March 31, 2021

2 Timothy 2:4

4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

Are you excited for Easter? Spring is springing, the time change has given us longer evenings, and relaxing restrictions make me feel like a bear coming out of hibernation. I can’t wait for some familiar moments around the holiday, but reading the Scriptures, I feel the Holy Spirit pointing to something more. Am I excited to simply receive something on Easter, or to give something? Who is Easter for?

On Easter, we tremble with the giddy realization that death isn’t permanent; it’s been defeated. Jesus has risen indeed! And while remembering and singing will fill us with joy, there is a massive valley full of people who don’t know, don’t believe, or don’t think they care. Easter is for them too. Today, pass out a card, text someone you haven’t seen in a minute. Spread the word, we’re still at war and there are still so many people to tell.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please focus me on the glorious mission You’ve given us.

Daily Reading: Exodus 31, Psalm 81, 2 Samuel 1 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 30, 2021

Isaiah 40:30-31

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

These verses hinge on one word: wait. Before the waiting, the strongest and most healthy are falling over in exhaustion. After the waiting, anyone who does the waiting, even old or flabby folks are flying, running, and walking without fatigue. So ask with me, what is the waiting? Is it waiting like sitting at a bus stop? Are we supposed to just hold still, like a hammer, waiting on a carpenter to pick us up? I don’t think so.

Reading these verses along with the rest of Scripture, we are commanded to work, trusting that the Lord will do something amazing if we will just continue. ‘Wait’ is closer to ‘hold on’. Recently a friend told me his growth in the faith seemed to be slowing down. He went from painful and exciting moments of change, to a more settled, daily grind. To him, we say Hold on. Wherever you’re at as you read these verses, if you’ve left behind what God has given you to do, or if you’ve continued but it’s getting hard: hold on. He will renew your strength.

Daily Prayer: Ask for strength to wait on the Lord, to do things His way.

Daily Reading: Exodus 30, Psalm 80, 1 Samuel 31 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 26

If there is a lie at the heart of every single sin, it has to be the one going all the way back to the Garden. There, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to believe God was holding out on them. He tempted them to break God’s law with the lure of pleasure. If we are going to fight that same temptation, we have to see the lie for what it is. The quote below is from CS Lewis’ book The Srewtape Letters. Screwtape, a demon and tempter, gives demonic advice to another tempter:

“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable.”

Never forget that pleasure, ALL PLEASURE, comes from God! If we stop believing the lie of the enemy, “at [God’s] right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11b).

Prayer prompt: Lord, I don’t know why You would include me in the pleasure of Your presence, but thank You!

Daily Reading: Exodus 26, Psalm 76, 1 Samuel 27 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 25, 2021

Psalm 23:5

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Where will my happiness come from if God forbids so much? He forbids me from even the fantasy of more than one lady (Matthew 5:27-28), from more than a little drink (Proverbs 23:29-35), even from the very American pleasure of wanting what my neighbor has (Exodus 20:17). Should I ever come to the place where I agree that God’s right about these sins, what’s left? How do I get pleasure when He outlaws almost everything the people around me love?

We have to remember where all pleasure comes from. He invented them all. The enemy can only ever tempt us to twist God’s pleasures and in twisting reduce them. God promises to give us the food we need for life, even to load a table with it in the presence of our enemies. He makes our skin and hair soft with oil, He gives us blessings until they fill us up then over flow! We will have to trust Him while we adjust to the pleasures as they were meant to be, but when we do we’ll feel a little bit of Heaven even here on earth.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to trust You for pleasure by reminding me about all the good gifts You’ve already given.

Daily Reading: Exodus 26, Psalm 76, 1 Samuel 27 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 24, 2021

Psalm 3:3

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

I want to be strong. I want my kids to see me as invincible and the one they can run to in trouble. I want to be Captain America, but I’m not. Really, I’m more like the scared kid than the invincible dad. That’s why this verse means so much to me.

I am the scared kid, but I have an invincible Dad. God is a shield about me, total protection. God gives me what value I have calling me loved and His child. God lifts up my head when it droops from fatigue and discouragement. That’s just how good He is when I go to Him. Commit today to look to Him for your security, your satisfaction, and your identity.

Prayer prompt: Lord, let me look to you to lift my head, to be a strong shield around me.

Daily Reading: Exodus 23, Psalm 73, 1 Samuel 24 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 22, 2021

Ephesians 1:18

18 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints

In this chapter of the Bible, Paul speaks a couple times of the idea of inheritance. Here we learn that we can know this hope and the glorious inheritance that Jesus freely offers. But, he is not referring to financial gain. Have you ever thought about a spiritual inheritance or where that would even come from?

Before we can comprehend that we have a spiritual inheritance we must have our heart changed. It is referred to here as having the eyes of your heart enlightened. That is such beautiful imagery to show how our heart can be changed to rightly see the beauty and glory of Jesus. Trusting in Him leads to an eternal and unfading inheritance.

Written by Dan Jenkins

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank you for promising and providing a way to know You.

Daily Reading: Exodus 23, Psalm 73, 1 Samuel 24 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 19, 2021

Today, read a quote from James KA Smith’s book You Are What You Love. The whole of God’s law to us is summed up in that word love. Take a hard look at your heart and life and ask yourself, what do you love most?

“Jesus doesn’t encounter Matthew and John—or you and me—and ask, “What do you know?” He doesn’t even ask, “What do you believe?” He asks, “What do you want?” This is the most incisive, piercing question Jesus can ask of us precisely because we are what we want. Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow. Our wants reverberate from our heart, the epicenter of the human person. Thus Scripture counsels, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love. So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing.”

Prayer prompt: Lord, bring my heart again and again back to You.

Daily Reading: Exodus 19, Psalm 69, 1 Samuel 20 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 18, 2021

Psalm 16:11

11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

What do you expect to happen when you talk to God or open your Bible? What do you hope will happen when you attend a church service and spend time with Christians? If it is anything less than real joy, joy that fills you up and satisfies you all the way down, you are missing out.

We have to walk a path of life, a path that includes understanding our sin before God and coming to Him to save us by faith in Jesus. But once we have received God’s forgiveness, at the moment we ask Him with faith in Jesus, He walks with us. He leads us into His presence, full of joy, with pleasures forevermore. Pursue God today with joy as an expectation, maybe only a little now though increasing, and full-volume joy forevermore.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please teach me to feel an ever increasing joy in You.

Daily Reading: Exodus 18, Psalm 68, 1 Samuel 19 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 17, 2021

John 4:16

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

When Jesus says His followers have to take up their cross daily to follow Him, it sounds like He only accepts followers who are ready to die for Him. Who could ever match up to that? So to become a Christian, you have to be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before Nebuchadnezzar and the fiery furnace? Yes, it will certainly be the case that many will be called upon to die for Christ, but to become a Christian, giving your life is much more like the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman.

When she finally asks for the water He is promising, Jesus tells her to bring her husband. He knew her love life was the primary place she sought life and happiness only to be the place of her greatest failures. In taking the conversation to that awful sore spot at the core of her identity, Jesus told her to trade in her failed life for the true life He offers. It always comes back to worship. Will you lay down your life to find it in Him?

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust You to be the One I put my hope in and the One I get my joy from today.

Daily Reading: Exodus 17, Psalm 67, 1 Samuel 18 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 16, 2021

Are you keeping up with people at Hope Church through all the craziness of the last year? If you haven’t been, you’re missing out. Jesus’ Church ins’t a place to show off, or to perform some kind of penance. It’s His body showing His love to His people and the world. Ed Welch has written a tremendous book helping Christians know how to care for one another. Check out this brief quote and maybe give the book a read!

“In our era we consult experts, professionals, and specialists, but when you look at your own history of having been helped, it’s likely that you’ll notice very few experts among those who have helped you. Who were your helpers? Were they professional counselors or specialists? Probably not. Most often, they were friends—the regular, everyday people in your life. Friends are the best helpers. They come prepackaged with compassion and love. All they need is wisdom, and that is available to everyone. It’s the perfect system. If God used only experts and people of renown, some could boast in their own wisdom, but God’s way of doing things is not the same as our way. We ordinary people have been given power and wisdom through the Holy Spirit and are called to love others (John 13:34). From this beginning, we are compelled to move toward others rather than stay away.”

Welch, Edward T.. Side by Side (p. 14). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for Your church! Teach me to give and receive Your love through them.

Daily Reading: Exodus 16, Psalm 66, 1 Samuel 17 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 15, 2021

Luke 9:23-24

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

It doesn’t matter how easy, or how difficult, the commands of Christ are. There’s still that moment of bowing the knee to Him, and I think that’s the hardest moment. True obedience to Christ starts by calling Him Lord and by laying your whole life before Him. His commands are to love Him with everything you have, so how could obedience require anything less?

At Hope, we’ve been confronting some stuff our culture has tremendous difficulty with. Yet, the hardest part isn’t the Bible’s teaching on sexuality or identity. The hardest part is handing God the right to be God over your life. As desperately difficult as this death sentence looms, God requires our life. Give it to Him. Then watch as He, being Lord of your life, gives it back to you abundance forever!

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for giving me life!

Daily Reading: Exodus 15, Psalm 65, 1 Samuel 16 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 12, 2021

John 18:8-9

8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”

Chesterton said, “Even a bad shot is dignified when he accepts a duel.” I’m not a fighter. Nobody considers my hands lethal weapons. But when something makes a bump in the night, and I get out of bed to check, shuffling around in my pajamas, I do take upon myself the grand mantle of Protector. God gave men that job, and when we accept it we regain something of that original spark and even reflected majesty that God intended man to have.

Adam failed as a protector, the snake slid right past him. I know I fail constantly to stop the lies of the world from getting to my children and wife. But Christianity isn’t built on teaching people what failures they are and pointing to what they should have done. Christ came to show us what a protector is and then to boldly protect us now and forever. He put Himself before His disciples like a shield, then He bled to shield them from the serpent, Hell, and death. Look to your Protector and gain the confidence to keep fighting.

Prayer prompt: Lord, You are my protector. I hide myself under the shadow of Your wings.

Daily Reading: Exodus 12, Psalm 62, 1 Samuel 13 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 11, 2021

John 6:11

11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

Men are called to provide. When Adam sinned, God’s curse to Adam was on his ability to bring up food from the ground. It’s difficult to talk to a man without finding out what he does for a living; it’s just who we are, even to a twisted degree. There is something about God displayed when a man makes sure his family is satisfied.

Jesus models masculine provision in a staggering way. We have stories like this where He miraculously gives enough for thousands to be satisfied, but He goes much further. Jesus doesn’t just model a fatherly provision, but a heavenly self-sacrifice. He gives them bread in John 6 before teaching them that He is the bread of life. Don’t just go to Jesus for an example, go to Him for your life.

Prayer prompt: Lord, be my bread, what gives me strength and pleasure, all my days.

Daily Reading: Exodus 11, Psalm 61, 1 Samuel 12 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 10, 2021

John 13:5

5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Jesus’ style of leadership is just different. Everybody works hard at college in order to be the boss. Why get ordered around when you can do the ordering? Our culture likes to think “Unless you’re the lead dog, the view never changes.” But Jesus went in a totally different direction.

Jesus is the Lord over all by right, by competency, by goodness. By every conceivable metric Jesus should be the leader over everyone and everything. And being the highest, He went the lowest. The God who dwells in unapproachable light stooped to a servant’s role when He knelt to clean the feet of the disciples, even Judas. Look up and see not just your example for leadership, but the kind eyes of your Servant King.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to lead by Your example of service.

Daily Reading: Exodus 10, Psalm 60, 1 Samuel 11 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 9, 2021

Ephesians 1:17

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him

Take a second and remember back when you were a student or a time when you were trying to learn a new hobby. What drove you to learn that new skill, subject, or sport? Now take a moment to evaluate your growth in the Scriptures and your closeness to Jesus. Do you desire to know God in the same way you sought to succeed in those subjects or hobbies?

There is no intention of a guilt trip here, just an honest look at the power of the Scripture to draw us close to Jesus. This verse promises that Almighty God will give wisdom and revelation to know Him. Paul prays this for the Christians in the Ephesian church and your Hope church leaders pray this for you. Come to the Scriptures hungry and you will be fed.

Written by Dan Jenkins

Prayer prompt: Awesome God, thank you for the power of your Word. How amazing it is to have access to read or listen to the Bible!

Daily Reading: Exodus 9, Psalm 59, 1 Samuel 10 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 8, 2021

James 1:17

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Is God Happy? We can imagine Him as stern, certainly angry, but Happy? In the West we rarely imagine His emotions as inconceivable and flatten Him from the Bible’s full picture to an angry, almost malevolent, Judge. Judge He certainly is and the Scripture is clear about His Holy hatred of what is hate-worthy (i.e. sin), but the picture of God we get when we really read with eyes open is of a God who is essentially happy.

He dwells in a place where every good and perfect thing remains in an unchanging state of perfection. From that perfect Heaven, He rains down gifts on us. If I want to know if God has some good thing to bring me too, if I want to be sure that Heaven is a lovely, joy-filled place, I just need to look at the whole picture. He is Holy, and He is loving with a steadfast love. He is delighted and delights to delight us. Look up to the Sovereign smile of God’s almighty Joy.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to fight the lie that happiness can only be found in this world.

Daily Reading: Exodus 8, Psalm 58, 1 Samuel 9 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 5, 2021

Good Book Friday!

Is God Happy? Will God make you Happy? Should He? These questions are way more important than we realize. Sunday, we are going to dive into them in some depth to try and take one more argument away from the enemy and to enjoy the flood of joy that comes only and ever from God. One great book that helps put us on the right course is called Desiring God by John Piper. It’s a bit long, but each page has something to think about and the over all message is the key to everlasting joy! Look at this quote below:

“Christian Hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions: The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God. The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love. To the extent that we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: The pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”

John Piper, Desiring God

Prayer prompt: Lord, tantalize me with the Joy that only comes from You.

Daily Reading: Exodus 5, Psalm 55, 1 Samuel 6 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 3, 2021

Ephesians 1:15-16

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers

As a reminder for context, Paul is writing this letter to a young church in a town called Ephesus. The church there is growing and the gospel is spreading out from there. They are making disciples and seek to plant churches. What is the reason for Paul’s constant thanksgiving and prayers for them?

Paul is not actually in Ephesus, he writes this letter from a Roman prison. But, he has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward all the saints. What a wonderful characteristic to be known for. Let this encourage you to be aware of your reputation and how that promotes the expansion of God’s kingdom.

Written by Dan Jenkins  .

Prayer prompt: Awesome God, help me to be like the Ephesians. Give me great faith in Jesus and love towards my brothers and sisters. Also, Lord, help me to be like Paul, to be constant in prayer.

Daily Reading: Exodus 3, Psalm 53, 1 Samuel 4 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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March 2, 2021

Philippians 2:3

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

The world is not how God wants it to be. People act in their own pride and after their own selfish interests. From that sin comes all kinds of oppression, lovelessness, pain, and isolation. As Christ’s followers, we should not only be different but salt and light, people who impact the world around us. But the way we go about it is very important.

We can speak the truth, but if we do it by looking down on other people, we are sinning. We are commanded to count others as more significant than ourselves. Every person is worthy of dignity and respect. Everyone, even those who are far from God, should receive our kindness and even our service as we seek to help them see the love of God. How do you view people who disagree with you?

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for loving me even when you can see my wayward heart.

Daily Reading: Exodus 2, Psalm 52, 1 Samuel 3 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

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