UPDATED Today’s AMI QT Devotional, originally posted on May 8, 2013, is written by Pastor Matt Ro who formerly pastored Journey Church in Atlanta.  Matt is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (BS) and Biblical Theological Seminary (M.Div.).

Devotional Thought for This Morning

“The Power of God to De-Sin Us”

Psalm 51:7-9

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be white than now.  8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.  9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 

When Jesus said to Pilate, “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (Jn. 19:11b), the Lord obviously wasn’t thinking of the type of sins that King David committed that led him to produce this heartfelt psalm of contrition.  But, as far as humans are concerned, there really isn’t a pair of sins greater than adultery and murder, which is what David had committed.  And in Psalm 51, what we are witnessing is God’s power to forgive the vilest sins that humans can ever commit.  Ultimately, it was foreshadowing the power of Christ’s blood to render permanent forgiveness, for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22b).

Now, note the three phrases here— “cleanse me with hyssop,” “wash me,” and “blot out all my iniquities”— connote a similar idea.  In fact, theses three verbs are repeated from vv. 1-2.   Cleanse means “purge,” which is based on the word for sin and it literally means “de-sin” me.   

David, yearning for the complete purge of his sin, didn’t want even a stain of sin to remain.  Wash reminds us of the idea of taking a bath.  Isaiah 1:18 tells us, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; thought they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”  Blot out reminds us of removing erroneous writing on a piece of paper with an eraser or liquid paper. The idea of blotting out is the exact opposite of what Pilate said in John 19:22 when he declared at Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, “What I have written, I have written.”

How amazing it is that David not only longed for, but also knew that God alone had the power to “de-sin” us and remove the stain of sin completely through the blood of Jesus.  That is how we must come to God as well, for many of us desperately need his forgiveness, now.  Have we found mercy?  However great our sin is, we can find God to be merciful through Christ!

Prayer:  Father, once again I come before You in need of mercy.  Cleanse me, wash me, and blot out my sins according to the mercy that You provide through the blood of Jesus.  Help me to walk in holiness as well as gratitude for all that You have done.

Bible Reading for Today:  Isaiah 27

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Lunch Break Study

Read Ephesians 2:14-18: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Questions to Consider

1. Earthly peace is the absence of war, but what is true peace?
2. How was Christ able to accomplish this peace between man and man?
3. Are we having conflict, or a lack of peace, with another person?  Pray for reconciliation between you and that person.  What is it really that your heart/self is not getting that is causing the disunity?  Ask yourself, “Am I feeling what Christ says is righteous and just?”

Notes

1. Paul establishes that peace means oneness.  It is not merely the cessation of hostility or the absence of conflict; it means being one.  At time, we may have managed to overcome the unsatisfactory sentiments (e.g., bitterness, resentment, disrespected, etc.) that we felt towards another person, but it did not necessarily lead to peace.  That is simply an agreement to stop fighting until it picks up again.
2. The only way that there can be oneness among people is through a Person.  All blessing starts with the Person of Jesus Christ.  In order to have peace with another person, you must first be at peace with the Person of Jesus.  When we have His peace, we can begin to reconcile the conflict around us.  So the place that peace originates must begin with settling any problems that may exist between you and Jesus.
3. Spend some time considering what Christ has done to free you from selfish desires, and ultimately, to forgive you when you yield to them.

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Evening Reflection

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can be an agent of reconciliation in your church, neighborhood, and workplace.  What are some practical ways through which we can be an agent of peace?   Since this world is fallen and broken in many ways, we must be image bearers of Christ and His kingdom in this world.

REPOST Today’s AMI QT Devotional, first posted on April 2, 2013, is provided by Pastor Barry Kang who heads Symphony Church in Boston.  He is a graduate of Stanford University (BA), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary(D.Min.).

Devotional Thought of This Morning

“About Confession of Sin”

Psalm 32:3-5 (NIV)

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.  Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Guilt and shame are terrible weights to endure.

  There is a reason that “blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven”!  The Psalmist makes clear the way out: confession.

When we come into the light with our sins, we are able to receive forgiveness (spiritual, emotional and psychological).  When we keep our sins hidden within our hearts, and leave them unconfessed before God, we are not bringing them into his forgiving light.    

Do we need to confess every sin?  What if we forget one or two (or many)?  Does that mean we won’t receive full forgiveness?  No.  We are saved (which includes being forgiven) by grace . . . not by the work of confession.  But it is through confession of our sinfulness that we declare that God is the one able to set us free.  It is a sign of trust, hope and faith (and faith in Jesus is an important part of the salvific process).  When we fully trust in God’s forgiveness, then we can also be set free from the psychological weight of guilt and shame.

Don’t allow yourself to be hindered by your past.  Confess your sins before God and receive His forgiveness today!

Ps: Two words seem anathema to modern day Americans: “sinner” and “confess.” Lest, this point doesn’t come out clearly, let me say from the outset: it is crucial to our understanding of the gospel and Jesus Christ that we know that we are sinners saved by the work of Jesus Christ.  We cannot grasp the importance of the cross and the overwhelming nature of God’s grace unless we know deep in our hearts how far we are from deserving it.  When we are afraid to confess our sins, it shows our mistrust of God.

But God’s promise is that if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just and will forgive.  If we believe this, we will confess our sins.  We will confess our sins even to one another (c.f. James 5:16), for we will know that it is never by our own actions that we can claim righteousness but only through what Christ bought for us on the cross.

Prayer: Father, I confess my sinfulness to You.  I am in need of your grace and mercy.  I ask that You would bring healing into my heart and my mind. I want to live this day in Your joyful presence. In Jesus’s name I pray, Amen.

Bible Reading for Today:  Isaiah 26

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Lunch Break Study

Read 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV): If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Questions to Consider

1. Why does John say that if we claim to be without sin that we are deceiving ourselves (c.f. Romans 3:10-12)?
2. In this passage, what does John imply is the opposite of claiming to be without sin?
3. How important to our relationship with God is it for us to comprehend that we are sinners saved by Grace?

Notes

1. Romans 3:10-11 tells us that we are all sinners.  No one in the history of humanity was without sin (except for Jesus).   We all fall short of the glory of God.  When we claim that we are without sin (as I’ve heard some Christians claim), we are on dangerous ground, for it shows that tendency in our hearts to desire righteousness on our own terms.
2. John contrasts “claim to be without sin” with “confess our sins”.  In other words, the opposite of the proud self-righteous person is the person who humbly confesses his sin.  When we confess our sins, we are declaring our trust in a God who is “faithful and just” and will “forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  When we confess our sins, we are putting our faith not in our own righteousness but in the righteousness of God.
3. John warns us that if we are not confessing our sins to God, then we are making God out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.  Confession of sinfulness is an important aspect of what it means to have faith in the God revealed through scripture.

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Evening Reflection

As the old Scottish maxim goes, “confession is good for the soul.”  Are you resisting confessing your sins?  Are there sins so terrible in your life that you could never confess them to another?  If so, ask God to help you to fully trust him.  Write of the ways that you doubt God’s promises.  Confess any waywardness and any doubts hindering your faith and surrender them to God.

NEW Today’s AMI QT Devotional is written by Andrew Kim who serves as the executive pastor at Tapestry Church in Los Angeles.  Andrew, a graduate of Eternity Bible College, is currently attending Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Devotional Thoughts for Today

“The Light of God’s Word Amid Darkness”

Psalm 119:105

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Whenever disruptions and crisis come into our lives, particularly like the one we are in right now, it forces us to re-ask some of the fundamental questions of life. Prior to the pandemic, much of our attention and focus were on things of secondary importance—what we were going to eat or where we might go for a vacation. But as our lives were interrupted, and we began to read the news and come face to face with death counts and job losses, it shifted our focus on some of the deeper things about life: questions regarding our purpose, mortality, and what our lives have been about. Suffering has a way of putting a type of pressure on our lives that begins to reveal the condition of our hearts. We begin to see what we’ve actually worshipped, treasured, and trusted in. In other words, suffering insists that we do some soul-searching.

What’s interesting about this moment in history is that the shelter-in-place orders that most of us are under have afforded us the space and time to actually wrestle with these questions. Before our lives were changed by COVID-19, one of our biggest battles as Christians was against a culture of distraction, busyness, and entertainment that essentially insulated us from having to deal with some of the deeper issues of life. We simply distracted ourselves from having to come face to face with those things. However, as I’ve been praying about this season, I sense that God desires for us to leverage this moment and press into deep reflection in His presence, specifically by immersing ourselves in His word.

Today’s passage in Psalm 119:105 is a simple but powerful verse that employs the image of a lamp lighting a person’s path in the darkness. In a moment of incredible darkness, confusion, and uncertainty, I’m not sure if there is a more important moment than the present to be in the word of God. At a time where there is so much information, we cannot allow our culture’s narrative to dictate how we interpret and live through a season such as this. Let us embed ourselves into the story of God and allow the truths of God to bring light into the dark places of our lives. We must be soaked in His words and allow it to wash over our anxiety, fears, and worry, and let it provide direction and hope at a time where uncertainty permeates our world.

Prayer: God, I confess that my heart is filled with uncertainty and fear, but help me to respond by going before Your word. I pray that Your word would come alive and that Your Spirit would enlighten the eyes of my heart. In those moments when I’m reading, I ask that You would replace my fears and doubts with faith and trust. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 25

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Lunch Break Study

Read Psalm 1:1-6: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Questions to Consider

1. What allows the blessed man to bear fruit and not wither?
2. Why do you think the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away?
3. How do you think you can cultivate a delight for God’s word?

Notes

1. The blessed man is like a tree that is rooted in the word of God. It says that his delight is in the law of the LORD, and that’s demonstrated by his practice of meditating on that law day and night. The word of God is symbolized by the streams of water that the tree draws life from. In the same way, we must go to God’s word day and night and receive life.
2. Those who are wicked and are life chaff have no root and no foundation in anything sturdy. Their lives are rooted in shallow ground.
3. Personal response.

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Evening Reflection

Reflect on this and be motivated to partake of God’s Word daily.

“We read scripture in order to be refreshed in our memory and understanding of the story within which we ourselves are actors, to be reminded where it has come from and where it is going to, and hence what our own part within it ought to be.” – N.T. Wright

UPDATED Today’s AMI QT blog, written by Pastor Mark Chun of Radiance Christian Church in S.F., was originally posted on March 23, 2013; it has been updated. Mark is a graduate of University of California, San Diego (BS) and Talbot School of Theology (M.Div.).

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“Be Honest to God”

Psalm 39:12-13

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for help, be not deaf to my weeping.  For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger as all my fathers were.  Look away from me that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more.” 

Times of disorientation—like the pandemic that has turned our lives upside down—are a necessary part of growth and they are painful by definition.  Consider the life of David.

On the road to becoming the king of Israel and the man after God’s own heart, King David loses his best friend, is hunted down like a criminal, and suffers through a broken marriage.  Anything tragic that you can imagine, it probably happened in the life of David.  It is no wonder that he ends Psalm 39 with these words that seem borderline blasphemy because David is essentially saying to God, “Get out of my life so that I can be happy again.”

To some degree, he is correct in his assessment of his life.  If God had not called him to become king over his father-in-law (Saul), he would have avoided a lot of the trouble.  In his pain, David actually articulates to God the very thing that many of us are afraid to express.  Psalm 39 is the only psalm that ends with such a negative tone and most likely represents the lowest point of David’s life.  Some people ask me if we are allowed to pray this way and I usually tell them, this is where authentic prayer begins.

Walter Brueggemann, in his book Praying the Psalms, writes: “The Psalms, with a few exceptions, are not the voice of God addressing us.  They are rather the voice of our own common humanity….”  Not surprisingly, since this is the voice of people like us, the psalms reveals all of our own frailties, our fears, our anger, our doubts, and even the expression of those things we thought we couldn’t be honest about.  And many of us, overwhelmed by a sense of loss brought on by the unforeseen pandemic, are feeling this way at the present moment. 

Be honest with God. I have always said that those who can’t be honest with God can’t be honest with others, and worst of all, cannot be honest with themselves.  Prayer has to be an open and genuine dialogue with God.  Spend time this coming week in authentic communication with God and listen for his voice.  Turn this pandemic into a great opportunity to become really intimate with the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, help me to sense Your presence amid all the turmoil.  Let me not forget that You are in the midst of the storms of my life and are always watching over me.  Strengthen me to never let You go but hold tightly to Your outstretched arm.  Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 24

REPOST Today’s Spiritual Food for Thought is a reprint of Kate Moon’s blog originally posted on May 3, 2014.  Kate continues to serve the Lord in E. Asia.

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“Integrity”

Titus 1:6-7

“An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.”

Reasons why our eyes may glaze over when we start reading this passage:

1. I am not old.
2. I am not a man, or if I am, I don’t have a wife.
3. I don’t have children.
4. I kind of like the idea of being wild and disobedient.

Kidding aside, if that were not enough, when we consider that these are one person’s instructions to another on how to choose leaders for newly-planted churches, our distance from the passage seems even further.  How many of us are in a position to be doing such a thing?  As we read on, we may be able to concede that yes, being overbearing, quick-tempered, violent, dishonest and prone to drunkenness are not desirable and to be avoided.  But what do these standards have to do with me?  After all, I am neither an elder (an overseer in a church) nor am I considering becoming one.

But all Scripture is God-breathed and useful . . . (2 Timothy 3:16), and so we look again.  What does God’s word have for us today?  If we take a few steps back from the immediate context, one thing we can see is the connection Paul makes between the way a person conducts themselves in their personal lives, and how they could function in a larger, more public sphere (here, the corporate life of the church).  Paul says that the same qualities that make someone a good husband and father would make that person a good overseer of the family, that is, the church.

Basically, he is talking about integrity.

The concept of “integrity” has to do with wholeness; having a consistency across all areas of one’s life.  How different from the values the world upholds.  Though scandals can arise and surround a public figure, the final verdict of public opinion seems to be that one’s private life does not matter as long as one’s public performance is good enough.

Affected by this sentiment – though in our heart of hearts we know something is terribly wrong with it – how often do we ourselves have things backwards, spending much time grooming our public personas, while we allow other areas of our lives – important but less visible to the public eye – fall into neglect?

Let’s spend some time this weekend thinking about what relationships in our lives need more attention, what areas of our character we really need to work on, and then do something about it.

Let’s also spend some time praying for those who are called to be or even appoint church leaders, that people of integrity would be found to lead throughout all the churches in AMI.

Prayer: Lord, help me to take this matter of integrity with the utmost seriousness and pursue it as if my life depends on it, for without it, I know I will be a very poor testament to Your holiness.  Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 22-23

UPDATED The AMI QT Devotional for today, an updated version of his blog first posted on August 5, 2014, is provided by Phillip Chen who is the associate pastor at Kairos Christian Church in San Diego.  Phil is a graduate of University of California, San Diego (BS) and Talbot School of Theology (M.Div.).

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Devotional Thought for This Morning

“Examine Yourself to See Whether You Are Saved”

John 1:11-13

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

“If you die today, do you think you will make it to heaven?”  Such a direct question but 2 Corinthians 13:5 (below) exhorts us to revisit that matter from time to time.

If you go anywhere where there are many sheep, you’ll see a strange sight: You’ll see a little lamb running around with an extra fleece tied on its back, a fleece with 4 holes for its leg and a hole for its neck. Usually that means its mother has died, and without the protection and nourishment of a mother sheep, the orphan lamb will die. If you take an orphan lamb and try to introduce it to another mother sheep, the new mother will reject the lamb because it doesn’t recognize the smell, realizing that it’s not her ewe. Now, usually, a flock is big enough where there is a mother that had a recent ewe pass away. The shepherds will skin the dead ewe and make its fleece into a covering for the orphan lamb and take it to the mother whose baby just died. She will accept it as her own because she’ll sniff the scent of her baby ewe and allow it to be nursed.

In the same way, we as orphans have become acceptable by being clothed by the righteousness of Christ. The Gospel of John reminds us that since we have rejected him, God should (rightfully) reject us because we are not his. But because of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world by shedding his own blood for us (John 1:29), we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Romans 13:14) so that we are welcomed as sons and daughters of God:  We are given the right to become children of God. What does this mean for us today? It means that we do not earn our right as children of God through good works, but that being a son or daughter of God is a positional one by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), solely because of the blood of Christ that covers us, for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

Brothers and sister, amid so many deaths brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, “examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5).

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the work you did on the cross. Remind me today that it is not what I do or not do that makes me a child of God, but it is what you did on the cross. From that, may my heart be postured in a way that responds thankfully as a beloved child of God.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 21

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Lunch Break Study

Read Galatians 4:1-7 (ESV): “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³ In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Questions to consider

1. What does this passage say we were enslaved to?
2. In the context of this passage, what is the function of the Holy Spirit?
3. What do we receive as sons of God?

Notes

1. We were once slaves to sin, to the passions and lusts of our flesh, but now we are God’s children.
2. The Holy Spirit testifies of our sonship (Romans 8:16).
3. The idea of adoption to sonship was a legal term that indicated a rightful claim in the inheritance. We have a rightful claim as sons of God to the spiritual inheritance of a heavenly kingdom that awaits us.

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Evening Reflection

In light of the reminder that we are God’s children, a simple but provocative truth, have we affirmed this truth in our hearts? Are there ways where we question our position as children of God based off of what we do or don’t do? Also, when we take an inventory of our lives, what are things that have changed of our “then” (slaves to sin) versus our “now” (child of God)? What are things that are changing or need to be changed as we continue to be transformed into the likeness of Christ?

NEW Today’s AMI QT Devotional is written by Andrew Kim who serves as the executive pastor at Tapestry Church in Los Angeles.  Andrew, a graduate of Eternity Bible College, is currently attending Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Devotional Thought for Today

“Why We Struggle with Resting”

Matthew 11:25-30

 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 The pandemic has provided us with what we might call a forced sabbatical—a chance to slow down, catch our breath, and finally rest. This is a great opportunity since we haven’t found much time to recuperate while living in a culture of busyness and packed schedules. However, one thing I’ve come to realize is that rest takes hard work; it’s not as easy as one might think. You see, our culture does not understand the complexities of rest. It sees rest simply as the cessation of activity. Rest is equated with entertainment, travel, and simply finding new experiences. But I would venture to say that these are at best either momentary distractions that make us feel better for a moment, or ways to medicate and distract ourselves from the exhaustion and difficulties of life. The proof is in the fact that many of us still find ourselves tired even after going on vacation or entertaining ourselves.

It seems to me that the true source of our weariness is this inner struggle to feel good enough. There is a deep soul level striving to prove ourselves as worthy and lovable. And this produces within us a restlessness that keeps us constantly striving even when we’re not working. Have you noticed people who have obsessive work ethics? Many of them are driven by the fear that if they don’t succeed, it will undermine their sense of identity and value. For this reason, even while attempting to rest, their soul is still hard at work—trying to secure their worth. We all do this in various ways, whether with our relationships, careers, or reputation. We try to rest but it’s hard for our hearts to be still. We are filled with anxiety and need. Entertainment and vacations might provide a momentary reprieve from the anxiety, but it doesn’t give us the true rest we’re longing for. We can only experience true rest when that deep soul level striving to be good enough has been dealt with. What we actually need is what Jesus calls “rest for our souls.”

In today’s passage, Jesus provides the means by which to find rest from our deep inner striving. Prior to this passage, Jesus has been indicting the Jewish leadership for placing a heavy yoke on the people of Israel. A yoke that calls them to meet the impossible standards of the law in order to be good enough before God- a similar struggle that we all wrestle with in our attempt to meet the standards of our career, relationships, and reputation. However, Jesus calls those who are tired and weary, and offers them a yoke that is easy and light. It is light because He would take our failures, our shortcomings, and our inability to meet the requirements of the law to the cross on our behalf and make us good enough through His righteousness and sacrifice. For this reason, we will only find true rest if we surrender our inner soul striving to be good enough on our own and take up the yoke of Jesus and find our “good enough” in Him alone.

Prayer: Father, I confess that I am weary and tired from everything that is going on. Everything from the pandemic to my own sense of insecurity and feeling not good enough. I surrender that before You and ask that You would help me to find my value, worth, and identity in the work of your Son Jesus Christ!  Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 21

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Lunch Break Study

Read Philippians 3:2-11: Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³ For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Questions to Consider

1. Where did Paul’s sense of righteousness come from prior to meeting Christ?
2. Where does Paul gain his sense of righteousness (a sense that he’s good enough) and why does it depend on faith?
3. Where do you place your own confidence?

Notes

1. Paul makes a list of his achievements in v.3-6 that he has done before coming to Christ. In a way, he was the model Jew, who fulfilled much of the law and was passionate about what he thought God was about. He had status as one of the elites as a pharisee.
2. He counts all the things he has achieved as rubbish in comparison to the righteousness given to him by Jesus. It depends on faith because it’s not something he can earn by working harder or doing more, but can only be received in surrendering his prior confidence for a confidence rooted in the work of Jesus.
3. Personal response.

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Evening Reflection

Take some time and reflect on where you find your sense of value, worth, and identity. If it’s not in Jesus, take some time to surrender those things up to God and ask Him to help you find your confidence and security in Christ alone.

UPDATED Today’s AMI QT Devotional, provided by Cami King who serves as associate pastor at Remnant Church in Manhattan, is an updated version of her blog first posted on April 2, 2014.  Cami is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (BA) and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.).

Devotional Thoughts for This Morning

“Our God the Deliverer”

Galatians 1:3-5

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I love these few verses because they give us a snapshot of some pretty awesome revelation regarding what God’s been up to for the last . . . I don’t know . . . many thousands of years.

I’m a bit of a sermon junkie, and I recently listened to a sermon series discussing the reasons why God would become a human and die on a cross (essentially the pastor asked, “Why in the world would God do that?!”).  I mean, really . . . if we think about it, it seems a little absurd.  I sometimes imagine I could come up with a slew of other ways to save the people I created from the mess they created (and none of those ways requiring me to be so utterly inconvenienced, to say the least, and certainly not brutally murdered as Jesus was).  But our infinitely loving and wise Creator has ways and plans that far surpass our own. And in this passage we see them pretty well laid out. God became a person and died on a cross for the purpose of delivering us. That’s it right there. From incarnation to crucifixion to resurrection to ascension – God did it all to deliver us together with all Creation from our present evil age.

We live in a world more concerned now than in the centuries past with the plight of oppressed and marginalized people.  So, we are empathetic (and hopefully outraged) when we learn that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacts Black and brown and poor communities, where social distancing is often impossible, healthcare inaccessible, and pre-existing conditions the legacy of a history of oppression, leading to more infections and a significantly higher rate of death. And we hear with indignation (and deep lament) of the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man killed in broad day light by two White men empowered and emboldened by law and history to play judge jury and executioner.  And in the midst of all these things, with heavy and grieving hearts, we can find comfort and courage in knowing that our God is a deliverer and righteous judge.  And that’s Good News!

God not only did the profoundly difficult work of freeing us from the bondage of sin in our hearts, God is also delivering us from its effects in our world – from all forms of injustice: sickness, racism, poverty, hunger and the like. And that deliverance is sure.  Praise be to God our Heavenly Parent, to Jesus our Victorious Savior, and to the Holy Spirit our Comfort and Help – for God has come to set us free!

Are we taking hold of the freedom that our loving and merciful God has done so much to make available to us? Are we participating in the redemptive work that our just and righteous God is actively doing in the world today? Are we living in the newness of life that the Spirit of God is empowering us to live? God has already made a way; may we walk therein.

Prayer: Thank You God for being my deliverer! Thank You for making victory over the sin in my life a possibility. Help me to walk in the freedom You have for me and the life Christ died to give me. Help me to be an agent of that freedom in the world around me. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 20

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Lunch Break Study

Read Romans 6:16-19: Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Questions to Consider

1. What is the contrast between slavery to sin and slavery to obedience?
2. Why does Paul make it a point to say he is speaking in human terms?
3. How does Paul call us to become obedient/slaves of righteousness?

Notes

1. Slavery to sin leads to death. Slavery to obedience (to God and God’s word) leads to life.
2. He is explaining the reader’s relationship to sin and righteousness in terms of something with which they were familiar with – slavery. We formerly deliberately yielded to sin (although many of us thought we were free in our sinful lives when our behavior only led to bondage), but now we must deliberately yield to Christ (which may seem like slavery, but it is not – we do have a choice, but obedience is the only road to make that choice).
3. He says, “Present your members” to God. In other words, we don’t need to have everything figured out or always know just what to do, but we must be open, willing, and committed to being led daily by God into righteousness (that which is right and just).

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Evening Reflection

When was the last time you thanked God for deliverance from sin? Are there ways you still live enslaved to sin? How can you instead present yourself as a slave to righteousness in those areas? Pray and ask God to free you from sin, and lead you into the freedom that comes through obedience to God.

NEW Today’s AMI QT Devotional is written by Andrew Kim who serves as the executive pastor at Tapestry Church in Los Angeles.  Andrew, a graduate of Eternity Bible College, is currently attending Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Devotional Thought for Today

“Honest to God”

Psalm 44:22-23

 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. ²³ Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.”

John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”

Throughout the biblical narrative you see people lamenting. The psalms are filled with honest poetry about their suffering, pain, and anger. Even now, it still surprises me how honest and raw they are in their writings.  (Can you imagine telling God, “Wake up, sir!”).  The authors do not filter out their deep emotions and replace it with forced Christian clichés that simply suggest that everything is well because God is good. They take the time to share and vent their deep-seated emotions to God.  This is important for us to recognize. Walter Brueggemann writes that the lament writings are indispensable to the relationship between God and humanity. There would be a genuine loss of authentic interaction. It would make us robotic in nature if humans were not allowed to share their pains and anger with their Maker, and only be left with the option to praise God. That praise would be superficial and forced. A truly genuine praise is the product of honest dialogue with God, not robotic response.

In our passage today, we see the shortest verse in the Bible. “Jesus wept.” In context, Jesus is weeping because His dear friend Lazarus has died. It’s interesting because Jesus most likely knows that He will soon raise Lazarus from the dead and be with His friend once again. But He does not bypass the process of lamenting and grieving the loss. He goes through it to get to the resurrection of his dead friend.

Many of us are filled with anger, confusion, fear, and pain now. In moments like this, we need permission to feel these emotions and share them with God. Sometimes we feel that, as good Christians, our prayers must be filled with only statements of faith and praise. But God is not afraid of our raw honest thoughts. He wants them. He wants to process with us so that He might transform them into genuine words of praise. Let us come before God and be honest with Him. Whatever fears and emotions you might have, bring them into the presence of God today!

Prayer: Father, help me as I am filled with many emotions during this pandemic. It’s a difficult thing to process. I ask that your Holy Spirit help me to honestly voice my thoughts, and for You to provide me faith in You during this difficult time. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 19

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Lunch Break Study

Read Psalm 13:1-6: How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? ² How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? ³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, ⁴ lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. ⁵ But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. ⁶ I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Questions to Consider

1. What is the emotional journey that the Psalmist goes on in this psalm of lament?
2. How are you really feeling amid this pandemic?
3. In what ways can you be more honest in your prayer life?

Notes

1. The psalmist begins with an honest venting session. He expresses to God that God has been slow in providing comfort. However, that emotion is transformed into praise and trust in the Lord. It’s been my own experience that honest processing with God always leads me to a place of trust in God, through the work of God’s word and His Spirit.
2. Personal response.
3. The following is what Job said while he was enduring his trial: “God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. ¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target (Job 16:11-12).

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Evening Reflection

Take some time to come before the Lord with honesty. We are feeling many emotions and oftentimes the temptation is to numb those emotions through binge watching and social media. Take time to process and surrender them to Lord tonight.

NEW Today’s AMI QT Devotional is provided by Christine Li who serves as a deaconess at Remnant Church in Manhattan, New York.  She is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania.

Devotional Thought for This Morning

“O, Come Let Us Adore Him (a non-Christmas Version)”

Psalm 145:1-2

“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.”

During this shelter-in-place time, I have also had the chance to reexamine my habits. Two weeks ago, I realized my tendency was still to rush through things (though I had nowhere to be). I rushed through cooking, so my meals were still mediocre after weeks of cooking every day. I rushed to get ready in the morning and still wouldn’t use my electric toothbrush for its two-minute preset. Yes, I admit it – until two weeks ago, I didn’t think I had time to wait for my toothbrush to run its full course.

Yet another observation arose during conversation with a sister about helpful structures for prayer, including the famous ACTS model (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). While reflecting, I recognized another thing that I’d been rushing through: Adoration.

As the world has succumbed to this pandemic, I have found my prayer time focused around supplication (asking God for things). I would pray for healing of the sick, protection over healthcare workers and others who are outside, emotional health and safety for those who have been in isolation, provision for those laid off and furloughed, etc. The needs seem both endless and urgent, and they are what I have been preoccupied with.

But skipping over Adoration means neglecting the most important component of prayer: the Lord Himself. He is the one that we come to meet. By rushing through considering who He is, we forgo delight that comes from celebrating what a friend, Father, Counselor, Savior He is. It is through adoring Him that our understanding of God becomes expanded; we will be reminded of what a wonderful, powerful, loving God reigns over this world. Everything else can easily fall into place: confession and thanksgiving naturally arise, and confidence in His provision will follow. We remember that the Father who did not spare His own Son will surely meet all our needs.

We are in a time when needs only seem to multiply each day. But I urge you today to not rush through time spent adoring God but, instead, dwell there for a longer period. The Psalm quoted is a good place to start by giving us words and ways to adore Him. More than ever, we need to know His agelessness, His faithfulness, and His goodness to be sure of who He is and to be comforted that He continues to work in this world. May adoring and worshipping God be a balm for us as we remember who He is.

Prayer: Father, I adore You! You are magnificent and good beyond my understanding. You are beautiful, gracious, and compassionate. Help me treasure who You are, not what I want You to do for me. Let my soul take its rightful place gazing upon Your beauty today and being in awe of who You are once more. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 18

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Lunch Break Study

* This Bible study is written a little differently. The questions are extremely simple, so the best way to enjoy the passage is to go beyond the simple observation of the text and to re-apply those answers to your own life.

Read Psalm 150:1-6: “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

Questions to Consider

1. Where are we to praise the Lord (where is He)? For what are we to praise Him?
2. What are the ways in which we are to praise Him?
3. Who is to praise Him?

Notes

1. God both dwells in the sanctuary (the temple, the place of worship) and also in the mighty heavens that He created. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and His presence is in all those places. Therefore, everywhere is a place where God may be worshipped. We praise Him especially for His power and His greatness. Our God has done wonderful works, and He is also the greatest strength in the universe. Therefore, we praise Him not just for what He has accomplished through acts of power; we praise Him simply for His character.
2. We praise Him with multiple media – through music and with our whole selves as well. Praise to God is not only in thought but expressed audibly and visibly for others to see and participate in with as well. It takes many to be able to do these concurrently. Therefore, our worship also must be manifest when we are gathered with others.
3. Not just those who know Him, but everything that has breath (life on this earth) praises Him. All creation is meant to praise the Lord. We join in worship with all humans across the earth (who have different cultures and have seen different works), but we also join in worship with all creation and nature on the earth.

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Evening Reflection

How was your time today? Did spending more time considering who God is and extending your time of adoration bring joy and gladness? Let’s ask Him for the grace to continue and have our souls be satisfied as we consider who He is.