Daily Hope Devotional

“God can do anything, you know — far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”   ( Ephesians   3:20   MSG) The Bible tells us that Jesus set goals. In fact He often announced publicly what His next goal was for the next phase of His ministry. So why should you set goals? We’re going to talk about three reasons today and three more tomorrow.   You need to set goals because it is a spiritual responsibility. If you don’t have goals for your life, you have already decided to let other people run your life. When you don’t decide in advance what’s important, you’re letting other people decide. You end up wasting your life, because you haven’t clarified how you want to grow as a follower of Christ. The Bible says that to be spiritually mature, you have to set your goal and move toward it as you keep your eyes focused on it. “I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not

“We plan the way we want to live, but only GOD makes us able to live it.” ( Proverbs 16:9 MSG) You get to plan the way you want to live, but only God gives you the power and energy to actually make the transformation. Why? Because God provides the three things you must have to reach your goal and change your life. You need God’s Spirit to empower you. You need God’s Spirit to empower you to make changes you can’t make on your own. It’s not based on willpower; it’s based on God power. It’s not based on trying; it’s based on trusting. Zechariah 4:6 says, “‘You will not succeed by your own strength or by your own power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD All-Powerful” (NCV). You need God’s Word to guide you. The Bible is the owner’s manual for life. The more you read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it, the more successful and fulfilled you’re going to be in life. When Joshua was given the great dream of taking over the Promised Land —

“When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God.”   ( 1 Corinthians   10:31   CEV) Not every goal that you can set is a good goal and one that God’s going to bless. So how do you know the kind of goal that God will bless? Ask yourself these questions: “Will my goal honor God?” What kind of goal brings glory to God? Any goal that causes you to trust Him more, to depend on Him more, to love Him more, to love other people more, to serve God, to serve others, to be more unselfish. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians  10:31 , “When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God” (CEV). Everything can be done to honor God. You can take out the garbage to honor God. You can wash dishes to honor God. You can study for a test to honor God. How? By doing it with the right motive: gratitude. You want your life to bring honor to God, so your goals should help you be the best you can be f

“There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one   who can bring us to God. Jesus was truly human, and He gave Himself   to rescue all of us.”   (1 Timothy 2:5 CEV) Christmas is all about good news. But it’s not the good news of special gifts. It’s not the good news of a big meal. It’s not even the good news of spending time with friends and family. Christmas is about the Good News of God’s love. The Bible says all of us are lost without God. We’re directionless. We’re without protection. Our potential eternal impact upon the world is unrealized. We’re without real joy. Our eternity in Heaven isn’t secure. The Good News about Christmas is that God sent Jesus to seek and save the lost. The Bible says,  “There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God. Jesus was truly human, and He gave Himself to rescue all of us”   (1 Timothy 2:5 CEV).

“The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”   (Luke   19:10 NCV) If you don’t understand the purpose of Christmas, you might as well skip the Christmas lights and decorations this year. You might as well forget about buying Christmas presents. You might as well forget Christmas dinner. If you don’t know why we celebrate Christmas, all the festivities are pointless. To find the purpose of Christmas, you have to fast forward beyond the manger, the Wise Men, and the shepherds. Jesus told us the reason he came to Earth on the first Christmas:  “The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them”   (Luke  19:10  NCV). Quite simply, Jesus came because people are lost without God. To be spiritually lost means to be separated from God, disconnected, and out of whack. Without Jesus, everybody in the world is lost — no matter how much power, wealth, or fame they have. And our lostness has immense ramific

“Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together.”  (Revelation 3:20 CEV) You might think you have a good life right now, but if you could have an even better life, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Unfortunately, what keeps us from grabbing hold of that better life is an irrational sense of self-sufficiency. We think we’re doing fine on our own. Psalm 10:4 says it like this:  “The wicked people are too proud. They do not look for God; there is no room for God in their thoughts”  (NCV). Just like the innkeeper in the first Christmas story (Luke 2), we don’t believe we need more guests. We think we have everything we need. There’s only one problem with that arrogance: You miss the very reason God created you. God made you so that you might have a relationship with Him. You’ll never fulfill His purp

“Dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”  (Luke 10:41b-42 NLT) You and I love to overcrowd our lives. We overbook, overspend, overestimate, and we often walk around tired all the time. As a result, God’s truth often doesn’t get the chance to blossom in our lives. Too often God teaches you a kernel of truth — maybe through your morning Bible study or a Sunday sermon — and you think you need to do something about it, but almost immediately it’s crowded out of your life and forgotten. The truth isn’t crowded out of your life because of evil. Often, good things in our lives crowd out the truth that God wants to plant in us. To fulfill God’s destiny for your life, you likely don’t have to do more; you have to do less. Take Jesus’ friends Mary and Martha for example. One day they invited Jesus

“If you only knew the gift God has for you and Who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.”  (John  4:10  NLT) Right now there are TV and radio waves all around you. If you had a tuner, you could see what’s on those waves. But just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t real. You’re just not tuned in. That’s what it was like in Bethlehem on the night of the first Christmas. Despite the fact that Bethlehem had an inn with the sole purpose of taking care of travelers, there was no room in that inn for undoubtedly the most significant family of travelers in Bethlehem that night. This Christmas, don’t miss an important parallel of this story to our own hearts. Your heart was made to hold God. You were made by God and for God. Until you understand that, life will never make sense. Unfortunately, we fill our lives with other things. We invite other guests into our homes. Ou

“She gave birth to her first child, a Son. She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” (Luke 2:7 NLT) The coming of the eternal God and promised Messiah had been anticipated for thousands of years. Prophecies foretold the truth that the Savior of the world would be coming. His birth would be so important that it would split history into B.C. and A.D. Your birthday is dated in relationship to the birthday of Jesus. Yet when the Son of God came into the world, there was no room for Him. The innkeeper missed a prime opportunity. If Jesus had been born in one of his rooms, the innkeeper could have built one of those big Las Vegas signs that points down and reads, “Son of God Born Here!” He could have charged a fortune for rooms! Instead he missed the biggest blessing of his life because he didn’t have room for Jesus. We can’t be too harsh on the innkeeper for not having room for Jesus

“They bowed down and worshiped Him. They opened their gifts and gave Him treasures of  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  (Matthew 2:11NCV) Often, Jesus gets shut out during Christmas. Imagine I planned a party for you and invited many people. Everyone brings lots of gifts, and the invitees trade presents with one another — and you get nothing. That’s Christmas. We give gifts to everyone but Jesus. But let’s be honest — what do you give the God who has everything? Actually, Jesus doesn’t have everything. There are four things He doesn’t have unless you give them to Him this Christmas: Give Him your trust.  Faith is a voluntary matter. Jesus doesn’t have your trust unless you give it to Him. He will never force it. Make Jesus first place in your life.  If anything or anyone other than Jesus holds first place in your life, it’s an idol. This Christmas, choose to make Jesus first in your finances, interests, relationships, schedule — and even in your troubles.

“When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.”   (Matthew 2:1b NCV) Searching for truth isn’t a part-time job. It takes everything you have. The Wise Men teach us this in the Christmas story. The Wise Men were willing to go to any length to find truth. Matthew 2:1 says,“ When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem”  (NCV). We can assume that the Wise Men traveled many miles from the Far East to the Middle East at great expense to find Jesus. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is just six miles from Jerusalem. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Jerusalem was the spiritual center of the world. All kinds of spiritual activity was taking place in Jerusalem. All of the major religious leaders of the world were in Jerusalem, but none of them were seeking Jesus. Only people on the outside — the Wise Men from a completely different culture — were looking for Jesus. King Herod missed baby Jesus. So did the bus

“Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews?”  (Matthew 2:2a NCV) Look at any nativity scene, and you’ll likely see one set of characters that doesn’t seem to fit in the barn: the Wise Men. We’ve become used to them, but if you look at the scene closely, they appear out of place with their fancy clothes and special gifts. But to me, they’re the most fascinating people in the Christmas story. We don’t know much about them. We don’t know who they are or where they are from. The Bible calls them “magi.” Magi were a combination of philosophers, scientists, and astronomers. They were quite wealthy and well educated. But that’s really all we know about them. But we know they were wise. In fact, we can learn a lot from the wisdom they display in the Christmas story. Among other lessons from the Wise Men, we learn to be seekers of the truth. Wise people aren’t happy with guesses or speculation. They want to know the truth about God,

“He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things  He planned for us long ago.”  (Ephesians 2:10b NLT) If you want to get your joy back, you 1) admit it’s gone, then you 2) analyze the cause. Then, 3) correct what’s wrong, and 4) get an attitude of gratitude. There are three more steps to recovering your joy that we’ll talk about today. First, you have to spend time with God every day. It may be hard to imagine that God wants to spend time with you. He’s got a whole lot of things going on, doesn’t He? But throughout Scripture, God invites us to come into His presence. And there’s a joy that comes when we spend time with God in a daily quiet time, because we learn to hear His voice and find out what He wants us to do with our lives. The more time you spend with God, the deeper your friendship with Him develops. Second, you need to find a way to give back. The Bible says this in Ephesians  2:10 :  “He has

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT) If you feel overwhelmed or confused about a decision that you’re trying to make, you’re probably caught up in yourself and not God’s voice. The Bible says, “God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33a NIV). He is not the author of confusion. So if you’re feeling confused, guess what? It’s not God’s voice speaking in your life. If you’re a parent, do you want your kids to feel pressure or confused when you ask them to do something? No. You want them to understand what to do and then respond in obedience. God the Father wants the same thing for and from us. The only time pressure could be legitimate is if God’s told you to do something, and you keep saying “n

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.” (Luke  21:33  NIV) Many times we wonder if an idea that came to us   is instruction from God, a deception from Satan, or just something we want to do. It is extremely important to know the difference and how to discern God’s voice, because it can have eternal consequences. A lot of evil gets blamed on God when people say, “God told me to do it!” The Bible says in 1 John 4:1,  “Don’t believe every message you hear just because someone says it’s a message from God. Test it first to see if it really is”  (LB). Does the idea you’ve got in your mind right now agree with the Bible? Because God’s will never contradicts God’s Word. God doesn’t say one thing and then change His mind and say another thing. If He said it, it’s true, and it will always be true. God is consistent. He isn’t moody. He doesn’t change His mind. He will never tell you to violate a principle that He’s already given in His Word, the

“The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit. ”  (Luke  8:15  TEV) God speaks to people who decide they’re going to do what He tells them to do, even before He tells them. It’s saying, “God, if You want me to move, I’ll move. If You want me to get married, I’ll get married. If You want me to leave this job, I’ll leave this job. Before You even tell me, my answer is ‘yes.’ Whatever You want me to do, I will do it.” Luke  8:15  says,  “The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit ”  (TEV). I used to study this parable of Jesus and think it was talking about four kinds of people: those who are resistant, those who are shallow, those who are busy, and those who are good. But this parable actually represents four attitudes. You can have

“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”   ( Luke 8:14 NIV) You can’t hear God if your mind is crowded with other thoughts or concerns — particularly worries, plans, and activities. If you’re always listening to the radio or the tv, when God calls you, the circuits are going to be busy. You’ve got to eliminate the distractions. Jesus says in Luke 8:7,  “Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants”  (CEV). The kind of soil with weeds in it was actually planted with crops and begins to grow. But as it grows, weeds grow up around it, and the weeds begin to choke out the life of the vegetable or the plant, so it never bears fruit. Here’s what Jesus says is the meaning of Luke 8:7:  “ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and p

“The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it. But they don’t have deep roots, and they believe only for a little while. As soon as life gets hard, they give up.”  ( Luke 8:13 CEV) During the springtime, all the grass in Southern California turns green, the wildflowers and poppies bloom, and it’s really pretty. But the moment the rains stop, the hills turn brown again. Why? Because the grass has no roots. It can’t go down deep enough to get water from the springs that are deep beneath the ground. When there are no roots, when a plant is in shallow soil, it may initially sprout and look good, but it doesn’t last. The plants wither quickly because they don’t have roots. Luke  8:13  says,  “The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it. But they don’t have deep roots, and they believe only for a little while. As soon as life gets hard, they g

“Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the Word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”  (James  1:21  NLT) We’ve all noticed that the quality of reception on a cell phone varies widely. The same is true with you. You must be positioned correctly in order to hear God speak.  Sometimes we never give God a chance to talk to us. We’ve made up our minds. We want to do what we want to do, not what God wants us to do. Our hearts are hardened, and we’re unwilling to listen. When you have a closed mind, of course He’s not going to talk to you! But if you really want to hear from God — and what believer doesn’t? — you have to understand what is keeping you from hearing from God. There are three mental barriers that keep your mind closed to God’s message. Pride.  If you think you don’t need God in your life and want to handle things yourself, you’re probably not listening for God

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”  (Philippians 4:4 NLT) When the Apostle Paul says, “Always be full of joy in the Lord,” he doesn’t say to only be joyful in good times. Even when times are tough, the Bible teaches we can be joyful if we follow this simple strategy: Don’t worry about anything.  Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There are no such things as born-worriers. Worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news: The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned.  How do you unlearn it? Jesus says in Matthew  6:34 ,  “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”  (NIV). He’s saying don’t open your umbrella until it starts raining. Live one day at a time. Pray about everything.  Instead of

“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion … your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”   2 Corinthians  9:11  (NIV) What an amazing verse! God makes you rich in every way so you can be generous on every occasion, which will result in thanksgiving to God. God doesn’t bless you so you can be greedy; He blesses you so you can be generous. You give away and God gives back to you so you can give more away and He can give more back to you and on and on and on. God doesn’t give you things so you can pile them up. When you let go of what’s in your hand, it’s now empty to receive greater blessings from God. But as I’ve said before, God’s giving to you is based on your attitude. That’s why it’s so important to live with an attitude of gratitude. The Bible says,  “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of