Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?

Call to Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Purposeful God, thank you that my faith is not a cosmic fluke or a lucky accident of circumstance—you’ve called me by a larger and longer wisdom. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, your aim is to redeem all those you’ve called from every people, tribe, nation, and language. As you have called me, make me now a messenger of your mercy. Amen. (Prayer based on the Canons of Dort, Question 2.8)

*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

Reading Plan

This reading plan will help you to develop the habit of being in God’s Word each morning and evening. Come to this time with expectation. Expect God to reveal himself to you. Expect that he delights in you being there, even when you’ve wandered away. Growing a spiritual habit is a slow, patient process. So be kind to yourself as you grow! 

Readings are hyperlinked. Simply hover over the passage or click Morning/Evening Reading (email version).

Morning Readings:

Pray Psalm 65 | Read 1 Corinthians 14

• Praying the Psalms: Read slowly. Take note of words and phrases. Bring them before the Lord in prayer and personalize the passage as you pray.
• NT Context: “Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a classic of pastoral response: affectionate, firm, clear, and unswerving in the conviction that God among them, revealed in Jesus and present in his Holy Spirit, continued to be the central issue in their lives, regardless of how much of a mess they had made of things.” Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 66 | Read 2 Chronicles 36

• OT Context: “Sovereignty, God’s sovereignty, is one of the most difficult things for people of faith to live out in everyday routines…This story makes it clear that it was not God’s idea that the Hebrews have a king, but since they insisted, he let them have their way. But God never abdicated his sovereignty to any of the Hebrew kings; the idea was that they would represent his sovereignty, not that he would delegate his sovereignty to them. Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Sermon Devo

We are in our Spring series in Romans 8. Each day we will dig into a different aspect of this incomparable chapter and see how it alters the way we live “in Christ!”

Read: Romans 8:1-11

Ray Ortlund helps us again: 

“The life God gives he gives ‘because of righteousness’, that is, because of Christ’s righteousness. So the life that is truly life is already paid for in advance, in full, at his cross. He gives us true, rich and abundant life at his own expense and freely…

Our fullness of life right now is only the beginning of the life we are going to experience. Verse 11: ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’ He not only reinvigorates our spirits now, he will raise our bodies too. 

The Spirit of God is the ultimate life-giver. He must have an infinite store of vitality within himself to fill us all now and forever, as the life he imparts spreads out to restore all that sin has ruined. There is not one ounce of you that will end up in the trashbin of the universe – except your sins, which you want to leave behind anyway. 

All that God has made in making you he will rejuvenate, including your body, the humblest part of you. And he will do this through the Holy Spirit, who is indwelling you even now. It is refreshing to stand back and think how triumphant we really are through our Lord. 

An elder in our church specializes in oncology. In his office he has a plaque on the wall entitled ‘What Cancer Cannot Do’:
Cancer is so limited –
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot destroy peace,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot suppress memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot steal eternal life,
It cannot conquer the Spirit. 

Poor, defeated Cancer, we mock you!”

REFLECT: That plaque illustrates exactly what we mean when we say the “the gospel gives you something you can build your life on.” But it’s more than this, the gospel gives you the only thing that you can build your death upon: “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in you” and the promise that “he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.”

Evening Prayer of Examen

• Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
• Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
• Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.

Benediction