Tim Hetzner – Daily Devotions

The Drama Of Emotions

“…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24)

Dealing with crucifixion, Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He felt intense emotions. “Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). So strong were these emotions that He prayed for the cup of crucifixion to pass. But that night, Jesus broke the domination of emotions by obedience to the will of His Father, saying, “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (v. 42).

Not only can emotions be ruled by obedience, but they will obey faith. Emotions will do what we, in faith, order them to do. David said, “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1). David ordered his soul, the center of his emotions, to bless the Lord. He believed his soul and everything in him would do what he commanded.

Feelings can be transformed from drama to blessing. Paul believed that negative emotions can be put off, and positive emotions can be put on. “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Again he writes, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15). It is clear from the Scriptures that emotions can be governed, and the will can respond to God’s power and faith rather than the drama of emotions.

Prayer

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Controlling Your Tongue

“For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.” (1 Peter 3:10)

Your tongue has creative power. If you doubt that, criticize someone, and observe the look on their face and their response. Now try complimenting them and observe the look on their face and their response. But let’s not just talk about the effect your words have on others, but what they have on you. The Bible says when you use your tongue to do good, you “enjoy life and see many happy days.”

Jesus gives us a powerful illustration of this: “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23 NKJV). What did Jesus mean? That you can talk about your problem or talk to the Great Problem Solver about your problem. You can complain about it or pray about it. You can discuss it from a human perspective, focusing on all its complications, or discuss it from a divine perspective, focusing on God’s power to change the circumstances.

You can reinforce your sense of discouragement and despair by saying things like, “The problem is too big, and nothing can be done about it.” Or you can give the problem to God and say, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV). When you say that, you’re not only using the creative power of God’s Word, you’re using your tongue the right way.

Prayer

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Soul Care

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” (3 John 2)

Your body is like an “earth suit” that will eventually die and be replaced with a new, celestial, Christlike body. Paul writes, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). The treasure, the thing that matters most, the thing that will live for eternity, is your soul. John writes, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Someone has estimated that the average body contains enough phosphorous to make 800,000 match heads, enough sugar to make 60 cubes, enough salt to cover 20 spoons, and enough iron to make a three-inch nail. The rest is just dust and water.

The story is told of a little boy who was taught in Sunday school, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). One day, when he was looking under the bed, his mother asked him, “What are you looking at?” He replied, “My Sunday school teacher said that we come from dust and go back to dust. There’s somebody under my bed, and I can’t tell whether they’re coming or going!”

Seriously, since your body is temporal and your soul is eternal, you must take the long view and practice soul care. Nurture your soul daily with God’s Word. Fortify and enrich it by spending time each day with God in prayer. Discover the talents and treasures He has placed within you and invest them into the kingdom of God and others. Next time someone says to you, “Take care of yourself,” think not only about your body but about your soul.

Prayer

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Three Steps To Spiritual Restoration

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

Satan wants to convince you your failures are so bad that they disqualify you in God’s eyes, that you’re unworthy of His love and grace, and that you should avoid God altogether. Don’t believe him. Here are three steps that lead to spiritual restoration:

1) Repent. Acknowledge your sin, renounce it, and trust in the shed blood of Jesus to forgive you. God loved you when you were a sinner, and He loves you no less as one of His redeemed children who has blown it.

2) Restitution. When your actions have hurt someone, Jesus tells you what to do: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). If you want to walk in God’s blessing, follow His instructions.

3) Refocus. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). When you focus on yourself and your failures, you’re looking in the wrong mirror. When you focus on Christ and His unfailing love and grace towards you, you’re looking in the right mirror. And you will be changed into the image you’re focusing on. And blessedly, the change agent is not you but the Holy Spirit who lives within you. He will keep working in your life to make you more and more like Jesus.

Prayer

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Accept God’s Forgiveness, Forgive Yourself, And Move Forward

“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

Satan is called “the accuser,” and he will try to keep you focused on your past. He can hurt you every day unless you accept God’s forgiveness, forgive yourself, and move forward. At the cross, Jesus bore both your sin and shame, but Satan wants you to keep carrying them. Where can you find an answer? Look at these Scriptures:

1) “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (v. 17). You say, “But that’s in the future.” True. But the Bible says we have already “tasted…the powers of the world to come” (Hebrews 6:5) and that our lives can be like “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21).

2) “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

3) “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth” (Isaiah 54:4).

You might say, “I can’t help but remember!” Yes, you can! Paul, who killed and imprisoned Christians before becoming an apostle, said: “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). God can heal your memories, so let the healing begin.

Prayer

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God Has An Assignment For You

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Your God-given assignment in life comes with three things.

1) A plan. “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” As you spend time with the Lord in prayer, He will reveal His plan to you. And He will do it one step at a time. You might say, “But what if I make a mistake? What if I stumble?” The Bible says, “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).

2) A time frame. Not only does God have a personal plan for you, He schedules certain things to take place in your life at certain times. “For the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come” (Psalm 102:13). That’s why you must stay in step with God and in sync with the beat of the Holy Spirit who lives within you.

3) Victory in spite of the odds and the opposition. “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith” (1 John 5:4 NLT). Keep your faith strong. Keep trusting God. You may say, “But the circumstances don’t look good.” God is in control of your circumstances. He made the sun stand still to give Joshua extra time to win the battle over his enemies, and He can alter the circumstances for your good and His glory.

Prayer

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Are You Doing What You Are Supposed To Do?

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

In his book, How Successful People Grow, John Maxwell identifies three kinds of people:

1) People who don’t know what they would like to do… “They lack a strong sense of purpose…They dabble. They drift. They have no idea what to shoot for. I believe the main reason is that they don’t know themselves as well as they should and thus remain unfocused in their growth.”

2) People who know what they would like to do but don’t do it… “Sometimes they aren’t doing what they want because they worry that it will cause them to neglect other responsibilities, such as providing for their families. Sometimes they aren’t willing to pay the price to learn, grow, and move closer to where they want to be. Other times, fear prevents them from changing courses to pursue their passion. No matter what the reason, they, too, miss their potential.”

3) People who know what they would like to do and do it. “These people fulfill the Scripture: ‘He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.’ (Ephesians 2:10 NLT) The third kind of people know themselves, possess a strong sense of passion, are focused on purpose, grow in areas that help them move closer to their purpose, and do what they were created to do. The best word that describes them is fulfilled. Finding yourself and growing to your potential can be a bit of a Catch-22. You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.”

The solution is – spend time with God and let Him direct you.

Prayer

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The Secret Of Perpetual Fruitfulness

“I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

If serving the Lord stresses you out, read what Jesus said: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing” (vv. 4-5).

When you see grapes on a vine, it’s a picture of effortless growth. One day when the great missionary J. Hudson Taylor felt overworked and worried, he read a letter from a friend who had found the secret of abiding in Christ. The letter profoundly moved Taylor, and he realized that his unity with Jesus should create joy and fulfilment, not worry and stress.

Soon afterwards, Taylor wrote to his sister, saying, “As to work, mine was never so plentiful or so difficult: but the weight and strain are now gone. The last month has been perhaps the happiest in my life; and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul…I looked to Jesus and saw that He had said, ‘I will never leave you.’ Ah, there is rest. For has He not promised to abide with me? As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured into my soul!”

So pray:

Prayer

That’s a prayer God will answer.

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The Importance Of Being Alone With God

“After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23)

Jesus was both human and divine. Because we tend to think of Him as the Son of God more than the Son of Man, we overlook what we can learn from His human experience. When Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 people, His divine power and prerogatives were on display (see Matthew 14:13-21). Yet after the event, we see His humanity in ways we should be able to identify with.

After dismissing the crowd and sending the disciples away, Jesus withdrew to a solitary spot on the mountainside to be alone with God. After such a miracle, most of us would be celebrating. And those around us would have a hard time understanding why He sent them away. But Jesus understood that His power did not come from the crowd but from His Father, so He created time and solitude to be alone with Him.

The relationship Jesus had with His Father is a picture of the relationship you, too, can have with God. Three things describe it:

1) Intimacy. “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does” (John 5:20).

2) Dependency. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19).

3) Obedience. “I can of Myself do nothing…I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (v. 30).

What do you need to send away in order to have such a relationship with the Lord?

Prayer

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Your Quiet Time — Part Four

“To the LORD, I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill. Selah” (Psalm 3:4)

Sometimes Jesus rose early in the morning to pray; other times, He prayed all night long. So, your quiet time can be morning, evening, or whatever time works best for you. You’re not punching a time clock where God pays you; accordingly, He is inviting you to spend time with Him. David said, “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill. Selah.” Throughout the Psalms, this little word “Selah” occurs 71 different times. It means to pause and think. There is no specific length of time attached to the pause. Instead, it seems left up to the individual.

Selah. It’s a call to rest and reflect, to be still and breathe deeply, to settle into the moment and remain for a while. The Selah thought appears to be at the center of quiet time with the Lord. When the Lord says, “Selah,” He is saying, “Stop doing, and sit at My feet. Just belong to Me.” What an invitation! It’s everything you have longed for and everything you need.

And believe it or not, people who often have the hardest time doing it are involved in ministry. Like Martha, they excel when it comes to serving. And the danger is that by doing lots of things for the Lord, we feel like that excuses us from sitting at His feet and spending time with Him as Mary did. If you have been remiss, negligent, or inconsistent in this, re-establish your quiet time with the Lord and refuse to let anything keep you from it.

Prayer

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