Category: Devotional

The Cup

Sometimes life can be downright challenging. Things happen that change our lives permanently and sometimes unexpectedly. We struggle to understand and we don’t know how we will ever be able to endure it. I have had this kind of experience.

Jesus talks about receiving the cup that was given to Him by the Father in John 18:11. He chose to humble Himself and to drink the cup while trusting God’s purposes for it. Maybe you have also received a cup from Him. What will you choose to do with it?

Scripture Focus: John chapter 18

Focus verses: 10, 11

“Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) [11] so Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

God, the Father, gave Jesus a cup and Jesus knew what that cup was. He knew that it would be hard to drink, but he also understood the purpose for which the cup was given to him. He knew that He would be taking the sins of the world upon himself so that we who believe in him could be forgiven and made righteous through His sacrifice.

Jesus cup was to be obedient to God and He knew that God would strengthen him as He did what God called him to do. He chose the cup His Father had given Him. How often do we choose to receive by faith the cup we are given? How are we supposed to handle the cup that He gives to us?

We all daily drink from the cup of life, sometimes the cup is full of sweet goodness and other times it doesn’t taste very good at all. It might be bitter, hard to swallow, and feel sour in our stomachs.

Jesus said in John 16:33 that in the world we will have tribulation. What is your cup? What is God wanting to do in your life as a result of it?

My cup has been the loss of my husband six years ago. I never understood what this kind of loss was like until it happened to me. And, I learned quickly that even those who loved and cared about me, who hadn’t experienced it, could not fully relate to me or what I was going through.

I had died on the inside, even though I was living on the outside. There were times when I didn’t want to be here anymore if it meant living without him. The Lord, handed me a cup. It was not a cup I wanted, but it was the cup He gave me. Would I choose to drink it?

This was a choice that God wanted me to make. He would not make it for me. Jesus had a choice, He did not have to give His life for us—He chose to do it. He gave his life freely for God’s purposes and plans to be fulfilled. Are we willing to have the attitude of Jesus to accept our cup and to trust God to get us through it? Or, will we refuse to believe that maybe He has allowed this difficult trial in our lives to draw us closer to Him and to fulfill His plans for our lives?

Though each person’s cup is different, it will be specific to them in order to accomplish His purposes for them. Some will experience a cup of suffering through sickness, others through abuse—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Another will experience the loss of a child, parent or friend. Whatever the cup may be, the question remains, what will we do with the one He hands to us?

Jesus, received the cup that was given to him by the Father. As, Philippians 2:8 says, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.”

This challenges me. Do I love Jesus enough to humble myself before him, to receive the cup that He gave to me and to trust that He will help me, heal me, and restore my life?

My life was shattered into a million pieces by Eric’s death. It took all I had at that time, a simple mustard seed of faith, to tell the Lord, that I would receive this cup, submit to Him through it, and trust Him no matter what.

What are you going to do with your cup? Will you go your own way and try to fix yourself? Will you choose to consult with family, friends or professionals, hoping that they can make you better? Or, will you make up your mind to accept the cup God has given you so that He can work out His purposes for you through it.

There is peace in choosing the cup that Jesus chose and He offers that to You—but you will have to press hard into Him and into His Word. You will have to dig deep into your relationship with Him to find your way, but He will be faithful to You, like He has been faithful to me. As you draw near to Him, He will draw near to You.

Your life is precious to Jesus. He gave his life for you. Pursue Him and you’ll find the blessings He desires to give you as you seek Him. Your cup will overflow with His goodness, mercy and grace.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

Thank You that You freely chose to drink the cup that the Father gave You. Please help us to choose the cup that You give to us and comfort us with the knowledge that You will be with us and give us the strength to endure.

Lord, we commit our way to You. By faith, we choose to believe that our trials and tribulations will not consume us, but lead us into a deeper relationship with You.

Amen

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“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 5:10

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5

Red Blood Stained

Scripture Focus: Colossians 1: 15-20 (ESV)

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Have you ever hurt yourself so badly that you started bleeding all over the place?

One time I was returning from shopping at a home store. I had bought a large picture frame that was shaped like an arched window and within that frame were 6 glass panels. Each panel had 2 pieces of glass and the idea was to put a picture in between the two glass panels. The plastic pieces used to secure the glass were attached to a little screw so you could move them to secure or remove your pictures from the frame. While carrying the frame into my house from the car, one of the panels had come loose and fell out. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing flip flops at the time it painfully landed on my toes and then proceeded to shatter over my tile floor. Immediately blood from the toes on my right foot began to flow.

I had to grab my 2 Corgis to get them out of the way of the broken glass before I could tend to my bleeding foot. As I moved, a trail of blood followed me. I reached for a towel and wrapped it around my foot, swept up the glass as best I could for the moment and then went to clean up and bandage my toes. It was a messy scene. I didn’t think I would ever get the red blood stains out of my towel or off my clothes.

This morning as I was praying, I was praising God for the precious blood of Jesus and thanking Him that I had been made clean, whiter than snow by His red, red blood. I started thinking about blood and what it does when it gets on fabric like clothes or towels. It can leave a stain that is hard to get out as I found out in the instance above. After multiple washes the stains faded, but the residue was still there.

Is it possible that a blood stain could be good for us, where the residue that remains, would change our lives forever—for the better?

It seems like such a contradiction that blood could make something whiter than snow. Our natural minds cannot wrap our heads around the thought. But without the stain of Jesus blood covering our lives, we would not be forgiven from sin or ever be able to enter into His Kingdom when we die. The red of His blood released His cleansing power in our lives to make us whiter than snow. Jesus’ red blood stain on our lives is what enables the Father to see us. We are stained permanently by His love and He will never leave us.

To be stained by Jesus’ blood is to be marked by the sacrifice of His love in the giving of his life for us. His blood protects us just like the blood of the perfect lamb that was killed and sprinkled on the doorposts and lentils of the Israelites homes during the Passover. It prevents the angel of death and destruction from permanently taking our lives.

Jesus’ blood seals us for eternity. It saves us from eternal death and gives us eternal life with our Heavenly Father. It permanently stains our souls, making us whiter than snow by cleansing us from sin.

Prayer:

Thank You Father for Jesus’ blood. Thank You that it has stained and sustained our lives in the best way possible because it has saved us from eternal death and given us the gift of eternal life. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to know Jesus personally and to have received the gift of His salvation because we have been red blood stained.

In the precious name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Colossians 1: 13, 14

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

1 John 1:7

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Revelation 1:5

“and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”

Mangled or ‘Man’gled

Feeling disconnected from God? Perhaps it’s time to take an honest look at your priorities. God is always there for you, ready and waiting to be included in your life. Your part is to choose to spend time in His word, to seek Him, and to ask for His help in your times of trouble. Make your relationship with Him your first priority instead of your last.

July 24, 2026

Devotional:

Do you know God and claim to have a relationship with Him? Do you ever feel disconnected from Him? Have you skipped out on praying to Him or reading His Word? Have you been irritable or grumpy but you don’t really know why?

I know Him, but there have been times when He has not been my first priority. The other day life was getting in the way of me taking time to connect with Jesus. I didn’t pray. I didn’t read the Scripture. I just went on about the business of dealing with my life and its circumstances. But I felt this nagging emptiness and I saw myself becoming irritable and easily frustrated. I didn’t have peace. I carried guilt around on a silver platter all day long, refusing to deal with it, while knowing in my heart, that I needed to.

How easy it is for us to ignore the root of our problems. We’d rather carry our guilt around than figure out what to do about it. We’d rather handle life on our own terms than take it to Jesus, the One who can actually give us the help we need to work through our troubles.

Do circumstances in your life keep you from making a priority of connecting to the one’s that you love? Have you ever felt like you were being loved from a distance, but not from having a deep connection to that person?

This made me think about how God might feel concerning us. How many of us say we love God, yet we fail every day to engage with Him, to talk to Him? He’s provided for us to know Him through the Scriptures, through Jesus, and through His creation. Sometimes I think it is easier for people to connect with God through creation than to try and connect with His personhood—who He is and who He wants to be to us. More often than not, we put every other person or thing before Him. And He waits…

God understands the distance we feel from family and friends from time to time because He has experienced the times that we have been distant from Him. He wants to have a relationship with us and sometimes we act like we don’t feel the same about Him. Our actions and priorities get all mangled up.

‘Man’ and mangled. Isn’t that an amazing coincidence. The the first 3 letters of the word mangled are MAN.

Man always gets in the way of connecting with God because we are mangled up in our own lives and in our own turmoil and we think we can solve all of our own problems without His help. How mangled is that kind of thinking?

Jesus is here, He is with us, and He waits, more than patiently, for us to come to Him—to bring all of ourselves to Him, so He can love on us and minister to us and meet the needs He knows we have.

Prayer:

Father, help us not to be blinded by our circumstances. Help use the free will you gave us to chose to come to You and to remember that when we don’t, we are the reason that we don’t feel connected to You. You are always there waiting for us.

Help us to have a hunger and thirst for You and Your righteousness in our lives so that we will experience Your goodness, mercy and grace during our times of need. May we chose to submit to You so that our path doesn’t become mangled by our need to do life our own way. Amen

Scriptures:

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” Psalm 34:17

Just God

June 18, 2026

Scripture: Luke Chapter 16

Focus Verse: 10 – “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”

Focus Verses 19-31, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

A beggar names Lazarus was laid outside a rich man’s house hoping for some crumbs to fall from the rich man’s table. He had wounds in his skin and dogs came to lick his sores, but he died.

Verse 22 – “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.”

The rich man had no mercy on the beggar, even in his abundance, he denied Lazarus food, help, kindness and compassion. Then he also died and was buried.

Verse 23 – “And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

The rich man wanted some relief from his torment and he spoke to Abraham asking for mercy and wanting water to cool his tongue.

Verse 25, 26 – “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’”

Pondering this, verse 10 comes to mind. The rich man who had much was not faithful with it. He was unjust in the way he treated the beggar. And his punishment came upon him in his death.

Isn’t it interesting that both the rich man and the beggar died, but for both, the outcome of their death was quite different? Angels came and carried Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom. Where was Abraham? He was in heaven with God. Where was the rich man? He was in Hades being tormented by the fires of hell.

The rich man called out for mercy when he was in Hades, but his behavior and life choices had consequences in death. As Abraham told him, there was a fixed gulf between them that no one on either side could pass through. This rich man would be separated from God’s goodness for eternity. The poor man was shown the grace and mercy of a just God and when he died, he received God’s gift of eternal life.

Like the rich man, we too have received our ‘good things’ in life. We get choose the outcome of our death by what we do with our lives in the time that we are given. We can choose the mercy and grace of a kind, generous, just God, or we can choose to go our own way living life apart from Him. There is a future point in time when it will be too late to choose God and His ways.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21- “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

He also says in Luke 13: 24,25 – “And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.’”

I often hear the question, ‘Why would a good God, send someone to Hell?’ The answer is He never would. We do that to ourselves. God gave us free will to decide whether or not to believe in Him and enter into a relationship with Him through His Son. He knew that love demanded would not be sincere. He wants us to choose to love Him and to believe that His Son is the Christ who was sent to make us righteous before Him.

“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” I Thessalonians 5:9

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

“Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.” Isaiah 45:21

God loves us, He sees our hearts. He knows what is in us. He can see if we are for Him or if we’ve rejected Him. Why should He, who is just, let us into His eternal Kingdom if we have never chosen to believe that He is who He said He is, and to love Him back?

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” Revelation 3:8

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12,13

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20

Father God,

You are a just God! You are the only God and Jesus is Your only Son. He says in Revelation 1:18, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

We do not deserve the grace that You’ve made available to us in Jesus. We have all acted unjustly and done things we regret. None of us is worthy and we ask You to forgive us.

Please help us to choose Your way over our own way that one day when we close our eyes on this earth, we will immediately see the door open so that we may enter into your heavenly kingdom where there is no more death—where we will be alive with You forevermore.

May we act justly, unlike the rich man, and have humble hearts to acknowledge that all the good things we’ve been given have come from You. Help us to use our gifts to love You and other’s in such a way that You will will be glorified, that many will be saved by Jesus, and that all will be blessed.

Thank You for forgiving our sins and for making our hearts new. Help us to choose to walk, talk and live with You each and every day of our lives.

It is in Jesus name we pray.

Amen

Just Persons

June 17, 2026

Scripture: Luke chapter 15 (Scriptures listed are NKJV)

Focus: verse 7: “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

Standing out like a billboard are the words “just persons.” So many people think that because they are basically good people, they have good morals, they go to church, they don’t intentionally set out to harm others, and they endeavor to practice the golden rule (do unto others as you’d have done unto you); but, because of these beliefs about themselves, they don’t think they need to repent for their sins.

We can convince ourselves of anything so long as we don’t *think* we are bad people. The question is, are we living by our own view or God’s view of what it is to be just?

“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:10

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26

It can be pride that keeps us from thinking we need repentance. God calls pride an “abomination” and scripture says He “resists the proud.”

“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”1 Peter 5:5

“Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5

“The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.” Psalms 10:4

“I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” Isaiah 13:11

It is not our goodness that gets us into the Kingdom of God. It is our faith and we only get faith through repentance from sin and by believing that God sent His son Jesus into the world to save us from sin. When we invite Jesus to come and live in our hearts, He forgives us our sins…past, present and future. Jesus is the One who makes us “just persons” in God’s eyes.

Lord Jesus — please do not let us deceive ourselves into thinking that we are “just persons” because we believe ourselves to be good people who have good values. Help us to see who we are in the light of who You are. Our goodness pales in comparison to your perfection. It is sin that separates us from You unless we choose to change our minds and to invite You to come and live within us. You paid the price of our sins when You took them upon Yourself on the cross and crucified them with You as You shed Your blood for us all.

Please help us to understand the significance of what You did so that we can be made “just persons” when we open up our hearts to receive You as our Lord and Savior. — Amen