Kerusso Daily Devotional

When you think of ships, whether you’re thinking of the Titanic, pirate ships, or trading vessels crossing the vast ocean to bring goods and services from one country to another, you probably picture them with an anchor—a heavy metal hook designed to catch on the ocean floor and keep a boat or ship in place.

Wikipedia says this about anchors:

There are two main types of anchors: temporary and permanent. A permanent anchor is called a mooring block and is not easily moved. A temporary anchor can be moved and is carried on the boat. When people talk about anchors, they’re usually thinking about the temporary kind.

Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

When you think about your personal relationship with Jesus, what kind of anchor binds you to your Lord and Savior? Is it a permanent anchor—not easily moved? Or is it a temporary anchor, dependent more on where you want to steer the ship, carried aboard your boat until you feel like a temporary stop?

God wants the hope we’ve found in Jesus to be a permanent fixture in our lives; our faith is meant to hold us steady and secure as we follow Him, being a constant source of reassurance in every circumstance—not just a temporary stopping place. 

So think about that anchor…is it permanent, or is it temporary? 

Let’s pray.

Lord, whether we’re sailing calm seas or fighting to keep our heads above water in the midst of a storm, you are with us. You are truly the anchor for our souls. Help us to remember to moor ourselves to you, instead of following our pride and settling for a temporary anchor. We love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Hers is the greatest motherhood story of all time. You know who she is.

Magnificent Mary!

Her story has been told many times, but how grateful we are that it’s recorded in Scripture. Whatever God’s reasons for choosing this particular woman to give birth to Jesus, we know that she must have loved the Lord with all her heart.

And just think how her head and heart must have been spinning when the angel visited her and told her the special job God was going to give her!

Luke 1:46–48 says, “And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.’”

We know little about her beyond that, although we are given some fascinating details: she socialized with her Son, as we see at the wedding in Cana. And of course, she was with Him at His death. No mother should have to endure that, but Mary was very strong. Her toughness and love ring like a bell through time. We remember her way of finding patience and faith.

Maybe the most amazing thing about her is that God trusted Mary with an initial secret that would have floored most people! She handled it, though. The mother of Jesus was ready when her time came.

Let’s pray.

Lord, the mother of Jesus shows us an eternal love. It is also a mystery of sorts for us, but we know that this amazing mother is experiencing supernatural joy, forever! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be close to Jesus when He was on the earth? It would have been amazing to be in His inner circle.

We know of a remarkable woman, a family member, who would have been able to be around to watch that most amazing life unfold.

Her name was Elizabeth. She was the aunt of Jesus, and she was also a mother.

We read in Luke that everyone thought that the time for Elizabeth to become a mother was past. In those days people thought sin prevented pregnancy, so this godly woman went through great sorrow.

But Gabriel, an angel, told her priest husband that she would conceive. She did, and later, when visiting her cousin Mary, felt her own son jump in her womb. Even he knew the significance of such a woman!

Luke 1:13 says, “But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.’”

Elizabeth’s son would be named John, and he would be given the privilege of introducing the world to the Man, Jesus. Both mothers would endure great tragedy in their lives, but would enjoy fellowship forever with them in glory.

Elizabeth knew how to be steady during momentous times. A great lesson for all of us.

Let’s pray.

Lord, sometimes you surprise us with great tasks. Help us to always be ready to stand when you call on us to do something great. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Are you a woman blessed with the gift of a wonderful mother-in-law? We can hardly think of a more important relationship. Through the ages, this mentoring friendship has sealed families and nurtured them. Likewise, we easily see the pain inflicted when this relationship isn’t good.

In the Old Testament, we read of a really remarkable mother-in-law. She showed great kindness to a young woman at just the right moment.

After returning home to Bethlehem after a famine is over, Naomi wants the best for her young daughter-in-law, Ruth, whose husband has died. Although she must have longed for security herself and companionship, Naomi encourages Ruth to marry Boaz. Eventually, Ruth has a son, Obed, who would become the grandfather of King David!

Ruth 1:22 says, “So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.”

Naomi’s unselfish act, her encouragement to the vulnerable Ruth, is the model for all such relationships. It’s intentionally about the other person. It’s the story of a woman mentoring and loving another she sees as a daughter.

So how will your mother-in-law's story be recorded? Have you ever thought about that? How will the women in your family remember you?

Let’s pray.

Lord, people are watching us, and they’re watching how we treat others. Nowhere is that more important than in our own homes, and in our own families. Help us think of others before we think of ourselves. In Jesus’ name, amen.

We don’t even know her name, but we know what she did.

Let’s just say there was great strength in her household!

Known only as the wife of Manoah, from the Israelite tribe of Dan, this godly woman was unable to have children. But then, in a kind of foreshadowing of another, more famous visit by an angel hundreds of years later, she was told by the Angel of the Lord that she would become pregnant and have a son.

Samson!

Judges 13:24 says, “The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him.”

The last of the judges of Israel, Samson, was his people’s deliverer from the Philistines, who prospered along the coastline. Samson’s mother followed the angel’s instructions from the Lord to the letter, never cutting her son’s hair. It was in this that his tremendous strength was found.

And, just like Mary centuries later, she would see her son die a horrible death. But it came as he saved his people.

A mother’s love is strong. So strong that not even evil can tear it away.

Let’s pray.

Lord, you know her name, this mother of Samson. You spoke to her and guided her in life. Thank you for her example—a mother who believed the Lord when told she would have a child. That is strong faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

She’s not very well known, even though she’s in the Bible.

But Jochebed…who’s heard of her? Raise your hands.

This great woman deserves a bigger story in our culture, because she modeled what it means to act with bravery, and to value all life.

Exodus 2:3 says, “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.”

Jochebed, you see, was the mother of Moses. Knowing that Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be killed, she hid her infant son in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. When Pharaoh’s daughter found the boy, she felt sorry for him and took him in; the rest as they say, is history!

It’s been said that the love a mother has for her children is the strongest human bond. Long ago, a slave defied the empire and saved her son. He went on to change history.

Sometimes we just have to step out in faith and be intentional about courage.

Let’s pray.

Lord, this woman inspires us today. Thank you that the story of this sweet mother, Jochebed, was recorded for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Communism kept half of Europe locked up for much of the 20th century. For 75 years, the oppressive system took most freedoms away from its ordinary citizens. The political system responsible for tens of millions of deaths seemed almost indestructible. Then, almost suddenly, the system built on restricting freedom just collapsed. The end came so quickly that all the most experienced analysts and diplomats were caught off guard.

How did that amazing turnaround happen? It didn't happen with guns and tanks and planes. Not a single missile silo was opened. Instead, it took the strategic efforts of a religious leader, a Polish labor union activist, and countless regular citizens in countries like Hungary and East Germany, among many others, to expose evil and demand a better way of life.

In a similar way, God defeats evil by showing us a strategy that might go unnoticed at first. 

2 Corinthians 10:4 states, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” Only a reliance on God and continual prayer will win the day. The battles you are fighting cannot depend on vengeance or worldly efforts. We're fighting spiritual battles and conventional weapons just won't work.

As believers, we're called to duty, called to minister to others, to tell others of His Word, His love for us, and His actions to help us overcome. There are many examples in the Bible of people relying only on God for their victory. Not once did they lose. We won't either, if we lay aside our own perceived strength and trust completely in His divine power. 

Let's pray.

Father, help us see that our own plans are often wrong. We get into a battle and become blinded by our own strategies or a thirst for our own kind of victory. But the time to fight must come with a commitment to trust in your infinite power, to rely on the victory that only comes through Christ, and to tell others about our Lord and Savior. Bring this to our mind when the battle rages. In Jesus' name, amen.

Today we conclude our four-part series on prayer, Prayer 101. The big question for today is, "Does God always answer prayer?" 

Since prayer is, by nature, personal, we often want to know how things are going to turn out, even before we start praying. We wonder if God will actually answer our prayer. Maybe not as dramatic as some stories, but still if we're honest, we would like an answer to our prayer. Why else ask? 

Luke 18:1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

The fact is, of the 650 prayers in the Bible, 450 of them were answered, at least as the accounts were recorded. Others might have been answered later, but there are indications that, no, God does not always answer a prayer. And this is where our human perspectives can hamper our ability to see the full picture.

Isaiah 55:8 says, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”

From our limited perspective at this moment in time, we might not understand how or if God is answering our prayers. Remember Job and his friends prayed and tried to figure out for some time just what God was up to in this suffering man's life. The most interesting takeaway from the Book of Job is that, in the end, when God addresses Job, he never once tells him why he suffered.

He basically puts Job in his place by saying that He, God, knows and understands everything, and we obviously do not. It's worth noting that in Job's case, God restored everything to him and more. As we read in Luke 18:1, part of our responsibility in praying is perseverance. We're not supposed to act like children and throw a fit if we don't get our way.

In those times when we think God is slow in answering us, it's necessary for us to have some patience. Nowhere are we promised a quick answer or even an answer at all. Sometimes we just have to have faith that God will work everything out for us. 

Let's pray. 

Father God, like Job, we want to trust you no matter what. Even if an answer to our prayer is slow, we love you anyway and we thank you that you love us for eternity. In Jesus' name, amen.

Welcome back to Prayer 101. Today's big question is, “Should I pray to Jesus or to God?”

Most people at one time or another wonder who they should address when starting a prayer. The Christian concept of the Trinity has caused people to hesitate to pray. It's like, “Who do I pray to?”

Luke 6:12 says, “One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”

Interestingly, when Jesus prayed, as recorded in the Bible, He prayed to His Father. This is a difficult concept for many to embrace. How can someone be God but pray to Himself? In some sense, this is a matter of faith. We can't know and understand everything about the mysteries of God. But we can accept by faith that God the Father was manifest in earthly ministry as Jesus. So He models for us how to pray to the one true God.

In Matthew 6:9–13, we read, “Pray like this, Our Father in Heaven, Your name is holy. May Your holy nation come. What You want done, may it be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us the bread we need today. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” And that's from the New Life version, Matthew 6:9–13. And this is the famous Lord's Prayer. It's when Jesus tells His disciples how to communicate with God. Immediately before the prayer itself He tells them to go find a quiet place and God will see the sincerity of the heart offering a prayer.

He also says something else amazing. God knows what we need even before we ask Him. Confusion over who we are praying to is one of the most commonly asked questions, yet God is not waiting to turn away or shut the door on us if we fail to use some formal greeting. There are plenty of examples in scripture of prayers to God the Father, of course. God exists as God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the point is, this is not a trick that is set up so that you can fail. The triune God wants to hear from us, and a sincere heart wishing to talk to God will get through just fine.

Let's pray.

Father God, there are some things that are hard for us to process. We can have assurance that talking with You anytime is available to us and we don't have to be perfect. Thank You for that Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Welcome to prayer 101. The big question for today is: How do you develop a prayer life?  

The answer to how we develop a healthy prayer life is really not that complicated. It's all about choice. We can learn to pray first by reading scripture and taking notice of the hundreds of prayers offered by believers just like us. We can also talk with veterans of prayer in our own life, those who are older and deeper in their faith. 

Notice something about the prayers recorded in the Bible: they aren't contrived or intellectual oftentimes. Those things don't impress God anyway, since He knows everything about us. We can't fool Him or hide or fake our feelings. In fact, the people in the Bible and those in your life who talk to God all the time just simply talk to Him. Some prayers are messy or sound selfish, such as Jabez's plea for God to increase his influence. Others are said in desperate moments, but sound calming, like David's famous 23rd Psalm.   

Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth.” This tells us that we don't have to do something in order to be worthy to speak with God. He simply is, and He very simply invites us to share with him—to unburden ourselves.  

In Ephesians 6:18, we learn a lot about prayer; it says, “Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, with this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.” This is the prayer of someone who commits time each day to talk with God. This prayer warrior knows that he or she can talk to God about literally anything. 

Next and just as important this person prays for others. This is a far more powerful way to pray than many think, because history is full of stories of people who prayed and God acted in someone else's life immediately.   

The most important steps you can take in developing a prayer life are to understand that you don't have to be a PhD in Theology or have an IQ of 180. You simply talk to God in the most natural way. God warms to a sincere and searching heart. 

Next, you have to realize that your prayer life can take many forms, a quick moment during a busy day, in the still of the night with no one around, or in a designated area where you feel comfortable. Once you get in the habit of praying, you'll be amazed what a good change there is in your life. Faith is strengthened. You're no longer alone. Throughout history men and women and children have made the choice to talk with the One who made them and loves them. It's not any more complicated than that.  

Let's pray.   

Father God, in your mercy you invite us to tell you what's on our minds. We know that communication is a two-way street. Nudge us to listen to your voice, and take as much time as we need to pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.