness to the depth of life made available by your grace. Help me open myself to the beneath-the-surface transformation of the Spirit. May I dare to look at the places I’m often afraid to give my attention to, for you are with me. In Jesus’s name. Amen.” - Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life

John 6

 Have you heard someone say, “I’d be a stronger Christian if God would just show up and do something!”  Would a dramatic miracle and any difference in the long term of our lives?  It would change us for sure, but God is not a vending machine. I have a lot of questions but He knows the answers. He has given us enough evidence to trust Him completely without reservation. It’s called the narrow way because He is the only way to believe and live. His presence over rides all fear and hesitation. 

“The deeply formed life is not possible without an intentional reordering of our lives.

Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life

“Jesus invites anyone and everyone to Himself who wants to investigate if God is really good. The wonder of God’s Word is that if you’re willing, God will make His truth real to you. 

“But do men want to hear God?” If they do, God will speak to them in His Word. Some think the Bible is foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14). This shouldn’t bother us since that’s the way God said it would be.” - J. Vernon McGee

John 5

 Have you ever discovered yourself making a rule out of something that had been so refreshing and inspiring as a practice?  I’ve found myself expecting the same level of outcome from myself and …from others. What motivated me two months ago now has become a way to condemn my lack of progress. It can easily become an expectation that ‘I’m better at this than the other guy’ or ‘I’ll never measure up!’  Legalism and living by the flesh (Romans 8) is a slippery slope if I don’t keep my eyes on Jesus and His kingdom methods. My sin nature is to be arrogant and proud, congratulating myself or condemning myself. Each day is a surrender to His authority. 

“Jewish leaders of Jesus' day were serious students of the Old Testament, but they studied to earn eternal life through hard work. Jesus was the living Word of God, yet they had little time for Him. They looked for God in Scripture, but didn’t recognize Jesus for who He was. 

If you look for Him, you’ll find Jesus on every page of the Bible. Even Moses spoke of Him, but Jesus said, “If you don’t believe him, how will you believe in Me?” (vs. 45-47). The Old Testament is the foundation of what we believe about Jesus. Look for Him throughout the entire Bible.“ - J Vernon McGee

“I sometimes imagine a scenario in which someone is locked inside of a supermarket and dies of starvation. Can you imagine? You might say this is impossible. Yet in our spiritual lives, this happens every day. Whether we know it or not, we are locked inside the supermarket of God’s abundant life and love. It’s all available to us. Even so, people are spiritually starving. But it doesn’t have to be this way.” - Excerpt, The Deeply Formed Life by Rich Villodas

John 4

 The discussion at the well between the woman and Jesus was no accident. He knew every detail about her life. The well was Jacob’s well, a historic landmark for the Hebrews, Jews, and Samaritans. Jesus’s illustration of living water had a huge impact on her life and to those she talked to. I wonder how many discussions in our lives are no accident. How many opportunities does God give us to weave our redemption story into the conversation, giving the other person an opportunity to be drawn into His live. 

“Deeply formed mission is first about who we are becoming before what we are doing. Our most effective strategy in reaching a world for Christ is grounded in the kind of people we are being formed into. The quality of our presence is our mission.” - Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life

“Many people are led to know Christ through the influence of another. In fact, it’s the effect of life upon life, the impact of one personality upon another, but our faith must stand on surer ground than another person. Let that one person’s influence take you to Christ, and then have your own story with Him.” - J Vernon McGee