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

Confession is formative. It trains us to recognize the ways our hearts have become de-formed and how Christ is at work bringing redemption in our lives. Pray with this in mind.

Take a moment to confess your sins, knowing that he hears you.

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 30 | Read John 17

• 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: In deliberate parallel to the opening words of Genesis, John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus. Jesus speaks the word and it happens: forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word. Jesus, in this account, not only speaks the word of God; he is the Word of God. Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 31 | Read Exodus 35

• OT Context: The Exodus is a powerful and dramatic and true story of God working salvation. The story has generated an extraordinary progeny through the centuries as it has reproduced itself in song and poem, drama and novel, politics and social justice, repentance and conversion, worship and holy living. It continues to capture the imagination of men and women, especially men and women in trouble. It is significant that God does not present us with salvation in the form of an abstract truth, or a precise definition or a catchy slogan, but as story. Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Parables Devo

This section of the Devo focuses on the passage(s) for Sunday’s sermon. Go ahead and read the following passage(s) and use the Parables Reading Plan + Study Guide to journal what stands out and what you have questions about in the passages. Below is a helpful commentary that can help to fill in the gaps. 

Read: Luke 13:20-21

Our passage today sees Jesus move from a field and into the kitchen where flour dusts the air and a mound of dough lies on a table. Hidden inside this dough, Jesus says, is leaven which though out of sight works its way through the whole loaf of bread. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. 

We might ask at this point, well, what exactly does leaven do? If you’ve ever spent time baking in a kitchen or watching the bakers on the Great British Bake Off* (queue the theme song in the heads of those who’ve seen it), then the image should come readily to mind. It’s a substance that causes dough and batter to expand by releasing carbon dioxide through the process of fermentation. What results is a porous structure within the mixture.

What Jesus is saying is that this small ingredient creates something more delicious than a bread baked without it, but more importantly it moves unseen until suddenly the dough rises and is ready to bake. Such is the kingdom’s work in the world and in the hearts of people. 

Take some time today to mediate on the meaning of this passage. 

Ask: 

• What does the passage reveal about Jesus?
• What change does the author want us to make?
• Could you sum this section up in your own words?

Fun Fact: Mary Berry of the Great British Bake Off is a steadfast Christian. Read a little more about her here.

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