Today's Devotions

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Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Hope for Haiti +

    In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5 Read More
  • Give My Soul Rest: the movie Avatar +

    Avatar, the 2009 movie by James Cameron, raised as much discussion and controversy through its piecemeal use of Native American, Read More
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SylviaHear God's Word in Mark 1:11. "And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' "

God told his Son how he felt about him. He fed him with his words that nourished him with the vital emotional nutrients of sonship. If the Son of God needed these words from his Father, how much more do we! Jesus stood in victory when he was confronted three times by satan in the wilderness because he was strengthened in his inner being by these affirming words. Be blessed to be so formed and nurtured by your heavenly Father's words, "I am pleased with you," that you can face any battle and be victorious. Be blessed to hear your heavenly Father's voice first-person, saying to you "You are my son, or you are my daughter, whom I love; I am well pleased with you."

Let your heavenly Father father you. Be blessed to know by his Spirit speaking to you that you are a delight to him. Be blessed to know without doubt that you are his favorite son or daughter. Be blessed with fully realizing the work of the Spirit of sonship in you, working continuously to bring you to live in your birthright as your Father's beloved child. From that strength you can receive healing, recovery, and restoration from all wounding. You can go forward into all the potential that God planted in your DNA, both spiritually and naturally.

Your Father was pleased to make you his own (1 Sam 12:22), and he is blessing you every day. Be blessed with a safe place in your Father to be who he intends you to be. Be blessed to receive a love letter from your Abba today and every day, so that you will know that you have worth, you are valued, and you are cherished. Be blessed to know that you are a treasure to him. Be blessed with knowing that he never stops being your dear tender Abba. He affirms, welcomes, loves, heals, comforts, coaches, guides, delivers, and corrects you for your good and his glory. He never loses his pleasure in you as the son or daughter he uniquely designed.

Your Father recorded in writing the intention of his pleasure in you. Hear and receive his heart for you in Ephesians 1:5-14 New Living Translation (personalized for you). God's unchanging plan has always been to adopt you into his own family by bringing you to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. So we praise God the Father for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on you, because you belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased your freedom through the blood of his Son, and your sins are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on you, along with all wisdom and understanding. God's secret plan has now been revealed to you; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything in heaven and on earth together under the authority of Christ.

Furthermore, because of Christ, you have received an inheritance from God your Father, for he chose you from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. God's purpose was that you who trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give you everything he promised and that he has purchased you to be his own. This is one more reason for you to praise your glorious God.

This, beloved one, is the pleasure
that your heavenly Father takes in you.
Be blessed with the seal of his pleasure
in his promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

  • River of Love

    There's a river of love that runs through all timeBut there's a river of grief that floods through our livesIt Read More
  • I Am Nothing

    I stutter when I tryTo speak the language of lifeI want to shout out loudBut I just cry insideSometimes it Read More
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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Christ is a Great Savior: a review of the movie Amazing Grace +

    Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21 Read More
  • Wilberforce, Hollywood's Amazing Grace, Charlotte Allen +

    William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a Read More
  • Making Beauty out of Ugly Things: Grace by U2 +

    Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries Read More
  • The True Nature of Grace and Love: a movie review of the Soloist +

    The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist Read More
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