“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.” - Acts 2:42-47 

We read this account of the early church and say to ourselves, “I wish we could find a group of believers who lived this way - a church that functioned this way.” It is a beautiful picture, and it still happens today when sold out Christ followers live in communion with God and with each other.

At the very center of this picture is prayer. These early disciples devoted themselves to prayer, they met with glad and sincere hearts for common meals and praised God. I am convinced that it was their desire to be in God’s presence through teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread that resulted in such unity and service. Prayer is time exposure to God. It takes us into His presence and produces in us a deeper and deeper desire to be like Him.

As a youngster living in Hong Kong, I would often go up to what we called the Peak on Hong Kong island. From there you could see a panoramic view of all of Hong Kong. This view was particularly amazing at night when the lights of the skyscrapers, cars and numerous boats, along with the ubiquitous neon signs, could all be seen. What I most loved was to take the peak tram to the top and take time exposures of the view, resulting in all the moving lights on the roads and harbor tracing their paths in brilliant living color. The longer the time exposure, the more amazing the sight.

This is a picture of prayer and why I call prayer “time exposure with God.” In prayer, we are in active fellowship with our Lord. The longer we linger there, the more we get to know Him, because this is a two way conversation. In talking to Him about needs or giving Him thanks, our hearts start to realign with His. Our needs and concerns are given to him and in our thanksgiving we realize how good He is to us. He strengthens us, encourages us, and even may drop answers or direction into our hearts as we spend time with Him.

Don’t just settle for perfunctory time with God, but linger a bit and allow Him to speak to your heart. I like to think of prayer as the bookends of my day. Starting my day with prayer sets my mind and heart in a place where I am ready to follow Him. Ending my day with prayer gives me a chance to thank Him for His faithfulness and ask for His presence, power and help. Of course, during the day there can be many shorter prayers, but these bookends give our lives a rhythm of time exposure to our Savior. You cannot do this and remain the same.

Father, it is an amazing thing that You desire to fellowship with us. That You delight in our presence with You and that You would enter our lives in an active way as we pray. Give me the desire to spend more time with You both as an individual, with my family and with my fellow pilgrims. As we do, would You help us recapture the passion and purpose of the early church. Amen.

SCRIPTURE - 2 Timothy 3:14-17 

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good Work.” 

There is no book that we ought to read as often and voraciously than the Word of God: the Bible. This book is God’s letter to us. It reveals His character, the truth about us, centers us on His truth, gives us encouragement in tough days, challenges our assumptions about life, demonstrates the patience and love God has for broken men and women, unlocks His plan to redeem lost people and give them forgiveness and purpose, lays out His plan for the ages and even places you and I in His divine story. 

I learned firsthand the importance of Scripture because every morning our family (all twelve of us) would have breakfast together and one of us would read one chapter of the Bible. I think we went through the whole bible with that simple discipline. It so intrigued me that, when I was fifteen, I spent two weeks on vacation reading through the whole Bible. It made me want to understand the plan of God, and from that time on I have been a student of the Book. I want to fit into God’s story!

The book of Hebrews says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

There is no other book in all of history that can do for us what the Scriptures do. Because it is the very breath of God, it is alive and active, penetrating our hearts and bringing us into alignment with His heart. If we want to know Him and remain in Him, the place to start is to feast on His word. 

Knowledge is not the ultimate goal of devouring God’s word. It is to know God the author, follow Him closer, understand Him better and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order to see our hearts and lives become more like that of Jesus. The object of our reading is not to know the Bible, but to know the God who sent His word to us as His blueprint for our lives. If we pay close attention, we should walk away from every reading of His Word changed in some way.

If you are new to reading the Bible, don’t start at the beginning of the book - The Old Testament. That will come, but start with the Gospel of John. Read the four Gospels before you read anything else because here we see the author of Scripture as a man whom we can relate to and learn the story of His life, death and resurrection so we can be forgiven. Each time you read, consider the question: What application is there from these words to my life? A best practice is to spend a few minutes every morning and every evening to recenter our lives on God by reading His word.

Father, I thank You for the gift of the Scriptures, which can thoroughly equip us for every good work. Remind me daily of my need to spend time with You by reading Your Word. Help me to integrate it into my day, and its truth into my life. Amen.

If you ever want to understand the posture of God toward His children, it is found in the last two verses of Psalm 23, verses five and six. It is a truly extraordinary statement. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Those who follow God will have detractors. Yes, even enemies. Those who choose to live in the light, who choose to follow the paths of righteousness, verse 3 are a threat to those who choose to live in darkness and follow their own paths. Those who stand up for justice for instance become a threat to those who prefer to ignore those issues. Those who won’t fudge the ethical boundaries at work can be a threat to those who do so regularly. Those who speak up for the underdog, or speak out against racial injustice incur the wrath of those for whom these are not priorities.

How does God respond to those who follow the paths of righteousness. He spreads a banquet table and anoints our heads with oil, a sign of respect and honor. The allusion to the banquet table is quite colorful because in the ancient world when a party was thrown those who were not invited would gather to watch those who were invited eat and drink and party. That is why in the Gospels the Pharisees criticized Jesus for hanging around with sinners. They were there watching the festivities. So here, what David is saying is that those who follow God, who have God as their shepherd will be honored by God in front of their detractors. It is who God is. He honors His people.

But the coup de gras is found in the statement, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The Hebrew here is colorful. First, the word love is the Hebrew word, “Hesed.” It is virtually untranslatable into English. Contained in that word Hesed are the concepts of love, mercy, grace, compassion, and goodness. It is a powerful word of God’s great and amazing grace toward us.

But notice that we read that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. A literal translation is that God’s Hesed will chase after us like bees to honey all the days of our lives. It is who He is and how much He loves us. Even today, God is chasing after you with His amazing grace and love and goodness. And that lasts not only in this life but for eternity. 

This is our God. A shepherd, one who gives peace and rest for our souls, one who walks through the hard times with us, one who leads us in righteousness. One who honors us in front of our detractors and enemies and one who chases after us all the days our lives with his goodness, love and mercy. That is our shepherd!

Father, all I can say is thank you for being this kind of shepherd to me. Thank you. Amen.

If Psalm 23 is the most famous Psalm, verse 4 of that Psalm is perhaps quoted more than any other verse. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

I have walked through some very hard times in my life. One of the hardest was a hospital stay of 45 days, 30 of which were in the Intensive Care Unit and on a ventilator. The list of complications was long including MRSA pneumonia, multiple system failure, a failed mitral valve in my heart, heart rates of 200 plus beats per minute, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome where you literally start to drown in your own fluids and I could go on. Hard, tough times are part of our lot in life. In fact, in the aftermath of that event which took me more than a year to recover from, I wrote a book called, When Life Comes Undone, walking by faith when life is hard and hope is scarce.

Think of those times in your life when life came undone, when life was hard and hope was scarce. I call these tsunami shifts in our lives when we realize life will never be the same. These are real and they test our faith. Notice that David acknowledges that we will face these times. He says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. It will happen, he says, but it does not need to be a place where we surrender to fear. Because you are with me. We never walk through tough times alone as Christians. The Good Shepherd is always there as our unseen but present guest. We are never alone. Ever.

One year after I was discharged from the hospital I was admitted to another. This time in Thailand with virtually the same issues. But this time I was awake on a ventilator knowing my odds were small of surviving. The one thing I could ask of God was that He would be with me and as I meditated and prayed for his presence He gave me a deep peace even if I did not survive. It would be fourteen days where every hour seemed like 24 hours but He was there with me the whole time.

David goes on to say, “your rod and your staff, they comfort me ” in these times of trouble. The rod and staff are one and the same. On one end, the walking stick end, the shepherd can defend the sheep from wild animals as well as prod the sheep in a certain direction. The other end of the rod has a staff which is a rounded portion that extends the reach of the shepherd to rescue a sheep that is in trouble. He can even lift it out of a crevice by its neck in the staff. In other words, the watchcare of the shepherd in the moments when life is hard and hope is scarce gives us confidence and hope that He will be and is with us. Our Shepherd is not a passive onlooker but there to help and protect and care for us. We are never alone. That, says David, comforts me. And it should us.

Father, thank you that we are never alone. No matter how dire our circumstances may seem, you are there with us and will protect and comfort us. Even today with the issues I face, I ask for your protection, presence and peace. Amen.

One of the challenges of the information age is that there is too much information out there. Take financial planning for instance. How do you plow through the plethora of advice, information, experts, would-be experts, financial strategists that all claim to have the best strategy for your retirement account. Many of us have learned the hard way that the advice was not always what it was advertised to be.

In Psalm 23:3 we read this promise from the Lord who is our Shepherd. “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Or as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, “you send me in the right direction.” In our complicated world with competing worldviews what we need to know is the “right direction.” And David says God will never let us down in that regard.

What is interesting about God’s direction is that it is often the opposite of what we are told we should do. For instance, God says that by being generous with Him and others we gain true wealth. He says that to become great we must become small. To experience real life we must die to ourselves. To get ahead in His kingdom we must act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. All of these are counter intuitive and counter to the practices and advice of our day.

In all the mumbo jumbo of our day, there is only one guide who will not steer us wrong and it is our shepherd. In fact, his says are paths of righteousness which are the paths that He himself has laid out for us. Just as a good shepherd would never steer his sheep along unsafe paths that would lead the flock in the wrong or dangerous direction, our shepherd will never do that. 

The key, though, is that sheep need to trust their shepherd. Sheep wander. So do we. The classic definition of sin is found in Isaiah 53:6,  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” That is the ultimate problem we have. We like to go our own way, do our own thing and make our own rules but ultimately it comes back to hurt us.

As we pay attention to our shepherd and His teaching, we will learn to walk in paths of righteousness which will never hurt us and always protect us - even from ourselves. That is a great promise. He will only lead us in paths of righteousness that benefit us and keep us off the wrong paths. It is also why he says that he brings peace to our souls. That peace is found not in our own wisdom but in God’s wisdom. By ourselves we bring chaos to our souls. He brings peace.

Father. Thank you that I can trust you to lead me in paths that are best for me because they are your paths of righteousness. Remind me each day to look for your paths and not my own. Amen.

My observation is that many of us have weary souls today. The pace of life, the stresses of our lives, the burdens we carry and the innumerable things we worry about. Add to that the 24 hour news cycles that would have us believe that the world is on the brink, every day and we are reminded over and over and over. Our souls easily become weary with the pace and stress of our lives. 

Into that reality steps another reality. “The Lord is our Shepherd, I shall lack nothing. In fact, “He, our Shepherd, makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Think of the contrast between what David writes about the Shepherd of our lives and how we experience our lives. Why the disconnect? The closest we seem to get to green pastures or quiet, still waters are in pictures on Pinterest. It looks like some place I would love to visit but I live in the real world.

The writer of Psalm 23, David, was a shepherd and he knew that God does for us what he did for his sheep: Mainly to lead them to green pastures where they could rest in peace and beside still waters that were refreshing to drink. In fact, God offers that kind of peace and rest for us every single day if we would simply stop long enough to spend some time in His presence and experience His peace.

You see, it is not that Jesus cannot lead us to places of peace and rest. He can, even in the middle of our frenetic lives. The issue is not Him but us. Because He Himself is the source of that peace we long for. He is the source of the rest our souls need. But we have to find time to stop, take moments in His presence in prayer, meditation, worship or Scripture and allow Him to fill up our empty hearts and bring peace to our stressed minds. 

But remember, He Himself is the source of that peace so unless we go to the source and spend time there we will not experience it. Ironically we look for all kinds of ways to find rest and peace in our daily lives when all we need to do is go to the source and spend time with Him. God says elsewhere through the prophets, “Be still and know that I am God.” Be still and experience the green pastures and quiet waters that God desires to lead us to. And it is there that we find restoration for our souls. 

If your soul needs restoring today, take some time away from the noise and distractions around you and spend time with Jesus. He is your shepherd. He will lead you to green pastures and quiet waters and you will find rest for your soul. Try doing that every day and your life will look different and it will be more peaceful and your soul will no longer be tired.

Father, forgive me for not coming to you when I so desperately need what only you can offer. Help me find time today to experience the peace and restoration that my mind, heart and soul so desperately needs. And thank you that you offer it to me each and every day. Amen.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.” We read this in times of need: Psalm 23. We read it at funerals when our hearts need hope. To those who are sick and need encouragement. When we are walking through the toughest of times it becomes our prayer. It is easily the most recognized Psalm in Scripture. In this week’s Devos we will look at this amazing Psalm, which starts with a remarkable statement if you stop and think about it. Another translation has it this way: "The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.”

Think for a moment on that first statement, “The Lord is my shepherd.” The God of the universe is my shepherd. I don’t know if you have ever been around a shepherd with his or her sheep. The thing about shepherds is that they would live with their sheep. You can still find shepherds caring for their sheep in many parts of the world. 

And what do these shepherds do? They protect their sheep, find the lost ones when they wander away, set bones when they break, bring them to places where the food is good and the water is fresh. They literally look after all the needs that the sheep have because by themselves, sheep very quickly wander off and get themselves lost and in trouble. To be honest that sounds a lot like me left to my own devices. Maybe you.

Sheep come to the shepherd because they recognize the shepherd's voice and know that with the shepherd they have security. They trust the shepherd to take them to the right places and when lost, they look for the shepherd. There is a deep relationship between a shepherd and their sheep. In historic times, the shepherd will sleep with the sheep to protect them even at night.  Thus the shepherd knows the sheep and the sheep know their shepherd. 

Against that backdrop, think of the implications of David’s statement that the Lord is my Shepherd. The God of the universe, the creator of all things, the high and lifted up and holy and all powerful, all knowing and all present God is my personal shepherd. He is the one who walks with me through life and even through the valley of death - those very tough times when hope is scarce and life is hard. He and no other is my shepherd who provides, protects, and gives me all that I need. The Lord is my shepherd, and yours, if you have made Him the Lord of your life.

That is why David can confidently say, “I shall lack nothing.” If my creator and the God of the universe is my personal shepherd, what can I lack? Or what can I be afraid of? So why do we worry like we do? Why do we live with fear and doubt and anxiety when the Lord is our Shepherd. There is no power or love greater than His. And we are His sheep. His!

Father, help me meditate on this simple and powerful truth today. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall lack nothing.” Thank you Jesus. Thank you! Amen.

SCRIPTURE - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” 

One of the great dichotomies of life is that, for a believer, what is most real and most relevant is not what we see today but what we will experience in eternity. As Paul says, “For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” He is suggesting that we see beyond our present line of sight to our ultimate destiny and then live today in light of that destiny. He wants us to live this life in light of eternity!

This life is not always easy, especially as we follow Jesus. And, we are broken and frail people. All of our lives have cracks, places of pain, sorrow or challenge. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, Paul reminds us that we hold the treasures of God’s work in our lives in Jars of Clay. These jars break, which is why they are usually found in pieces by archaeologists. We are broken and we age and we suffer troubles, but in the midst of that Paul says, don’t lose heart, don’t become discouraged, because inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Who renews us? Jesus does. He is at work in our lives always, even this very moment. He was yesterday and He will be tomorrow. Ironically, we are often most alive spiritually when we are weak because it is then that we rely on God the most. If you need to be renewed, ask God for that because He renews us day by day. Outwardly we are aging and suffer disease and trouble. Inwardly we are being renewed by Christ. 

Even the troubles we face are not the end of the matter, “for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” It is so easy to fix our eyes on what we see around us as if that is the meaning of life. It is not. The true meaning of life is to be with Him, that is when we will finally be home. We always need to look beyond this life by living this life in light of eternity and making eternal investments in the people around us. 

As you walk through your day today, remind yourself that what is unseen, our final home, is eternal and that what is seen is temporary. Think about how you can make eternal investments today by serving others, being willing to share what God has done in your life or by extending grace and forgiveness. Every time we act toward others as Jesus would, we join Him in His work. And when we look beyond the temporary to the eternal, and act as Jesus would, we bring bits of heaven to earth. Remember this dichotomy: “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Live in light of eternity. 

Father, thank You that You made me for You and not for this world. Remind me often to live life in light of eternity, and when I am tempted to think that what I see around me is the ultimate reality, give me a vision of the eternal glory waiting for me. As I do this, thank You for Your renewing power and presence day by day. Amen.

SCRIPTURE - 2 Peter 1:5-9

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

The Gospel of Jesus and His redemption of our lives should change the very character of who we are in a wonderful way. Think of these characteristics: faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. These are the building blocks of a character that starts to look increasingly like that of Jesus. They include equally elements of our inner life, along with our attitude and posture toward those around us. Our own character formation should lead to changes in how we interact with others.

These character traits don’t just happen, but require our regular effort. This is why Peter tells us to make every effort to add these to our faith. True faith is not simply belief, although it starts there. Real faith includes ongoing life change and the building of our character so that we look more and more like Jesus. 

While we have the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit to make these characteristics true in our lives. Goodness replaces selfishness, self control replaces impatience, perseverance replaces discouragement, godliness replaces sinful practices, brotherly kindness replaces all unkind words and actions and love replaces our focus on self. All of these require our active participation and a willingness to become like Jesus.

In fact, Peter makes a strong statement when he says, “If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sin.”

The cultivation of these qualities is what makes our Christian lives effective and productive, while ignoring them is an indication that we have forgotten all that God did to cleanse us and His call on our lives. It is spiritual nearsightedness.

Think through these character traits that need to be added to our faith. This is a journey from a life focused on me, to a life focused on Jesus and others. It is a journey toward the character of God. Take some time today to think about each of the characteristics that He wants for our lives. Where do you see progress, and where do you need to pay greater attention? Post a list where you can see it, and pray that God will help you continue to grow into His character.

Father, thank You for this reminder and encouragement to grow into Your character. Help me stay focused on becoming more like You. Remind me that You redeemed me to join You in Your work and become like You. Amen.

We like to have our own way. At least I do. I like to have an opinion on many things in life and sometimes that opinion can be critical of someone else’s decisions or practices. In fact, we judge one another over simple things, probably because their decisions were different than ours. 

Paul meddles with our judgemental tendencies in Romans 14 where he gets into a conversation about the need to accept one another and to stop passing judgement on disputable matters. In that day there were those who would not eat food that had been first offered to idols as was the custom. Others ignored that knowing that the idols were just idols and the food was good food. Both parties were making decisions based on their own consciences but it was easy for the one who ate the food to look down on the one who didn’t. Didn’t they know they were being foolish?

This is not our issue today but there are many issues in our faith where different people make different choices and when it comes to judging one another on these disputable matters, Paul says kindly, cut it out. Instead of being critical he offers a great piece of advice that should apply to all our relationships in God’s family at all times. 

Here it is, Romans 14:19. “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Let that sink in for a moment. If in all our interactions we made every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification, that is building someone else up, what would life look like?

Peace in relationships is a good thing. It is a Jesus thing. So how do we do this? Paul says, whatever you think about these things that you differ on, keep between yourself and God. In other words, practice what I call KMS. “Keep Mouth Shut.” So many bad feelings and wounds would be prevented if we simply didn’t say whatever came to our minds or what we think when it doesn’t really matter. If it is not necessary to say, if it is judgemental on things that don’t matter, keep it to ourselves. Don’t say it. KMS.

Rather than pressing into something that would break the peace, Paul says, make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. To edify another is to build them up, to help them grow, become better and to encourage them. In other words, keep the judgemental stuff you feel to yourself and share the stuff that will encourage and help the other individual grow in the grace of God.

Think of how Jesus deals with us. He is kind and He is gentle and he puts up with a lot, at least in my case He does. He always encourages us to grow, do better and be more like him. Like this very text. Let's be like Jesus in our interactions with others.

Father, help me to resist the temptation to judge others on decisions they make as they seek to follow you. Help me keep the peace and be a person that builds up rather than tears down. Amen.