WLD Ranch - Devotions

Thoughts for Maundy Thursday

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35 NIV).

Some people follow a church tradition that observes "Maundy Thursday" or "Holy Thursday," while others may see the term on church signs and wonder what in the world the word means. I'd like to share a couple thoughts on the meaning of the term and a challenge for all of us regarding the events that the term commemorates.

Christmas: The Descent of God

As you celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, consider the implications of what was going on there inBethlehem. The heavens shook with the implications of what our world now trivializes. Even we as Christians don’t give full weight to what happened there. Here are three Christmas facts to help us focus on the reality of what happened so long ago....
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Advance Notice 03 - Identity

Sin has a strong pull on everyone, so how can we live like Christ, pleasing God in everything? We can start by realizing who we are. We are those who have been delivered from sin and who no longer have to obey sin. Before we accepted Christ and began following him, we sinned because we couldn’t avoid it. Now that Jesus Christ has forgiven us and declared us to be righteous (Romans 3:21-24), sin doesn’t have the grip on us that it used to have....
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Advance Notice 02 - Hunger and Thirst

You know, most of us live our Christian lives as if we had a refrigerator full of choices for what will satisfy our souls. And that is because we live as if our spiritual lives are so cozy and comfortable that life’s choices really don’t matter. It is like going to the refrigerator to browse our choices rather than genuinely craving water because if we don’t get water we would shrivel up to nothing.

We say, "It doesn't matter that I give into this or that sin every now and then." "I want to learn how to live for God, but I only need to look at my Bible once every few weeks." "I'll get around to praying regularly one of these days." "I'm okay trusting in my own strengths."...
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Advance Notice 01 - Fly Like an Eagle

“Advance Notice” is a devotion series for moving forward and gaining momentum in your walk with Christ. It will include some devotions that I've written in the past (such as this first one) as well as some new ones. "Advance Notice" means: Pay attention! This is important! Moving forward and gaining momentum in your walk with Christ is going to take some re-focusing and re-adjusting of your life in relation to Christ in your life - and it needs to happen on a regular basis. So think about your walk with Christ in advance, before proceeding any further down the path that your life takes....
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Born to Be King (Part 4: Listening to the King)

(Part 4 of 4)
. . . Jesus ends his statement in John 18:37 with this: “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Truth is found in Jesus. If we follow the truth, we’ll end up at Jesus. When we are willing to accept the truth wherever it is found, we’ll discover that Jesus is the one with the truth that we need to hear. So if we are for truth, we’ll listen to him. . . ....
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Born to Be King (Part 3: From the Manger through the Cross to the Throne

The purpose of Jesus’ birth was not to get him just to the cross. The purpose of his birth was to get him to the throne of his Father’s kingdom with a rescued humanity as his subjects. . . . His death for our sins and his resurrection to provide eternal life to us was the victory that shook the heavens . . . So Jesus came to go from the manger through the cross to the throne. ...
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Born to Be King (Part 2: Born to Reign)

Jesus says he was born to be king (John 18:37). While his death was expected - and it was necessary to accomplish our salvation (John 3:14-15) - his death was not the final goal of his coming. Instead, his death is the means to bringing about what he was born for....
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Born to Be King (Part 1: The Cross on His Mind)

"You are right in saying I am a king. In fact,for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (Joh...
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Time for Opportunities

God’s timing fascinates me. When I think I’ve got a bit of control over my schedule, God reminds me that my time belongs to Him. This was clear to me recently when our...
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Dependence

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 NKJV).

To walk in the Holy Spirit means to turn your life over to the Spirit for His control. It is putting the Spirit in charge of your life instead of you being in charge. This is not a once only commitment. Walking by the Spirit is dependence on a daily basis....
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Grace-based life

In His grace, God loves us even as rotten sinners. A relationship with God is about trusting Him, not working really hard to hopefully get His attention and earn His affirmation.