By Diana Rose  (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” -Psalm 118:24 
Eve: 
This is my first day here and we are all together. Everything is new and good. Adam and I are so happy and we are rejoicing in all this beautiful creation. God has made so many amazing things! We walked together with Him in the cool of the evening tonight and we continue to marvel at all He has made in this paradise for us to enjoy. We are giddy with gladness for He is so good. 
Eve: 
Today our hearts are breaking. We have been cast out of Eden. We will have to labor and sweat toiling the land and raising children. It hurts so much to be separated from the Lord, and I don’t feel the same closeness to Adam I felt before. But God has promised to provide one who will crush that deceiving serpent's head. God is still good. Although my eyes are streaming with tears, I am exceedingly glad for His mercy. 
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” -Psalm 118:24 
Mary: 
Today was long and hard, but so amazing. I went into labor after several days of journeying to the city of David in Bethlehem. The city was bursting at the seams with people when we arrived. I could barely hold myself together as Joseph searched for a private place for me to deliver the baby. Now that He is here I cannot express my joy in spite of my fatigue and the humble surroundings we find ourselves in. 
I am holding the Son of the Most High in my arms, and as I gaze into his tiny face my heart is overflowing with gladness and joy. He has come! 
A Samaritan woman: 
This is the day my whole life changed. Today at Jacob’s well I met a Jewish man and He spoke to me! I was so shocked because no one ever speaks to me, especially not a Jewish man! He talked to me about living water and He asked me questions that pierced my heart. When I discovered that He knew all that I’ve ever done, I began to wonder who He was. My heart is so free and light after talking with Him. I must go tell the others! I believe he is the Messiah! 
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” -Psalm 118:24 
Mary Magdalene: 
Today a miracle happened, and I am shaking with awe and wonder! Mary and I went to the tomb, but we never expected what happened when we got there! It was terrifying and wonderful all at the same time. Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, but we saw an angel whose appearance was like lightning and his clothes were as white as snow. He told us, “I know you seek Jesus who was crucified, but He is not
here, for he has risen, as he said.” Then he told us to run and tell the disciples. We took off full of great joy to share the news! He is risen, rejoice! 
Diana: 
I am tempted to believe that today is just another ordinary day with the same mundane rhythms and routines as yesterday. It’s so easy to believe I am just a cog in the machine at work, just another face in the crowd at church, just another account on Instagram. My days turn into weeks, turn into months and years with no apparent purpose or significance. 
But Jesus changes everything. 
Jesus gives life, he gives mercy and hope. Jesus gives joy and freedom to our broken and enslaved hearts. Jesus is our victory and our redeemer. When we acknowledge that each day is from Jesus and for Jesus and through Jesus, our pain has purpose, our weakness has worth, and our struggle has significance. 
The Bible says, “this is the day the Lord has made.” He made it. He has made every single day since the beginning (see Genesis 1.) He planned this day, and His plans are perfect. His purposes will be accomplished today both in my life and yours. 
“Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Our job is to respond in faith believing that Jesus has made this day, to respond in gladness having experienced the love of Jesus, and to rejoice, making much of Him and His good gift of today. 
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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:
 Read Psalm 118

Questions to Reflect on:

1. How will you respond to this day knowing that it was handcrafted by the lover of your soul?
   

By Saron Tadesse (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)

The story of the Israelites in Exodus always fascinates me. Partly because of the miracles God performed to get them out of slavery and sustain them on the journey to the promise land and another part because of the constant cycle of the Israelites’ disobedience and mistrust in God.

God had rescued them from slavery after 400 years through wondrous miracles; He parted the red sea so they could pass through the waters, fed them bread from heaven (Exodus 16), and led them by cloud during the day and by fire during the night (Exodus 13). After all they had witnessed, they were quick to turn against God and worship a golden calf they made for themselves. 
Exodus 32:1 reads, “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” 
The Israelites fell gravely into sin because Moses was “delayed” from his journey to receive instructions from the Lord on their behalf. They could not wait for Moses to get back to them on time, so they made a god for themselves to worship. In their eyes, Moses’ delay meant that he was never coming when in reality he was already on his way to them with a word from God. 
The more I observe the Israelites’ behavior, the more I see the same pattern showing up in my life. There have been times where I fell into sin and disobedience because I could not wait on God’s timing. Deep down I did not trust that God would answer me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. That only made things worse for myself and anyone involved in the long run.  
One thing I have learned, however, is that God’s timing is always right. It is never too late nor too early. It is perfect. Most times we rush into taking matters into our hands when things seem delayed on the surface, but we must remember that God is always working even when we don't see it nor feel it. He is the one who established time and exists outside of time so His purposes for our lives are not bound by our limited timeline. Let us then be courageous in knowing that God is never delayed so that we do not fall into sin and disobedience. 
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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:
 Ecclesiastes 3:11
Isaiah 40:31 
Psalms 27:14

Questions to Reflect on:

1. What is one thing that you need to patiently wait on God for?
   
2. Remember how God has been faithful to you in the past. How does that influence your trust in God’s timing? 
   

By Meron Asnake (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)
​“How do I relate to God?” is a question I have been pondering for several weeks. I am not sure exactly when and why I began to contemplate on the thought, but I can only attribute the nudging to the Holy Spirit. I have shared with a close friend how I sometimes experience a barrier in my spiritual walk, regarding the role of Jesus in my life.

 I feel as if I can hear your gasp of shock by my confession; I promise to make it make sense if you keep on reading.

I recognize that I mainly relate to God as the Father. It is a perfect remedy to the gaping hole in my heart, due to the loss of my earthly father, whom I have been missing and grieving for last 20+ years. Though I understand the biblical truth of my salvation —the finished work of Christ on the cross that reunited me to the God the Father —my pain-point has always tethered me to Him. However, I tend to shift blame and deflect skewed images from my earthly father onto the holy God. As a result, I distance myself from the heavenly Father and avoid facing my own brokenness.

Thus, these are the kinds of moments I wish I could practice my innate instincts when it comes to a family dynamic. I usually run to my brother and vent about a discourse(s) I have with a parent. I communicate my frustrations — seeking to be understood and fully known. I expect for my brother to mediate on my behalf and bring me back to the right standing of my identity of being my parent’s child.  Most importantly, I desire to have the peace he possesses for my internal wars are caused by my own proclivities to reject authority and break boundaries. But here lies my dilemma, I usually do not run to my heavenly brother; I rarely go to Jesus, first.

I have yet to fully conceptualize Jesus’ friendship, and I do wonder if I am even supposed to. Regardless, He does call us friends, and verses like John 15:12-15 are a heart piercing truth to mediate on.

John 15: 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

At once, these verses are affirming and convicting. Jesus clearly states that it is NOT us, who chose Him. He chose and appointed us to abide in Him and in His love. He asks us to keep his greatest commandment (John 13: 34-35), as He promise to bring us into His friendship. It is a costly relationship bought by His blood for Christ willing laid down His life for us.  In return, you and I have the privilege of being children of God; we get to experience a loving heavenly Father, a compassionate Brother, and nurturing Holy Spirit in our triune God — lacking nothing.
Lastly, as we are reminded by Jesus in verse 16 to ask for WHATEVER in His name, Beloved I am praying we ask for JESUS. May we KNOW Him more, grow to LOVE Him, and forever CHOOSE Him above all things.
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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:

John 15:12-15
John 13:34-35

Questions to Reflect on:

1. How do you relate to God? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
2. Do your earthly experiences affect how you related to God?
3. What is the Holy Spirit nudging about? And how can the nudging reveal more of God?
4. How should your friendship with Jesus reframe how you relate to Him, yourself, and others?

By Yodit Kifle Smith“He must increase, but I must decrease.”  (John 3:30)

Imagine standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, amidst its grandeur and awesomeness. Would the thought of your own greatness even come to mind? Probably not. It’s natural that whenever we are in the midst of greatness, it produces in us momentary humility. We are in awe and we are humbled.

How much more when we recognize the Matchless Presence and Friendship with God that we have been gifted through the atoning work of Jesus Christ? A gift that we didn’t deserve. Should that not produce in us authentic humility? Should that not cause us to be in constant awe of God as we see Him for Who He really is? Yes, it should. But that’s not always the case with us.

In our fallenness, one of the greatest sins that plagues us is our pride. It’s a sin that is easily detectable in others but hard to find in ourselves. It’s the sin that caused Lucifer, who was one of God’s Angels, to fall and become Satan. It’s the sin that caused Adam and Eve to believe Satan when he told them they could be like God. It’s the sin that continues to fight the very souls of those who refuse to believe in God and even more so, the sin that plagues those of us who have put their hope in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This sin isn’t going anywhere.

Pride doesn’t sit at the surface so it can be seen. Often times, pride buries itself deep in the crevices of our hearts where only we can hear these whispers, “I want to be seen. I want to be acknowledged. I want to be at the center. I want to be right. I want to be known. I want to be [fill in the blank].”

Now, in and of themselves, to be known, seen, acknowledged, right, etc aren’t wrong. However, they do reveal whether or not our heart’s motives are in the right place. When we want to take the glory from God by wanting those things, we are letting pride take its course. It becomes a serious matter because God has made it very clear that He will not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8) because it wasn’t meant to be shared. It was meant to be praised and worshipped.

We see the example that was set for us in Scripture of a man named John the Baptist who was regarded by Jesus to be the “greatest born of women” (Luke 7:28), yet it wasn’t because he was great in his own terms, it was because he took his role as the forerunner of Jesus Christ seriously. While many questioned John’s identity, he never wavered or was tempted to make himself great. He simply said he was the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord…’” (John 1:23).

In John 3, we find that Jesus had entered the scene and was baptizing people. However, John’s disciples noticed that Jesus was baptizing more people than John and they tried to bring John into a discussion of who was the greater one. Again, John knew his role and never confused his role with the reward of seeing Jesus, the Messiah, come. So he tells them, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice, Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30).

Wow! The humility that we find in these words uttered by John the Baptist is one that has truly seen and known Jesus. John honored his role but treasured the reward of Jesus more than the role of being Jesus’ forerunner. John knew Jesus. He knew that He was the Savior. He knew that He was the One to bring redemption. He knew that He was the True Light. He knew that He was the Bridegroom. He knew that He alone was worthy. And because He knew, it produced in him authentic humility that doesn’t fight for the role but rejoices in the reward of Jesus.

When Satan tries to tempt us with the roles God gives us in this life to be about us, may we, like John, press into knowing Jesus more so that we can utter those same words, “He must increase but I must decrease.”
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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:

Isaiah 42:8
Proverbs 11:2
Proverbs 16:18
Luke 7:28
John 3 (whole chapter)
Romans 12:3
James 4:6
Questions to Reflect on:

1. How does seeing Jesus rightly produce in us authentic humility?
2. What does it look like practically for Jesus to increase and for you to decrease?
3. Have you ever thought that the idea of you wanting to be seen or acknowledged was pride?
4. How has John the Baptist’s life encouraged you?

By Diana Rose (WITHIN Devotional Contributor)

Learning to wait well is a lifelong lesson. 
As a Parkinson’s patient I am discovering a new kind of waiting. Not the normal waiting on other people, 
or waiting for time to pass, 
but waiting for my abilities to diminish. 
There is something about scanning your body daily 
for new deficits and difficulties 
that sharpens your perception of time. 
The Bible says, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor 
that appears for a little while 
and then vanishes away.” James 4:14 

Not knowing what was wrong with my body. 
Waiting for test results and lab work. 
Pressing for answers for years. 
Waiting for the diagnosis. 
Waiting for medication to take effect. 
Not knowing how long the medication would work. 
Waiting for check-ups and follow-ups. 
All this pointed me to the truth of James 4:14 
I do not know what my life will be like 
and my life is a vapor. 

James 4:14 is not meant to be an insult 
but it is an accurate assessment of our limitations. 
How do we wait well? Does waiting mean idleness? 
When I feel I have no control and all I can do is wait I am reminded that as we wait and wonder what tomorrow will bring 
the God honoring response is humility, 
and in our waiting to draw near to God. 
"Draw near to God, 
and he will draw near to you. 
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, 
and purify your hearts, you double-minded... 
Humble yourselves before the Lord, 
and he will exalt you." James 4:8 & 10 

Humility is difficult for everyone 
because we want to be our own master. 
We must understand that our lack of control over our lives is a sign of God's grace 
unto salvation and unto Christlikeness. 
He gives grace, 
His son.

More grace, 
His spirit. 
Grace upon grace, 
His word and His church. 
Grace to the weary, 
to the broken, 
to the lost, 
and the waiting. 
A grace freely given 
that gives power to humbly submit 
to God. 
"But he gives more grace. 
Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 
Submit yourselves therefore to God" 
James 4:6 & 7 
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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:

Read James 4
Questions to Reflect on:

1. In what areas of life are you waiting? 
   
2. What evidence of His grace have you seen in your life?