Easter Devotion (Day 29) - My Heart, Christ's Home

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21 

My husband and I recently moved to a new house. We had stayed in it several times before we moved, but it wasn't until we unpacked our belongings and added our personal touches that it became our home. Only then was it a place of comfort, where we truly belonged. In this prayer, Paul prayed that Christ would not just stay in the hearts of His followers, but that Christ would make a home in their hearts. Jesus would, in effect, redecorate their inner being so that it was a place where He would truly belong, built on a foundation of love. When one's heart is grounded in God's love - a love so overwhelming that it is incomprehensible - it is welcoming to Jesus. 

What could be more intimate than Jesus at home in your heart? These verses do not speak of a quick visit by Jesus. Instead, Paul prays for the Ephesians to commit to a deep, ongoing relationship with Christ. It means that they would allow Jesus to be at the very center of their personality, trusting Jesus as He guides them toward perfection. With Christ living in your heart, every day is a step closer to holiness. Every moment brings you closer to a sanctified life in Jesus Christ. 

Prayer: Lord, ground me in Your love and make my heart Your home! Help me to commit to a deep, ongoing relationship with Christ. May I allow Jesus to be at the very center of my personality, trusting Him as He guides me toward perfection. In His name I pray, Amen. 

* This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Easter Devotion (Day 28) - The Glory of God

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17:24-26 

Jesus' death and resurrection did not end His engagement in the world. The final verse of His prayer says that Jesus' mission to reveal the love of God to humanity stretches forward and backward throughout time. The Word, or Logos, introduced in the first chapter of John, is the ultimate plan of God for the salvation of all people. Jesus, as the incarnation of this salvation plan, has been and will always be engaged with humankind. After His resurrection, His impact will be felt most profoundly through those who love and serve Him in the world. 

Just as Jesus came to the world to serve God, believers are called to live as Christ in service to the world. This is the nature of the glory that Jesus prays about. God glorified Jesus throughout His life on earth by entrusting Him to make God known. Now this job falls to Jesus' followers. They have the opportunity to experience the same glory that Christ experienced through service to God. Of course, that glory came with a heavy cost. But just as Jesus bore His cross for the sake of salvation, we, as followers of Jesus, are asked to carry our crosses for the sake of the Kingdom too. It is our honor and glory as servants of God. 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me reflect Your glory in the world today. May I live as Christ in service to the world. Help me to carry my cross for the sake of Your Kingdom, just as Jesus did. In His name I pray, Amen

*This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Easter Devotion (5th Sunday in Lent) - Jesus' Prayer for Us

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." 
John 17:20-23

After praying for Himself and His disciples, Jesus expands His prayer to include all people who will come to know God through His story. Thus, we can read these verses as a direct personal intercession from the Son to the Father for you and for me! 

Jesus' deepest request for us is unity. He prays not only for the unity of the Kingdom people of God on earth, but for our unity with Jesus and God the Father. Jesus asks that we stand as a united front against the sin of the world, perfectly in tune with the desires of God, just a Jesus was a perfect reflection of God.

If we look at the church in the world, it seems that this unity is yet to happen. Christianity is splintered into at least forty major divisions and as many as forty-two thousand denominations. Only when Jesus comes again in glory to claim His kingdom will this prayer of one church be fully answered. But, if we look past denominations and at the heart of the people, the church becomes united every time it stands against evil. Every time Christians come together united in prayer and action for the lost, the orphan, those caught in sex trafficking or the slave trade, those sick and dying or in prison for their faith...then Jesus' prayer is seen in action.  

If we strive to be united with Jesus, then each of us will grow in His likeness. Our personal unity with Jesus Christ will expand to our community of believers. While theological divisions may continue to exist, if our hearts are all striving to be like Jesus, we will grow together into a powerful community for God.

Prayer: Jesus, teach us to grow together in faith, with You as our model. Help us to stand with our brothers and sisters in our communities and around the world as we speak up for the defenseless and as we fight tyranny and evil. May we be in You Lord Jesus so that the world may know that You love them. In Your name we pray, Amen. 

* This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink

Easter Devotion (Day 27) - Prayers for His Friends

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
John 17: 6-19

Early in Jesus' ministry, God entrusted twelve disciples to Jesus; and in this passage, Jesus prayed for their spiritual strength and safety and also for the community that they had created together. Jesus taught them about God, and they listened. They learned that Jesus had been sent to them from God. They came to understand God's desire for them in the world and started to adopt a new vision for their lives. They became unique and were about to be deeply challenged by living without Jesus in a world that did not understand them. Just as Jesus was about to suffer as one who challenged a worldly system that was not based on the kingdom of God, He knew that His followers would struggle living as God's people among those who still followed the dictates of human sin. 

Jesus prayed both for their protection and for their sanctification. He was deeply concerned that they remain "set aside" from corrupting influences while still remaining in the world to do God's work. He did not depend on the community that He built but trusted God to guard their future. Still today, the work of Jesus' community on earth depends on God's care, not on what we say or do. We exist today as the church because of the never-ending grace of God. 

Prayer: O Lord, strengthen and uphold Your kingdom people! Help us to adopt Your vision for our lives. Keep us set aside from corrupting influences while we do Your work in this world. We know that our future depends on you Lord God. In the name of Your Son Jesus, Amen

*This devotion taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink 

Easter Devotion (Day 26) - The Glory of the Son

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:1-5 

This prayer is the theological climax of the Gospel of John. Jesus has said good-bye to His disciples and now turns to God, praying for Himself, His disciples, and the church as He prepares for His death and resurrection. Jesus will experience betrayal, humiliation, scorn, a painful execution, all God's wrath for the sin of the world piled on Him and lastly, rejection by God for a time. Yet in John's Gospel, His prayers are all about glory. In this prayer, Jesus is not focused on His death, but instead, looks to His resurrection as God's victory over sin and death. His resurrection will be glorious because it will prove His place as God's holy Son and will offer eternal life to all who know God through Him. He will return to His Father to live in the glory that He had to abandon by coming to earth. 

God tasked Jesus with nothing less than showing humanity the purpose of their creation. Jesus was incarnated to turn people's eyes back to God and to teach them how to live within the blessings of their Creator. At the evening of His betrayal, Jesus takes the cup that God had poured for Him - a cup full of bitterness and pain, but even more so, a cup of glory and salvation for the world. 

Prayer - Lord Jesus, thank You for the work You did on earth to glorify the Father, so that we may all know the one true God. Thank You that You showed us the purpose for our creation and how to live within God's blessings. You are amazing and I am so eager for Your return. I love you Jesus! In Your name, Amen

*Devotions taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink