LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 17, 2025

I’m stuck. It’s a dilemma. I cannot get past the last six words of this verse.

Isaiah 48:1   “Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel – but not in truth or righteousness.”

No matter what I try the Holy Spirit keeps bringing me back to those six words. “But not in truth or righteousness.”  I believe God wants me to learn a lesson about who I am. Maybe this is for you too.

The people of Israel were God’s chosen people. Nothing could ever change that reality. They had a rich and meaningful spiritual heritage. They were called by the name God had chosen for them. But their spiritual activity was a sham – a ritual that had no righteousness – a task that wasn’t the expression of truth.

Religion can become just that – truthless tasks and righteousless rituals. (I know I made up a word but it is descriptively powerful.) We have become people who have a form of godliness but deny the power of it in our everyday activity, as the Apostle Pauls says in  2 Timothy 3:5. We make great promises to God about our plans to change, but those plans are quickly absorbed into our secular and worldly lifestyles. We turn to God in our dark times of deep need, but we really only want rescue rather than repentance.

Religion produces self-defined people. Look at the people of Israel. They were chosen by God. They were called by God. They were set apart for God’s purpose. They were given a special name. They inherited a spiritual heritage that is the model for all people. But they quickly turned all of that into a license to satisfy the desires of their own sinful hearts. They translated their past into permissiveness – their perceived security into personal self-fulfillment. No longer did they choose to let God define them, but rather they chose to define themselves.

Now let’s look at ourselves.

• The Apostle Peter says, “We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  
• Pauls says, “And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
• Philippians 2:13 says we are set apart for God’s purpose.  
• The historical record of the book of Acts says we have been given a special name – CHRISTIAN.
• We have inherited a spiritual heritage.  Galatians 4:7 tells us that “since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”  

How then do we live? Are we also guilty, like the Israelites, of turning all of that into a license to satisfy the desires of our sinful nature? Do we truly believe that our sinful nature was crucified when we came to saving faith in Jesus Christ?

Let us all take some time today and every day to consider this – am I living my life according to God’s definition of me or according to my own definition that is convenient for today?

May every activity of our lives be seen by God as the expression of the truth of His definition of a Christ-follower. May our lives be lived in the righteousness of Christ. That is holiness – a life without contradiction.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 16, 2025

It was eight days of testing. Our patience was tested. Our ability to function on less sleep was tested. Our creativity was tested. Our wisdom was tested. I am proud to announce that we not only survived the test, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and passed with flying colors. Of course the flying colors part is just my opinion.

What a joy it was to be surrounded by children for those days. We had five of them for the first three days and then just two of the older ones for the remaining five days. I must admit though that it felt good to return home and be alone after dropping them off at the end of their parents’ trip. But God taught me something while they were at our house. I thought at first I was just teaching this to the kids, but it was me who really needed to learn. That’s God’s plan – to give us the children and grandchildren He knows we need to make us more like Jesus.

When trouble would brew between the kids, or when one would make a decision that turned out poorly, I took the time to try to teach them a lesson in maturity. Imagine that. Me teaching maturity. I know you are chuckling. Your chuckles will turn to guffaws when you hear what I tried to teach them. Not only because they are young and you will think I was trying to teach a principle beyond their years, but because I don’t really model the principle very well myself. That’s what God wanted me to realize.

Every time one of the kids made a bad decision, I would pull them aside and talk to them about what it means to think about the consequences of our choices. Rather than acting impulsively, I would try to lay the foundation for them to consider what might happen if they do it. I knew that they would probably not understand the concept, and that kids that age don’t think that way, but I wanted to start teaching them so that by repetition over the years they will get it and become mature decision-makers. Now, because I have started this, every time I see them, and am responsible for them, I can supplement their parent’s teaching by emphasizing good decision-making skills.

This morning as I was studying Isaiah 47, God highlighted verse 7 for me.

Isaiah 47:7b   “…But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.”

The Babylonians had been making decisions based solely on their need for immediate gratification. Now God was going to intervene and make some corrections. He starts by telling them that they had been poor decision-makers. I saw myself clearly as I read. When I got to verse seven I stopped and knew it was for me. The Lord said directly to me that I needed to consider all the consequences of every choice and reflect on what might happen.

So, for the rest of today, and on into the foreseeable future, I will be carrying this verse with me, condensing it into three words that will be etched into my mind – consider the consequences. Maybe, before I go to see Jesus, I can conquer impulsiveness and begin to mature so I’m more like Him.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Let’s continue with our focus on the chains of comparison that have so many of us bound up. Let me draw some principles from Isaiah chapter 46 and other passages of Scripture that might help us be set free.

In Isaiah 46:5 we read, “To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?”

Here is what God says about Himself:

• I am God, and there is no other
• I am God, and there is none like me
• I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come
• I say: My purpose will stand
• I will do all that I please
• What I have said, that will I bring about
• What I have planned, that will I do

After you have allowed those truths to sink in, you may still be asking how that solves the comparison game. Here’s how:

1. The God who is incomparable has lavished His love on us and declared us to be His children.  First John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” We have no need to compare ourselves to anyone to determine our worth because our worth has been eternally established and declared by the One who has no comparison.
2. We have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
3. We are joint heirs with Jesus with all things eternal. In Romans 8:17 we read, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
4. We have been granted a seat with Christ in heaven. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,”
5. God declares us to be fully qualified in Colossians 1:12. “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

With all of that affirmation from God and His declaration of our worth, we are free from the bondage of comparisons. Now, instead of spending all of our time trying to earn the approval of people, we can grant them the approval that God wants them to know because we are living in it.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 14, 2025

I have absolutely no idea who Shelia Butler is, but she went public with advice to a friend on X (Twitter). Her friend was obviously dating someone that Shelia did not approve of. She told her friend, “Really? Lauren? Not even in the same class as Jacob. He should’ve been gone.”

This simple exchange between two friends illustrates a problem that exists in our hearts. We have been suckered into a game that we should not be playing. We are like unsuspecting tourists at a county fair who are approached by a barker who wants us to play his carnival game. He stands in the main flow of pedestrian traffic and shouts out to us that we are guaranteed winners if we just try it once. In our innocence and naiveté we agree, and before long our pockets are empty and our self-esteem is destroyed. We walk away believing we are losers.

Such is the game of comparisons we play every day. In our innocence as children we were convinced by someone that the best way to discover our true worth was to compare ourselves to others. Perhaps we learned it by experience as others did it to us. So began a life of criticism, put downs, insults, and sarcasm designed to somehow make us feel good about who we are. In our hearts we know it doesn’t work, and in most cases makes us feel worse rather than better about who we are, but we are stuck in the bondage of the behavior. How can we be set free?

It starts with our belief in God. That’s not just a simply Sunday School answer. It’s the eternal truth of the matter. If we have established equals to God in our lives then we will never be free from the comparison chains in our mind. If we believe that there is anyone that is even in the same class as God so that they are worthy of any attempted comparison, we will never be free from the bondage in our brains. Our freedom begins with a proper perspective of Almighty God.

Because we are finite, and therefore think from a finite perspective, it is hard for us to imagine anyone so far above everyone else that they are in a totally separate class. From childhood we have been taught that no matter how good we think we are or actually are at anything, someday we will meet someone better. That fact either drives us to excel or holds us back. Either way, our motivation for action or inactivity is the same – comparison.

If we could catch a glimpse of the infinite, we would see that God is beyond comparison. He has no equal. He is in a class all by Himself. He is the one and only standard of perfection. He has the right, and is the only one who has the right, to declare His own worth, because He is the only one who is unbiased and truthful about His status.

I want to leave you with Isaiah 46:5, where God says, “To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?”

Tomorrow I will share some truths that can break the chains of comparison.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 13, 2025

When God says He cares for us, I’m not sure we comprehend the depth of His care. Can we even begin to imagine the details that He must be managing?  Every little thing that could and would affect us is evaluated in the all-seeing and all-knowing mind of God. Even the timing of our own decisions is managed by God so that circumstances fall into place exactly as He wants so that His will is accomplished for our good. I have had numerous experiences of God delaying my progress on a trip to protect me from an unseen danger ahead. God never sleeps. He never slumbers. He cares for us constantly, more than we can ever know.

Today I want to share with you a story from a friend – a story that illustrates how God cares for us and has everything under control. The story has been edited from its original version to eliminate some personal details. The story begins with a surprise 60^th birthday party being planned for the writer’s mom.

“It just so happened that September 12 was 60 days before her actual 60th birthday. It seemed too good to pass up, so I chose that day for the party. The idea for the party was to choose 60 different people to each have a number from 1 to 60. They were asked to creatively present that number to her in whatever way they wanted. At the party we would start with #1 and count up to 60. Crazy, I know. But it was awesome….better than I ever could have hoped for or imagined.

“When we began planning the party last summer, I randomly gave #50 to my co-conspirator in the party planning. One day in early August she called me to tell me about a dream she had the night before. In the dream, she saw the verses Isaiah 46:3-4 and a bracelet that my dad had given my mom. I knew which bracelet she was referring to, but I couldn’t recall the engraving on it or the story behind it. She then read me the verses:

“Listen to me…you whom I  have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

“I told her even if it has nothing to do with the bracelet, verse 4 was too perfect for a 60th party to pass up! She would combine the chapter and verse number to equal 50 and write my mom a song about it for her present.

“Later that day my mom told me the story of the bracelet. When she got her first gray hair, she kind of panicked. My dad went to the jewelry store and bought her a bracelet. On one side is engraved: “Isaiah 46:3-4” and on the other side “Love, Lee”.

“In the weeks ahead, Satan seriously attacked every part of the party planning. Mom started making all kinds of other plans for the day of the party. We had to work very hard to get her to switch them. Family issues arose. I was totally stressed out, and the night before the party I thought I had made a big mistake trying to do this.

“The next morning – the day of the party – I got up and went into the bathroom at my mom’s and looked at the calendar on the wall. In utter amazement I read the Scripture verse for the day – Isaiah 46:4. Isn’t that amazing???? I am still very overcome when I think about that moment. I totally felt peace wash over me. I said, “God I am so sorry. This already was Your day. You have been in this all along.”  I was so glad that we had persevered through all of the heartache and headaches to reach that moment, and I knew that God was indeed at work. I also knew that this was to be more than just a “party.”

“Everyone was so creative with their numbers. I began to see why Satan would indeed want to cause trouble! Look at how many people had been reading the Bible in preparation for the party! Look at the people who were stepping out of their comfort zones! Look at the ways that God was being glorified! Look at the witness that was brought before unbelievers! Look at the people who stepped up as servants! Look at how the Body of Christ came together!! Then to top all of that off, the Isaiah verse. For me, that miracle was a symbol of redemption. The day truly had already belonged to the Lord.”

God cares, and He carries us along!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 10, 2025

 First things first.

I’m guilty of putting lesser things first.

Today I rejoice that the first things are the first things. They are also the best things. God designed it that way. His first things are always our best things.

As I read through the 45^th chapter of Isaiah again this morning I was reminded of five first things that put every other thing in proper perspective. Here they are:

#1.   Isaiah 45:17 “But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation.” God’s salvation is an everlasting salvation.

#2.   Isaiah 45:19  “I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’” God does not hide Himself from us, and when we seek Him we will find Him.

#3.   Isaiah 45:23  “Before the LORD every knee will bow.” One day everyone will bow before Him and acknowledge that He is LORD. Some will bow in despair as they await their sentence. I will join all others who have been saved and bow before Him in adoration and thanksgiving as we enter His eternal presence.

#4.   Isaiah 45:24  “In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.” Only in the LORD will I discover and embrace righteousness and strength. All other ground is sinking sand. He alone is my solid rock.

#5.   Isaiah 45:25  “In the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.” In the LORD I will be found righteous and will glory in Him. God declares me righteous because of the righteousness of Christ in me. Not because of what I did to earn it – I can do NOTHING to earn it. It is all because of the love and grace of God manifested in Jesus Christ my LORD! That makes me rejoice!

Let’s keep the first things first.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 9, 2025

Years ago I went on a fishing trip. A spiritual fishing trip. I was looking for someone to grab hold of Jesus. I didn’t catch one thing. I made a few casts with some pretty flashy lures, but not one fish grabbed hold. Actually, most of the trip was spent encouraging other fisherman, and that was very effective.

For most of the trip God took me through some pretty rough waters. I was literally drowning in remorse and regret. For some reason all the failures of my past were brought to my mind, and all of the hardships of the present were seen as more evidence of my unworthiness. I really believed I was unfit for service to the King.

Then the breakthrough came. God reminded me clearly from the authority and truth of His Word that I am forgiven. The past is gone, and He remembers it no more. The future is His and He has asked me to be a part of it. He reminded me that I am His because He chose me, He cleansed me, and He commissioned me to do His work. I’m ready for more fishing.

Fishing is all about forgiveness. It’s not very flashy, but it’s the only lure we need. People must be told they can be forgiven. It’s what the entire ministry of Jesus was all about – to seek and to save the lost. He was constantly forgiving the worst of sinners. Jesus had to remind me that I have been forgiven. I’m not sure I ever really understood the impact that God’s forgiveness of my sin should have had on my life. I’m starting to. I’m ready to go fishing.

On that previous fishing trip, God was confirming His purpose in me. He answered prayer about a ministry opportunity for me. He answered with a “YES!” and I said yes to returning to an old favorite fishing hole.

God is currently clarifying His vision for His church. He is opening doors of ministry. He  tests our faith with a variety of storms that rock our boat but strengthen our confidence in His provisions. We are being made ready for more fishing.

How about you? How has God been training you to do more fishing? Or maybe you don’t recognize that He’s doing it because you haven’t yet decided to go fishing. It’s time to start casting lures of love and watch what God does.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 8, 2025

I like to go fishing. It started out as a desire to fish for fish. God has been unrelentingly reminding me that I have been called to fish for people.

Years ago I did a chronological study of the life of Christ and used it as the basis for a long sermon series in church. Now when I say long sermon series it can be taken two ways, and according to the people of my church both would be accurate. They are long sermons, and it is a long series. In fact, after seven months of preaching we had just arrived at the stories of Jesus calling his disciples to be fishers of men. Some people thought that at that rate it would be the last sermon series I ever preached. Of course, every sermon could be the last sermon ever preached as we wait for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The call of the disciples from a life of fishing for fish to a life of fishing for men is monumental. It’s monstrous. It’s motivational.  As these fishermen discover more and more about the Messiah they are captivated with Him. They are considering investing their lives in His eternal purpose. They have already been called to follow Him, but they had not yet made a permanent commitment. They were balancing their spiritual and their worldly lives, attempting to have both. They would soon learn that the call to follow Jesus isn’t a call that allows us to bring anything with us. It’s a call to complete commitment.

When Jesus issued His call to commitment, He encapsulated in it His purpose for their lives. They would be fishers of men. He did not call them to political or social reform. He called them to one simple objective – spiritual reform. He called them to catch men for the Kingdom of God. He called them to represent the heart of God to people who were lost. He called them to call others to be saved from their sin.

Isaiah 45:22    “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

We have digressed from the call. We have become efficient at many commendable spiritual activities but have lost our passion for fishing. The church is missing out on the fullness of God’s blessing because it is ignoring its God-given mission. We as individuals have become really good at balancing our spiritual and worldly lifestyles, but we may  have tipped the scales in favor of the world. Very little fishing is being done, yet that’s the one thing Jesus called us to do better than anything else.

Fishermen don’t catch fish every day, but they think about fishing and planning for the next fishing trip. They check their equipment and make every necessary preparation. Even the things they do that are unrelated to fishing are still seen as a preparation for fishing. Fishing is their passion. It should be ours. If it’s not, something’s wrong with our connection to the heart of God.

For the last several days God has put a question in my mind. It’s my question for fishing and not meant to be yours. God will give you your own way of fishing if you really want Him to. But maybe it will stimulate you to think about fishing more often as I am doing. I have been trying to figure out a way to ask someone a question to begin a spiritual discussion with them. What works best for me is to ask a question like this one.  “Has anyone ever taken the time to explain to you why Jesus had to die on the cross?”

I’m going fishing today. I’m looking for someone to whom I can ask that question.

How will you go fishing?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 7, 2025

I am a fixer. I remember the day I was in the middle of a fix-it project when I got a call from my son who needed help with a fix-it project of his own. I dropped what I was doing and went to his house where he had a washing machine partially disassembled. It was leaking water from the bottom of the tub. One of the seals was bad, and we needed to see how to replace it.

With laptop computer propped up in the laundry room so we could see the service manual for the machine, we continued to take it apart. After almost two hours of work we had a solution. Unfortunately we had reached a point where we knew that going any further would not be cost effective, so we quit and junked the machine.

On the way home my mind was swimming with questions about the design of the machine that made it so labor intensive to get at one seal. My questions were driven by my need for convenience rather than the engineering needed to produce a water-tight seal on the drum. I wondered if the designers were motivated by a desire to frustrate fixers.

When I returned home I took up my project, which was frustrating me because all the easy and cheap solutions weren’t working. I had one more option before I would have to spend a few hundred dollars. That’s tough for a fixer.

As I thought about my attitudes towards designers, I was hit full in the face this morning with the next verses in our study of Isaiah. It’s all about how we question the Designer.

Isaiah 45:9-10    “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’”

The arrogance of our attitudes that make us believe that we can question God overwhelmed me. Yet we do it. We have figured out ways in our finite minds to justify the questioning of the infinite and not feel guilty about it. We have so rationalized our rights that we actually claim to have authority in our relationship with the One who created us. We are so driven by our need for convenience that we fail to see the long-term consequences of changing the design.

Sometimes we even use Jesus as our excuse for such questions. After all, He did it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Didn’t He ask God to change His design and not make Him go through death on a cross? We know He ended up surrendering to God’s will, but He still questioned it, didn’t He?

We forget  four vitally important  words at the beginning of that prayer – “If it is possible…”  One of the Gospel writers puts it this way – “Father, if you are willing…”

That’s a far cry from how most of us address God when things aren’t being fixed according to our convenience. We demand that God change things. We go to Him with arrogant authority. We tell Him what we want done and then expect Him to do it. We question everything, not from a desire to understand the heart of God but to change the mind of God. That is not what Jesus did.

Jesus went to the Father with a heart already surrendered. He simply wanted to make sure there were no other options. But His first words indicate that He was already settled on the current course and trusted the Father’s final decision. Oh that we would live with that level of faith. Fixers find that hard to do.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 6, 2025

We all respond differently to the weather forecast. Our responses may even be different at different times of the year and based on our location. Right now a forecast of precipitation would be pleasing so long as it falls in liquid form and not solid.  But extended periods of dreary days can be draining. Dark clouds release a consistent rain but they also cover the sun. But the sun will eventually break through, and all creation will be drawn upwards to that which gives the light of life. The grass will grow, gardens will sprout, farm crops will flourish, and we will be invigorated by the beauty of God’s creation and the opportunity to enjoy it.

Often our lives are like a rainy day. Circumstances are cloudy. Our plans and pursuits are put on hold by pouring rain. Our emotions are saturated with negativity. We see only the inconvenience of the present and miss the blessing of seeing the abundance being produced.

God uses Isaiah to remind us of a simple truth – the rains that fall in the form of hardship and suffering are bringing God’s righteousness and salvation.

Isaiah 45:8    “You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it.”

God reminds us that as the Creator of all things, He has eternally connected the physical and the spiritual. Every element of nature brings God spiritual glory. Jesus said that if we didn’t praise Him, even the rocks would cry out to the glory of God.

Every event of life has spiritual implications. The circumstances of our lives that we pray to end are the very events God planned to bring us the water of life. The clouds of despair that we believe stop us from seeing the sun are the very clouds that God is using to deliver His righteousness so we can see the Son. The cracks in the ground that shake the foundations of our lives are the evidence that God is preparing to grow something new and wonderful in us.

Life can be hard, especially if we believe that this life is all we get. But for those who see the spiritual in the physical – the supernatural in the natural – there can be joy even in the storms. The clouds that roll into our lives are to be embraced and enjoyed, because God is delivering righteousness in the rain. Open up wide and receive it, and let salvation spring up in your heart.

Pastor John