Ezekiel 37:7-10 MSG

I prophesied just as I’d been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.

He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘ GOD, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’” So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army. (Ezekiel 37:7-10 MSG)

Death to Life

From today's devotional

All of us face times when our lives seem as scorched and lifeless as Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. But as Ezekiel lifted his voice in speaking the Word of God, it became a mighty, life-giving force! 

Centuries later, Jesus instructed His disciples: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Later, following the birth of the church, these same disciples spent much of their time in the temple speaking “the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). They recognized the power of the life-giving Word of God! 

Just ten chapters following the vision of the dry bones, Ezekiel is brought to the river of healing waters that bring God’s life, health, and abundance wherever they go. God has the same blessing in store for each one of us, but it requires that we ""hold fast the word of life, so that [we] may rejoice in the day of Christ” (Phil. 2:16).

Malachi 3:8-11 MSG

“Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day. “You ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’ “The tithe and the offering—that’s how! And now you’re under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you’re robbing me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. For my part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.” The Message of GOD -of-the-Angel-Armies. (Malachi 3:8-11 MSG)

Self Obsession Is Dangerous

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. (Romans 8:5-8 MSG)

Ephesians 6:13-18 MSG

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. (Ephesians 6:13-18 MSG)

Sword of the Word

From today's devotional

What a comfort, in the midst of the trials and temptations of daily living, to know that the Lord has not left us without defense. In every circumstance the adversary has planned against us, we have been given the power of the Word of God to fight off the enemy, defend ourselves, and rescue others from the evil one. Hebrews 4:12 says that “the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” 

Revelation 1:16 gives us further insight into the use of this weapon: “out of His [Jesus] mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.” And Isaiah, speaking prophetically of the Messiah, says, “And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword.” So as we wield the sword of the Word in battle, we are, in essence, speaking Jesus’ words into the situation. 

As we step into the fray, remember with confidence that our Commander not only gives us a place of safety and the confidence for battle, He then places the sword of His own Word in our hands.

John 3:19-21 MSG

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” (John 3:19-21 MSG)

Ephesians 5:25-28 MSG

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage. (Ephesians 5:25-28 MSG)

Cleansing

From today's devotional

This text makes clear that Jesus has an ongoing commitment to our growth in holiness. In John 17:17, He prays for us with the words, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Our Lord is not only committed to us, but is interceding on our behalf. Yet while our purification from sin and strength for ongoing holiness can come only from His hand, a large part of the responsibility for seeing our lives made pure rests squarely on our shoulders. 

The psalmist asks the question, “How can a young man cleanse his way?” Then immediately answers, “By taking heed according to Your word” (119:9). The Word, therefore, becomes the key to seeing that constant cleansing take place. 

Where does cleansing need to take place in our lives today? As we rest in Jesus and on the Word, let us echo the commitment of 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

James 1:5-8 MSG

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:5-8 MSG)

Proverbs 6:20-23 MSG

Good friend, follow your father’s good advice; don’t wander off from your mother’s teachings. Wrap yourself in them from head to foot; wear them like a scarf around your neck. Wherever you walk, they’ll guide you; whenever you rest, they’ll guard you; when you wake up, they’ll tell you what’s next. For sound advice is a beacon, good teaching is a light, moral discipline is a life path. (Proverbs 6:20-23 MSG)

Memorize the Word

From today's devotional

This text charges us to continually bind the commandments of the Lord upon our hearts. The Hebrew word for continually means constantly, evermore, or perpetually. The primary idea is of something permanent and unceasing. 

This leaves no doubt that making God’s Word a part of our lives is to be a primary occupation of the believer. We are to continually hide God’s Word in our hearts. Scripture exhorts us to hide His words in our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” so that we can teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16). As we do this, God’s Word not only opens avenues of ministry, but it also becomes our guide (Ps. 73:23, 24), our defense (Eph. 6:17), our refuge (Ps. 91:2), our standard of faith (1 Thess. 2:13), and our comfort (John 15:26). 

Whatever the Lord ministers to us today from His Word, let us bind it to our heart. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Minister it.

1 John 4:13-16 MSG

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. (1 John 4:13-16 MSG)

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 MSG

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9 MSG)

For Children’s Sake

From today's devotional

The Word of God is the basis for all successful family relationships, whether with parents, siblings, or spouse. This text, however, deals with the foundation we must lay in raising our children to be people of God. We are to begin by instructing them in the Word. 

Following God’s law is not given to make us into spiritual crackpots, but rather to make us “naturally supernatural.” Living God’s Word does not require that we tack Scripture placards all over our walls and speak in a “holy” tone of voice. It does require, however, that we teach our children how to apply God’s Word to appropriate situations (Prov. 4:1–4; 1 Cor. 10:11). It does require that we fill our homes with the joy of the Lord (Neh. 8:10). It does require that we follow the structure that God has ordained within a believing home (Eph. 5:22–6:4). And it does require consistency and persistence in teaching (2 Tim. 3:14–17). What are we to do when we face a challenge in our family? We apply the Word, and watch the Lord turn the situation to His glory.

Luke 6:35-36 MSG

“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind. (Luke 6:35-36 MSG)

Psalm 119:65-72 MSG

Be good to your servant, GOD; be as good as your Word. Train me in good common sense; I’m thoroughly committed to living your way. Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place, but now I’m in step with your Word. You are good, and the source of good; train me in your goodness. The godless spread lies about me, but I focus my attention on what you are saying; They’re bland as a bucket of lard, while I dance to the tune of your revelation. My troubles turned out all for the best— they forced me to learn from your textbook. Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine. (Psalm 119:65-72 MSG)

Believe the Word

From today's devotional

And they believed the Scripture. John 2:22 

The Greek and Hebrew words for “believe” combine to give us a picture of faith that not only requires our participation, but provides us a foundation upon which we can stand and be established. 

Pisteuo is the Greek verb form of the word here used for believe. It means to trust in, have faith in, be fully convinced of, and rely on. It expresses reliance upon something and a personal trust that produces obedience. The Hebrew word here used for believe is 'aman and means to be firm, stable, established, and firmly persuaded. In 2 Chronicles 20:20 the word appears three times and could be translated: “Be established in the Lord … and you will be established.” 

The key to being established in the Lord is becoming grounded in His Word. Does our faith seem weak? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Do we sometimes feel as if our life is built on shifting sand? Let us build our lives on Jesus—the Word (John 1:14). And, as we believe in the Lord, we will be established.

1 John 2:4-6 MSG

If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived. (1 John 2:4-6 MSG)

Nehemiah 9:9-15 MSG

You saw the anguish of our parents in Egypt. You heard their cries at the Red Sea; You amazed Pharaoh, his servants, and the people of his land with wonders and miracle-signs. You knew their bullying arrogance against your people; you made a name for yourself that lasts to this day. You split the sea before them; they crossed through and never got their feet wet; You pitched their pursuers into the deep; they sank like a rock in the storm-tossed sea. By day you led them with a Pillar of Cloud, and by night with a Pillar of Fire To show them the way they were to travel. You came down onto Mount Sinai, you spoke to them out of heaven; You gave them instructions on how to live well, true teaching, sound rules and commands; You introduced them to your Holy Sabbath; Through your servant Moses you decreed commands, rules, and instruction. You gave bread from heaven for their hunger, you sent water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to enter and take the land, which you promised to give them. (Nehemiah 9:9-15 MSG)

Laws for Living

From today's devotional

The Hebrew noun used here for “statutes” means an enactment, an inscription; a written rule, decreed limit, law, or custom. It refers to a defined boundary, especially when written into law, but sometimes not in written form, as in God’s limits for the sea (Prov. 8:29). 

While we all know that statutes are given for our benefit, we sometimes find ourselves going beyond their limits when there is no one nearby to enforce them. Unfortunately, we do the same thing with God’s law—usually to our own detriment. Yet, unlike man-made laws, God’s laws are never arbitrary or inconsistent. God’s laws come directly from the Creator’s hand and are, in essence, a “how-to” book for the human race! 

Do we need guidance today? Listen for His voice. Are we facing one of life’s uncertainties? The answer is in the Word. Is there something in our lives that needs to be fixed? When we don’t know what to do, we look it up in the manual!

1 John 4:20-21 MSG

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. (1 John 4:20-21 MSG)

John 8:31-32 MSG

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” (John 8:31-32 MSG)

Truth That Frees

From today's devotional

We often expect freedom to come to us with little effort on our part. We function as though our initial birth into God’s family is the only step we need take to see all of His inheritance realized in our lives. But this text clearly states that it is through knowing the truth that freedom is born. That places the requirement on us to constantly seek to know more of God’s truth as found in His Word. 

The Greek word used here for “know” literally means to perceive, understand, recognize, gain knowledge, realize, or come to know. It implies a knowledge that has an inception, a progress, and an attainment. We can know the truth of God intellectually without ever applying it to our lives, but the knowledge spoken of here is the recognition of truth by personal experience. 

What areas of our lives need to be freed? The Word of God has an answer for us. As we tap into this resource, and apply it to our lives, the Lord will bring us into freedom.

1 John 4:20-21 MSG

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. (1 John 4:20-21 MSG)

Psalm 19:7-9 MSG

The revelation of GOD is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of GOD are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of GOD are plain and easy on the eyes. GOD ’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of GOD are accurate down to the nth degree. (Psalm 19:7-9 MSG)

His Complete Word

From today's devotional

That the “law of the Lord is perfect” refers to the absolute, complete, and entire trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God is perfect in its accuracy and sure in its dependability. The Bible is unfailing as an absolutely trustworthy guide for our faith (belief in God) and practice (life and behavior). 

This text goes on to describe the completeness of Scripture to meet our every need. It brings us salvation, wisdom, joy, insight, truth, and righteousness. 

Whatever we may be facing today, let us look to God’s Word for guidance. It is a sure source we can rely on in times of need. This is so because God is true, because His Word reveals His truth, and because God cannot lie. Deuteronomy 7:9 confirms this: “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant … with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

1 Corinthians 3:1-4 MSG

(Paul) But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile? (1 Corinthians 3:1-4 MSG)

On Christian Maturity

From today's devotional

Beginning in 1 Corinthians 2:10, Paul elaborates our need of wisdom and revelation from the Holy Spirit, and he ties this very firmly to our receiving the “words … which the Holy Spirit teaches” (2:13). He immediately turns from these observations to an outright confrontation with the carnality of the Corinthians, attributing it to the shallowness of their understanding of God’s Word. Hebrews 5:12–14 elaborates this by asserting that “everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness.” 

The demanding truth of this passage is that no amount of supposed insight or experience reflects genuine spiritual growth if it is not rooted in the knowledge of God’s Word. Such “rootedness” is in truth and love, not merely in learned knowledge or accomplished study. In order to experience true spiritual growth, we must spend time in the Word. 

Just as a baby requires food to grow, so we require the daily input of God’s Word for our spiritual growth (1 Pet. 2:2). Let us make study of the Word a priority in our lives and see how it begins to “grow” in us!

Matthew 5:17-18 MSG

(Jesus)

"Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working. (Matthew 5:17-18 MSG)

2 Timothy 3:14-17 MSG

But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 MSG)

The God-Breathed Word

From today's devotional 

The absolute authority of the Bible over our lives is based on the fact that this Book does not merely contain the Word of God, but that it is the Word of God in its sum and in its parts. 

This text further teaches us the purpose of Scripture: “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The same Lord who sent His Word to us so faithfully is beside us today, to equip us. Let us fearlessly step out into His glorious plan for our lives. We are not going in our own resource. He is completing us, maturing us, and equipping us through His Word.

Ephesians 6:10-12 MSG

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-12 MSG)

James 1:25 MSG

But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. (James 1:25 MSG)

Purity

From today's devotional

Purity of life is not a quest for perfection as much as it is a quest for liberation from those things that may inhibit effectiveness and reduce power-filled living. This text shows the Word of God as a means of reflection—a mirror into which we are to look and see ourselves. The call is not only to heed what we see and accept the Bible’s corrective instruction, but also there is an unwritten lesson here. We should avoid the temptation to see (and judge) others in the Word, analyzing what they ought to do instead of what we need to do. 

Second Corinthians 3:18 also likens God’s Word to a mirror but describes the picture seen as no less than the Lord Jesus Himself. Thus, the Bible shows us Christ’s likeness in order that we may measure our conduct and character against His and allow God to shape us into Christ’s image. 

Today, ask the Lord to use His Word in your life so that you will be "conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29).

1 Peter 1:22-25 MSG

Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said, The old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; Grass dries up, flowers droop, God’s Word goes on and on forever. This is the Word that conceived the new life in you. (1 Peter 1:22-25 MSG)

New Creation

From today's devotional

Just as we owe our natural existence to the Creator’s spoken word and life-giving breath, so we owe our spiritual existence to the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s activation of its power. God’s intent for our created being is completely fulfilled only when our spirits are alive toward Him. This text tells us that the “seed” that has produced new life in us is the Word of God, which has begotten us by the Holy Spirit’s power and made us members of God’s new creation. That new creation is an ongoing phenomenon in each of our lives. And the power of God’s Word is in no way more manifest than in this: its power to bring spiritual life to all who are open to its truth in every area of life. 

Is there an area in our lives that seems lifeless or stagnant? Let us allow the Holy Spirit to plant the “seed” of the Word in that realm of our life and then watch as His life flows anew through us.

Matthew 6:2-4 MSG

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. (Matthew 6:2-4 MSG)

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Deuteronomy 8:1-5 MSG

Keep and live out the entire commandment that I’m commanding you today so that you’ll live and prosper and enter and own the land that GOD promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that GOD led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from GOD ’s mouth. Your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that GOD disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child. (Deuteronomy 8:1-5 MSG)

New Beginnings

From today's devotional

At the beginning of His earthly ministry Jesus quoted this text in Matthew 4:4, when He faced Satan’s snares in the wilderness. By doing so He made the knowledge of the Word a powerful weapon against the attack of the adversary. Because the parallel is used of Israel’s receiving the daily supply of manna, we know that the believer is to seek and feed upon a regular, daily portion of God’s Word. Psalm 119:165 adds that the Word of God has provided for us a solid base that will keep us firm and secure no matter what circumstance we face. 

Let no one suppose spiritual survival is possible for long without nourishment from the Word of God. First Peter 2:2 declares that God’s Word is as essential to the believer as milk to a newborn child. It is not an option! 

As you begin your ministry this year, are you drawing daily on the Word? It is a discoverable, definitive, discerning resource for meeting every challenge. Whatever you face this year, God’s promises are there, for you.

Isaiah 43:19 MSG

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19 MSG)