LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 31, 2025

My toes hurt! It’s not the fault of my shoes: it’s much more serious. The pain I feel in my feet is the result of a much larger foot stomping on mine. The owner of that foot had to get my attention because I was walking in the wrong direction. Once I get over the initial pain I will realize He did it because He loves me and is working to develop my character. But it still hurts!

On Wednesday God blessed my heart with the words of a song from Isaiah 50:4 and assured me that He loved our morning time together.

Yesterday the Lord showed me how He has opened my ears to listen and be taught, and that I should not rebel against what He says.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself as I woke up today to spend a relaxing day off. Then it happened. God’s foot came down hard on mine. I was confronted with the selfishness that still exists in my heart. It has been a painful journey that culminated when I really read and digested the meaning of today’s Scripture verses.

Isaiah 50:6-7  “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”

What good is what you know if you don’t make it a permanent part of your life? Stomp number one.

What good is an open ear if it isn’t connected to an open heart? Stomp number two.

What good is what you say you have learned if it doesn’t change how you behave? Please stop stomping!

The prophet Isaiah is praising God for what the Lord is doing in his life. God has opened his ears so he can learn. He has taught Isaiah the words that will sustain others in their times of trouble. God has taught him how to teach others the truths that will change their lives. Then Isaiah says this, if you will allow me the freedom to put into my own words what verses six and seven say:

“Now that I know who God is and understand what is in His heart for the people of the world, it has transformed my heart so that my actions are completely in accord with God’s heart. When someone tries to physically abuse me because of my love for God, I will gladly offer them my back for the beating, assured that my actions are the message that God wants them to hear so their hearts can be broken by His love. When someone insults me, represented by the pulling out of the beard, I will not defend myself or argue for my rights. When someone brings shame on me by putting me down in public and destroys whatever reputation I think I have by literally or figuratively spitting in my face, I will not hide from them or cover my face from their attacks. When I respond like Christ in these situations, I know that the message I send to them will be the testimony of God’s grace that they need to see. I know these people who are hurting me are in trouble themselves and need to hear a word that will sustain them. My actions are the words God wants me to speak. My confidence is in Christ alone, and in Him I will never be put to shame. Therefore I am determined to show them God’s love.”

Now you know why my toes hurt. Now you know where my heart is being worked on. Maybe the Lord is doing the same to you.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 30, 2025

One morning as I was browsing Facebook I saw a post from a good friend. It was his contribution to my spiritual walk. He posted his Bible verses for the day. My ears were open and ready.

After refreshing myself with the wisdom of Proverbs 3, especially verses five and six, I turned over to First Corinthians 2:11-13 where it says, “No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.”

The Lord opened my ears. Just think of the truth in those verses. Our human rational thought process is incapable of knowing God and His plans for us. But He has given us His Spirit so we can know Him and know what He desires for us. We can know what God thinks of us. That’s simply amazing.

Then, as if that’s not enough, His Spirit also qualifies us to teach the spiritual truths to others.

Last week a friend posted this on Facebook – “God does not call the qualified, but rather He qualifies the called.” My ears were open to that as well. I wonder how many of us are not doing what God has planned for us because we don’t think we are qualified? How many people are eliminated from our prospect lists because we don’t think they are qualified? How many more servants of Jesus would become strong leaders for Jesus if we realized that He has called them and that we are the ones to help qualify them?

We are all called to be teachers of spiritual truth. But if we are going to do that, our key verse today from Isaiah must be understood. Isaiah 50:5says, “The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.”

In that verse God says there are two ways that we become unqualified for helping others with the spiritual truths God has given us:

1. We rebel against God. The word here means open, contentious disobedience. Some people are like that. They try to follow God, but when things don’t go according to their own desires and plans, they openly reject God and rebel against Him. Attitudes and actions like that keep us from teaching spiritual truths to others because we have become unteachable by the Holy Spirit.
2. We draw back from God. This is where I think many of us struggle, and our biggest struggle is with the denial that it’s even happening. The Hebrew word used here means to move away, turn back, and backslide. Every time we step off the path of God and onto a path of our own making we are guilty of drawing back from God (Psalm 44:18). Every time we ignore what God has taught us and don’t apply it to our lives, we have drawn back from God. And even though we think it’s not really that serious, it is to God, and the punishment for drawing back is the same as for worshipping false gods. To be sure, read Zephaniah 1:4-6.

God has graciously saved us. He has filled us with His Spirit who teaches us all the spiritual truths we need for an abundant life of service to His Son. But we have drawn back into a comfort zone of culturally-defined Christianity. It is time for us to ask the Lord to once again open our ears, and to pledge to Him that we will not rebel, and that we will not draw back.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Isaiah 50:4  “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”

No sooner had I read this verse this morning that a song started flowing through my brain. It will be with me all day. I can only pray it is with me every day.

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise

Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

It made me think about these two questions:

• When you woke up this morning, did you wake up your spiritual ears to listen to the Lord, and what has He taught you?
• How will you use what He has taught you to instruct others and give them the word that will sustain them through their day?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 28, 2025

One day several years ago I was on my way to an appointment. On the way I would pass the farm of an elderly gentleman that I had yet to meet, but who might be willing to let me bow hunt for deer on his property – at least that’s what another new acquaintance of mine told me. So I stopped at his house. He wasn’t home. On my way home from my appointment I dropped by again, and he still wasn’t home. I was disappointed. In one month the season opens, and it sure would be nice to have some land to hunt that was closer to my home. I’m really sorry I didn’t get to meet the landowner.

Most of the time I carry business cards in my pocket for just such occasions, but that day I didn’t have any on me. Usually I take one out and write these words on the back – “Sorry I missed you.”  Then I give a quick explanation of what I wanted and ask them to call me. Most people appreciate the effort and respond.

As we continue our study of the biblical book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, we come to chapter fifty where God is having the same kind of a day with the nation of Israel. He came to visit them, and they weren’t home. He called them and there was no answer. Then the Lord gives them the reason for His visit. He was there to rescue them from the trouble they were in. Unfortunately they weren’t available.

As God gives the people the reasons for His visit He also reveals the reason for the trouble they were in – they didn’t think God really cared or that God could really do anything about it. God says, “Why are you avoiding me? Is it because you think my arm is too short to ransom you or that I lack the strength to rescue you?” In other words, do you really think God doesn’t care or that He lacks the ability and resources to help you?

I wonder how many times I have missed a visit from God in my life because I was off trying to fix things in my own wisdom and strength. As I reflect on my natural tendencies I know that I tend to jump rather quickly into fix-it mode. Then, when my strength and resources are exhausted, I turn to God for help. How sad!

How great is the denial in which we live when we think that what we are doing is just our natural tendency, almost as if we are trying to justify our behavior. Oh how we need to fall on our knees before the Father and admit that we just don’t trust Him or think He really cares. We prefer our own control rather than surrender to His control. As a result we wander off to do things our way, and we miss His visit.

But God is so gracious. He reaches into His bottomless pocket and pulls out His business card and a pen. Then, with ink that strangely resembles blood He writes these words – “Sorry I missed you” – and places it in the door of our heart where we are sure to see it whenever we choose to open it again.

Quick. Look inside and check your heart’s door. Maybe God’s been at your place recently. He’s still available.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 27, 2025

Years ago I learned something about myself, and since then I have noticed it in others as well. We all have verbal crutches. I discovered it when I got my first job in radio as an announcer. My boss would record us while we were on the air and then call us into his office to listen to the tape. It was revealing. Three out of every four sentences I spoke while the microphone was live started with the word “Hey.” Weird, huh? Coming out of a song I would say, “Hey, that was…” and then name the song and artist. Or I would begin a news segment with, “Hey, let’s look at the news.”  Almost every sentence started with that word. It was my crutch, or as I now call it, my clutch. You see, it was what had to be released to get the brain engaged so the mouth could move.

Some people, in fact a lot of people, use simple clutches, the most popular being “Umm…” Just listen to people and you will start to hear it used all the time. Even public speakers do it. For some reason the foot is always on the clutch and they keep pushing it in just a little and it “umm’s”.  Why is it that we have to be making some kind of noise while we think about what’s next to say?

Well, after I got the “Hey” clutch resolved, I developed another one. This one became famous in that part of the world where I worked. I became the weather guy at the radio station and was responsible for reading the radar system we had installed. I also worked closely with Civil Defense in determining the need for the sirens to be sounded. I actually had a remote desk and broadcast equipment in their offices in the basement of the courthouse.

When storms would be coming, and their path had been carefully predicted, I began saying the phrase “Here it comes.”  It was fine at first, because it started in the summer, and the path of those storms is more easily predicted. However, when winter came, and I made my first big prediction of a blizzard and said “Here it comes,” it never came. Schools had been cancelled; businesses were shut down, and then nothing. The storm totally went around us. How embarrassing. That’s when I was told by my boss that I had been using the phrase “Here it comes” too frequently. I had developed another crutch.

God never says “Here it comes” as a crutch. When He says it, it will happen. The rest of the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah is God’s “Here it comes” for the nation of Israel. In verses 8-9 we read, “This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’”

It declares the beginnings of the plan of God for the redemption of His people. That plan will be revealed for the rest of the book.  At a time of God’s choosing, when all is favorable for the revelation of His glory, He will answer our prayers and help us.

I tend to help myself too much. I tend to evaluate whether or not this is the time of God’s favor. Unfortunately it usually turns out to be the time of my favor. But God has a time of favor. He knows our every need. He knows how to meet that need and do it within the context of His purpose. He has said “Here it comes”. We tend to put too much emphasis on the word “Here”, believing that means right now. But God will not fail to bring what He has promised. His redemption is coming, and reading the rest of this chapter was a good reminder of that. It also filled me with great joy to see the glory of God revealed.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 24, 2025

Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, who is fully and eternally God, was called by the Father to accomplish His will – to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel that had been kept by God. In addition, the Messiah would be a light for the Gentiles – you and me – and bring salvation to the ends of the earth. But before He clarifies the call God confirms the commitment. Was Jesus, the Son of God, in all of His eternal glory, willing to humble Himself and become a man, taking on the form of a servant, if that’s what it took to accomplish God’s glory? Or would He consider that calling too small a thing for someone so qualified?

Isaiah 49:6   “And now the Lord says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The Elders of the church I am currently serving on a temporary basis have started a search for a permanent pastor. But at this point of our church’s growth we can only afford a less than full-time position. What a challenge! It is becoming extremely difficult to find someone who is willing to serve the Lord in bi-vocational ministry.

We have created a culture in our modern church era that places ministry on the same level as professional employment. Granted, the Bible teaches that the workman is worthy of his hire, but the same Apostle who wrote that first taught by example how to be bi-vocational to ease the burden on the local church so ministry to people could flourish. Yet in our past experience we have had potential applicants give this response.  “I have my degree, I’m a professional, and I have certain pay requirements, and I can’t do part-time.”  In some cases the hearts of the applicant were right based on the needs of their family, and I respect that. But we wonder if our position will be too small a thing for most candidates.

I believe that we are in denial about how serious this issue is in our own lives. The materialistic society in which we live has impacted our willingness to serve Jesus sacrificially. There are things God has called us to do that we have determined are beneath us and don’t meet our needs. We are blinded by the immediate and therefore miss the glory that could be seen. We have climbed to the mountain top of our pride and forgotten that the only view of God’s glory is from the lowest place.

Once I met a man who understood this. He knew that there is no call too small. He knows there is no need to put conditions on God’s call. Obedience to God’s call will always be accompanied by God’s provision to accomplish it. We tend to put the provision ahead of the call, and that is not how God works. There’s a reason for that…because that puts us in a position to receive glory to ourselves. If we focus on the provisions as a condition, then when the task is complete we will believe we had some part in making it happen. God has stated that He will not share His glory. If we are seeking to provide for ourselves, then God will not honor the work we are about to do, for it is not 100% being done for Him.

What a blessing it was to meet that man and talk to him. He ended up becoming a part-time, bi-vocational pastor and the work flourished under his humble leadership. As for me and you, let’s be ready to consider any place God takes us for any reason, and not consider any call too small.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 23, 2025

Some days work seems meaningless. There are times when it appears that no one is listening. Moments of doubt can turn into mountains of discouragement as investments deliver no return. Such is the mindset stamped with the signature of Satan.

I thoroughly enjoy being in my workshop. I haven’t had anything to do out there recently but when a project presents itself I love it. Whether it’s sharpening the blades on the lawn mower or repairing a small appliance or building something from wood, I love working with my hands. I think the reason is that I need something where I can see visible results. I need to see the product of my labor.

Many of you get to see that every day in your job. You go to work, fulfill your obligations, check things off the “to do” list, and at the end of the day you can see what was accomplished. It’s different for me. Sometimes it gets hard. There have been times in my life of ministry when I have absolutely related to Isaiah’s words in chapter 49 verse 4. “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” Fortunately this is not one of those times, but maybe it is for you.

Maybe this is a time in your life when it seems that you have no purpose. You may be in a profession that involves people rather than production, and the people for whom you labor are not responding. You work hard to accomplish something of value, but it seems that it has no effect on anyone. Nothing changes. Then add to that the lack of affirmation about what you are doing and suddenly the personal value tank is empty.

I have had times like that. But that’s not where Isaiah ended verse four. It goes on to say, “yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”

That’s why hanging on my wall in my office where I can see it all the time is a plaque.  It had hung on the wall of my parent’s home since I was a child. I was so glad when I was able to keep it for myself. It is an open Bible with the following verse on it – “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know your labor is not in  vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Today I will print out the words of Isaiah 49:4 and hang them on the wall directly below that plaque. But not before I ask the Holy Spirit to stamp them as God’s signature on my heart and mind right alongside 1 Corinthians 15:58. I know there will be a time when I will wonder when I will ever see the fruit of my labor and I will need them. Maybe you need them too.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Yesterday we closed our devotional with Isaiah 48:18-19, which starts with two words…“If only…”

Those are powerful words. They conjure conviction. They remind of regrets. They soak with shame.

“If only…” We can all finish that sentence, and when we do it becomes a sentence. It locks us in the prison of what could have been.

The Enemy of our souls mocks Almighty God with the lives of the redeemed who are locked in the bondage of regret. As pride combines with the pursuit of self-worth, the past becomes a prison.  The remembrance of failure fuels our fear. Our view of our value is no longer vertical. We have lost hope for the future. We live only in the dream of reliving the past. It is exactly where Satan wants us – convinced that we cannot be forgiven. Life lived under the control of “If only…” is obnoxiously opposed to the grace of God.

The Lord only reminds us of the past to magnify His grace that has set us free. The past is a building block upon which our lives stand to gain a higher view of God, rather than a block that forms a wall that limits our view of God. When God reminded the Israelites of what could have been, it was to set them free from the bondage of those memories. God longs with an eternal longing to shower His grace and restore His embrace.

That freedom comes at a price – our obedience. The Lord reminds us of the past so that we might learn to obey Him. Satan reminds us of the past to convince us that we are no longer able to obey. Memories of the consequences of our sin are the fertile soil in which God plants the seeds of righteousness. Confession of our sin fertilizes the seeds with the grace of forgiveness, and the seeds grow to produce fruit for the glory of God.

Satan attempts to steal the seeds. In their place he plants seeds of doubt, fear, and worthlessness. They do not grow to bear fruit but serve only to make the soil hard. The water of the Word of God begins to run off rather than soak in, and we are left dry and weary. But in the words of the Vernon Charlesworth hymn, “Jesus is the Rock in a weary land.”

When the people of Israel were in such a dry and weary land as they escaped from the bondage of Egypt, they quenched their thirst with water that came flowing from the rock. Even though they thought it was hopeless and they complained, God was there to show grace. Hundreds of years later God reminded Isaiah of his grace in verse 21. “They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.”

God’s grace gushes out.

The prison walls of “If only…” are not able to stand against the gushing of grace. God has declared you are free. He says to us in verse 20 to leave the place of bondage for the Lord has redeemed you. Shout it with joy to the ends of the earth. We are free. Any and all memories of the past are washed in the blood of the Lamb and are now only reminders to obey and experience the fullness of God’s blessing from this day forward.

Look up. You are about to be gushed upon.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 21, 2025

As a child I didn’t like playing follow the leader. It was pointless. Even as a child I thought, “Why would I want to follow someone who has no idea where I want to go? Why would I want to follow someone who only wants to go where they want to go and takes no thought for the desires of the person following them?” I probably missed out on a lot of childish fun. Maybe my pride was already overblown. Maybe God was preparing me to understand why I should follow Him.

The world is full of leaders and followers. Many leaders aren’t really leaders – they are just powerful people who use their power to control others so they can fulfill their own objectives. The followers of such leaders are repressed and unfulfilled. Some leaders are great. Their followers are excited to follow because they are convinced by the leader that where they are going is exactly the place that will satisfy their deepest longings and their wildest dreams. Such followers believe their leader knows what is best for them and is leading them to it. They trust the leader to take them to places they really want to go, not just where he wants to go.

I will follow a leader like that. I would have done it as a kid. If in the game of follow the leader it was required of the leader to ask each follower where they wanted to go and then lead them there, I would have played. If the leader could first convince the followers that where he wanted to go was really where they also wanted to go, I would have played the game. I will follow a leader like that.

We have a leader like that – the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.  In Isaiah 48:17 God says,“This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”

First, He teaches us what is best for us. He helps us to understand what we really need and shows us what we really want. He shapes our thought process. The sovereign God of all creation knows what is best, and He lets us in on it. He takes the time to instruct us. He softly and tenderly speaks to our hearts, and if we listen, we will discover that what He says is good for us is far better than what we say is good.

Second, our Leader directs us in the way we should go. Based on what we now know to be best for us, God leads us to it. He wants us to find the best. He has told us what it is, and now He shows us how to get there. I will follow a leader like that.

Unfortunately there are many who don’t follow the Leader. Some of them call themselves followers, but it’s a sham. They are really following their own desires. Their hearts have never been convinced that God really knows what’s best for them, so they never submit to His leadership to get them there. They continue to pursue their own desires, thinking that what their sinful minds desire is really best for them. Sometimes I am like that too.

When I decide not to play follow the Leader it’s because my pride has convinced me that I know what’s best for me. I choose to follow myself, and it usually ends up badly. Look at what God tells the people of Israel when they chose not to follow the Leader:

“If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”

I am not only convinced of the following truth, but I am overjoyed to experience it – God knows what’s best for me and will lead me to it! It is exciting and fulfilling to follow the Leader!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 20, 2025

We are a stubborn people. We don’t have to try to want our own way; it is the natural expression of our sinful nature.  It culminates in us giving credit for what happens in our lives to gods of our own creation. That way our pride can be fully self-sustaining with no need for outside interference. It is the circle of bondage that pleases the Enemy of our souls.

Yet God is full of grace and mercy. For his own sake – for the sake of His Name and fame – He delays His wrath. He has chosen to reveal Himself and His plan to us so that He may be honored and glorified in our lives. Our troubles are His testing ground to prove His faithfulness and build our faith. He does not permit His people to remain in a place of pride. In His love for us as His children He draws us back to His heart so that in us and to all who know us He is shown to be the only true God.

One way that God destroys our pride and restores our souls is through prophecy. In Isaiah 48 God reveals to us the importance of prophecy. It has to do with our stubbornness. First, He reminds us that the prophecies of old that have come true give us a foundation of faith upon which we can stand and look to the future. If God had not revealed specific details of His plan to His people, their pride would have allowed them to give credit to gods of their own choosing – gods they created to allow the co-existence of faith and flesh in their lives. But because God told them what would happen eons before it did, they were able to give credit to Him.

That’s why for us today the study of Old Testament prophecy is important – we see the workings of Almighty God and build an understanding of His sovereignty. Without that foundation of faith, we would quickly give credit for what happens in our world to gods of our own creation; gods like government or economics or the worst one of all, personal knowledge and power. But when we study the Old Testament and see the prophecies of God proclaimed hundreds of years before the event took place, and the perfection of every prophetic detail, we can give glory to only One God – Jehovah.

Isaiah 48:5   “Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’”

Second, God has revealed new things that have not yet been fulfilled, and our study of them will bring the blessings of faith, patience, and perseverance to our lives because we will understand current events in light of God’s purpose. For the nation of Israel God revealed His plan for their restoration as a nation, and that is the theme of the rest of Isaiah. It is the plan for the restoration of His glory to His chosen people the nation of Israel. For us today, the prophecies extend into the New Testament and reveal the glory of God in His church and into eternity. His wrath will be revealed as He strikes down all sin and all sinners. His glory will be revealed as the church fulfills its calling as the Bride of Christ. Those who study these prophecies will be constantly refined and revived and will be able to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, despite the circumstances of life.

But we are a stubborn people. We still turn our attention to man’s solutions for the problems of the world, rather than seeing the problems as God’s plan to turn our eyes on Him. Four times in verses nine through eleven God says that what He does is for His sake – for His glory. He will not share His glory. If in any way we have created gods that get glory for what happens in our lives, we will be tested and afflicted. It is God’s expression of love to His children so that we turn back to Him. We are to be the proof of God’s glory to the sinful world around us. Unfortunately many so-called Christians are becoming proof of humanism and man’s glory rather than God’s. Let that not be said of us! Let us return to a study of prophecy and listen to the words of Scripture. May our discussions of current events always be in the context of God’s plan revealed in Scripture, not man’s plan devised in stubbornness and rebellion against God.

Pastor John