Daily Devotionals for the Fifth Week of Lent

During the Lenten season many people give up doing certain habits or eating certain foods. If you were to ask many of these people why they are giving these things up they may not have an answer for you. I remember that in my youth my mother would simply tell me that this time of year you are supposed to give something up for God. I did not understand the context of this fasting until I was much older.

The point of the Lenten season is for believers to remember that we are by our human nature sinful and we need the forgiveness of God. In this Lenten season we need to not lose sight of this fact because in the end it will be the most important thing for us as believers. In remembrance of your salvation we should not be quiet; we should raise our voices to heaven and give a glorious sound of praise.

The sound should be a mark of the salvation that God has given us. This noise will resound in heaven and hallelujah will be heard all over the world as Christians praise him. We should lift up praises to him for this salvation and should give offerings willingly in this time. Because of the grace that he has given us we should fall down and worship him for he is seated on the throne of the Kingdom of Heaven. As it is said in Revelation 19: 7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” This season is not about giving things up because of tradition or because we are told to, this Lenten season is about giving praise and honor to the Father. For through the Father we have been given salvation and therefore will reside in Heaven with Him one day. Let us find rest in the fact of our salvation and lift up God for blessing us with this salvation too.

Lord you bless those who believe in You with salvation through your son Jesus. Let this community of believers be at rest in this knowledge of Your salvation. You are great and You call us to strive for greatness. Give us the strength and will power to achieve Your calling. While You allow us to work for greatness also help us to find peace in You to renew our hearts and minds. Praise be to you our God for without You we are nothing. In you precious Son’s name we pray. Amen!

Our God provides for His people consistently, throughout all of history. In situations where His people are found helpless and with nowhere else to turn, God meets his people needs. In Kings, the godly woman is found helplessly in debt and facing the loss of her children to the creditor after her husband’s death. With nowhere else to turn she seeks out Elijah, who through a prophecy of God, miraculously multiplies her oil to pay off her debts. We see the same situation again in Luke, where a hungry crowd of 5,000 is gathered in the wilderness without food. From the faithful contribution of five loaves and two fish, Jesus multiplies the food to feed the crowd.

In these scenes people have great physical need, but how much greater are our spiritual needs? Who can provide for them? We are a wicked, fallen, and corrupt people that could never hope to provide for our own spiritual need.

With no hope for providing for our spiritual need and in the face of eternal death, how great is the promise that our Father provides for us through his Son! He promises to provide us with eternal life, even though we do not deserve it. He promises to redeem us from our wickedness, even though we deserve death. He has fulfilled his promise through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. How thankful should we be to have the promise of hope and eternal life in spite of our depravity and wickedness? All he asks is that we confess our faith in his Son, Jesus Christ and let our lives be changed as a reflection of this belief.

Lord, Let us bring our physical needs before You, knowing that You may not grant us what we desire, but You will give to us what we need. Let us lay our burdens at Your feet, knowing that You love your people and have always provided for them. Above all else, let us be thankful for the hope of eternal life that You have provided us with through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen!

When I hear the word “redeem” outside of a Biblical context, in my mind’s eye I am instantly transported back to a time in the late 1960’s. I am the only child seated at my grandmother’s huge farmhouse kitchen table along with the women of my family. We are preparing to redeem countless S&H Green Stamps accumulated through the year. People earned these stamps as bonuses when purchasing groceries, gasoline, etc. – the more you bought, the more stamps you earned. The catch was that all of the stamps had to be placed in special books and that required hours of “licking and sticking”. While we worked the ladies considered the various items that they might acquire by redeeming the books of stamps. When all stamps were in the books, you would with green ink-stained fingers and sore tongue – travel to the redemption center to trade them for real merchandise. 24,000 stamps could get you a coffee maker!

Today’s Psalm details God’s wonderful power to redeem, restore, and protect His people.

Through God’s plan of salvation by way of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we all have the opportunity to be redeemed. We are redeemed from our own sin and wrongdoing and reconciled to have a personal relationship God and enjoy eternity in His heavenly kingdom. The catch in this redemption plan was that Jesus had to sacrifice his life in trade for us to become children of God. Remember, you were expensive to redeem! The cost to Jesus was humiliation, physical wounds, a broken heart, and spiritual suffering. You were bought with a price and infinitely and eternally valued by God! Rejoice and sing the old words, “…since I have been redeemed I will glory in my Savior’s name!”

And yes… you can still use Green Stamps, except now they are on the internet in the form of Green Points! And yes…Jesus still provides for the redemption of people everywhere.

“There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God’s own Son, Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. Thank You, O my Father, For giving us Your Son, And leaving us Your Spirit, ‘Til the work on earth is done.” Amen! 

From “There is a Redeemer” by Melody Green

As we read the Bible, it is sometimes hard to fathom the might of God: He can make the blind see and the deaf hear. He performs miracles, and He sent His Son to walk among men and bear the weight of our sins. God is so mighty, that it becomes easy for us to feel unworthy of His presence. Nevertheless, the Bible is a reminder of the way our sinful lives can be used for the better. Everyone sins, and we need God to forgive us, and it is important to realize that God is willing to hear our confessions and accept our pleas for forgiveness. Epaphroditus exemplifies our reliance on God’s mercy in Philippians 2. Epaphroditus was once near death, but God allowed him to be saved physically and spiritually. Epaphroditus responds to God’s mercy with an increased will to serve others in need. The remainder of the passage shows his outpouring of love as a direct result of Christ living in him. It reminds us that recipients of the mercy of God will have a new desire to help those in need. Epaphroditus is set on fire to help others who are sick once he has received the mercy of God in his own healing.

It is important to remember our fragility and God’s power. He holds our lives in his palms and has the ability to save or destroy us. As a result of our sin and rebellion against him, he would be justified in destroying us. The good news is, he chooses a different route. God has a willingness to accept our pleas if we open our hearts to Him. In Isaiah 43:11 God says, “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” The Lord says that He is the only Savior. He reminds us that he is the only one who can save justly and that we must rely on Him. Oftentimes, we struggle with acknowledging God’s willingness to hear our pleas. We don’t think we deserve the mercy of God, but, the good news is, God speaks to everyone, and he specifically requests that those with blind eyes and broken hearts are led into his presence. This means that God wants everyone to seek his presence and he is willing to forgive and save all who appeal to Him. As with Epaphroditus, this love inevitably yields life change.

Heavenly Father, Thank you for Your forgiveness when I fail and for always guiding me with your spiritual light, even when I’m unsure of Your presence. I ask that you use me to do Your work in showing others your grace and fellowship by leading me to the blind so that I can help them see. Give me the courage to speak openly about the ways You have changed my life so that I can use it to inspire others to seek Your plan for their lives. By Your grace and for Your glory. Amen!

As we continue our walk during this Lenten season, we ready ourselves to rid from our lives the things holding us back from walking in line with what God has for us. His purpose and plan for our lives is a perfect one. And we are, well, imperfect people. We stray daily from the path, heading in directions that either set us back in our journey or bring us right back to where we started. Outside influences and we ourselves deter and detract us from the mission at hand: to live a life pleasing to God. Thankfully, with each new day, we are granted a fresh opportunity to get back on track. During Lent we repent for wrongs done and seek spiritual restoration and renewal. We lay claim to the redemption provided through the sacrifice of the Lamb and receive the forgiveness and grace His sacrifice affords us.

Each of us has vices in life - struggles, negative emotions, bad habits that act as road blocks on our path to righteousness. In our own might it is impossible to combat and gain complete victory over these things. What a blessing it is to know we are not in this fight alone. Something as simple as humbling oneself and seeking the help of the Lord, relinquishing every burden, every struggle, every sin over to Him can bring about a sure victory. Though it might not be the most pleasant experience, change and growth never are, the rejuvenation and restoration you will experience are most certainly worth it. Being willing to make the necessary changes in your life, operating in obedience to God’s word, and trusting Him every step of the way, will lead to the fulfilling life we all seek.

Dear Heavenly Father: We come today recognizing and offering our gratitude for the sacrifice You made at Calvary on our behalf. Prepare our hearts and minds daily to hear from You and to operate under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your unfailing, never ending love. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

Often in today’s culture, the saying is, “It is not what you have done for me in the past but what are you going to do for me in the future.” Commanding Officers do not want to know what you did last month or last week but how your current and future plans are going to impact the mission. In this passage, the Lord essentially tells His people, do not be concerned with the miracles of the past for they are nothing compared to what I am going to do in the future. In verse 19, the Lord says, “For I am about to do something new!” You may have experienced setbacks and failures in the past but God says, “I am about to do something new!” Your marriage might have failed, you might feel stuck at your current job or you are not sure why you made the decision to come to the Naval Academy - know that God is at work in your life.

Your past might shape you but do not allow it to define you. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” God is ready to do something new in your life; are you ready to receive it?

The best is yet to come.

Lord, our past success or failures do not define who we are in You. We are defined by our relationship with Your son Jesus Christ. Thank You for doing a new work in the lives of those who call you Father. Hear our prayer this day and those prayers going forward. Amen!