2026 Lenten Season - Day 18 - Surprised Again

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The story of our redemption is historical proof of God's unstoppable sovereignty.

Surprise is a normal part of life for all of us. We are greeted with mystery again and again. We get caught up short, unprepared for what is coming down the line. The redemptive story confronts us with the fact that God is not like us. He saw our need, he planned how to meet that need, and everything happened just as he planned. In the vast expanse of time, the huge company of people, and the multitude of locations that were the setting for his plan of grace, he was never surprised, never unprepared, and
always in control. Christ’s march to the cross reinforces for us that our rest and hope are not in our knowing, but in his ruling. The God who knows no surprises will surprise us again. But it is okay,
because what we don’t know, he knows; what we can’t control, he controls, and because he does, we can live with mystery and surprise and not be afraid.

May the words below stimulate rest in the middle of surprise.
Surprised again. Quiet conversation erupts into heated debate.
Surprised again. Sickness interrupts well-being.
Surprised again. A loved one is unexpectedly lost.
Surprised again. A long-trusted leader falls.
Surprised again. An unexpected gift alleviates need.
Surprised again. Opportunity’s doors open wide.
Surprised again. A sleepless night plunders rest.
Surprised again. Sudden conflict crushes peace.
Surprised again. An emergency alters the day’s schedule.
Surprised again. Divine provision propels a plan.
Surprised again. Sudden mystery sows confusion.
Surprised again. Grace proves too big to grasp.
It is the story of my life. I am surprised again and again.

Surprised again, reminded again and again, that I am not sovereign. I am surprised again but not afraid. My surprise, my misguided expectation, the mystery I live with, my lack of control, does not mean my world, my life, my present, my future, is out of control. Yes, I will be surprised again and again, but I am not afraid, because You, Lord, are incapable of being surprised.

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. Do you like surprises? Why or why not? What emotions do surprises evoke for you?

2. When has life surprised you? When has God surprised you?

3. How can a perspective on God’s sovereignty help you deal with the surprises of life? What are some things you can do to live with joy and hope amid the uncertainties of life?

Read Isaiah 46:5–13, Take courage and comfort in the (ofttimes surprising) sovereignty of God.

Isaiah 46:5-13 New Living Translation

“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?
Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it! They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.  It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.

“Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. I will call a swift bird of prey from the east—a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it. Listen to me, you stubborn people who are so far from doing right. For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save Jerusalem and show my glory to Israel."

Promise for Today - Your Will

Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Psalm 36:5 NKJV

What a powerful phrase! “Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” God's unwavering faithfulness is beyond our human understanding. Everything about Him is immense, boundless, and incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, and never breaks His word. To every promise or prophecy, the Lord has remained perfectly true; every covenant He has pledged He will fulfill, for “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). And in Lamentations 3:22-23, the prophet writes, "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."

God's faithfulness is a key theme throughout the Bible, highlighting His constant and consistent reliability, trustworthiness, and unwavering commitment to fulfilling His promises and covenants. God's faithfulness should be the foundation of our understanding of God's nature and His relationship with mankind.

No wonder it's the very characteristic of God that satan tries to impugn! Think about it. The Word says God HEARS and ANSWERS our prayers. Now, as you read that, I wonder how many thought, "Not all of them," or "Not mine." 

See? That right there is an evil, subtle, and effective lie of satan - designed to destroy our faith in God and His willingness and ability and yes, His faithfulness to answer our prayers. If we believe God doesn't hear our prayers and doesn't answer them, how do we put our faith and trust in Him? Even when the answer is not the one we want, our prayers have been heard and answered. Sometimes the answer is no.

Matthew 26:39 NLT, Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus had done everything right - everything God had told Him to do. He did not deserve to be punished. He did not deserve to be crucified. Jesus had never sinned once. Not one time! And as a man, Jesus did not want to suffer the whole crucifixion ordeal. He hadn't done anything to deserve it! He prayed and pleaded more than once to not have to do it, yet always ended with "Your will be done."

Do we understand that without Christ's perfect submission to our Father's will and plan, all of mankind would have been eternally lost?!? There would be no forgiveness of our sins! There would be no redemption! There would be no way back to right-standing with God!

Not everything bad that happens in our lives is from satan. Sometimes, it's part of God's plan and can be used for God's glory when we submit it to Him. To witness to someone, to point someone toward salvation. An opportunity to cross paths with someone who needs to be a witness to God's love in action. Pray as Jesus taught us to pray, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine." By all means, pray and ask God to deliver you from it, but like Jesus, "Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine."

Prayer:

Father, 
           We pray as Paul prayed in his letter to the Corinthians. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by You. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Father, that is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. Open our eyes to see that our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. That they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! Lord, be the Lifter of our heads so we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. Thy will be done, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

2026 Lenten Season - Day 17 - Finding Your Treasure

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The Christian life is a battle of treasure. Whatever treasure captures your heart will control your life.

As I would walk with my children through the streets of Philadelphia, I would tell them to keep looking down every once in a while, because on the edge of the street at the curb, there was treasure to be found. My kids loved finding nickels and dimes and little metal trinkets, but they fantasized about finding real treasure. We found no diamond rings or collectible old coins, but my children never stopped hunting and hoping for treasure.

Every human being is a treasure hunter. We’re all looking for that thing of value that will give us life, or at least change our lives. So we hunt for treasure in relationships, careers, possessions, achievements, education, positions of power, or in physical strength and beauty. We never seem to find that pot of heart-satisfying gold that we’re looking for, at least not in the physical, created world. But sadly, many of us keep looking. With desperation or determination, we look again and again, telling ourselves that the next thing will deliver what it was never designed to deliver: life.

Matthew 6 reminds us that there are only two places to look. You can attach the desires of your heart and the hope of your life to earthbound treasure or heavenward treasure. You are searching horizontally or looking vertically for that thing of such rare and amazing value that it would have the power to finally satisfy your heart and give you meaning, purpose, and security for the rest of your life. What people fail to realize is that they are searching not for a thing, but for a person. The search for treasure is, in reality, a search for a savior. This is why where you look is so terribly important. Millions and millions of people every day surrender the hope of their hearts to false saviors. They look to the created thing to do what only the Creator can. This vain search that somehow captures us all began with Adam and Eve when they looked for life away from God and toward something else. Where you look for treasure will not only control your heart, and therefore, your words and behavior, but it will also determine your destiny. Treasure decisions have huge consequences here and now and in the life that is to come.

Listen to this parable of Jesus found in Matthew 13:44: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

This is the kind of story that excites us all, the kind that makes you say to yourself, “I wish I were that guy!” He found what we’re all looking for, and he is so filled with joy that he has no problem whatsoever in selling everything he has so he can be certain that this treasure will be his. It’s a story that’s meant to stop you in your tracks, to get your attention, and to capture your imagination.

But I want you to think about something. We’re all that man. We’re all traversing the fields of life, and we all have our heads down looking for something that will give us hope, something that will fix what is broken in and around us, something that will satisfy our hearts. We’re all looking for that thing that is worth all of the sacrifices we have made for it. Whether we know it or not, we’re all searching for the one thing that we would sacrifice everything for, with no buyer’s regret and no fear that we would ever wonder if we had made the wrong choice.

We all make sacrifices every day for things that we think are valuable, things that we think will carry our happiness, satisfaction, and joy. No one lives a sacrifice-free life. We give up things all the time in the hopes of possessing and experiencing something better. You can’t be a human being, with the treasure orientation that is wired inside us all, and not do this. How many men have sacrificed their families for the hope of business and career success? How many teenagers have suspended their morals for the hope of acceptance by their peers? How many politicians have dealt away their allegiance to their electorate for the hope of political power? How many people make financial and relational sacrifices to win bigger houses and better cars?

Every day, we all make sacrifices for treasures that we have placed our hope in. If I could have a window into a month of your life, what sacrifices would I see you making? What would I conclude is the field that you are willing to give up precious things for? This story is not designed just to get your attention; it is also designed to cause you to ask one of the most important questions of all: “What am I really living for?”

Resist giving the “right” answer here. Regular church attendance, regular giving, along with episodes of ministry can sadly live right alongside a heart that is captured by and shaped by the sacrificial pursuit of earthbound treasure. What really does give you joy? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What has made you so content that you’re not only willing to make huge sacrifices for it, but you’re so satisfied you don’t have the desire to search anymore? What captures the imagination and desires of your heart? You are making sacrifices, but in what field and for what treasure?

This thirty-four-word parable is meant not just to get your attention or to cause you to ask deeply personal questions, but also to confront you with a truth that every human being needs to hear and understand. The only thing that is worth sacrificing everything for is the kingdom of heaven. That kingdom is not a place or an earthly political reality. No, it is the rule of the King of kings. He comes not only to rule our hearts, but to rule over everything for our good and his glory. In his rule is the grace of forgiveness, the patient love of personal transformation, and the sovereign guarantee of life to come that is free of all the sin and suffering that so marks the here and now. His rule is the place where I am freed from my bondage to the created thing and swept up into the transcendent and glorious. This King alone is able to satisfy the cravings of my heart and grant me joy that the disappointing circumstances of life cannot take away. It really is true: the kingdom of heaven is the only thing worth giving up everything for.

So in this season of quiet spiritual reflection, stop and pay attention, ask deeply personal questions, and make a treasure evaluation. Be willing to confess where you’ve placed your hope in earthbound treasure, sacrificing to get what it could never deliver. And give yourself in a new way to make sacrifices in the service of the King of kings. He never promises what he cannot deliver, and he is able to do in your heart what nothing else or no one else can do.

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. How does the way you spend your time, money, and energy reveal what you truly treasure?

2. Looking at the objective evidence of your life, do you more highly treasure the kingdom of God or earthly things?

3. What sacrifices are you willing to make for the treasure of God’s kingdom?

Read Matthew 6:19–34 and 13:44 – 46, and meditate on where you are setting your heart.

Matthew 6:19-34 New Living Translation - Teaching about Money and Possessions

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 13:44 – 46 Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!

2026 Lenten Season - Day 16 - Unnatural Confession

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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No sacrifice is more pleasing to your Lord than the sacrifice of words in the form of humble, honest, heartfelt confession.

Something inside us naturally resists confessing. It is easy for us to rise to our own defense. It is easy for us to blame someone else. It is easy to argue within ourselves that what we did was not that bad after all. It is easy to compare ourselves to others and conclude that we’re not doing as badly as them. It’s easy to be self-righteous and defensive when approached with a wrong. But confession is counterintuitive. Every parent knows that an honest, humble confession is unnatural. If you ask your child why he did what he did, he won’t talk about himself. He’ll point to his sibling, or he’ll point to the situation, but he won’t say, “It was me. I am a rebel and a sinner, and I alone am at fault.”

I have an embarrassing personal example of the difficulty of confession. I was on a speaking trip and staying at the home of one of the families in the church. It was a lovely, well-decorated house filled with fine furniture. In my room was a large and beautiful leather lounge chair. When I speak, I like my clothes to be wrinkle-free, so, before the days when I would stay in hotels where irons are provided, I always traveled with a small iron. I looked around for a place to iron my clothes, and the big leather chair seemed like the best option. I put a towel on it, heated up the iron, and began to press my clothes. I had pressed my pants, set the iron upright on the towel, and walked over to get my shirt. I turned around only to discover that the iron had fallen. It had landed facedown on the seat of that chair and burned the leather. I couldn’t believe it. I then spent way too much time thinking about how I would break the bad news of how my hosts’ beautiful chair now had a large burn mark, but I spent even more time trying to convince myself that this wasn’t actually my fault.

I was the only one in the room. I was the one ironing. I was the one who made the decision to iron on that beautiful chair. I had walked away and left a hot iron in a precarious position. It was my fault. I had to go downstairs and tell my host what I had done. The fact that it was so hard was a humbling spiritual lesson for me. This is why confession is such a pleasing sacrifice to your Lord. It requires you to silence all the self-aggrandizing, self-righteous voices in your life. It forces you to admit that you’re way more spiritually needy than you would like to think you are. It asks you to admit that you’re a person in constant need of forgiveness. It causes you to admit that your biggest problem is not your history, your family, your friends, your culture, your economic situation, your church, your neighbors, your age, or your physical condition. Confession requires you to admit that your biggest problems live inside you, in your heart. It smashes any delusion of comfortable independence. It yanks you away from spiritual self-reliance. Confession drives you to the feet of God as your sovereign Lord and Savior, to honor him for who he is, and to cry for help because of who you are. Confession is pleasing to God because it puts you right in the middle of the position you were created to be in: humble, honest dependence on him.

No passage captures this better than Hosea 14:1–3:
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, 

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words and return to the Lord; 

Say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, 

and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. 

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. 

In you, the orphan finds mercy.”

Hosea is a message of exhortation and warning to people who have wandered away from God. The word picture for this warning is marital adultery. God’s people have committed spiritual adultery.  Spiritual adultery is loving something more than God, causing us to desire and do what God has prohibited. Sin is spiritual adultery. In the face of this, Hosea calls God’s people to return, as an adulterous spouse would return to the one he promised his lifelong love to. But at the center of this call to return is this request: “Take with you words . . . ‘we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.’” It is a bit hard in the English translation to understand what is being requested here. God is saying, "There is a sacrifice I want you to make; it’s the sacrifice of your lips, that is, confession.” God wanted them to do more than just bring the required animal sacrifices. He wanted them to bring a far more costly sacrifice: honest, humble confession, free of excuse or blame-shifting. Confession is hard, but it is simple. Confession only takes three words: “I have sinned.” Confession is naming and owning the sin with no contingencies added.

But there is another part of the sacrifice of your lips. It is acknowledging that your only hope is the forgiving and transforming grace of the Lord. “Assyria shall not save us; / we will not ride on horses; / and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’/ to the work of our hands. / In you the orphan finds mercy” (Hosea 14:3). Sin is a mess we cannot independently get ourselves out of. Sin cries out for grace because grace is the sinner’s only hope in life and in death.

So this Lenten season, don’t just give up physical stuff. How about coming to God with the pleasing sacrifice of confession? Come to him this season and place your pride on his altar, confessing your wandering heart and acknowledging once again that you are a person in need of mercy, and the mercy you need is found only in him.

In this season of sacrifice, take words with you and return to your Lord.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Why do you think confession is so difficult for us?

2. What are the essential aspects of confession? Break it down into what actually needs to be admitted and what must not be said in order for it to be a true confession.

3. Think of someone you have wronged today, or in the past week, and go to that person with a real, honest confession of your guilt.

Set a timer and spend fifteen minutes in honest confession, using Romans 3:10–18 as a guide.

Romans 3:10-18 New Living Translation

10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one.
11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.
12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “They rush to commit murder.
16 Destruction and misery always follow them.
17 They don’t know where to find peace.”
18 “They have no fear of God at all.”

2026 Lenten Season - Day 15 - Your Spiritual War

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The core enemy in our struggle with sin is not wrong behavior, but the idolatry behind the behavior.

The God of grace has given us an interesting passage in the book of Ezekiel so that we would have a clearer understanding of the nature of our daily battle with sin. Because I’m convinced that on this side of eternity, life is one big spiritual war, I have gone back to this passage again and again. Spiritual war is what makes marriage and parenting difficult. Spiritual war is what messes up our friendships and causes us to get ourselves into hopeless debt. Spiritual war causes us to eat too much and to go to places on the internet we should not go. Spiritual war makes it easy for us to blow three hours binge-watching a series on Netflix, while the same amount of time spent studying God’s word seems so hard. Spiritual war causes us to be materialistic, entitled, and demanding, never quite satisfied and never truly happy. Spiritual war is at the root of endless human disappointment and heartache. We are all in a war, whether we know it or not.

If you want to understand your spiritual battles, you need to know and understand Ezekiel 14:1–5: [Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore, speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols."]

In order to understand this convicting and illuminating passage, we must understand two terms. The first is stumbling block. In the Bible, a stumbling block is anything or anyone that leads you to desire to do something that is wrong in the eyes of God (sin). The second term is idol. The biblical teaching on idolatry goes way beyond the sphere of formal religious idolatry. It’s possible that you can have no formal religious idols in your life and yet be serving idols every day. Here’s how the Bible defines idolatry: an idol is any person, place, or thing that exercises control over the thoughts and desires of your heart that only God should have.

At first look, this passage is about the right people doing the right thing. The elders of Israel, who are the nation’s spiritual leaders, are coming to God’s prophet to hear a word from the Lord. But the message that came back was not at all what they expected to hear. God essentially says, “These men have idols in their hearts that will put a wicked stumbling block before their faces, and because this is true, it is the only thing that I am interested in talking about.” God is saying that whatever rules your heart will exercise inescapable control over your behavior. Whatever captures your thoughts and desires will then direct the things that you do and say. God knew that if he did not deal with the deeper issue of their idolatry, whatever he told them would be twisted by or used in the service of their idols. Notice that God is not talking about statues of false gods, but something that had taken residence in and control over the hearts of these men.

You can be theologically aware and biblically literate and still be serving idols in your daily life. You can be faithful in personal daily worship and still have actions, reactions, and responses at street level that are shaped by idols. You can be involved with ministry and have areas in your life that are under the active and functional control of something other than God. It could be the love or respect of another person, it could be the desire for control, it could be a position of power and influence, it could be the desire for a certain experience, it could be the need to be right, or the quest to be successful, or the love of theological knowledge, or the desire for material possessions. It could be hatred or bitterness against another person, it could be physical strength or beauty, it could be anything in creation that replaces the rightful rule of the Creator in your heart. Anything this side of God can become an idol.

This is where the spiritual war rages. It always rages at the level of the thoughts and desires of your heart. It is always deeper than behavior. It is fought at the point of the thing that controls your behavior, that is, the thoughts and motives of your heart. And this war rages on in the most mundane moments of our everyday lives. It also needs to be said that idolatry is not just the desire for what God says is evil. Desire for even a good thing becomes a bad thing when that desire becomes a ruling thing. Theological knowledge is a good thing, but if being knowledgeable becomes more important than loving the one that is the object of that knowledge, theological knowledge has become an idol and will cause you to make bad choices in thought, word, and deed.

I am afraid that because of my biblical literacy, my theological knowledge, and my ministry commitments, I have sometimes thought I was spiritually safe when I was not safe, because some desire in my heart was increasingly taking control of my thoughts and shaping my words and actions.

What about you? Do you tend to think that spiritual warfare doesn’t include you? Have you fallen into thinking that because of your involvement in the body of Christ and its ministries that there could be no idols in your life? Have you assumed a level of personal spiritual safety that may not be true? During this season of Lent, how about confessing to a wandering heart? How about asking your Lord to reveal to you where your heart may be under the control of something other than God? How about examining

what you really crave or what you really want for your life? How about looking for that person, place, or thing that has become too important to you? And how about crying out for the rescuing grace that Jesus died to give you?

May sorrow over the idolatry that still plagues you drive you into a deeper dependency on the rescuing and forgiving grace of your Savior and into a deeper celebration of the freedom that he promises you now and even more completely in the forever with him that is to come.

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. What are the stumbling blocks in your life—those things that tempt you to sin?

2. What are the idols in your life—things that control your thoughts and desires or that you crave in an unhealthy way?

3. What are you doing to remove the stumbling blocks and idols from your heart?

Read Ephesians 6:10–18, and resolve to fight the spiritual battle for your heart with the weapons God has provided.

Ephesians 6:10-18  New Living Translation

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then, after the battle, you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 14 - Let Me See

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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One of the scariest, most destructive aspects of sin is its ability not only to blind us, but to blind us to our blindness.

I fell into the trap once again. I didn’t see it coming, and I didn’t know it was happening until after the fact. I am sure I am not alone in this. I am persuaded it happens to us more often than we realize. It makes us closed, self-protective, and defensive. It prevents us from learning and growing. It weakens our receptivity to preaching and the ministry of the body of Christ. It makes us rather hard to live with and unapproachable. I was tempted once again to believe something that is not true, to accept it unchallenged, and to act upon it. It didn’t go well in the moment, and it would have done me harm if God hadn’t met me by his grace and opened my eyes.

A dear friend asked to see me, and when we met, he confronted me about my attitude in an email conversation. I was defensive because I fell into the trap that so many of us fall into. We succumb to believing that no one knows us better than we know ourselves. There is no more dangerous aspect of sin’s deceitfulness than this one. It will close you off from the insight-giving ministry of God’s word, it will cause you to resist divine conviction, and it will shut you off from the essential sanctifying ministry of the body of Christ. There is no more destructive delusion than this one.

You see, if sin blinds—and it does—then I will not have an accurate view of myself as long as there is sin remaining in me. Hebrews 3:12-13 "Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still 'today,' so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God." The remaining deceitfulness creates pockets of personal spiritual blindness that lead to functional inaccuracies in how I see, examine, and assess myself. This leads me to think I am more righteous, mature, consistent, or godly than I actually am, because there is sin of thought, desire, attitude, word, or action that I do not see or assess properly.

Now, if I think that no one knows me better than I know myself, and you come to me, confronting me with something that I haven’t seen, I feel no guilt in rejecting what you have to say about me. In fact, I will feel hurt that you have misjudged me in this way. Rather than feeling loved by you and by God and helped by you and God to grow in insight and maturity, I will feel wrongly condemned. Your ministry to me, rather than being hope-giving, will be seen as an affront, and if this happens repeatedly, well, there won’t be much relationship left between us. I will walk away thinking that wrongful accusations ended our relationship, when really, you were attempting to do for me exactly what I and everyone else need.

All this happens because sin not only blinds us, but it also blinds us to our blindness. We think we see clearly when we don’t. We think we know ourselves when, in fact, we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do. We think that we’re open to God and to the ministry of others, when we can be way more defensive than we realize. We think we are approachable, but we get quickly argumentative when we are accused of something that is outside the field of our own self-knowledge. We fall easily into this attractive trap of delusion, assuming that we know ourselves better than anyone else does or ever will.

Today, there will be thousands and thousands of conversations that become awkward, uncomfortable, and derailed because of what I have just described. Many of us resist the loving, correcting, and protecting convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, but we do not realize it. Many of us say we love the church, but we are functionally not open, not approachable, and not humbly ready to listen when we are confronted by what we have not seen or do not know about ourselves. So I want to encourage you to do some new things during this Lenten season.

1. Take some time to confess your blindness, and pray for grace to see.

2. Admit to God and others that there have been times when you have been less than open and approachable.

3. Forsake forever the belief that no one knows you better than yourself.

4. Pray for the willingness to benefit from the confronting love of others.

5. Go to the principal people in your life, and ask them to help you to see what you probably wouldn’t see without them.

6. Take time to celebrate that your Savior of grace won’t leave you to your blindness now, and that the day is coming when your blindness will forever end.


GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Do you believe that you know yourself better than anyone else does? When have you seen that this might not be the case?

2. Think back on a time when you were hardened toward your sin or distant from God. At that time, were there sins you were not admitting to yourself?

3. Ask a close friend if there are areas of hardheartedness or sins that he or she has noticed you are becoming blind to. Be humbly, prayerfully ready to receive the answer with gratitude and grace.

Read Psalm 139, where we learn about God searching our hearts and knowing us even when we are misjudged by others. Ask God to search your heart, and confess any sin he reveals to you.

Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you, the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! 20 They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name. 21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? 22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 13 - Substitutionary

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Every piece of Christ’s suffering was suffered for you, and every victory accomplished by that suffering was accomplished so that you can now live in victory, too.

Whatever inconvenience or temporary suffering we may endure during Lent, as we withhold things from ourselves in order to focus on the gravity of our sin and the glory of God’s redeeming plan, it is infinitesimal in comparison to what Jesus willingly endured as our substitute. Now, I know the term 'substitute' today sometimes implies inadequacy. But the substitutionary function of everything Christ did is one of the chief glories of his work on earth. We think of substitutes as being inadequate when

compared to the one they are standing in for, but the opposite is true in the case of the second Adam, Jesus. In this case, the substitute is marvelously greater. Let me explain.

1. Jesus was the substitute for Adam and Eve. 

Because the first Adam failed, there was a crying need for a second Adam who would obey God in every way in every situation, location, and relationship, each and every time. The Messiah Jesus would be Adam’s substitute, doing, with complete perfection, what Adam failed to do. But he came to be not only Adam’s substitute, but yours and mine as well. Because of sin, everyone would fall short of God’s standard, so no one would be able to earn God’s acceptance based on his or her keeping of the law.  God’s righteous requirement was fully satisfied in the perfectly righteous life of Jesus. Because of the complete righteousness of the second Adam (Jesus), who endured every kind of temptation, sinners like you and me can stand before a holy God and be received as righteous in his eyes. 

Consider how the essential grace of the perfect substitute, Jesus, is captured in Romans 5:12-14, 17-21:

"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. . . .

"For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

2. Jesus was the substitute for the animals of sacrifice. 

The reason animal after animal had to be sacrificed day after day, in an endlessly bloody scene, was because they were not an adequate payment for the penalty of sin. The animal sacrifices were God’s gracious provision until the coming of the ultimate, final sacrifice of the unblemished Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here also Jesus stood as a substitute, doing what no animal sacrifice was ever able to do: atone for sin. Jesus, the Lamb, had to be willing to be the perfect sacrifice to end all ineffective animal sacrifices. He had to be willing to suffer and die, and because he was willing, we will never have to fear God’s anger. 

Hebrews 10:1–10 brilliantly explains this: "For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.'

"Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.' He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. '"

3. Jesus was the substitute for the Old Testament priests. 

For all their dedicated and disciplined sacrificial and intercessory work, the priests were part of a system that was earthbound, temporary, and ultimately ineffective. Jesus came as the better priest. He was heaven-sent, his priestly work was effective and once-for-all. He was not only the perfect substitute for 

all those Old Testament priests, he was the sacrifice, as well. As the perfect priest, he offered to God the perfect, acceptable sacrifice, himself, forever ending, by his self-sacrifice, any further need for a sacrifice for sin. 

Read how this is celebrated in Hebrews 7:23–28:

"The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make

intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent,  unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever."

If Jesus willingly endured what he endured and suffered all that he suffered to be the perfect substitute, doing for you what you could have never done for yourself, would you not be willing to make sacrifices for him? “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1). May God give you the grace to do just that. Do you find comfort attractive and sacrifice hard? Perhaps your first sacrifice this Lenten season should be a sacrifice of confession, admitting your struggle to let go of the world in order to hold more tightly to your Lord.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Have you given something up for Lent? How is it going? What sacrifices are hardest for you to make, and why do you think those particular things are so hard for you to give up?

2. How does the fact that Jesus was the perfect second Adam impact your salvation and your daily life?

3. How does it impact your life that Jesus is your substitute sacrifice and your substitute high priest? How can you more intentionally celebrate these wonderful truths?

Read Isaiah 53:1–12, and meditate on the list of sacrifices Jesus bore for you.

Isaiah 53 New Living Translation

1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? 2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous,

for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.