OCTOBER 2, 2025

  “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” 

― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 

ISAIAH 24-26

3You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you. (26:3)

EPHESIANS 4

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26“In your anger do not sin”^d : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

JOURNAL 

Isaiah tells us that “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). Paul echoes this in Ephesians, urging us to put off the old self and to live renewed in Christ, ridding ourselves of bitterness, rage, and malice, and instead choosing kindness, compassion, and forgiveness (Ephesians 4:22–32).

These verses strike me right between the eyes. This is the life we are commanded to live—one anchored in trust, peace, and the renewal of our minds. But if I am honest, I often find myself slipping into pride and self-focus. Recently, I listened to Timothy Keller preach on Nebuchadnezzar and pride, and he drove home two points that won’t leave me: everything is a gift, and to see life apart from gratitude and humility is to be consumed by pride.

Humility opens my eyes to the miracle of ordinary gifts, the breath in my lungs, the ability to walk, speak, see, and love. It allows me to see my talents and opportunities as entrusted by God, not achieved on my own. It also reminds me that they could be taken away in a moment beyond my control. That realization presses me toward surrender.

When I surrender to God daily, counting blessings with humility, I no longer need validation from others. I don’t need life to unfold according to my terms. I simply need to acknowledge God’s presence, His grace, and His gifts and follow wherever He leads. That means using my gifts to bless others, maximizing what He has entrusted, and living every moment with joy, the kind that cannot be shaken by circumstances.

Paul reminds us: “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5).

Today is a tremendous gift. Life itself is grace, and joy is its fruit.

 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

EPHESIANS 2:4-5

OCTOBER 1, 2025

  “The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.” 

― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

ISAIAH 22-23

17At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes. (23:17)

EPHESIANS 3

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom every family^a in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

JOURNAL 

Reading these passages from Paul...it can at times seem like he is speaking another language.  It saddens me to think how far I fall from really living this way. How my community does not look this way, how I depend so much on the culture and comfort and all the trappings of suburbia rather than truly seeking God with a community of believers.

Reality is that people mostly seek God in desperation...not in gratitude. I hate that about myself, I hate that often I am closest to God when I myself have failed...when I can't figure life out. Does it have to be this way? I don't think it is an absolute necessity...however it usually is the way it happens. Yet with God all things are possible, but I must seek  God always, not as just an answer to my own problems but because I realize the ineptness of my own wisdom. I realize the trappings of my own patterns of behavior. I realize that apart from God I am nothing and am just a vapor. I realize that with God I have the power and love of the creator of the universe and of all things. Why would I ever shrink back from trusting God? Why would I ever go my own way? Why would I ever rely on the things of this world rather than seeking and trusting God?

 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 

EPHESIANS 2:4-5

SEPTEMBER 30, 2025

  “A quiet conscience makes one strong!” 

― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

ISAIAH 19-21

 4My heart falters,

fear makes me tremble;

the twilight I longed for

has become a horror to me. (21:4)

EPHESIANS 2

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^a and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

JOURNAL 

It is always humbling and amazing to read the words of Anne Frank. Knowing the fear and desperation of her life when she wrote her journal really puts my problems and life into perspective. Quieting the mind and being filled with God's spirit is the foundation of all goodness and light. 

To truly quiet the mind...especially in moments of stress is an amazing gift of God. Quieting the mind and hearing from God is not just for times of high stress and anxiety but also during the good moments as well. For it is in these that I can fully embrace the wondrous gifts of life. It is crazy to me how my mind often fights against these moments of solitude and quiet. I can see how I am addicted to being entertained and having my thoughts occupied. Yet it is clear from scripture that to truly hear from God...to truly tune myself with his spirit, requires that I shut down the the external and allow his spirit to take over my thoughts.  It is in doing this that I become in tune with all that he has for me today, this week, this month and this life.

In thinking on it further...God is oxygen and when we don't breathe in oxygen we start dying and becoming desperate, fear takes over and we will take in anything that can somewhat ease our anxiety, ease our search for the oxygen of God. But nothing can replace his presence, his spirit. Anything we try to use in place of God will only deepen our fear and our desperation. 

7Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

PSALM 37:7

SEPTEMBER 29, 2025

   If you've got pain

He's a pain taker
If you feel lost
He's a way maker
If you need freedom or saving
He's a prison-shaking Savior
If you've got chains
He's a chain breaker

Zach Williams - Chain Breaker Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

ISAIAH 16-18

10You have forgotten God your Savior;

you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.

Therefore, though you set out the finest plants

and plant imported vines,

11though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,

and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,

yet the harvest will be as nothing

in the day of disease and incurable pain. (18:10-11)

EPHESIANS 1

 18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

JOURNAL 

The words from Chain Breaker echo a truth I often forget: “If you’ve got pain, He’s a pain taker. If you feel lost, He’s a way maker. If you’ve got chains, He’s a chain breaker.” It’s more than a lyric, it’s a confession that what I cannot carry, He already bore.

Isaiah warns of what happens when we forget this: “You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress” (Isaiah 17:10). When I try to build a harvest out of my own strength, it withers. My best-laid plans become nothing when disease and incurable pain strike. But when I remember the Rock, my fortress, I am reminded that my life is not sustained by my effort alone.

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would grasp this reality: “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18–19). That power is not theoretical, it is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

How can that power live in me? And yet, Scripture insists it does. This is the power that opens blind eyes, shakes prison walls, heals wounds, and breaks chains. If this is true, what then do I fear? What could I possibly shrink back from?

The question is not whether the power is real. The question is: do I believe it? Will I live as though Christ’s resurrection power is actually at work in me? Or will I keep returning to my own strength, my own plans, my own walls?

Nehemiah reminds me who holds it all: “You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens…You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you” (Nehemiah 9:6). The One who breathes galaxies into existence is the same One who breathes freedom into my lungs. He is both Creator and Chain Breaker.

Today, I want to live as though that’s true, not just in my words, not just in my prayers, but in the choices I make, the fears I face, and the trust I place in Him.

 6You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

NEHEMIAH 9:6

SEPTEMBER 28, 2025

  “‎What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and work flow.” 

― Martin Luther

ISAIAH 13-15

13You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.^b

14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit.(14:13-15)

GALATIANS 6

1Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5for each one should carry their own load. 6Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

JOURNAL 

That truth, of Martin Luther points me toward the holiness of the in-between space, the space between what happens to us and how we choose to respond. So often, life comes at us fast: hurtful words, unexpected news, failures, or temptations. In Isaiah 14, we see what happens when pride dictates the response: “I will ascend… I will make myself like the Most High” (vv.13–14). That space becomes filled with self, and the result is a fall into the pit (v.15).

But the gospel invites us to inhabit that space differently. Galatians 6 calls us to carry one another’s burdens, not react with pride or selfishness, but with gentleness, humility, and compassion. In that pause, that breath between wound and reply, God’s Spirit has room to work. It is in that holy space that my fleshly desire to defend, to lash out, or to despair can be transformed into patience, love, and faithfulness.

Jesus Himself showed us this pattern. In Matthew 28, His commissioning begins with His declaration: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (v.18). Even in the face of rejection and suffering, His response was to send His disciples out with hope, not bitterness. The space between the cross and the resurrection, the silence of Saturday...became the holiest space of all, changing history forever.

The more I learn to seek God in that space, the more I see it is not empty, it is sacred. It is where God whispers wisdom, where burdens are carried, where pride dies, and where love is born. That space changes everything. If I fill it with self, I reap destruction. If I fill it with the Spirit, I reap life (Galatians 6:8).

So today I pray: Lord, give me the grace to pause. Teach me to see that the space between what happens and how I respond is holy ground. Let me not rush past it, but enter it with You, so that my response becomes not mine alone, but Yours living through me.

 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

MATTHEW 28:18-20