Promise for Today - Powerful Weakness

Guest author - Christopher Glotzbach 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

You need help.

Those are words I have a hard time believing… and an even harder time receiving.

But something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is this:
When I receive help, I’m not just allowing someone to help me — I’m giving them an opportunity to bless. And when I refuse help, sometimes I unintentionally hinder someone else from living out the way God created them. 

The other day during a workout, I was on the ground (yes, on purpose ) trying to get a weight onto my lap so I could do some glute bridges. I was struggling. Like… really struggling. Before I knew it, a woman from the gym came over and offered to help me lift the plate into position.

Now, I’m pretty hardheaded… I mean, determined … so I was still fighting to get it myself.
She offered again and I looked at her and said: “No, I’m okay.”  She walked away, and I could tell she looked a little confused. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I wondered if my refusal didn’t only communicate, “I don’t need help,” but maybe even, “I don’t need you.” And that bothered me.

After my workout, I found her and apologized. But honestly, the whole thing felt awkward.
And the reality is… it didn’t have to be.
How much harder would it have been to simply say, “Yes, thank you”?
I could have humbled myself, accepted help and given someone else the opportunity to serve...

But

The reason I said no wasn’t because I didn’t need help. It was because of pride. 

And that moment has had me thinking: 

How often do I refuse help from people who genuinely want to help me? 

Over the last week, I’ve challenged myself to say yes more often. And you know what I’ve discovered? Something really beautiful happens when we allow people to lean in. We give people the opportunity to live out the way God created them. Because we weren’t created to live independently from one another. We were created to serve, encourage, carry burdens, to give ourselves away, practice hospitality.  It’s the mission of Christ through us. 

That’s part of what it means to die to ourselves.
And sometimes my refusal to receive isn’t humility — it’s actually pride. Because when I refuse help, I’m not only trying to prove I can do it on my own… I may be keeping someone else from experiencing the joy of serving.

And I wonder how often we do the same thing with God. How often is the Lord offering us help — giving us peace, wisdom, strength, or direction — and we respond: “No, I’m okay.” How often do we rely on our own strength instead of receiving His?

The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Then Paul says: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Maybe weakness isn’t something we need to hide.
Maybe weakness is an invitation to experience God’s power — and the blessing of others.
Because when people are generous with their time, talent and treasure, it makes us want to be generous in the same way. Right?!

 
So today my prayer is this:
Lord, 

       Help me stay humble and open to receive help. Remind me that when I accept help, I’m not just receiving a blessing — I’m allowing someone else to be a blessing. Help me stop trying to prove I can do everything on my own. Help me boast in my weakness, knowing that Your power is made perfect in my need. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Promise for Today - Listen and Learn

A wise child accepts a parent’s discipline; a mocker refuses to listen to correction.
Proverbs 13:1 NLT

In both the physical and spiritual realms, there is a process. A baby learns to crawl before he walks or talks. In the spiritual realm, a new convert should listen and learn before he begins service. 

A wise son submits to the discipline of instruction. The scoffer won’t have it; he thinks he has all the answers and refuses to be corrected. Proverbs 16:18 warns us that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 21:24 NKJV defines it, "A proud and haughty man—'Scoffer' is his name; He acts with arrogant pride." The mocker or arrogant person who refuses instruction is blatantly heading toward poverty and death. Psalm 1:6 declares that the way of the wicked will perish (referring to those who are prideful, arrogant, scoffers, mockers of God's way).

Psalm 1:1 ESV tells us, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;..." Learning wisdom brings its own rewards, including honor and life itself. God is watching, listening, and we should learn His Word in Isaiah 66:2b “But I will look to this one, At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who [reverently] trembles at My word."

Prayer:

Father, 

           Shine Your light of Truth on us if and when we find ourselves judging others. Forgive us, O God, and change our hearts to be kind and loving and compassionate. Help us to see the good in people. Help us to see YOU in mankind - those You created in Your image. We want to walk in a true posture of humility before You and our fellow man. Give us clean hands and pure hearts, Father, we pray in Jesus' Name. Amen

2026 Lenten Season - Day 25 - Here's the Struggle

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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Lent is not about what you will give of yourself to God, but about what he, in grace, has so bountifully given to you.

The husband had been caught in adultery. It was humiliating for him and devastating to his marriage. He didn’t confess until he was caught. Jerry and his wife came to me for help. They both seemed to want to save their marriage. He spoke words of brokenness to me and seemed to be repentant. Mary was willing to hang in there as long as Jerry was turning from the entanglements of sin and turning toward his Lord and her with new commitments of faith. But as I continued to meet with them, I began to be concerned. Truly repentant people are overwhelmed with the rebelliousness and destructiveness of what they have done, while at the same time, they are blown away by the magnitude and consistency of God’s mercy and grace. They tend to experience the love of God in deeper and fresher ways as they tend to embrace in new ways the truth that they could never do anything to earn that love.

But when I would meet with Jerry, the thing Jerry talked about the most was Jerry. He talked about all the things he was giving up for the Lord, the length and depth of his new devotional life, the Christian books he had purchased, and the new ways he was serving his wife. He kept telling me how he was “all in” for the Lord. The more he told me, and the more he patted himself on the back, the less I believed it. It wasn’t, “God, be merciful to me a sinner,” but rather, “God, look at what I am doing for you.” He had an attitude of the heart that the grief of real confession and the humility of true repentance would never produce. When I began to write this devotional, I thought of Jerry, and here’s why.

The season of Lent is about offering yourself to God in new or deeper ways. It’s about new submission and deeper devotion. Lent is about mourning the ways your heart has wandered. It is about confessing the hold the world still has on you or the places where you have succumbed to temptation’s draw. It is about identifying places in the heart where you need to give yourself more fully to God. There is a necessary self-focus to Lent because you are examining your heart, your life, your relationships, and your daily decisions to see where God is calling you to give up something or to take up something in devotion to him. Lent is about willing self-sacrifice as you pursue the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for you. Lent isn’t a formal season of temporary sacrificial devotion, but rather an opportunity to address things in your life that need to be addressed but that often get lost in the busyness and distraction of everything else you’re doing. But here’s what is so important to understand about Lent: it is not about what you are doing or are committing yourself to do for God, but about what he has done and is now doing for you.

The story of Lent is the world’s most important and most wonderful generosity story. Lent is about one who not only lavishly gives what is desperately needed, but who also offers himself as the ultimate gift.  But the story of Lent is not just about generosity; it is the one story where the giver and the gift are the same person. The hope and security of Lent is not to be found in the size and consistency of what you give to God; it is about the stunning gifts of grace he has given and will continue to give you. It is God’s generosity that is primary and transformative, not ours. We love because he first loved us. We give because he first gave to us. We lay down our lives because he first laid down his. We are willing to suffer for his sake because he first suffered for us. We obey because in his obedience we are given hope. We fight temptation because he fought it and defeated it on our behalf. We are willing to humble ourselves and serve because he left the splendor of eternity, humbled himself, and served up to - and through - the point of death. Everything we ever give of ourselves happens only because of the primacy of his gifts to us. He is the ultimate giver. No matter how great our sacrifices or how much we give, we will never give to him the magnitude of what he has given us. As we seek to give ourselves more fully during Lent, every gift we give is a celebration of the transformative storehouse of what he has given us. Lent is all about sacrifice: his, not ours.

Pride in the sacrifices you are making not only crushes the spirit of this wonderful season of spiritual reflection and growth, but it also quenches the work that the Holy Spirit would do in your heart as you open it up to him. Pride doesn’t mix well with the grief over sin that propels confession. Pride doesn’t sit well with the humility that fuels true repentance. A self-congratulatory attitude turns sacrifice into a reason to convince yourself that you’re pretty righteous after all, and righteous people don’t need the divine sacrifice that this season is all about. Pride flips the Lenten season on its head.

Now, here’s the struggle. Whenever you focus on yourself, even in examination and confession, pride lurks right around the corner. It is so tempting to take credit for desires, choices, and actions that you would never have taken if you had not been rescued and changed by God’s grace. If pride is self-congratulatory, then it is also self-reliant. But the whole message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that you and I were not created to be self-reliant, and in our struggle with sin, we have no ability on our own to defeat what needs to be defeated. This is why the sacrifice of Christ was essential. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, even in our deepest moments of sacrifice and devotion.

So in this season of new and deeper sacrifice and devotion, resist the temptation of turning the tables.  That is, don’t make the lavish gifts of another become about what you give. You can’t stand at the foot of the cross and consider the magnitude of what was done there and hold onto the pride of personal sacrifice. Pray for grace to make every sacrifice, every gift given, a celebration of both the ultimate gift and the most generous giver.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Jerry’s story illustrates an important test for genuine repentance. Would you pass the test? Is your repentance more about what you have done or what God has done?

2. In what ways does Lent often lead to pride?

3. What are some practical ways to guard yourself against the tendency for the Lenten season—and spiritual disciplines any time of the year—to become a source of pride?

Read James 4:6–10, and let it lead you to genuine sorrow over your sin.

6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Building Relationships - Guest Author

From the Daily Hope Newsletter.

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“Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. . . . You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”
Philippians 2:3, 5-6 NLT

The ability to be humble is a relationship builder. What is humility? It’s when you honor others above yourself instead of demanding or clinging to your rights.

Pride, on the other hand, destroys relationships—and it shows up in a lot of different ways. It can make you critical, judgmental, competitive, stubborn, and unforgiving. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride leads to destruction; a proud attitude brings ruin” (NCV).

Pride is also self-deceiving. When you have a problem with pride, you struggle to see it in yourself. But everyone else can see it in you!

What does pride look like in a relationship? One, you always offer advice but never ask for it. Two, you can’t admit when you’ve had a tough week. Everybody else is saying, “Yeah, this last week was tough.” But you can’t seem to admit you have any problems.

But how does humility play out in a relationship? Notice the five relationship builders in 1 Peter 3:8: “Live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble” (GW). The first four are really built on the fifth one: Be humble. That verse is an excellent model for relationships.

How does humility happen in your life? It happens by letting Jesus control your thoughts, heart, attitudes, and reactions. Growing in humility has to include Jesus.

The basic law of relationships is this: You tend to become like the people you spend time with. If you spend time with grumpy people, you get grumpier. If you spend time with happy people, you get happier. If you want to have more humility, spend time with Jesus Christ in prayer and reading his Word. Just talk to him. He is humble and wants a relationship with you.

Growing in humility may seem like a tall order, but it’s possible with Jesus... 

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Prayer:

Father, 

         Thank You for sending this teaching today. Please forgive us for walking in pride. We do not want to invoke destruction and ruin in our lives. Help us to see how pride can show up in our life. Help us to see and understand the connection between being humble and spending time with Jesus. Make us ever mindful of how we act when it’s been a while since we've connected with You. We want to build according to Your Word to "Live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble." In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Advent Day 9 - We are Gifted but Humble

This year's Advent devotionals are from A Celebration of Advent: A 25-Day Devotional
by New Spring Church of Anderson, SC
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“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.”
Luke 1:47

Mary couldn’t hide the calling God placed on her life. The child she carried was Israel’s Messiah. Mary responded to this miracle with a song to God. When Mary says, “From now on, all generations will call me blessed,” she wasn’t being proud. She recognized and accepted the Gift God had given to her.

God is pleased when we accept His gifts and use them for His glory. He created us to accomplish His special plan and purpose (Ephesians 2:10). His gifts and purpose grow in us and we can't keep that to ourselves. As we discover our spiritual gifts and embrace God’s plan for our lives, people take notice. When that happens, how do we respond?

God loves when we give Him all the credit. That’s what Mary did. Mary knew that the miracle God was doing through her was the result of God’s ability, not her own. Pride causes us to minimize God’s work in us or take credit for what God has done. It’s only through God’s strength and goodness that we can do anything of eternal value. Lift up your voice and give praise to God because He has gifted you to accomplish His purpose!

REFLECT: Read Luke 1:46-56
What are your God-given talents and gifts? How are you using them to glorify God?
How do you respond when people give you a compliment?
How can we celebrate God’s work in us without making it about us?
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Prayer:

Father,
          We recognize and acknowledge that every gift or talent we have is because You formed them in us as we were formed in our mother's womb. Help us to recognize what You have given to each of us and to use everything for Your glory. With every fiber of our being, we want to fulfill Your purpose and plan for our lives. Help us, O Lord! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Reminder - The Question is...

Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? 

Galatians 3:2-5a The Message

A friend of mine once made a profound statement of Truth that just about floored me. He said, "Self-sufficiency is such a sign of no faith." Did you catch it? Listen. "Self-sufficiency is such a sign of NO faith."

Now, if this were Old Testament writing, I'd have to follow that statement with 'selah'...which is from a music mark indicating a pause. (According to Fausset's Bible Dictionary, the implication in Scripture is that, [Selah] is a call to calm reflection on the preceding words.) Self-sufficiency, no faith. Self-sufficiency, no faith! Man! It wasn't too many years ago, I would have gone ballistic over that one. Now, I humbly recognize the Truth in it.

If we never rely on God for anything - if we count only on ourselves and our own abilities to make or take care of our lives, our children, our jobs, our finances, our future, then it requires no faith. And just as sure as fear itself is the absence of faith, so is NOT trusting God. You see, NOT trusting God IS fear. Fear that He won't take care of you, fear that He won't keep you well, that He won't provide for you and what belongs to you. Fear that He really hasn't forgiven you and doubt that He even would consider it. Or worse, PRIDE - perhaps thinking you could do a better job yourself...

So... the question on the table is, Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you?

Prayer:

Father,
            We cannot begin to praise You or thank You enough for shining the Light of Your Truth on our lives. Thank You for setting us free to live in You, unbound by our own controlling methods of self-sufficiency. Keep us unfettered - set free from serving ourselves - and turned on to serving You and Yours. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Friends' Favorites - What Do I Know?

[The Lord speaking] Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?

Isaiah 50:2 NKJV

I thought I had a pretty good grasp of how big God is - you know, the Creator of the Universe, speaking the worlds into existence, the whole nine yards... until I realized that if I really had a grasp on who God is, and what He is, and how He is large and in charge, then I would just say, "Yes, Lord" and be done with it (whatever it may be) on Earth as it is in Heaven. Instant follower. Instant obedience. Instantly compliant. Instant servant's heart...but I don't...and I think I may be safe in saying that I'm not the only one who doesn't. I'm not making excuses for me nor am I casting dispersion on anyone else...this is just a reality check to put ME back in proper perspective.

As I listen once again to the song, "What Do I Know of Holy?" by Addison Road, I am struck by the Truth of the lyrics. And as the words wash over my soul, I humble my heart before the greatness of our God. It is in humility that wisdom comes. Proverbs 11:2 reads, Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. What do I know unless the Lord teaches me?

Prayer:

Father,

          According to Your Word, in Ephesians 3, Now all glory to You, who is able, through Your mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to You in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-bRarAZ2g

Beast of Burden (by request)

Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

Isaiah 40:28b-29 NLT

I have lived most of my adult Christian life telling God that He must have me confused with someone else because I am not strong enough to walk this road and carry whatever load I've got at that moment. I have joked about it numerous times - If God says He'll never put more on us than we can bear, He obviously has a much higher opinion of me than I have of myself.  I'll tell you - for an intelligent woman, I can be really stupid.

It's my own foolishness and pride that causes me to think that I can carry ANY load on my own. God has always invited us to come to Him and lay our burdens down. He never put any restrictions on how much we can drop off.  I don't find any Scripture where God instructs us to go away and come back when we have a real load. Or one that tells me to stop wasting His time and go do it by myself. I do, however, find many that invite us to rest in Him, to yoke up with Him, to cast all our care on Him.

Of course, we can choose to be stubborn as mules and do it on our own... but God never called any of us to be beasts of burden.

Prayer:

Father,

         Rather than bray, we choose to pray - for Your wisdom, Your guidance, Your mercy and grace, and Your strength. Open our eyes FULLY to see Your desire for our lives established and fulfilled. When we recognize that it's Your strength and acknowledge that it's not ours, there is NO load too big or too much. Help us to see that Christ carried our load to the Cross, now all we have to do is follow Him. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Learn the Lesson +

But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
Daniel 5:22-23 NKJV

Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar's ancestor, the king who God caused to lose his mind because of his pride and arrogance. He lost his kingship and lived like a wild beast in the field after declaring the mighty works of his kingdom were his -done by his own hands - and did not glorify God. Belshazzar knew all this and still didn't humble his heart. The breath God gave them, they used to deny God and renounce Him. So he lost everything, too.

You'd think they would learn, wouldn't you? 

Have we? 

Do we still insist that we don't want to do or go or be what the Holy Spirit is leading us to? Do we acknowledge and glorify God for the strength and the wisdom and the abilities He alone has given us or do we take the credit? 

...and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Let's learn the lesson before it's too late.

Prayer:

Father,
         Forgive our foolish pride and pathetic attempts at greatness. Teach us how to humble ourselves - to throw ourselves on the rock before we are crushed by it! It is only through You that we have life at all. All talents and gifts were given to us in our mother's womb when You created us and numbered our days. All glory and honor and praise to You, O God!  In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen