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By Meron Asnake (WITHIN Devotional Contributor) As a child, I excelled in doing everything right. I was what you call a “by-the-book” type of girl. I did my homework on time, made good grades, stayed out of trouble, and did my chores. In addition, I was mostly an honest child; my mom knew everything I was always doing. Shockingly, it was by choice. I told her about who I was with, where I went, and what I did. If there were instances where I knew I had to lie, I removed myself from those situations, and kept a low profile. In doing so, I made sure she was not worried about me. I deduced that my brother was enough of a “problem child” for a single mama. Obnoxiously enough, I was a responsible child. Although there is nothing wrong in being a responsible child, there is something wrong in finding worth in that. Furthermore, what I did not share in the prior statements, is that I was compared with my brother. As a result, I interpreted the comparison as rejection that introduced longings to be accepted and affirmed in all spheres. Hence, I triumphed in my role of being a “goody two shoes.” So, you can imagine my shock at the finished work of Christ. For a long time, the upside-down Kingdom of God did not make sense. It meant that I no longer needed to perform to earn God’s love; it was foreign concept to my actress soul, which thrived in applause. In some ways, I still find myself working for God’s approval. I occupy myself with things of God just in case He is keeping scores. Because when He finally realizes that I am a sinner, have fallen short, and in need of a savior, He may review his scoreboard before He revokes my adoption. However, it does not work that way for those of us who are CALLED. We are BELOVED in God the Father, who KEPT us for JESUS CHRIST (Jude 1b). And that deserves a shout of praise and a hallelujah! In his letter, Jude identified the recipients as those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1b). He spoke into the identity that was bestowed by no man and can never be taken away. It then begs the questions to what He is trying to communicate with his audience. Why are they called, how are they loved, and who is keeping them? “To those whom God has called have been summoned into fellowship with Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9). God’s call is not merely an invitation to know Him, but it is a call that inevitably leads to faith in Him (Romans 8:30). And this calling deals with our past, present and future” (1). As a result, His great love with which He loved us (Ephesians 2:4), is experienced in our daily communion with Him. Once we are born again, we are forever kept for Him and in Him. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4). Thus, we rest in the assurance of our inheritance in heaven that is secure and safe. It cannot be moved, or taken away (2) and that is a promise from God. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Jude 1-25 Romans 8:28-30 Ephesians 2-10 Questions to Reflect on:
For more detailed and in-depth study of the book of Jude, please refer to bible study, Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today’s Culture, by Jackie Hill Perry
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By Hannah Solomon Mesfin (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)
This weekend most of us had the chance to celebrate the ones we love so dear in our lives-whether that’s in romantic relationships, friendships or relationships in our family. We use this one particular day to express love to the fullest and show what someone means to us. And in the midst of all of this, the thought of enduring love rang so strongly in my heart. What kind of love endures through the test of time? What type of love endures through constant rejection? What love is always enduring? There’s only One I know and that is God’s love. In Psalm 136 alone we see the phrase “His love endures forever” 26 times. In Psalm 118:1 we notice it says, “His lovingkindness endures forever”. Another translation says, “His steadfast love endures forever.” We see this word endure repeatedly. The word endure itself means to remain in existence. This word alone is not speaking just about God’s love but about God’s nature. God in nature is everlasting and anything that derives from God can only be eternal and everlasting as He is in nature. When we say God is love (1 John 4:8), we have to understand that love is who He is and not just what He gives out. From the beginning of creation, when God set in mind to create beings in His image, His love was already in existence because He already was in existence. And then to express His love in a profound way to His rebellious creation, He sent His one and only Son to take our place of punishment so that we may find everlasting life (John 3:16). The entire Bible is ultimately a love story from God to His children. God creates His creation out of love and makes us in His image (Genesis 1-2). Man fails and is alienated from God because of sin (Genesis 3). God then sends His Son, as an act of love, for His creation by wanting to redeem us to Him (John 3:16). Finally, as creation and His children, we eagerly await His return to be restored back to His initial plan; to live in perfect harmony and intimacy in everlasting love with the Father (Romans 8:19-23). We can find so much hope in knowing that the love we find from God is never and will never be dependent on us. I have known many people to assume that God has stopped loving them or suddenly “fell out of love” with them because of their constant mistakes and sin. But when we begin to learn about the nature of God, we then understand that our shortcomings do not cause God to love us less. He is not like mankind for His love to be swayed by the motions of this world. God simply loves because He is love. If at any moment we feel His love is distant, it is only because we have chosen to reject it. Sometimes we reject His love out of pride, out of shame, out of embarrassment or at a lack of knowledge. Regardless of the situation, His love remains—it endures forever. “For I am convinced beyond any doubt, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Psalm 118:1 Psalm 136 John 3:16 1 John 4:8 Romans 8:38-39 Questions to Reflect on:
By Debbie Ramamoorthy (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)
I recently celebrated my birthday and went on a weekend trip to a nearby town in Ecuador. The town is surrounded by mountains and gorges and has a beautiful majestic volcano that borders one side of the town. To start the new year off waking up and looking at the mountains felt appropriate for someone who yearns for moments of reflecting and fresh starts. As I started my reflection time, I thought about the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15--a story of how God never tires of us coming to Him, regardless of situations, circumstances, and seasons of disconnect. The reason I started to process this story is because each year I try to write letters of gratitude to the people I love or who have played an instrumental part in the year that has passed. I write the number of letters that matches up to the year I am turning. So, this year I wrote out 31 letters of gratitude. As I wrote my letters, I thought about my own earthly father who has loved me so deeply my entire life that sometimes I couldn’t imagine our God loving me more. But the more I thought about my father’s love towards me, I couldn’t help but think about God’s overwhelming love towards us as His children. This took me to the story of the prodigal son and how there was no depth or height of disconnect that this son could create that would not allow him to return back to his father and be welcomed back with joy and met with a huge celebration. The son did not come back and have to quietly reintegrate back into his family. The father did not ashamedly take him back in or make him enter silently through the back door. Rather, he rejoiced in his homecoming and wanted everyone to celebrate in it as well! The father was so quick to find the joy in his son’s return rather than be consumed by the hurt that his son had caused him- which I’m sure was much and painful! This depth of love can only be from the Lord. The love of our God towards us is always a sacrificial and selfless love that is never conditional on our behavior and position. He is always near us, loving us and seeking us. Even when we are in seasons where we feel disconnected from Him, He is still loving us in the purest form. Much like the response the father had in the story of the prodigal son, God responds the same when we come back to Him because we’ve recognized the pit and utter darkness that we’ve found ourselves in. And we are received with His open arms full of grace and mercy and joy, reminding us that He delights in His children’s return. Not only does this kind of love come from God but He also empowers us to love like that. He is the only One who is able to give us a spirit that is quick to forgive, quick to selflessly love and accept and be slow to anger. It made me think about how much we need to depend on Him to love one another sacrificially and selflessly. God desires that we depend on Him even with the most basic expectations put on us--even how we sometimes think that it must be easy to love our children or spouses or our friends, but in reality, we need Him for that! My encouragement to you this week is to reflect back on the areas of your life and see where God is asking you to depend on Him. Then, look at the areas that are challenging and see how God can intercede and sustain you. It’s in and through those moments that we are able to see our constant and consistent need for Him- in all the big and even ordinary ways! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Psalm 37:5 Luke 15:11-32 Romans 6:16 Galatians 5:25 Questions to Reflect on:
By Yodit Kifle Smith
For many people, they believe that Christianity is a religion that forces you to only deal with “happy and hopeful” thoughts. Guilt comes over them if they feel anxiety, deep sadness, grief or depression as if those things aren’t found in Scripture. Often times, it’s either they have not been in the Word to know the range of human emotions that exist there or they have been taught that those kinds of feelings can’t exist in this faith. Both do great damage to the way we come to know and see God. The beautiful thing about the Bible is that it’s not a book that has been neatly packaged with “prim and proper” stories. What makes it a book unlike any other outside of the incredible truth that it’s God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) is that it shows the humanity of mankind in a way that sometimes makes me question if this could really be the Holy Bible. The drama of murder, deception, rebellion, envy, pain, depression, suffering, anger and so much more that is revealed while at the same time undeniably showing the glorious majesty of God Almighty is quite astounding. From the very first pages of Scripture, we see how the depth of mankind’s heart through every emotion, sin, pain, and tragedy reveal that the people in scripture were truly human—not some type of super human who were holier and closer to God that we are or can be. More importantly, we see a Holy God who didn’t distance Himself from them but One who actually pursued them in their sin and rebellion and even while in that—sent His son to die for them (Romans 5:8). We see a Holy God who was grieved at the rebellion of His people yet in His mercy, still protected them on their path. He comforted them in their grief and gave them hope in their suffering, doubts and depression. His plans for them never wavered (Jeremiah 29:11) even though they did. And this is the same God we know and get to continue knowing today. God’s Word speaks to every part of our humanity. Hiding our humanity when we think that what we’ve done, what we feel or are going through could not be understood by God is not biblical. In fact, Satan—the father of lies--throws a party whenever we fall into that trap. He would want nothing more than for us to feel distant when we are in a state of grief, depression, anxiety and especially sin. Why? Because he knows that truth and clarity of those places that we find ourselves in are revealed through God and in His Word. He knows that for the one who has repented and placed their trust in Jesus, forgiveness is given through His blood and they are in the righteousness of Christ (Ephesians 1:7). He knows for the one whose anxiety is great, God brings consolation (Psalm 9:19) and in and through prayer, God’s peace that surpasses all understanding covers them (Philippians 4:7). He knows that for the one whose soul is downcast and is in turmoil, hope in God is not far off as they remember the faithfulness of God (Psalm 42:11). He knows for the one who is in pain, God’s comfort is real (2 Corinthians 1:4). He knows for the one who is suffering, that it’s not in vain (Romans 5:3-4) and God’s grace is with them. Satan knows and so he seeks to isolate us so that the deceitfulness of sin would harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:13) towards the truth and love of God. Don’t fall for it. Rather, let us fall into the arms of God when we are confronted with the reality of our humanity because a price has been paid for us through Christ—not so we can walk in our own strength or be guided by our own emotions but so the Holy Spirit can lead us into all truth (John 6:13). -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Psalm 9:19 Psalm 42:11 John 6:13 Ephesians 1:7 Philippians 4:7 Romans 5:3-4, 8Questions to Reflect on:
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