Category: Daily Devotions

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Genesis 28:16-17

The Stairway to Heaven

Daily Devotion – February 28, 2018

Devotion based on Genesis 28:16-17

See series: Devotions

His name was Jacob, and he was on the run. He had fled his home and the angry threats of his brother, whom he had cheated. He was headed to the family home of his mother. He was all alone. He was anxious about his present circumstances and was uncertain about his future. He was a fearful fugitive. But he had to stop for rest. With a stone for a pillow he drifted off to sleep.

Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway that was resting on earth and reaching to heaven. Angels were going up and down on the stairway, and the LORD was at the top. He spoke to Jacob, repeating some important promises that were made to Jacob’s father and grandfather. “I will be with you. I will watch over you. I will bring you and your family back to this place. I will bless all people through you!” The experience startled him and opened his eyes to some important realities: The LORD is real. The LORD is here. The LORD has shown me the gate to heaven.

God and heaven, his presence and promises, often seem very distant and dream-like. But he wants us to know him the way Jacob knew him—as the LORD who is near, who makes beautiful promises, and who shows us the way to heaven. But how? God never promised to speak to us in dreams and visions. But he has spoken to us clearly in his Word, the Bible. There he shows us the real and only stairway to heaven, Jesus.

Our sinfulness would keep us separated from God. But Jesus is the one who makes a way for sinners through the forgiveness of sins. He is the stairway God has provided on which to reach him and his heavenly home. And while we walk the journey of faith in this world, he promises to be with us every step of the way. When we feel alone, he reminds us of his presence. When we feel anxious, he reminds us that he watches over us. When we feel uncertain of the future, he reminds us that it is known to him and in his control.

Prayer:
Lord God, how awesome are your promises to us in Jesus Christ, your Son. Help us to look always to him as the true stairway to heaven. Help us to find in him your certain promises for our life in this world. In his name we pray. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2

What is this world coming to?

Daily Devotion – February 27, 2018

Devotion based on Romans 5:1-2

See series: Devotions

“What is this world coming to?” A 19-year-old man goes on a killing spree at a high school in Parkland, Florida. He stepped into that school fully armed and opened fire, determined to take as many lives as he possibly could. It was dreadful enough to simply listen to the reports on the news—17 dead! It’s hard to imagine what it was like for survivors to experience such a tragedy or for parents to lose children to such madness. If only it was the first time something like this had happened and the last…

Look at the headlines. It seems like everything’s in turmoil. If it’s not a school shooting, it’s other kinds of felonies. If it’s not hurricanes, it’s earthquakes. There’s rising tension among nations, unrest in big cities and crime in small towns. There’s trouble at work, at school, in our homes, and in our lives. And even if your life is trouble-free right now, brace yourself because there’s more trouble in the future.

What we need is peace—the kind that no amount of trouble could ever disturb. Comfort and hope—that’s what we crave. If the turmoil and trouble of this world has worn you out, please read these next words very carefully: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We could study that verse every day of our lives and still not fully grasp the enormous truths packed into these words. The blood of Christ has washed away our sin. We have been justified. Through faith in Jesus, we have peace with God—now and forever.

We yearn for a little bit of certainty in this uncertain world of ours. We crave something that can lift us out of all the sadness and fear to show us—even in the darkest moments of life—that we are safe and that there is hope which will never disappoint. In Christ Jesus, that’s exactly what we have. By faith in Jesus we have peace with God!

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, open my heart to more fully comprehend all the treasures that I have in your Son, Christ Jesus, my Savior. Though surrounded by the turmoil of life in a sin-broken world, fill my heart with the peace that you alone can provide. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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[Jesus] then began to teach [his disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. …Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Mark 8:31,34

Christ’s Clear Words of Commitment

Daily Devotion – February 26, 2018

Devotion based on Mark 8:31,34

See series: Devotions

It comforts me to know I can count on Jesus’ words. He is the trustworthy teacher who spoke plainly to his disciples of his impending great anguish. He does not mask his words in euphemisms. He tells them clearly what they needed to know. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected…”

Jesus’ words stand in sharp contrast to the broken commitments and vows, voiced by those around us. People speak words that are hollow and empty with dishonesty. Such words lead to disappointment and heartache. We hear the promises of those close to us that eventually prove to be unreliable. Moreover, I myself am pained by my own well-intended words that remain unfulfilled.

When Jesus speaks, he speaks the truth plainly. His words are spoken out of love for me. He wants me to know with undeniable certainty the depth of his love. Jesus speaks of death—his death!—that would win complete forgiveness for every sin.

Jesus not only speaks clearly but acts boldly to do exactly what he said he would do. “The Son of Man…must be killed.” He would humbly set aside his glory and unwaveringly walk to the cross where he would be crucified and die for me. Since Jesus speaks to me with sincerity, I sincerely confess my sin to him and trust his word of full pardon.

Christ also utters words of a conqueror! “After three days (I must) rise again.” Even as Jesus prepared to journey on the dark road to the cross of Calvary, his lips delivered a message of light and life. Jesus declared the Easter joy that would follow, after the gloom of suffering and death.

Since Jesus speaks the truth plainly, I can also trust him when he lovingly calls me to follow him. He does not promise that following him will make my life comfortable and carefree. Rather, he tells me plainly that there will be a cross to carry as His selfless love inspires me to deny my own sinful, selfish ways. For Jesus, I struggle with a Spirit-inspired determination against any adversity that may threaten my relationship with him. With every cross I bear, I know that Jesus and his word will be my strength. Then one day I will enjoy the eternal victory his death and resurrection won for me. I know this is true, for he has clearly told me so!

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, you are the way and the truth and the life. Thank you for your words which inspire me to deny myself and to gladly follow you. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:5-14

Spiritual Water

Daily Devotion – February 25, 2018

Devotion based on John 4:5-14

See series: Devotions

Was Jesus really that desperate for water? Yes, he was tired. Yes, he was thirsty. But was he really tired enough to ask a Samaritan for a drink? The Jews considered Samaritans their religious inferiors. The Samaritans were idolaters! Jews hated them, and they hated Jews! Was he really thirsty enough to ask a woman for a drink? It was against Rabbinic law to speak to any woman in public, not to mention a habitual adulterer like this woman was (see John 4:16-18)! Couldn’t Jesus have drawn his own water to drink? Or couldn’t he at least have found someone of better character to ask? Was Jesus really that desperate for water?

The simplest answer is that Jesus wasn’t really that desperate for water. But that answer completely misses Jesus’ reason for asking the question. Jesus did not approach this sinful Samaritan woman on this day because he was desperate for physical water. He approached her because he knew that she was desperate for spiritual water…and he was the only one who could give it to her: “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”

Of course, the “water” Jesus offered this woman was himself—his life-giving words and his life-saving work as the world’s Savior from sin. And, as the world’s Savior from sin, that also meant Jesus was her Savior from sin. And so, Jesus was not going to let anything—not race, not gender, not a sin-filled past, not a sin-filled present—get in his way of giving her exactly what she needed. He gave her himself, a “spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Dear friends, you are no different than this sinful Samaritan woman. Just like her, your sins have left you with a desperate need for a Savior. And, just like her, Jesus knows it. That’s why Jesus offers you, too, the life-giving water of himself. He offers it to you every day in his Word. For in his Word you, too, can hear his life-giving words. In his Word you, too, can take in his life-saving work as the world’s Savior—as your Savior—from sin. In his Word you, too, have access to a “spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Never miss an opportunity to drink him in!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are the living water that gives life to thirsty souls. Increase our faith in you, that we may never go thirsty again. Amen.

This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. … It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Romans 4:1-5,13-17

You Gotta Have Faith

Daily Devotion – February 24, 2018

Devotion based on Romans 4:1-5,13-17

See series: Devotions

During the 1980’s singer George Michael had a catchy and popular hit song called “Gotta Have Faith.” While “Gotta Have Faith” is not a spiritual song, that song title does sum up nicely what God is saying through the apostle Paul in this section of Scripture.

In religious circles, and maybe even beyond, Abraham is pretty famous. God kept his promise to Abraham: “I have made you a father of many nations.” Jewish and Arab people trace their family genealogy back to Abraham. But when a person is standing in God’s eternal courtroom and God asks, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”—will mentioning that you are a blood relative of Abraham help you out? John the Baptist answers that question: “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9).

So why is Abraham in heaven? It must be because he was such a moral man, a giving man, a caring man, a well-respected, community-oriented kind of a guy. All those things were true about Abraham, but let’s not forget that even Abraham wasn’t perfect. Abraham fathered a baby with someone who wasn’t his wife! And twice, while traveling in foreign countries, Abraham lied and told people that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. He made Sarah tell the same lies even though this put her at risk of being sexually violated by people in those countries! Even though God promised Abraham that he had big plans for him, Abraham failed to trust that God would keep his promise and protect his life while in those countries. And those are just the sins about Abraham that God shares with us. There were plenty more.

God’s Word says, “For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath.” God demands that human beings keep his law perfectly every second of their lives on earth. This is impossible for you, for me, even as it was for Abraham. We don’t deserve heaven for the way we live our lives; we deserve God’s wrath and punishment in hell.

So how can sinners like Abraham, you, and me hear a not guilty verdict in God’s eternal courtroom? “You gotta have faith” in Jesus as your Savior. God says, “To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” It doesn’t matter what your ethnic background might be, when a person has faith in Jesus as their Savior, God credits Jesus’ perfection to them. Through faith in Jesus, God considers spiritually dead sinners deserving of hell as spiritually alive and perfect people deserving of heaven.

So, live your life at peace with God and in the confidence that you will spend eternity in heaven because your eternal salvation has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God’s amazing gifts to you—Jesus and faith that trusts in him as your Savior.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to be my Savior. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit working through your Word to give me faith that believes in Jesus as my Savior. Use that same powerful Word to keep me in the Christian faith until you bring me to my eternal home in heaven. Amen.

This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:8

God is Love

Daily Devotion – February 23, 2018

Devotion based on 1 John 4:8

See series: Devotions

God is loving. He has given me a body and a soul. He constantly sustains my body with food and drink, clothing and home, friends and family. He constantly sustains my soul with his promises in the Bible.

God demonstrated his ultimate love by sending Jesus, just as he promised in the Bible even before Jesus was born. Even when I was created by God the Father and received from him all kinds of good things, the devil came and led me into disobedience, sin, death, and all kinds of misfortune. There was really no help for me until the eternal Son of God had mercy on me and came from heaven to help me. He didn’t have to do it. It showed amazing love for him to take on a human body, suffer, and die to earn forgiveness for me.

God is so loving that the Bible says these amazing words: “God is love.” To know the definition of true love, I can just look at what God did for me and continues to do. He is not simply loving. He is the very definition of love.

And the love continues. God sends the Holy Spirit to bring me to faith through Word and sacrament. That same Holy Spirit makes me a member of the Holy Christian Church, the group of believers in Jesus. I believe that in this Christian community I have the forgiveness of sins, which takes place through the sacraments and absolution as well as through all the comforting words of the entire gospel.

I note from the verse for today that when I actually know God, I love as a result. God’s love moves me to show love to my family and friends. It moves me to show love to strangers and to people in need. It even moves me and gives me strength to show love to the unlovable. What power! What love!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, teach me to love others as you have loved me. Help me be more patient and alert to the needs of others, and make me always ready to serve with the gifts you have given me in love. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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[Our God] is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Deuteronomy 32:4

God is Just

Daily Devotion – February 22, 2018

Devotion based on Deuteronomy 32:4

See series: Devotions

A characteristic of God that he revealed about himself in the Bible is that he is just. But instead of embracing the fact that God is just, we often paint an imbalanced picture of God. We read and know that God is love. God loves the whole world. God loves each of us. We tend to focus so much on the fact that God is love that we sometimes forget or ignore the truth that God is also holy and just.

It is much more comfortable for us to try to put God on trial instead of being under scrutiny ourselves. How fair, holy, just, and loving are we? How would the people around us answer that? Should we ask God? Our verdict comes back. Our sin makes us guilty of being far less than perfect, loving, and just.

Since God is just, he needs to carry out his sentence for sin. Because God is love, he did not want the punishment of eternal death to fall on sinners—on you and me. And so, as the Bible teaches, God sent his Son to be the complete sacrifice for sin “to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). God is just. He carried out the sentence of death for sin, but the one who bore the suffering and death was Jesus. Jesus died for the sins of each and every person. Because of Jesus’ innocent sufferings and death, God is just by not charging us with the guilt of sin. God is the justifier. Through Jesus he declares us not guilty.
God is just. We hate that fact when we see our sins and know what we deserve. But we love God’s justice when we see Jesus’ cross and empty tomb. God is just. In Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer:
Dear God, you are holy and just in who you are and all you do. Thank you for punishing Jesus in my place and giving me forgiveness and peace through him. Grow my faith so that your love and holiness increase in my heart and life. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering…” “…Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”…He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. …“On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Genesis 22 (selected portions)

Prove That You Love Me

Daily Devotion – February 21, 2018

Devotion based on Genesis 22 (selected portions)

See series: Devotions

“Prove that you love me!” That challenge was given to a man named Abraham by God himself in an episode recorded in Genesis chapter 22. Does it surprise you, maybe even disgust or anger you, that God would choose such a test to measure Abraham’s love and devotion? It sure seems like an unfair, even immoral choice he was left to make. “Who is more important to you, Abraham? Your God or your son?” It is amazing to see how Abraham passed the test. He had every intention of sacrificing his own son! Proving that his allegiance to the Lord was foremost and genuine.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength! It doesn’t take a long, hard look at our lives and our choices to see that we have failed that test—and in ways much less difficult than what was presented to Abraham. How often is the thought of God and his desires absent from our life choices? Personal pleasures and pursuits rule the day and the choices made in it. Far from proving our unfailing love to God in the way we live, do we instead find ourselves shouting back at him in defensive accusation: “Oh yeah, God? Why should I pay attention to you or live for you? Why don’t you prove your love to me?!”

As an answer from God to those questions, this ancient story has a deeper meaning and fulfillment. To Isaac’s question about the sacrifice they were going to offer, Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” As Abraham proved his deep love for the Lord with his willingness to sacrifice his son, God did provide an animal for Abraham to sacrifice as a substitute for his son. This foreshadowed the great event in the future when God the Father would provide and accept the sacrifice of his beloved Son—the Lamb of God as a substitute for the world of sinners.

Does God love you? One of the most well-known passages of the Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son! For those who haven’t kept even the first and most basic command of God—to love him first and best—God sent his Son to enter their world as the suitable, substitute sacrifice. God did not withhold from us his dearest treasure, but offered him up as a payment for human sin. Instead of banishing us from his sight because of our sin, he provided needed forgiveness and acceptance through the willingness of Jesus to suffer in our place. Jesus went to a mount called Calvary to give his life in place of ours. We can truly say that on the mountain of the Lord, God’s love has been provided to us. See there the ultimate proof that God loves you. And then be amazed at how he works in you a genuine love for him who loved you first!

Prayer:
Lord God, heavenly Father, I have often failed the test of showing love and devotion to you. Forgive me for the sake of Jesus, your dear Son, whom you sent into my world to be my Savior. Help me to see in him your unfailing love and forgiveness. Help me to respond with a life of love to you, because you have loved me first and best. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39

God is for Us

Daily Devotion – February 20, 2018

Devotion based on Romans 8:31-39

See series: Devotions

You and I may not have to worry about persecution, nakedness, and swords, but all of us are familiar with trouble and hardship. Rejoice that God’s promises spoken through the apostle Paul still stand: God is for us and nothing will be able to separate us from him.

Have you considered what that means?

Sometimes we cringe and cower in the presence of God. Past sins haunt us and guilty feelings remain. The devil accuses and suddenly we feel like we’re far away from God and second-class citizens in his kingdom, if we’re citizens at all. What does Jesus want us to remember at a time like that? God is for us!

Sometimes the headlines are horrifying. Our loved ones hurt. We wrestle with troubles and tragedies. We feel like God has abandoned us to suffer alone in a sin-broken world. What does Jesus want us to remember at a time like that? Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!

So, what keeps you up at night? In Christ, you have nothing to fear. Jesus assures you of that here in Romans chapter 8 and throughout all of Scripture. His blood shed on the cross has washed away your sin. His resurrection assures you that your salvation is complete. The Lord has found you, rescued you from sin and death, and will keep you safe, now and forever.

Christ Jesus is absolutely committed to his people and he promises to keep you safe. Let that glorious fact transform your life. Let go of all that scares you. Let nothing keep you up at night. Rest easy in the promises of your Savior.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, in sending Jesus to be my Savior, you have demonstrated your love for me. Help me to find hope and strength in you every day. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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At once the Spirit sent [Jesus] out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Mark 1:12-13

Tempted, Yet Triumphant

Daily Devotion – February 19, 2018

Devotion based on Mark 1:12-13

See series: Devotions

No one truly understands the torrent of temptations I face in daily life like Jesus does. Countless times the devil coaxes me with his sweet-sounding, sly lies. And after falling for his diabolical deception, I am met with a cascade of his accusations concerning my own guilt and shame. The devil is a real enemy not to be underestimated. His mission is to undermine my faith in God.

Jesus not only understands the power of the evil one; he overcame him! Alone in the barren desert with wild animals surrounding him, Jesus encountered our arch enemy. For forty days he faced the fierce enticements of the evil one. In every vicious attack, Jesus stood victorious. Christ Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Whenever I am tempted, my help and strength will never be found in the deceptive lies of the prince of darkness. Lasting help is graciously given by the Prince of peace who shines with the light of the gospel’s eternal truth, exposing the devilish lies for what they are. His Word of Truth brings the Savior’s healing and forgiveness for the fallen sinner. His love compels me to repent of my sin and to fix my eyes on Jesus who paid the entire debt of my guilt as he crushed the devil through his victory on the cross and from the grave.

It is not a matter of if  temptation will come my way. It is only a matter of when. And when the tide of temptation seeks to overwhelm me, I rest in the safe harbor of heavenly grace. For Jesus assures me with his presence and his powerful promise, that he will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5). Finally, when my last hour comes, the Lord will deliver me from all evil and graciously take me from this world to himself in the refuge of heaven.

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, the reason you appeared on earth was to destroy the devil’s work. When I fall into temptation, move me to sorrow over my sin and befriend me with your abiding love and forgiveness. Your word is my strength against every evil attack. I thank you that you were victorious for me! Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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