Weekly Devotion

In the air of transparency, I must confess that I watched the Presidential Debate this week. In all honesty, I can also say that I only got through about 15 minutes of the debacle. My wife tried it again about 45 minutes later, but the tone was the same. There was nothing to be learned, neither candidate offered the promise of character. They were both too intent on shoving talking points down their opponent’s throat that there was no room for discussion or listening.

Jesus willingly accepted suffering, intense pain, and unjust punishment as a substitute for us. Jesus was wrongly accused and suffered without fighting back in order to fulfill His purpose. Verse 1 Peter 2:24 describes exactly that purpose.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Someone once told me that they only pray “big” prayers to God because they don’t want to bother him with trivial concerns. Aside from not understanding the power of prayer, this belief also shows a narrow understanding of God’s relationship with us.

This devotion was written on September 11th. It’s a day with gut-wrenching importance for many Americans and people around the world. 19 years ago, a group of terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into majestic skyscrapers, an iconic government building, and into country fields in Pennsylvania. It was a day that changed a multitude of lives. 9/11 catapulted the Mideast and west into lengthy wars, escalated tensions between Muslims and non-muslims, and brought me closer to Jesus Christ.

This month, we are going to focus on devotionals about healing. At different times in our lives, we are urging to be lifted up from physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. We can get relief from family, friends, professionals, and even the internet, but we can’t receive the same level of hope and promise that is extended by God.

This Psalm is often recited during the Jewish penitential season of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur because it contains a strong theme of encouragement during a period of time when Jewish people are concerned about their fate. It’s emphasis on answered prayers and tones of salvation provides deep comfort for Jews and Christians alike.

Psalm 119 is not only the longest of the Psalters but it’s also the longest chapter of the Bible. It speaks so powerfully of God’s word that it is one of the most discussed passages of all Biblical scripture. Martin Luther had claimed he wouldn’t trade the whole world for “one leaf of it.”

There is such profound adoration in this passage (Psalm 9), it reminded me of our ongoing relationship with our God. Wow, I thought after reading this again and again. It is not a relationship on merit or successful trials. Psalm 9 is not based on a relationship of you did this so I’ll do this. It is simply based on a relationship of love.

Psalm 51 was David’s direct plea to God for mercy. For this devotion, it’s good to know a little background about how David got to this point. David’s sins included: adultery with Bathsheba, murder of her husband Uriah, and in covering his sin from others. Of course, there is no covering any sins from God. He is aware of our transgressions and feels the pain from our behavior. Sometimes he breaks in on our lives to help us recognize the gravity of our sin in order to provide an opportunity for redemption.

After unpacking the “Lord’s Prayer” for several weeks, hopefully we’ve realized that Jesus wasn’t giving his disciples another ritual to follow, he was giving them a pattern of prayer to follow. Jesus exhorted his disciples to pray “in this manner” (NKJV) or “like this” (ESV). Jesus never asked his followers to memorize the words or to adopt another ritual to follow. He was showing his believers how to observe and how to pray.