Honest Reflections

Two-minute read.

May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 

Ruth 2:12 

Ruth, a Moabitess, followed her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem after her husband’s death, which meant she followed Naomi’s God. Using the imagery of a baby bird nestling beneath its mother’s wings, Boaz, Ruth’s kinsmen redeemer, blesses her submission and obedience.

According to Jewish protocol, a kinsmen redeemer married his deceased relative’s wife, dedicating the first child to them to perpetuate his name for future generations. Boaz met Ruth when she came to glean leftover grain stocks in his field; impressed by her work ethic, he ordered his men to leave extra for her to gather.

People notice the work we do and honor it, just as Boaz did Ruth. God sees all we do, even when we think no one else notices. The long hours we labor for the Lord, the anguished prayers we pray for loved ones, and the tenacity we use to pursue His will for our lives, God sees it all and blesses us for our efforts. The Creator understands the motive of our hearts, and even if we fail, God understands the right intentions. And what we deem as failure, the Lord can use as a stepping stone to success.

Whenever I produce something for my crafting business, I encounter many failures. However, I learned from each one and eventually developed a saleable product. We can’t give up when things seem to fall apart; we must persevere, taking refuge under the Lord’s wings, seeking His direction, and finding His will. When we do, like Ruth, God will richly reward us and protect us.

Praise: 

Praise God for His rich rewards. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for noticing our efforts to pursue You and richly rewarding us with Your presence in our lives. Please help us follow You closely, becoming more sensitive to Your promptings and aligning our hearts with Yours.

IJNIP. Amen

Two-minute read.

But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’ ” 

Jonah 2:9 

The prophet, plummeting through the waters, knows he will die if the Lord doesn’t intervene, and Jonah trusts God will help. Commanding the whale to vomit Jonah out, the Creator saved his life from the ocean’s depths, giving Jonah another chance to complete his mission. The Lord wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah and call them out for their evil ways, but instead, the prophet boarded a ship to Tarshish and ended up in the belly of a fish. 

In despair, Jonah cries out to the Lord for salvation and receives it. Once saved, the prophet fulfills his mission, traveling to Ninevah and giving them the message from the Lord, which causes the evil city to repent and receive salvation as well. God offers salvation to all who turn to Him and repent, forgiving their sins and giving them new life as He did Jonah and the Ninevites. Jonah didn’t think the Ninevites deserved salvation, so he resisted telling them the Lord’s message. However, once God demonstrated His saving grace to Jonah, the prophet submitted to the Creator and did His will. 

In life, we must remember that God’s ways differ from ours. We have a limited perspective, but the Lord sees all things. The Creator calls us to love others for Him.  When we judge people unworthy of God’s salvation, we place ourselves in the judgment seat, a job the Lord didn’t give us to do. Jonah made that mistake, and we can learn from him or end up in the belly of a fish, requiring divine assistance. One way or another, God will accomplish His will and continue to offer salvation to all who repent and turn to Him. 

Praise: 

Praise God for His salvation. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for giving us Your saving grace despite our sinful ways. Please help us center our lives on You and not put ourselves in the judgment seat. Let us complete our mission to love others for You, submitting our lives to Your will, not ours. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 

Ephesians 1:15-16 

After receiving news about the continuing faith and love of the Ephesians, Paul responds with thanksgiving. Following Jesus in faith results in acts of love. As we begin to grasp the depth of the Lord’s caring for us, we want to share it with others. And everything works for the good of those who believe and trust in God, even if we don’t understand it at the time. 

Over the weekend, I finished a study on Leviticus. For 27 days, with a group of friends, I studied a chapter each morning using the Through the Wordⁱ app, led by Pastor Peyton Jonesⁱⁱ, who adores the book. However, for most people, Leviticus requires discipline and perseverance. I now have a new appreciation for the book and the foreshadowing of Jesus found in it. From the Tabernacle to the sacrifices and feasts, they all point towards the Savior to come. I found new truths each morning, drawing me deeper into my relationship with Christ. The more I learned, the more I wanted to share with others so they could experience the incredible love of Jesus. 

Studying God’s word with others, holding each other accountable, and striving to become more like Christ together makes me thankful. The Lord created us for community. He never intended for us to live out our faith alone. We need each other to grow in Christ and become the people God intends. Like Paul, we must remember each other, continue to give thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and pray for their journey, which fulfills God’s purpose. 

Praise: 

Praise God for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for giving us a spiritual family to do life with on earth. Please help us support each other through thanksgiving and praise, spurring each other to complete our divine missions for You. 

IJNIP. Amen 

ⁱ https://throughtheword.org/ 

ⁱⁱ https://throughtheword.org/teachers/ 

Two-minute read.

Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ephesians 5:19-20 

Filled with the Holy Spirit, songs of worship pour from the heart. When the worship band begins to play Sunday mornings, my soul rejoices as we praise the Lord. During my days, as I go about my work, playing worship music invigorates me as I thank God for my divine tasks. When we give our lives to the Creator, allowing His Spirit to fill us, we speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and praise. 

Paul’s theme in these verses concerns living as children of the light. Because of the light of Christ, we shine brightly in the world, as He did. When Jesus walked the Earth, people flocked to Him. The counter-cultural teachings of the Lord made people want to know more and live differently. Christ’s grace and mercy gave them hope. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He didn’t leave us alone but gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. His eternal flame illuminates the world as we submit and follow the Lord. 

Let the Holy Spirit’s influence in your life flow. Sing songs from the heart, creating beautiful music as you praise the Lord for His mighty work. Each day, as we seek the Lord and His will, we find reasons to rejoice and praise the Creator. Through Jesus, we can live abundantly, knowing He paid the price we never could. In Christ, we have all we need. 

Praise: 

Praise God for His Spirit within us. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. Please let us become sensitive to His promptings, filling our hearts with joy and causing us to sing praises from our souls that honor and glorify You. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

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; 

Matthew 11:25 

Only with the Holy Spirit can we see the revealed truth of Jesus and His work. Once we place faith in the Savior, we gain a new vision. Looking through the lens of our heavenly Father, we find revealed truth. Like walking into a dark room, when you flip the light switch, you immediately see what the blackness hid; an awakening occurs. And once you know, you can’t unknow the truth. 

“Aha” moments happen all the time. Suddenly, you see something you never saw before, like driving down the road and noticing an old building you had never noticed before. How you missed the structure, you don’t know, but now that you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. Biologically, the reticular activating system comes to life when you become aware of something you never noticed. I drive a white Subaru. Before I had the car, I had never noticed Subarus, but now I see them everywhere. 

Jesus reveals the truth of our sinful nature to us. Once we become aware of our human frailties, we can’t unsee them. Our imperfections require a Savior, and Christ reveals that truth to us. God reveals the sin in our lives and gives us the solution, Jesus. We must place our faith in Him, allowing the Lord to illuminate our hearts, lighting the dark rooms, and exposing our iniquities. When we do, God reveals truth to us we can’t deny, and only Jesus can fix it. In Him, we become new. 

Praise: 

Praise God for revealing our sins and giving us a solution. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for Jesus and the truth He reveals to us. Please search our hearts and expose the sin within them, turning on the lights and eliminating our iniquities. Let us honor and serve You well today and always. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 

2 Thessalonians 1:3 

Paul feels obligated to thank God for the work Christ did and continues to do in the lives of his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. As the apostle sees the church growing in maturity and faith, he feels compelled to praise the Lord. Paul witnesses their increasing faith and love for each other, which symbolizes the transformational power of Jesus. Change happens when we start living for the Savior instead of ourselves. 

Emotional responses can wreak havoc in my life. I respond differently by submitting my feelings to the Lord, letting Him transform me one incident at a time, one day at a time. Only by giving Jesus full access to our hearts and minds can we begin to grow and mature, leaving childish behavior behind and embracing the mindset of Christ. And as we see the Lord transforming other people’s lives, we should praise Him for His work. 

I often have difficulty giving people the necessary space to grow. We can’t save; we can only support, answer questions, encourage people on the journey, and applaud them for their efforts to transform. Submitting our will to God’s will requires a decision that causes action. Faith steps mean trusting the Lord will bless our efforts as we move forward, doing what He wants instead of what we want. The more steps we take, the more transformation will occur, and the more praises we will give God. Thank the Lord for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who, with us, allow Him to provide us with new life. 

Praise: 

Praise God for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for giving us a spiritual family that grows and matures with us. Please help us support and encourage each other well, allowing You to transform our lives as we wholeheartedly pursue You. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 

2 Corinthians 2:14 

Because Jesus took on a battle not rightly His, we gain a victory nor rightly ours. Grace defined receiving what we don’t deserve. Paul thanks the Lord for the triumph Christ gave him, becoming a bondservant to the Savior and living for Him. As a result, Paul takes every opportunity to share what he has with everyone and anyone. But not all will listen. 

We gain freedom through the Cross, no longer slaves to sin, but instead, captives of Christ, who gives us a new way to live, one that goes against our human nature. I’m working through complicated feelings towards neighbors who have sabotaged a community event. Afraid of the unknown and change, acting like children with hypocritical words, righteous anger soars within me at the injustice of the situation. But I must take those negative emotions captive, give them to Jesus, and respond with forgiveness and grace as He would. Unfortunately, my flesh rebels against the spirit, and I must fight to win the battle; only with submission to Jesus will I gain victory. 

And so, I pray, “Lord, transform my heart.”  I ask others to pray for me, and I submit my life to Jesus, knowing His will matters more than mine. In Him, I find true victory. Dying to our fleshly desires requires a conscious decision that takes effort. But as we move in the right direction, the Lord strengthens us and gives us victory. 

Become captive to Christ today, allowing Him to transform your thoughts and actions. Through your words and deeds, spread the aroma of the knowledge of the Savior. 

Praise: 

Praise God for making us His captives. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for giving us an undeserved victory through Jesus, who fought for us and gave us the win. Please let us live well for You today, obeying Your commands and allowing You to control our thoughts and actions. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 

1 Timothy 2:1 

Listening to a message by Pastor Jon Tyson of Church in the City in New York City, he used the phrase “shepherded by the algorithm,” describing the media’s manipulation of people’s minds. In other words, strategic media posts play on people’s emotions, and they follow them rather than the Savior. My heart aches at how political parties use this tactic to cause division, particularly in Christ-followers who seem to forget Jesus, worshipping their political affiliation more than the Son.  

“When you think about people you know, don’t think about their flaws.  Instead, think about their strengths.  Think of the qualities that you enjoy in them, not the ones that irritate you.” 

Joyce Meyers 

As Christ’s followers, Jesus shepherds us, not the algorithm. When the media tries to play on our emotions, demonizing people because of their different beliefs, we must pray for them. If we can’t find qualities we appreciate, ask the Lord to give us eyes to see them. One such person in my life, who has dubbed himself a pastor, spreads hate because of his political views. When I read the quote from Joyce, I couldn’t find anything positive, so I asked the Lord to show me. Immediately, I recognized his passion as good and began praying that he would turn it towards the Lord instead of politics.  

We all share the same purpose, love God and others (Mark 12:30-31). When we find it difficult to love someone, we must turn to the Lord for help and pray for all people, no matter our differences. Jesus died for everyone, not just those who agree with us. We’re the saved, not the Savior. 

Praise: 

Praise God for the power of prayer. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for listening to our petitions, prayers, and intercessions for others. Please help us focus on the positive qualities in people, not the ones that irritate us. Fill our hearts with love that overflows to all we meet.  

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 15:57 

Without sin, death would have no sting. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians includes his argument for resurrection. Verses 50-58 draw the apostle’s conclusion: to inherit the kingdom of God and eternal life, we must gain an imperishable body through Christ. Our physical body will perish, but our souls, given to Jesus, will never die. When the Savior returns, we will rise with Him at the sound of the trumpet. What a glorious day awaits us because of Jesus’s work on the cross. 

Studying Leviticus, we just finished chapter fourteen, which details the cleansing needed for lepers after their healing. Jesus refers to the practice when He heals the ten lepers and tells them to show themselves to the priest for cleansing; only one returns to thank the Lord. As our High Priest, when we present our lives to Jesus, He cleanses us, washed by His blood. We no longer need to complete the Levitical cleansing, but we need to thank Him.  So often, we take the Savior’s grace for granted and forget to thank Him, like the lepers. 

Lepers lived as outcasts from society, unable to interact with people. When Jesus healed the ten diseased men, He gave them their lives back. And yet, only one thanked Him. Christ does the same for us, saving us from our sins and the rot and decay that comes with them. Thank the Lord today for giving you abundant life through His sacrifice on the cross. Let’s not take for granted what Christ did for us. 

Praise: 

Praise Jesus for giving us eternal life. 

Prayer: 

Lord, thank You for sending Jesus to heal us from our sins and give us new life in Him. Please let us not take for granted the gift You gave us in Your Son. Through Him, we find life. 

IJNIP. Amen 

Two-minute read.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 

2 Corinthians 4:15 

Paul reminds the Corinthians why he endures the afflictions with resilience, not for his benefit but for theirs, and ultimately, to glorify God. As people witnessed the apostle’s life and reaction to it, they began to know Jesus. As Paul persevered in the faith, relying on God’s grace for the journey, the Lord’s mercy expanded to those who watched and learned from the apostle. Paul gave credit to God, praising Him and promoting the glory of our Maker. 

All for our benefit, God’s grace gives us a second, third, fourth, and as many times as we need chance to try again. People witness the renewal, which draws them to the Lord’s light in us. At first, they don’t understand, but as they ask questions and get to know the Creator through our testimony, they discover the grace we have. God’s mercy flows to all who receive it, submitting their lives to Him and trying again. 

“Thank God!”  Two words preach an entire sermon. People notice when we take the time to acknowledge the Lord and the help He gives us publicly. I’ve sometimes uttered those words and immediately felt tension from the people around me. Non-believers don’t know how to respond to the simple acknowledgment of the Lord.

Praising and glorifying God causes people to notice and keeps our hearts tuned into the right channel. Letting the Creator lead our lives gives us many reasons to overflow with thanksgiving towards Him, not to mention helping others learn about the never-ending grace He offers.

Praise: 

Praise God for His unending grace.

Prayer:

Lord, thank You for giving me Your grace and opportunities to share it with others. Please help us live well for You today, honoring and serving You in all we do, letting Your grace fuel the fire within our souls.

IJNIP. Amen