Daily Hope Devotional

When you face opposition because of your faith, you need to recognize the source of the opposition. It’s not other people. It’s not your coworkers. It’s not a political party. It’s not some other nation or religion. It’s not a competitor. The pressure you feel to cave in or be quiet or sit down when you should stand up, that pressure is not coming from other people. It’s really coming from Satan. In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called  “the accuser of the Christians.”  His number one job is to put you down. There is an unseen spiritual battle going on all around you. This pressure to keep you from doing the right thing is not really coming from other people. They’re just weapons. Most of the time they don’t even know they’re being used. The real issue is spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12 says,  “We are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world”  (TEV). Satan knows it’s stupid to attack Jesus Christ directly, so instead he

You should never be embarrassed for standing for the truth and doing what’s right. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:16, “It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name!” (NLT, second edition) Let me ask you some questions: Is an insult going to kill you? No. Is a putdown going to kill you? No. Is somebody calling you a name or labeling you because you’ve made a stand for Christ going to hurt you? No. Is some troll on the Internet who’s trying to bait you and get you in an argument going to take you down? No. It’s not going to kill you. You need to understand something that will liberate your life: You don’t need other people’s approval to be happy. You may have been trying to get the approval of a certain person for many years. I hate to tell you, but if you haven’t got it by now, you’re not going to get it. The good news is you don’t need it! You don’t need anybody’s approval in order to be happy. No matter what you do

“[God] has restored our relationship with Him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. In other words, God was using Christ to restore His relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and He has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 GW) When you want to repair a relationship where there is conflict, you have to focus on reconciliation, not resolution. There’s a big difference! Reconciliation means reestablishing the relationship. It doesn’t mean you’ll remarry your ex; it just means you’re at peace with each other. Resolution means you resolve every disagreement, and that just isn’t going to happen. Because the truth is, there are some things in your marriage, your friendships, and your work relationships that you’re just never going to agree on, because we’re all different. But you can disagree without being disagreeable. That’s called maturity. That’s called wi

Christianity is not for weaklings, wimps, or the faint of heart. It takes courageous men and women to follow Jesus. People all over the world are suffering like we will never suffer as Americans. But what is it costing you to follow Christ? It’s unlikely you’ll ever have to deal with violent oppression. But you deal with silent repression every single day as our culture becomes more and more secularized and anti-Christian. When you are faced with opposition because of your faith, it’s natural to feel afraid. So how do you get rid of the fear of opposition? How do you get rid of the fear of disapproval? How do you get rid of the fear of being rejected? You need to be filled with God’s love. The Bible says there’s no fear in love and perfect love casts out all fear. When you face opposition, you focus on God’s love for you. People who rest in the assurance of God’s love aren’t afraid of rejection. They aren’t afraid of disapproval. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:14-15, “If you su

When you feel pressured by the world because you love Jesus and other people don’t, you need to remember three things: 1) Opposition can make you more like Jesus.  Jesus says in John 15:18-20, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you” (NLT, second edition). If you’re going to grow up and be like Jesus Christ, then you’re going to have to go through the things Jesus went through, including loneliness, discouragement, stress, and temptation. What makes you think God would spare you when He didn’t spare His Own Son from those things? 2) Opposition will deepen your faith.  Your faith is like a muscle. A muscle does

When you meet someone to resolve a conflict, you first have to confess your part of the problem. Then, you need to listen for the other person’s hurt and perspective. We think we argue over ideas. But we actually argue over emotion. Any time there’s a conflict, somebody got his feelings hurt. Somebody felt abused. Somebody felt slighted. It’s not the ideas that cause the conflict. It’s the emotion behind the idea. Hurt people hurt people. The more people are hurting, the more they lash out at everybody else. People who aren’t hurting don’t hurt others. People who are filled with love are loving toward others. People who are filled with joy are joyful to others. People who are filled with peace are at peace with everybody else. But people who are hurting inside are going to hurt others. They’re going to lash out. If you want to connect with people, you must start with their needs, their hurts, and their interests. If you want to be a good salesman, you don’t start with your pro

One of the most important life skills that you have to learn is conflict resolution. If you don’t, you’re going to spend a lot of your life miserable, because we’re imperfect people, and we have conflict almost every day of our lives. If you want to resolve conflict, you’re going to have to make the first move. That means you’re going to have to ask for God’s help, because it takes courage to approach someone you are in conflict with and tell that person you want to sit down and work it out. Then, you don’t start with what the other person has done wrong. You don’t start with a bunch of accusations or ways that you’ve been hurt. You start with what’s your fault. The conflict may be 99.99 percent their fault. But you can always find something to confess! Maybe it was your poor response, even if it came out of defensiveness. Maybe it was your attitude. Maybe it was the way you walked away. You have weaknesses in your life that others see clearly but you’ve never seen. Those ar

Integrity demands that every area of your life is treated with the same intensity. You have the same commitment to excellence in your marriage as you do in your career. You have the same commitment to excellence in ministry as you do in your parenting. Let me give you six ways you can work this week to become a person of integrity. You become a person of integrity by … 1) Keeping your promises.  People of integrity keep their word. If they say they’ll do it, they do it. If they say they’ll be there, they show up. The Bible says in Proverbs 25:14, “People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain” (TEV). 2) Paying your bills.  You may not think this is a big deal, but it’s a big deal to God. Do you spend more money than you make? That is a lack of integrity. Do you get yourself in debt for things that you can’t pay off? That is a lack of integrity. Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrow and never pay back.” 3) Refusing to gossip. Go

It may be tough for you to read a message about integrity, because you’re replaying in your mind all the times you’ve fallen short, all the opportunities you had to show integrity and didn’t, all the moral failures in your life. We could all make a similar list of failures. St. Augustine said that the confession of bad works is the beginning of good works. If you are serious about becoming a man or woman of integrity, the first step is to admit that you haven’t had integrity. You just admit that you don’t always keep your promises. You often gossip, and you like it. Sometimes you slack off at work. You pretend to be someone you’re not. Just admit it all to God! A lot of people segment their lives and think they can live with integrity when they are harboring sin in one area of life as long as it doesn’t affect the other areas. I call this the Titanic myth. The Titanic was supposed to be the first unsinkable ship because it was the first ship to segment and compartmentalize the

In a world that is absolutely obsessed with appearance and image, how in the world do you keep it real when everybody else is faking it? They don’t have integrity. They’re scooting by and they’re skimming and they’re cheating. They’re not keeping their promises. How do you keep it real? There’s only one way. You’ve got to care more about God’s approval than the approval of other people. That’s the only way you’ll ever become a man or woman of integrity. Because if you care about what God thinks, then you’re going to do the right thing. If you care more about what other people think, you’re often going to do the wrong thing. Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to Your Word” ( NIV). The only way you’re going to know what God approves of and what He thinks of you is by reading the Bible. You must stay in God’s Word! If you don’t, you will not have the strength and the stamina to live with integrity. If I don’t have a dail

The Bible says that God blesses those who have integrity (Matthew 5:8). So what are the blessings you can expect when you live your life with authenticity and a pure heart? 1) Personal Confidence When you have integrity, you become the kind of person that other people like to be around because you know who you are and where you’re going. Proverbs 10:9 says,  “People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed”  (NLT, second edition). When you don’t have integrity, it’s like walking on an icy path after a snowstorm. You’re putting every bit of your energy into trying not to fall. When you have integrity, you’re standing on solid ground. 2) A Lasting Legacy Your greatest legacy is your integrity, because it will last from generation to generation. Everything else that you do gets lost. When you’re gone, your money will be divided among your family, and it’s going to be spent. Your work will be given to somebody else. All the trophies that

The Bible says in Matthew 5:8, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (NLT, second edition). To “see God” means to experience the presence of God. Believers who have a pure heart get to feel the power of God. They get to know the purpose of God for their lives. They get to live in the peace of God. They experience the pardon of God. Do you want to be one of those people? We don’t talk a lot these days about being pure in heart, but we do use the word “integrity.” To have integrity does not mean you are perfect, because if it did, none of us would have it! So what does it mean to have integrity? 1) Integrity is wholeness. A lot of people think of their life like a pie, and the different parts of their life are the pieces of the pie. This slice of the pie is my career. This is my work life. This is my spiritual life. Then this is my family life. That one is my social life. Then over here is my secret life — my compulsions, addictions, and the things

In yesterday’s devotional, we talked about seven facets of mercy. Today, I want you to consider some personal application questions for each of the aspects. I want to challenge you to commit an act of premeditated mercy in each of these categories this week. Wait. Isn’t there a tension between mercy and personal responsibility? Yes, there is. But I have personally decided that if I’m going to err, I’m going to err on the side of being too gracious, too merciful, and too forgiving. You can go overboard on mercy — just look at what Jesus did on the cross. So, how will you be merciful? 1) Be patient with people’s quirks.  Who is that person in your life who has irritating quirks? How can you practice patience with that person this week? 2) Help anyone around you who is hurting.  Who around you is obviously hurting that you can help this week? If you can’t think of anybody, then you’re not paying attention. Look closer! 3) Give people a second chance.  Who do you need to gi

Mercy is like a diamond; it is multi-faceted. Today we’re going to look at seven facets of mercy, because I guarantee if you’ll learn how to be an agent of mercy, it will transform your relationships. 1) Mercy means being patient with people’s quirks.  How do you get more patience for your kids, spouse, or friends? The Bible says in James 3:17,  “The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy”  (NLT, second edition). The wiser you become, the more patient and merciful you become. 2) Mercy means helping anyone around you who is hurting.  You cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being merciful. Proverbs 3:27 says,  “Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it” (TEV). But God is not simply watching what you do. He’s watching your attitude: “[When you] show mercy, do it cheerfully”  (Romans 12:8 NIV). 3) Mercy means giving people a second chance.  When somebody

Jesus says in Matthew 5:7, “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (NLT, second edition). In other words, what you give, you’re going to get. You’ve got to learn to be a minister of mercy if you want God’s blessing on your life. But why does God expect you to show mercy to others? Why should you be merciful? 1) Because God has shown you mercy.  Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “God’s mercy is so abundant, and His love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved” (TEV). God wants you to pass on the mercy that you’ve received from Him. 2) Because God commands you to be merciful.  Do you want a summary of what life’s all about? Here it is: “The LORD has told you what is good. This is what the LORD requires from you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to live humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8 GW). 3) Because you’re going to need more mercy i

Are you hungry for God? It is possible to maintain a spiritual hunger for God for the rest of your life. Here are five ways to keep a spiritual appetite. 1) Remind yourself how much God loves you.  The more you understand how much God loves you, the more you’re going to love Him. The Bible says in Ephesians 3:18-19,  “May you have the power to understand … how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”  (NLT, second edition). 2) Stop filling up on junk food.  You are a spiritual being with a God-shaped hole in your heart that only God can fill. When you try to fill it with salary, status, success, passion, possessions, power, prestige, or anything other than God, it’s not going to be fulfilling. Proverbs 15:14 says,  “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.” 3)

The Bible says in Romans 1:17, “The Good News shows how God makes people right with Himself” (NCV). How does God make us right with Himself? This is called the Gospel, and there are three points. First, we can’t make ourselves righteous. Heaven is a perfect place. There’s no sin, sadness, evil, or injustice. But here’s the problem: We are imperfect, and God can’t let sinful people into Heaven because then it would be full of sin, too. Romans 3:20 says, “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (NLT, second edition). The only people who think they can keep God’s laws are those that don’t know them, because God’s laws are perfection, and none of us are perfect. We cannot be made right on our own. So God had to come up with a plan. Second, God sent Jesus to pay for our sins so we could be declared righteous. When you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalty. When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalty, wh

“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to Me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to Me and obey My commands and live by them … I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for My name to be honored.’”   (Nehemiah 1:8-9 NLT, second edition) Here are four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah: 1) Base your request on God’s character.  Pray like you know God will answer you: “I’m expecting You to answer this prayer because of Who You are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!" 2) Confess the sins of which you’re aware.  After Nehemiah bases his prayer on Who God is, he confesses his sins. He says, “I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that You gave us” (Nehemiah 1:6b-7 NLT, second

When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers so you’ll know he exists. But as you grow in faith, He will wean you of these dependencies. God’s omnipresence and the manifestation of his presence are two different things. One is a fact; the other is often a feeling. God is always present, even when you are unaware of Him, and His presence is too profound to be measured by mere emotion. Yes, He wants you to sense His presence, but He’s more concerned that you trust Him than that you feel Him. Faith, not feelings, pleases God. The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything — his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. And then, for 37 chapters, God said nothing! How do you praise God when you don’t understand what’s happening in your life and

Gentleness is an important quality for you to practice. It diffuses conflict. It disarms critics. It’s persuasive. It’s attractive. It communicates love. Most importantly, gentleness makes you more like Jesus. Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (NIV). Wait. Does this mean that the stress you’re feeling in your life and the pressure you’re feeling in your life is because you are not gentle? Yes. Because the Bible says that the more gentle you become, the more Christ-like you become and the more at rest you will be. Do you want to be at peace? Do you want to be like Jesus? You can’t just walk out your door and force yourself to be gentle. You can’t manufacture gentleness, because inside you’re still going to be under stress. It’s got to be an “inside” job. It has to be the fruit of God’s Spirit inside

Gentleness is a witness to unbelievers. They’re watching you all the time to see if you are any different when you’re under stress. When you respond to pressure with gentleness, it is an incredible testimony to the world. The Bible says in Titus 3:2, “Believers shouldn’t curse anyone or be quarrelsome, but they should be gentle and show courtesy to everyone” (GW). If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you are not allowed to speak evil of anyone. You are not allowed to be quarrelsome. Instead you must be gentle with everybody, and you must show courtesy to everybody. Does that mean even people of a different political party? Yes. God gave me the gift of evangelism, which means I spend most of my time when I’m not at Saddleback Church speaking to people I totally disagree with. But I believe that you cannot win your enemies to Christ; you can only win your friends. People aren’t going to trust Jesus until they trust you first. People usually don’t ask me if the Bible is c

Have you noticed that human beings have a tendency to mimic the emotions of people across from us? The reason we do this is because of mirror neurons in your brain. They allow you to sympathize and also to mirror what other people feel. For instance, if somebody gets angry with you, you get angry back. If somebody is really depressed and you hang around that person long enough, you get depressed. In the same way, when people raise their voice against you, you usually raise your voice back. Then they raise their voice higher. Then you raise your voice higher. Then pretty soon it’s escalated, and your emotions are out of control. The Bible says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1 NIV). Let me give you a little tip that will save you a lot of heartache and conflict in your life: When other people raise their voice, lower yours — in your marriage, in your parenting, in your friendships, and at work. That’s called strength under con

Gentleness is persuasive. This is extremely important if you happen to make a career in sales. Why? Because the hard sell no longer works. We no longer respond to a guy yelling at us that he’s got this amazing deal that we can’t live without. These days, we don’t buy because somebody’s giving us a sales pitch. We buy because somebody recommended it. Your friends recommend a certain car, movie, or restaurant, and that’s enough to make you want to try it or even buy it. Why? Because their approach was gentle, with no agenda. It’s far more persuasive. Proverbs 25:15 says, “Gentle speech breaks down rigid defenses” (MSG). Do you want to convince your girlfriend or boyfriend or your spouse to do something? Don’t go with the hard sell. Even when people have their guard up, gentle speech will get their attention, because gentleness breaks down rigid defenses. So if you’re a parent, screaming never works — even with the most stubborn child. Never discipline in anger or frustration. Al

Gentleness diffuses conflict. It disarms critics. It’s persuasive. It’s attractive. And gentleness communicates love. Guys, if you’re married, the quickest way to improve your marriage is to start talking to your wife more gently. It’ll do wonders! Colossians 3:19 says, “Husbands, love your wives and be gentle with them” (NCV). Any fool can be selfish. Any fool can be rough. Any fool can be rude. But gentle men are gentlemen. A great marriage is simply the union of two great forgivers, because you’re going to hurt each other a lot in life. I’ve been married to Kay for nearly 40 years. I’ve hurt her so many times, and she’s hurt me so many times. But we’re both great forgivers. That’s a part of gentleness. Gentleness is not only the key to effective marriage; it’s also the key to effective parenting. Never discipline out of anger or frustration, but always gently and out of love. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger … but

Grief, loss, and pain are an inevitable part of life. But did you know that God uses our grief to help us grow? He does it in three ways. First, God uses pain to get our attention.  C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasure, but He shouts to us in our pain.” Pain is God’s megaphone. We rarely change when we see the light. We change when we feel the heat. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (TEV). Second, He brings good out of bad.  One of the most famous verses in the Bible is Romans 8:28:  “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him”  (NIV). When you experience a loss, it’s an opportunity to grow in character. You can’t control the pain you go through, but you can decide whether it’s going to make you bitter or better. You decide whether it’s going to be a stepping stone or a stumbling block. You have to remember that even in your pain, God is working for your good. Third, G

Every one of us will experience loss in our lives. So how does God heal your broken heart? You don’t get over a loss. You can’t go under it; you can’t go around it. You’ve got to go through the grief. And if you’re scared to express emotion and refuse to go through it, that’s where you get stuck. But how do you get unstuck? You let God help you. There are six ways God blesses a broken heart. 1) God draws you close to Himself. Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and He saves those whose spirits have been crushed” (NCV). When you grieve, you often feel like God is a million miles away. But what you feel and what’s real are not always the same thing. God’s not a million miles away. In fact, He’s never been any closer. 2) God grieves with you.  The Bible says, “[Jesus was] a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3a NLT, second edition). When you come to Jesus with your grief, He knows what you’re talking about, and He understands you

Life is tough. Would you agree with that? Since Adam’s sin, the world was broken, and nothing works perfectly. Your body doesn’t work perfectly; the weather doesn’t work perfectly; the economy doesn’t work perfectly; no relationship works perfectly. Life is full of losses. You need to understand a couple of truths that will give you a better perspective as you face the inevitable losses in your life and rise above them. First, God doesn’t expect you to be happy all the time. There is this myth that Christians should be always smiling, always happy, always cheerful, like Pollyanna or Little Orphan Annie. In fact the Bible says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens …. a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NIV). Sometimes the only appropriate, logical response to life is grief. The Bible says you are to grieve over your losses, including your disappointments, your sin, the s

What do you put your security in? If you put your security in your bank account, your job, or your investments, that means you are an insecure person, because you can lose all of those things. You have to put your security in something that cannot be taken from you — God! If you want God’s blessing in your life, you have to depend on God’s wealth and not your own. Here’s what the Bible says about God’s wealth: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 ESV). Your job shouldn’t be your security. Your job is a channel, but God is your source. If you understand this, you’ll have so much less stress in your life. Let me say it again: Your job is a channel, but God is the source of your supply. If you were to turn on the faucet in your kitchen and no water came out, what would you do? Would you say, “Oh my! The world has run out of water! There’s no water coming out of the faucet, so there must not be any lef

There are always going to be people in your life who misunderstand you and people who don’t like you. There will always be people who criticize you, judge you, attack you, and spread rumors about you. When you are misunderstood, you’re going to have a tendency to get in there and defend yourself. When you’re attacked, your tendency is attack back — just like the rest of us. When people criticize you, you want to criticize back. When people insult you, you want to insult them back. Don’t do it! Let God be your defender. Every time you are under attack, criticized, put down, or misunderstood, you have two choices. You can defend yourself, or you can let God defend you. Which will it be? Who do you think can do a better job defending you? God can. Pay attention to this: You’re most like Christ when you say nothing in the face of attack, lies, and unfair criticism. You’re most like Jesus when you remain silent and leave it in God’s hands. When Jesus was insulted, “He did not an

The Bible is clear that there are seasons in life, and one of the seasons that God talks about again and again is the season of waiting. While you’re waiting, God is working. Don’t think that the season of waiting means that God has stopped working. He’s just taking you through that season because He’s using the time to work in your circumstances for your good. You’re going to spend a lot of life waiting. If you don’t figure out how to trust God while you’re waiting, you’re going to spend a lot of your life not trusting God. God is never in a hurry. He’s eternal! He is watching; he is working. He is seeing how and when you will trust Him as you’re waiting. You’re saying, “When, Lord? When is it going to happen?” And God’s saying, “You can trust me with this.” The problem with waiting is that our human nature and our culture say, “Don’t wait! Get things as quickly as you can.” That’s the way our culture is wired, but it goes against God’s blessing in our lives because God’s