Tag Archives: Devotional

June 17, 2026 · 5:45 AM

Meaningful Work

I’ve worked at enough jobs to know when I’m being handed busy work. I absolutely hate busy work with a passion. When there’s not enough real work to go around, they put you on fake projects that they will never use. It takes time, effort and energy to put something together that was never intended to be implemented. On the other hand, I love when my work is meaningful. I’ve worked for free at places when I knew the things I was working on were going to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s easy to have enthusiasm, to give it your all and to make it better when it’s meaningful.

Nehemiah was living in Babylon with the other Jews who had been exiled there. His job was to be a cupbearer to the king until he heard from those who had been to Jerusalem that its walls were still broken down. In that moment, he got clarity on what he needed to do. He went back to Jerusalem and rallied the people to rebuild the walls. When people tried to intimidate him to stop, he dug in and kept going. It wasn’t just a construction project to him. It was restoring their identity, creating a safe place for families to worship God and renewing their dignity. It looked like a construction project to others, but he was working for the Lord. He remained steadfast and persevered until the wall was built in record time.

1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (NLT). Everything you do for the Lord is meaningful work. Whether it’s construction, teaching, cleaning or whatever. God calls us to impact people where he plants us. He doesn’t give us busy work. Are you being strong, immovable and enthusiastic in that work? Are you doing it for His glory? When we reframe what we do as kingdom work, it gives it purpose. I go in looking for divine connections, life changing conversations and for relationships that need to be built. God will use anyone at anytime in any place when we do our work for Him.

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June 15, 2026 · 5:38 AM

God Uses Ordinary People

My social media algorithm knows I like food and cooking. It has started showing me videos of a content creator who goes to McDonald’s to buy ordinary meals, then takes them to Michelin chefs to see what they will create with the ingredients. I saw one chef take Quarter Pounder with Cheese and turn it into Beef Wellington. Another time a chef took a Filet-o-fish and create a French dish called Fish Quenelles. In every instance I found myself looking at the transformation wanting what they made. The power wasn’t in the ingredients. It was what could become of them in the hands of a master chef.

All throughout the Bible God chose to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things with. These people were simply willing to surrender the ingredients of their ordinary life for God to do something extraordinary with. Take the little boy with the five loaves and two fish. We don’t even know his name, but we know what Jesus did with what he handed Him. Also, think about David. One day he’s a shepherd boy keeping an eye on his flock. His dad doesn’t even think to call him when the prophet comes over looking for a king. There’s even Gideon who was hiding from his enemy’s when God called him to defeat his country’s oppressors. The power wasn’t in those people, but in the God who does the impossible with the ordinary.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (NLT). Each of us are just ordinary jars of clay. We’re fragile, common and ordinary. On our own, we may not feel or seem like much, but when we place our life in God’s hands He can do incredible things through us. The power and outcome are from God and for His glory. All we have to do is submit ourselves to Him, allow Him to fill our hearts and to pour out what He wants on whomever He wants. God still uses ordinary people to accomplish great things when we’re willing to submit to surrender our jar of clay to Him.

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June 11, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Fully Surrendered

One of the books I’ve just read is about discipleship and how churches can create them. The first section of the book helps to define the four areas where people get stuck in the spiritual continuum. Many people never move past exploring Christ. They stand at the edge of receiving Him, but aren’t willing to give their heart to Him. Others who have accepted Jesus struggle to reconcile their private faith with their public life. They have a hard time growing in Christ. Once people become a new creation and develop spiritual disciplines, their life transforms and they move close to Christ. However, the next move is the hardest. It’s one thing to live for Christ, but it’s a totally different thing to completely surrender to Him living a Christ centered life. It’s where we quit asking God for direction and give Him control.

Think of the story of the rich, young ruler who came to visit Jesus in Matthew 19. He asks Jesus what he needs to do to have eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The guy then wants to know which ones. Jesus rattled off several of the 10 commandments. The ruler got excited and let Jesus know he’s been following the rules his whole life and feels like there’s more, so he asks what else. Jesus then tells him to sell everything he has, give the money to the poor and then follow Him. The young man went away sad because he was willing to follow the rules of Christianity, but he wasn’t willing to surrender his life completely to Jesus. He wanted Christianity and eternal life without fully surrendering his life.

Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you” (NLT) We usually look down on the rich young ruler for not giving up his possessions, but you and I hold things back from Jesus all the time. We seek Him for guidance, but are we giving Him the right to direct our life? It’s like my driving navigation app. When it tells me to turn, sometimes I go straight because I think I know better. I’m driving and it’s guiding. When we approach Jesus that way, we may be living a life that is close to Christ, but it’s not fully surrendered to Him. God is calling you and I into a deeper relationship with Him that requires more surrender the closer we get. To fully surrender to Him is to fully trust Him.

Photo by Caleb Oquendo from Pexels.

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 10, 2026 · 6:10 AM

Chasing Approval

I once took a DISC behavioral assessment for work. When I got the results, I was shocked as to how right it was. It told me that I was enthusiastic, optimistic, people oriented and fun. It even said I have the tendency to light up a room when I walk in. However, as I kept reading it revealed some less flattering things about me. It said that my biggest vulnerability is that I need to be liked and seek approval from others. The same wiring that gave me a magnetic personality also had the potential to be my downfall. I started thinking of moments where I wanted to stand up and say something, or knew that I needed to put a stop to it, but I let my desire to be liked cause me to be quiet or to give in. My personality wasn’t the problem or to be blamed. It’s what I choose to do in those moments. I have the ability to override those feelings and to stand up for what’s right. Knowing how I’m wired has helped me since, but it isn’t easy.

In Exodus 32 moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God to receive the Ten Commandments. While he was up there, he left Aaron, the High Priest, in charge. The people started to wonder what was taking Moses so long and demanded that Aaron make them a god. Instead of standing up for what was right, he asked them to give him the gold that Egypt had given them when they left. He melted it down and created a golden calf. When he saw the people were pleased, he built an altar for it so the people could make sacrifices to it. When Moses came back down and confronted him about it, that same people pleaser said that the people gave him gold, he simply threw it in the fire and out came that calf. Moses then asked the people to choose if they were on God’s side or not and forced people to decide to choose what was right or what was popular.

In Galatians 1:10 Paul wrote, “I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (NLT). We are all faced with this choice. The world has learned to frame the conversation that if you side with what God says that you hate people, you’re a bad person or you’re some sort of bad name. The question is if you will choose to please the crowd or stand up for what is true. Are you seeking the approval of people or of God? What people believe and hold true changes with culture, but God’s Word doesn’t. Like Moses asked the people that day, we must decide if we are on God’s side or not. We can’t make it our goal to please people.

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June 9, 2026 · 6:00 AM

Staying Recharged

When we travel, one of the first things I pack are charging cables. Then I add in charging packs to carry around with us in case our batteries go down while we are away from the hotel. At the airport, there’s always a group of people sitting around a charging pole and people sitting on the floor next to outlets. We have become obsessed with staying charged so we can stay connected. We think about our phone batteries needing to be recharged, but we don’t think about ourselves needing to be recharged. We exert lots of effort physically, mentally and spiritually daily and we need to find ways to recharge those parts of ourselves, in particular our spirit.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal in a showdown on Mount Carmel. Just after this victory, Jezebel came after him to kill him. He fled into the wilderness about a day. In 1 kings 19:4 he prayed, “I have had enough, Lord.Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died” (NLT). He needed a recharge in that moment. He was spiritually exhausted from the showdown, physically exhausted from fleeing and mentally exhausted from the stress of running for his life. God didn’t rebuke him for needing a recharge. Instead he sent him an angel who watched over him, fed him and encouraged him to get more rest. Then sent him on a journey to have an encounter with God. After that recharge, he was given more assignments.

Isaiah 40:29 says, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” God wants your internal batteries charged as well. The next verse says that even youth get tired and young people get exhausted. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. We get recharged from the inside out by spending time with the Lord. Our spirit needs to be connected to God. In such a busy world where we are concerned about everything else getting charged, when is the last time you recharged your spirit? God gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless when we take the time to sit in His presence, worship at His feet and are still enough to hear His voice. Don’t walk around with an empty spiritual battery. Stay recharged.

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June 5, 2026 · 6:03 AM

God Thinks About You

The Gaithers sang a song that always got me to thinking. It was called “When He Was On The Cross (I Was On His Mind).” I used to wonder, “Does God really ever think about me with all the people in the world?” The Bible says He does. You are not just part of creation, you are His creation. If He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, how much more does He know about you? God’s thoughts about you are more numerous than the sand. That’s pretty incredible! In a world where we are often overlooked and feel unseen, God not only sees you, but thinks of you all the time. You are on God’s mind constantly, and they’re good thoughts. You are more seen and thought of than you know.

Here are some Bible verses on God’s thoughts toward you:

1. When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places— what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them? Yet you made them inferior only to yourself; you crowned them with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:3-5 GNT

2. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The thoughts and plans of His heart through all generations. Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Psalms 33:11-12 AMP

3. For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 AMP

4. O Lord, our God, no one can compare with you. Such wonderful works and miracles are all found with you! And you think of us all the time with your countless expressions of love— far exceeding our expectations!

Psalms 40:5 TPT

5. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!

Psalms 139:17-18 NLT

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June 4, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Hungry For More

One of my regular prayers is, “Lord, help me to hunger and thirst for you and your righteousness. Open my eyes as I read your word. Give me understanding beyond my abilities, and help me to see the connections throughout Scripture.” I don’t ever want to be satisfied with where I am in my relationship with Him. I want to have a hunger to know Him more. I also don’t ever want to think I know enough about the Bible. Each time I read through it, I see things that never stood out before. I know that it’s God answering that prayer. He’s willing to reveal Himself to us if we are willing to take the time to know Him more.

I recently heard of someone who said they hadn’t opened their Bible in years. They had read through it once, then they put it on the shelf with their other books. They lost their hunger to know God more and treated the Bible as if it were a regular book. It was worrisome to me to hear of someone who thought that they knew all they would ever know about God and the Bible after reading it once. God is not a box to be checked in order to cover yourself for eternity. He is a being who wants to be known, sought after and hungered after.

Proverbs 18:15 says, “The spiritually hungry are always ready to learn more, for their hearts are eager to discover new truths” (TPT). When we lose our hunger for God, we lose the ability to know truth. Without knowing Truth, we’re condemned to live a life shackled by things that don’t matter for eternity. It’s the Truth that sets us free. Freedom from so many of the things that weigh us down can only be found in knowing more of who God is. With the hunger to know Him more, comes the desire to be more like Him. None of us should ever be satisfied with how much we know Him or how well we know the Bible. There’s always more for you. It’s time we were hungry for more.

Photo by John-Mark Smith from Pexels.

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 3, 2026 · 5:57 AM

Growing Deeper Roots

I like to say that I was born on Saturday and in church on Sunday. We were at church every time the doors were open. We were there for Sunday School, regular Sunday morning service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night and any other special services. I went to a Christian school during the week where I had a Bible class each day. All of these were sources of enrichment where I learned the Bible. Because I had it fed to me so much, my roots didn’t really go very deep. They had no need to dig down. When the storms of life came, I realized I had been fed, but wasn’t anchored like I should have been.

In Mark 4, Jesus told a parable about a farmer who scattered seeds across his property. Some fell on a dirt footpath, but the ground was so compacted, the seeds stayed on top and were eaten by birds. Some fell on rocky soil. The seeds sprouted quickly, but couldn’t survive the heat because its roots were shallow. Some seeds fell among the thorns and weeds. It sprouted up, but was choked out and didn’t produce anything. Still others fell on good soil where it dug in and produced a lot of crops. Not only is the soil of your heart important, but so is the environment you’re in, the people you’re around and the depth of your roots. A plant is only as strong as its roots.

Colossians 2:7 says, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (NLT). Each of us have to learn how to push through the comfortable layers of enriched top soil from the teachings we have received. Deep roots find anchors to hold onto. They lock onto truths that don’t shift. It’s not enough for us to have surface level Christianity. The way to deeper roots is through sitting in silence with the Lord as you wait on Him. It’s through meditating on His Word and applying it to your life. It’s found as you sit in the tension of faith as you wait on God to move, trusting what He said over what your circumstances are saying. It’s not easy to let your roots grow down deep, but it is a necessary part of our walk with Christ.

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June 2, 2026 · 5:40 AM

True Dependence

On September 25, 2003 I had hit rock bottom in my life and found myself laying on the floor crying out to God. I said, “I can’t do this anymore. I need your help!” There was no amount of trying harder that could fix the mess I was in. I didn’t have the strength to keep fighting or to try to get up again. Everything I had tried wasn’t working and the bottom seemed to fall out from underneath me every time I tried to get back up. As I laid there on the floor, I heard the Lord whisper back, “Finally.” Finally I had come to the end of myself and realized I needed Him not just to help me, but to carry me. I learned what true dependency meant.

In Luke 15 we read the story of a young man who wanted to do things on his own. He asked for his inheritance and left home. He went far away to spend his money and live his life how he saw fit. When the money ran out, his “friends” left. Then a famine hit as well as a recession. He couldn’t find a place to stay or a job. He couldn’t only find menial work that was the lowest of the low. Verse 17 when he finally came to his senses, he decided to return to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father closed the gap by running to him. His father put the best robe on him, the family ring, shoes for his feet and killed the best calf. His desire had been to simply return as a servant, but the father restored his sonship.

Psalm 61:2 says, “From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and weak; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help]” (AMP). The psalmist too was sitting at rock bottom and recognized he needed God’s help to lead him to solid ground. He needed God’s help to close the gap between where he was and where he could not get to on his own. If you’ve been trying on your own and can’t seem to break free, be like the psalmist and the prodigal son who called out to their Father. He’s not going to shame you. He’s going to restore you. He will lift you up out of the pit and onto a place of solid ground. It’s a place you can only find when you’re truly dependent on Him.

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June 1, 2026 · 5:43 AM

Your Gift Matters

In a recent church service, I found myself looking at people on the worship team and started thinking I wish I had their talents and gifts. Then when the pastor started preaching, I thought the same thing. I started thinking of conferences I’ve been to and how when the speakers were in the lobby, people flocked to them. I saw others try to take selfies with the ones who led worship. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that we tend to elevate platform gifts above all others. I wondered what would happen if we celebrated the Sunday School teachers or greeters the way we do others in the church. We’re really good at dismissing our own gifts as small or not important while envying the gifts in others that we don’t have.

Everywhere Jesus went, crowds followed. There were religious leaders who were jealous of His gift to draw a crowd without using guilt to keep them. I’m sure there were people who were jealous of the proximity of the disciples along with their giftings. In John 6, there was a crowd of over 5,000 people who had listened to Jesus preach all day. It was evening and Jesus asked the disciples to give them something to eat. They found a boy with the gift of being prepared and selflessness. He shared his five loaves of bread and two fish. In the hands of Jesus, it became more than enough for that crowd. We may not know his name, but we see that he was available with his gift when Jesus called on him.

1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (NLT). Not only do you have God given gifts, they’re important to the Body of Christ. The rest of this chapter lists out the various giftings that God gives us and explains it in context of body parts. We all have different gifts with different functions so the Body can function. Don’t dismiss what you have to offer. It plays a vital role in the Kingdom of God. It may not be on a platform for others to see, but God sees it and He’s entrusted you with it for a reason. Use it in love to be helpful wherever God needs it. You never know when God will look around and you’re the only one who is standing there ready with what seems insignificant, but gets multiplied in the moment. Your gift matters.

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