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Day 24 Tremble

July 24, 2024July 21, 2024 krisshetter

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome.  John 1:4-5

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.  Psalm 36:9

When I was little my brother used to hide under my bed at night and make scary noises. He would reach out and grab any of my body parts that hung over the side. Needless to say, as an adult I am still terrified of the dark. And I never, ever allow my legs or arms to hang off the side of the bed. You would think that after 50 or so years I would have managed to overcome those fears.

But here I am. I never walk my dog after dusk or before dawn by myself. I check the locks on my doors a few times before I go to bed when my husband is out of town. I pray for the peace of God to descend on me so I can sleep. If I get up at night, I still have twinges that something might grab me from under the bed. Of course, some of my fears (not the one where a gremlin grabs my leg) are justified.

Let me just take a moment for a public service announcement – women should never walk alone in the dark, ever. We can’t change that fact no matter how much we’d like to, no matter how unfair it might seem. It’s the result of a fallen, sinful world.

But I digress — thankfully, many of our fears, which so often are about our worries for tomorrow, can be turned over to the Holy One who brings His light to our life. When Jesus shines His light over us, He pushes back against the dark thoughts that can overwhelm us. He overcomes all. Evil trembles at His name. He lavishes us with peace.

The beauty of His light? He wants us to share it for all the world to see. He reminds believers we are the light of the world. It’s our testimonies to our friends, family, neighbors and strangers that passes the light of peace to those in darkness.

Friend, we all have fears. Some silly like ankle grabbing gremlins. Some that may actually keep us safe. But some are because we try and control others or the future. Those can destroy our peace. Lift them up to the God of Light and ask the Holy Spirit to help you not take them back. And then shine the light of overcoming your fear out to others.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Tremble

Day 23 All My Praise

July 23, 2024July 21, 2024 krisshetter

Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Luke 5:23-24

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51:1

I recently read about the Free Grace movement which started around the late 1980s. Their basic belief is that you need only to say you believe in Jesus to receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God. No repentance necessary. No change in your ways. You don’t even need to say you “follow” Jesus.

While you can find places in the New Testament where people received salvation from Jesus for believing, one has to ask in the modern world the question of what does “believing” mean?

Your definition of “believing” is important because if you believe Jesus was just a guy who lived a long time ago or a prophet who did some miracles then you won’t believe He forgives our sins and with compassion blots out our transgressions. You might think Jesus had some good life advice that may or may not apply to you. It certainly doesn’t lead you to get on your knees in submission and praise.

If you believe He is God but don’t seek through the Holy Spirit a repentant, changed life then you might find yourself facing a Jesus who says to you: “You say Lord, Lord but I didn’t know you.”

Easy “believism” doesn’t lead to a life of divine-given fruit through our act of acknowledging our sin nature. People Jesus encountered throughout His time here and believed were always told to go and do something. Sin no more, tell someone, worship differently, give up something.

The Lord Jesus wants not just our words, He wants all of us. He expects believers to see Him as the God who reigns over every single aspect of our lives. He wants the repentant not the unrepentant in His Kingdom. And it’s only Him that can forgive and transform. It’s that Jesus that causes us to be thankful, grateful for removing the scales from our eyes so we can see Him clearly.

And for that we should give Him all praise because in the end that’s truly the only thing we can offer back to the God of the Universe.

Click here to listen to today’s song: All My Praise

Day 22 Breathe S&S

July 22, 2024July 21, 2024 krisshetter

Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”²²And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:22

Then the Lord God formed a manfrom the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7

I recently finished the book Slave by John MacArthur with an amazing group of women. It was challenging, convicting and encouraging. He writes that when the King James version of the Bible was created, the word “slave” was softened to “servant” in many places. The ancient concept of slavery had evolved and caused people to become averse and sensitive to the word.

In Greco-Roman times, the average landowner, merchant, trader, politician, etc had their fair share slaves and bondservants. It was expected and universally accepted. Those folks performed every task imaginable for households and businesses including being a doctor, shopkeeper, accountant, farmer, maid and more. It was said that walking the streets of Roman towns you wouldn’t have known the difference between a slave or free person.

Opportunities for a poor person to be able to care for themselves financially were so limited many offered themselves up as slaves so that every need they had would be provided by their owner. As for the average Roman citizen? They were “Caesarians” or slaves to Caesar. Some scholars have proposed that the term “Christian” literally means “slave to Christ.”

When I listen to this song, which feels so much like a love song, I find myself collapsed in total submission to the Master. A slave to Christ. Bought for a hefty price. Loved and cared for by the Creator. A Master whom I never fear will treat me badly or forget about me. This Master has literally given me the breath of life.

Mr. MacArthur points out that we are all slaves to something. I prefer to turn my life over and be desperate for the One who breathed a peace in me that goes beyond any understanding.

Modern, worldly slavery is a terrible human disaster. Traffickers of people have no care for the people they destroy and toss aside. To be a slave to God, however, gives life, a life eternal. Who or what are you desperate to serve each and every day?

Click here to listen to today’s song: Breathe by Shane & Shane

Day 21 Breathe (MCM)

July 21, 2024July 21, 2024 krisshetter

The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

What are you most worried about right now? What miracle are you waiting for? What frustrates you today that just won’t go away? Just breathe and praise the Lord.

A pastor I’ve heard a couple times starts out each sermon telling the congregation to first take a deep, deep breath. And slowly let it out. Re-focus on the Lord we came to hear about and worship. That’s the key – we may briefly take a deep breath but who or what do you turn back to? The same worry or fear? It reminds me of the old cartoons I used to watch as a kid. A mouse trying to run away from a cat but stays in one place with his feet moving a hundred miles and hour.

You may have heard that if you say the Hebrew name of God out loud it’s like taking a breath in and blowing it out. Try it – Yah…weh. God is pretty clever. It’s almost as though He wants to be an integral part of our lives. To be our very breath. He is the only God that lives inside His believers!

So, take that deep breath today. Say His name out loud. Praise Him that He is the Lord who provides. The Lord who reminds us He can guard our hearts from stress and thoughts that destroy. Release your burdens and don’t take them back. Praise God!

Click here to listen to today’s song: Breathe by Maverick City Music

Day 20 Nothing Left To Prove

July 20, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21: 25

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made. Psalm 145: 8-9

If the New Testament verse sounds familiar today it’s because John 20 (yesterday) says something similar about the purpose of the Book of John – so people will believe. Today’s verse is slightly different. I love how the apostle John makes a point to say the number of miracles was so numerous the world couldn’t contain all the books written. Imagine how many books there are in the world!

Jesus kept proving over and over to the people He encountered and those that heard of Him that there was something different about this man. As modern day believers we need to grasp that the books in the Bible are just a glimpse of the God of the Universe. They are a taste to show us a few of the million reasons why we should believe and trust in Him.

The Bible is book about one being – God in three persons. Over centuries, He had prophets, kings, and disciples write the biography of Him. There is no other religion that follows a god who wants the people to know them like the God of Abraham, Moses and Isaac. No other god who refuses to let us go. Who sent, in effect, himself to be humbled and suffer and die for His people.

His mercy to all people is revealed as bountiful. He is giving us plenty of time to turn to Him and acknowledge all the miracles He has performed in the past and even today. So that we can live in love with Him for all eternity. How many more reasons do you still need to trust in Him?

Click here to listen to today’s song: Nothing Left To Prove

Day 19 Stand In Faith

July 19, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believethat Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  John 20 30-31

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:10-11

Yesterday, I shared about my illness and the brief but wonderous healing I experienced. I’ll be honest, when I started feeling all the same symptoms come back, I prayed like David so often did in the Psalms asking, “Why?” I didn’t and still don’t fully understand why He allowed me to feel so good for a time. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciated it. But let’s be honest, we humans so easily can feel like God is punishing us when we go through trials.

Then I turned to the truth. The truth that God loves us and it pains Him to see us suffer the trials of this world. I also know it’s through those trials we can choose to hold on tighter to Him or turn away.

I look at this decision this way – to where would I turn? Worldly addictions that only make life worse? Or to a God who performs miracles? I prefer to stand in faith that my season of healing may be around the corner. If not soon, then I know it will be true one day.

My friend, the Lord has plans for you. Most likely you will have to cross a few alligator infested waters in faith. Those trials will be your testimony to give others hope. In fact, just the other day a friend of mine woke up with her shoulder mysteriously in so much pain she could barely bear it. After a trip to urgent care and pain medication, she was able to make it through the weekend. She said to me a few days later, “I thought of you. I don’t know how you have gotten through what you’ve been through for so long.” I smiled and said, “It’s all the Lord.” Nothing is impossible for Him.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Stand In Faith

Day 18 Gonna Be Alright

July 18, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”  Mark 5: 34

In my distress I called upon the Lord;
    to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 18:6

My youngest daughter sent this beautiful song to me a little while back when I was having a particularly bad bout of the mysterious illness I’ve been suffering the last three years. My head felt as though it was being squeezed in a vise with needles being jammed in my ears. I could barely hear. And in just a few days we were to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I wanted more than anything to fully enjoy all the activities planned with my visiting family. Yet, I barely had the strength to get out of bed each day. I was exhausted from battling through the pain.

I wanted a miracle just as the bleeding woman received from Jesus. Healed of my disease to go about my life in peace. This song was Jesus’ vehicle to remind me that He is my strength when I am weak. He and He alone helped me push through the pain and be able to see the beauty of my life all around me. To see my daughters jump in and take care of anything needed. To feeling the joy of holding my baby granddaughter and the loving embrace of my grandson.

One week after Christmas every single one of my symptoms disappeared. My doctors have yet to determine why for a month and a half I lived completely free of pain. My hearing was restored. It was glorious. It was a beautiful gift.

While many of my symptoms eventually returned, those six weeks provided me with hope that there is a solution. That my hearing isn’t permanently damaged.

I’ve learned so much about suffering these past three years and what relying on the Lord really means. My symptoms may never permanently disappear but I know in my cries for help He hears my voice. I will keep crying out for Him to hold me in His arms. And I know everything is going to be all right.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Gonna Be Alright

Day 17 Goodness of God

July 17, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,  Luke 1:76

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  Lamentations 3:25

In one of my Bible study groups I asked what in our lives do we struggle to completely turn over to God. Being all women, it wasn’t surprising that most answered our children. We worry, we fear, we hover, we protect. We lay away at night thinking of their future. We pray continuously for those who aren’t yet saved.

For so many of us, however, that role becomes overwhelming and overbearing. It puts our relationships with our children and maybe even our spouses in peril. The solution? To see God as not only our father but the good father who loves our children even more than we do, which seems impossible. When I finally turned my adult children over to God, I first had to trust Him and know Him. I had to realize how good He is and how much He loves me too.

Now imagine the parents of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied the enormous responsibility his just born son would be required to put on his shoulders. Both his mother and father seemed to understand the weight of the role in announcing the coming Messiah. A role I don’t think most parents would want for their children. A nice quiet life as a fisherman with a wife who bears him many children – yes, that’s what Elizabeth probably wanted for John.

But no. John became a bit odd. He wore strange clothes and ate bugs. He spoke to anyone who would listen about the Messiah. His message was sometimes confusing and almost heretical. Yet we don’t see in scripture his parents lamenting. They probably did. But I would surmise based on the prophecy and Elizabeth’s faithfulness that they lamented to God.

They lifted their son up to the God Most High for protection and direction. They trusted in His goodness. I’m sure if they were still alive when John sat in his final jail cell they wept. But they also knew their son had been faithful to God and the Messiah had been faithful to him. And as a parent, what more, truly should we ask.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Goodness of God

Day 16 Come Jesus Come

July 16, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”  Hebrews 10:36-37

Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
³¹but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40: 30-31

I wonder how many times the apostles and the other disciples just fell to their knees in desperation and cried out for Jesus to return? I can only imagine over the last 2,000 years there’s been hundreds and hundreds of the faithful that have done the same.

It’s a sad truth that modern Christians come from a long line of faithful martyrs who were put to death by rulers afraid of losing power. Men who have felt threatened by people who proclaim, “I am Christian.”

In the United States, we have enjoyed a long run of a majority Christian society. Never facing the intense persecution so many who founded the country faced As we watch our societies across the world transform into a minority who would state in front of a mob, “I am Christian,” we too may be tempted to cry out for Jesus to come.

There’s so much in this song, “Come Jesus Come” that I love. The truth of the world when Jesus does return – no more war, no more pain — is something I too long for. On the other hand, my eldest daughter is yet to be saved. All my Christian friends have at least one child of whom their prayers for salvation are constant. I want one more day to pray that the Lord shake the scales from their eyes.

It’s a conundrum which Paul faced in his letters to the Philippians. He longed to see the face of Jesus yet he also knew he was commissioned to bring as many to Christ as possible while still breathing.

It’s a romantic thought to want Jesus to come today when we are facing terrible trials – sickness, death, financial loss, feelings of abandonment, being a victim of a crime. We want Him to come and provide the salve that erases it all. Until then, however, we are encouraged to persevere. To grow in faith through our adversity. To be an example to our unsaved loved ones who need to see the light of Jesus on our faces.

Deep down we long for Him, to take us home or to come and make this place home. Until then, we live in the hope of the glory to come.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Come Jesus Come

Day 15 Fear of God

July 15, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour…And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:8-& 10

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.  Isaiah 33:6

The fear of God. I’m not sure if there’s a more misused and misunderstood statement in the Bible by unbelievers. The Websters dictionary first lists this definition of fear: “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.” And you could certainly say there were people in the Bible who stood in that type of fear of God. The armies who faced Joshua were fearful of his god who gave him miraculous victories. The soldiers who came to arrest Jesus were said to have drawn back and fell to the ground in fear when He revealed himself to them (John 17:6).

But that type of fear doesn’t always bring what the dictionary describes further: : “profound reverence and awe especially toward God.” That’s the type of fear the Israelites felt after they saw the power God brought against Pharoah. Exodus 14:31 says, “they believed in the Lord and his servant Moses.” It’s the same fear or awe of God which Rahab the prostitute experienced when she heard of the power of God against Joshua’s enemies. It’s why she helped Joshua’s spies. She believed, just like 11 of the first 12 apostles.

It seems hard to believe that anyone who witnesses the power and awe of God would just remain fearful and not reverential. Yet Judas did just that.

Today the power of God is seen as “mother nature” or a “big bang.” God’s miraculous healing is called chance or science. Blessings are considered accidents or coincidences. And people fear a god who would put His will upon them, taking away their independence.

Satan is pleased when we sit in ignorance or fear rather than awe. That’s because awe and submission bring people into the promised land of salvation and out of the hands of the devil.

Friend, God is the Lord of Hosts, the leader of all spiritual armies. He is the creator of all things seen and unseen. He is the giver of all good things. He is fighting battles on our behalf right now and in a blink of an eye the world could change. We may not win every battle we go through here on earth but He will win the war. That’s a God we should hold in reverence.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Fear of God