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Written by Mark Roberts, a contemporary author. 

We are to reflect God’s glory into the dark world around us. As we communicate God’s truth, as we reach out with God’s love, as we offer forgiveness and mercy, and as we live and speak and work differently, people will see God’s glory through us and be drawn to God. That is an essential element of our high calling as Christians. We’re to reflect God’s glory wherever we are, in every quarter of our world.

For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. [Isaiah 60:2-3]

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Written by Emma Danzey, a contemporary author.

Our help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. When we face unthinkable circumstances, when we feel small in life, or when we just want to understand Christ’s glory more, we remember to look up, that our help comes from Him always. He is the Maker of all things good. Heaven and earth are in His hands. When we are crying out to Him or feel overwhelmed at how great the need, but how little we can help, may we look to Him for help. When we forget to look up and want to look to anyone or anything else for help, may the HolySpirit redirect our wayward hearts to look up to the mountains and to our Maker. He offers perfect help. Not always in the ways that we would hope or imagine best, but He is trustworthy and has proven that He is and was and is to come. He is unchanging. He is Alpha and Omega. He is sovereign over all. He can work these hard things for good for those who love Him. He can take the gospel up the mountains to provide for physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of communities. He can work even in the most seemingly broken places. Where does our help come from? It comes from our Lord.

I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” [Psalm 121:1-2]

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Today’s devotion is from “The Weekly Rest Project,” published by Zondervan.

Our culture places a lot of emphasis on working hard, earning your place, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but a close reading of the Bible reveals a very different message. God doesn’t love you because you work harder than anyone else. You can’t earn your place in heaven through good works. And God certainly doesn’t determine your value by your use of your bootstraps — quite the opposite. After all, the Bible isn’t full of stories of independent go-getters who won accolades all on their own by working around the clock. No, the stories are of people who leaned on God to achieve great things by saying yes to Him and following His path, which includes good work, but also always includes rest. The Sabbath was the first day specifically set aside for something established by God. More holy days and holidays and feasts would come later, but the Sabbath has been with us since creation. It is one of God’s first gifts to us, a sacred time to give our bodies and minds a chance to recharge and anchor our weeks in rest and communion with Him. Resting regularly isn’t being lazy and doesn’t mean that we are shirking our responsibilities. It is simply accepting God’s generous gift. Building our lives around weekly rest is the first step in accepting the rhythm of life God laid out for us at the beginning, and it only brings us closer to Him.

On the seventh day — with the canvas of the cosmos completed — God paused from His labor and rested. Thus, God blessed day seven and made it special — an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping. [Genesis 2:2-3]

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Written by Kurt Selles, a contemporary editor and ministry director.

[Over five hundred years ago today], Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and set in motion a movement that rocked Europe. Though many other factors joined to launch the Protestant Reformation, God used a revival in Luther’s heart to start a revival of Chris­tianity in his time…Psalm 85 calls for a revival that begins with the Holy Spirit working in individual hearts, bringing a refreshing return to God with passion and zeal. Revival is not a random burst of energy and emotion but is based on truth found in the Bible. For Luther and other Reformers of the 16th century, the revival that came to be called the Protestant Reformation was based on five enduring principles. True Christian faith is based on Scripture alone, on salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone and through faith alone—and all of this is for glory to God alone. These five points summarize the key principles of the Reformation. Are these five lasting principles at work in our lives? As we ponder these teachings that were rediscovered long ago, may their truth work in our hearts to strengthen and revive us, making us agents of revival wherever God has placed us.

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation. [Psalm 85: 6-7]

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Written by Robert Brizee, a contemporary author.  This is an excerpt from his book “Where in the World is God?”

God is actively present in each tiny human event persuading us by loving visions to transform ourselves continually. God is one of our constant relationships. God is in the midst of our deepest processes. Like one unique voice in a choir, one special instrument in an orchestra that blends with the many others, God is present persuading the many to become one in beauteous harmony.

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. [Psalm 46:7]

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Written by Carlo Carretto (1910-1988), an Italian writer and priest. This is an excerpt from his work “Why, O Lord?”

No, we shall not enter the kingdom until we have accepted the demands of love to the hilt, until we have desired to die for love of all our [brothers and sisters], until we have mounted the cross and ideally shed our last drop of blood! And you want to enter the kingdom with your thoughts greedily revolving round the money left in your cashbox, on your checkbook still on the table, with your clothes still smelling of tobacco, with your envelope of cocaine in your pocket? Or, worse, with hatred for your landlord or dislike of your husband in your heart? Before long the kingdom would grow ugly and the eternal banquet repulsive. No, my sisters and brothers, believe me: the exodus begins when you receive baptism, normally baptism with water; and ends when you are baptized with your own blood—every last drop of it. As happened to Jesus.

His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as [we] are; and being as [we] are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross, [Philippians 2:6-8]

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Written by Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), a German-Dutch Catholic canon and the author of “The Imitation of Christ.”

Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights thee most, to value what is precious in thy sight, to hate what is offensive to thee. Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant [people]; but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. [1 John 3:2]

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Written by John Wesley (1703-1791), an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of the Methodism revival movement.

What would not every lover of God and his [or her] neighbor do, what would [they] not suffer, to remedy this sore evil, to remove contention from the children of God, to restore or preserve peace among them? What but a good conscience would [they] think too dear to part with, in order to promote this valuable end? And suppose we cannot “make (these) wars to cease in all the world,” suppose we cannot reconcile all the children of God to each other, however let [us] do what [we] can, let [us] contribute, if it be but two mites toward it.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. [Ephesians 4:1-3]

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Written by Edward Farrell, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from his book “Gathering the Fragments.”

A disciple experiences a joy and peace so deep within that he or she is compelled to share it with others. When this hidden mission begins to emerge in us, we find other people who also know that they have been haunted by Jesus and are drawn to each other to grow together in him. When we begin to follow Jesus, we allow him to live more consciously in our lives. In surprising and simple ways, he is always speaking to us. He is at the heart of the world and at the heart of each of us, especially at the fragile center where we are afraid—of ourselves, of others, of God. Fragile people are such a revelation of God.

What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web [Job 8:14]

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Written by Philipp Melanchthon (1495-1560), an educator and reformer.

O everlasting God, have mercy upon us. Through your Holy Spirit unite us with yourself. Illumine us with true light and inflame us with righteousness. Your Son’s words manifest to us your loving kindness, the gift of your Holy Spirit, and your ardent desire to assist us: “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”  Hence we know that you are willing to give us this good gift provided we ask for it. This makes us confident that you will hear our prayers and petitions. Amen.

 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! [Luke 11:13]

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