Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong United sing “One Way Jesus” while reading today’s devotion about being delivered from temptation.

Scripture
Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot…. Luke 22:3

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat…. Luke 22:31

Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Luke 22:40

Observation
I was cheering on some of our new cafe staff, freshly hired at New Life Church to serve as cooks and servers. One sentence brought nods from all in the room, “When you were hired, a target was painted on your back, because the choice to serve in full-ministry is also the decision to become vulnerable to Satan. That is why our daily devotional life is so significant.”

Judas and Simon both had the red laser dot on their vulnerable spot as Satan took aim. For Simon there would be threshing and tossing in the wind that would separate the wheat from the chaff. For Judas the offense he harbored against Jesus gave Satan and open window to crawl into his life and take over the controls. Satan does not make our weaknesses; he just exploits them.

Application
The good news is that we can pray not to enter that vulnerable place. It is a remarkable thing that we can pray to avoid temptation. The promise is so good, it almost seems like an unfair advantage. But this prayer is ours to pray.

How should we pray it over ourselves? We should remember that Satan studies us like prey looking for our weaknesses. The more we read the word of God, listen to mature advice and respond to the correcting of the Holy Spirit, the more we will know our soft spots. These vulnerabilities are what we must bring to the Lord in prayer. He does not ask us to be perfect, just surrendered. The choice is who has access to my flaws first, Satan or the Holy Spirit? If I will listen to the voice of the Spirit today I can be spared.

Prayer
Father, today I know my weaknesses only a little, but what I can see I give to you. Please, for Jesus’ sake, lead me not into temptation. I give you access to my flaws so that I may be disciplined by the Holy Spirit rather than devastated by the Enemy. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Planetshakers sing “Beautiful Saviour” while reading today’s devotion about God’s love for you.

Scripture
Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. Ezra 7:27-28

Observation
Ezra was a bookworm, who felt at home in a library. Yet he faced the world’s most powerful ruler and was able to take thousands of Jews on a five month journey to rebuild a burned out temple all at the king’s expense.

If a microphone had been shoved in Ezra’s face, how would he have explained his extraordinary success? The bespeckled rabbi would have said, “I’m loved a lot.”

Application
Because the Lord had “extended lovingkindness” Ezra was successful. When I desire success, the most simple prayer I can pray is that God will love me. When I work out of a confidence of the Father’s love, anything I am called to do will be possible. That love will also be visible on my life to those who are able to help me. They may not know the source of love on me, they need not even realize that it is love, yet there will be a sense of unexplainable goodwill.

Prayer
Father, your lovingkindness is more valuable than oxygen today. Of all the things I need, I want your covenant-love most of all. I’d like to think there is something I can do to earn it. But I know any of that would only cheapen it. Instead, I open my heart to receive it and today let me walk in that love. Cover over all of my many imperfections with it and grant me success in all you’ve called me to do today. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to David Crowder’s “You Make Everything Glorious” while reading today’s devotion about praise.

Scripture
“…Praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.” Psalm 147:1

Observation
We praise for two reasons: God is good and praise is good for us.

Praise is as natural a response to seeing the Lord as is a gasp at first sight of Pikes Peak at sunrise. Praise is the reflex of our relationship with God.

But there is more to praise than the obvious. We are called to praise because it is good for us. Without praise humans become self-focused absorbed. What will matter most are our problems, our pride, our perspective, our needs, our anxieties, our selfishness and more. A person without a praise-life is someone who looks down at his scuffed shoes absorbed in self.

A person with a praise-life is looking at the feet of Jesus resting on the footstool of his enemies. Praise takes the focus off from self and puts it squarely on the Lord. The face radiates with love and grace beyond ourselves. Praise is becoming on us. We are lifted out from despair, elevated above our problems to see things from God’s point of view. Praise brings peace to the heart because our world is put into order.

Application
The first sentence of Psalm 147 could very well be paraphrased like this: “praise looks good on you.” Praise is what sets us apart from cows, dogs and cats. To us is given the privilege of looking up at a sunrise and knowing whom to thank. Praise not only declares that God is God and we are not, but it also airbrushes our lives with the residue of the Lord’s passing.

Prayer
Father, so often I get immersed in detail and forget that there is someone who holds it all together. Help me to be as mindful of praise in the middle and the end of the day as I am at the start, and on Monday as much as on Sunday. Amen.