LifeLink Devotions for Friday, December 5, 2025

Even when it’s not raining, we tend to carry umbrellas.

The reason we carry an umbrella when it’s raining is so that we won’t get wet. We have big ones attached to our golf bags and little ones stashed in the pocket of our car door. We have them leaning against the wall next to the door of our house, and we even carry built in umbrellas called hoods attached to the collar of our jacket. We don’t want to get wet. Wet is uncomfortable. Wet is cold. We want to stay dry and warm. Hooray for umbrellas!!!

Unfortunately we have carried our love of umbrellas into the spiritual realm. You see, just as it is impossible to not get wet when you stand unprotected in the rain, it is equally impossible to not get wet when exposed to the Word of God. But that makes us uncomfortable, so we put up our spiritual umbrellas.

We sit in church listening to the message from the Lord, and whenever the Word of God starts to makes us uncomfortable, we pop up an invisible yet very real umbrella to protect us from the conviction.

We put up umbrellas of many styles and colors, representing a variety of personal interests and objectives, but they all have the same purpose – to keep us dry and comfortable in our present little world of experience. We have them stored all over our lives, so that at any moment we can pop one up to protect us from any rain that might fall. Every umbrella is designed to distract us from the reality of the rain that is falling around us. Up it goes, and off we go into our own little thought world of self-indulgence, seemingly protected from the shivers of self-examination.

Yet the benefit we think we are receiving by staying dry is actually leading to our demise. The shivers we are avoiding are actually making us shrivel. It is when we get wet that we flourish. It is the rain of God’s Word that produces fruit. When we are saturated with the rain of God’s truth we are able to see God accomplish His purpose in us.

We are stained people. Stained with sin. We must get wet to be washed. That is why Jesus came to earth, to wash us in the water of God’s Word. You and I cannot be holy, stainless, unwrinkled, and blameless if we don’t let ourselves get wet. We must take down our umbrellas and let the water of the Word wash us. Every stain needs a good soaking. Every protective covering we have put on or put up to shield us from the rain of God’s Word must be removed. We must do what little children do when it rains – take off all our clothes and run naked in it, letting it soak every part of us. Our shields – our umbrellas – will never do what God’s Word can do.

Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

In my former church there was a dear old saint who came to me consistently after worship and shook my hand. As she did, she said these words – “Thank you for washing me in the Word today.”

She has no umbrellas. She’s ready for rain.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, December 4, 2025

We have a family game that I don’t like to play. It just doesn’t make sense. Each player is required by chance to do some strange things that are seemingly disconnected from the ultimate goal of winning. I can’t even tell you if there is a way to declare a winner or not. I’m sure there is, but the nonsensical nature of the game detracts from winning. That’s really the point of the game, but it is very hard for me to adjust to that. I am outcome driven, and the process to the outcome has to make sense.

How many times have you heard the statement, “That makes no sense?” I’ve said that at times. I’ve had that said to me many more times. It is especially true when it comes to listening to God. I’ve said it to Him way too much.

God is really working on me in this area. He is filling my mind with tough questions.

• What is it about ‘My grace is sufficient for today’ that you don’t understand?
• What kind of faith do you have if you need to know everything before acting on what I said?
• Why do you think it has to make sense to you?
• Do you really think you can be that much like me?
• Do you really trust me?

That last question is the toughest for me. I know how untrustworthy my heart is, and I transfer that distrust to my heavenly Father. I know how manipulative I can be based on my motivation to serve self. I transfer those qualities onto others and believe they are doing that to me. I know how much pride I take in how many answers I have and how much I can get done. I dare to stand in the presence of Almighty God and demand to know.

I am going to have a tough day today. These thoughts are going to pound on me until I learn to trust the truth of Isaiah 55:8-9. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Unless I crucify my pride, my ways will always be higher than His ways, and my thoughts will always be higher than His thoughts. I will consider myself first and Him last unless I surrender my need to know. I will fall flat into failure when I live life according to what makes sense, when I could fly into fullness of faith by following the Father even when it makes no sense.

This is my goal – to use the statement “That makes no sense” as the starting gun to a race of faith, rather than a hurdle over which I stumble. When God speaks, and it makes no sense, then I will know I am exactly where God can use me the most.

To help me trust God more, I’ve written a little acrostic for the word trust. Maybe it will help you too.

The Rational Understanding Surrendered Totally

Let’s together learn to trust God even when it doesn’t make sense.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, December 3, 2025

In 1969 an entertainer named Joe South recorded a song that became a hit in the world of secular music. It was called The Games People Play and won two Grammy awards. The lyrics contain some truth. We play games with one another and have fallen victim to pride and vanity. It is basically a protest song against hate, hypocrisy, and intolerance. But there is also a deep current of humanistic thought running through the song. Essentially it says that each of us is to be content with who we are and not let anyone, especially Christians, influence us to change. All change is a game we play, and God is only there to grant us the serenity to remember who we are and be content with that.

One of the games we play so well with each other is Hide & Seek. It’s a childhood game that has become a childish game played by adults. We mostly play the hide part as we seek to be undiscoverable by others. We hide our true feelings. We hide our true intentions. We hide our true thoughts. We hide behind psychological trees we think are big enough to completely protect us from view. We dare not let anyone get too close or we may even try to run to a new hiding spot without being seen. We must not let anyone see us for who we really are.

The motivation for finding a good hiding place as a child is so that we won’t be found first because that would make us “it”, and no one wants to be “it”. No one wants to be the seeker. It’s no different for adults. We have avoided being the seeker since the very first sin. When Adam and Eve experienced the guilt and shame of sin for the very first time, the game of Hide & Seek began. They first tried to hide behind tree leaves. Then, when they heard the Seeker coming, they hid themselves more thoroughly in and amongst the lush growth of the garden. They did not want to be found.

They had good reason to not want to be found – they were guilty and deserved punishment. It’s that same sense of guilt and deserved punishment that drives us to hide today. We hide our guilt from others, but more significantly we attempt to hide our guilt from God.

I remember a time when I was a child playing this game in the woods of Michigan with a group of friends. The hiding place I found was so good that they never found me. I waited there for a long time, relishing in the pride of my hiding ability, until it started to get dark. So I wandered out of that place, carefully making sure no one saw me to protect the location for future use, and I walked back to my friend’s house. They were all inside playing. They had stopped looking for me. I had to look for them. They had not reported me lost, they just went on with their lives. Ouch! Eventually all hiding ends in loneliness.

It is time for the hider to become the seeker. The days of hiding are done. It is time to be found. The guilt and shame that motivate your hiding can be gone. All you have to do is choose to be “it”. God wants you to play the seeker role, and find Him.

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”

God is not hiding from you. He is not waiting to punish you because He already punished His Son for you. He will have mercy on you. He will pardon you. Open your heart. Expose the darkest parts of your life to the Light of God’s grace. For when you find Him, the games are over.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, December 2, 2025

On June 19, 2000, then Presidential candidate Dick Cheney held a $2,500-per-plate fundraising dinner for the upcoming election campaign. Among those who received an official invitation was an inmate in an Ohio federal penitentiary.

Imagine how the prisoner felt when he received that invitation. Is this for real? Will I actually be released for the event? Why would I be invited? What does Mr. Cheney see in me?

That’s how I feel when I read Isaiah 55:1-2.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

Has there ever been a better invitation sent out than this one? I was a prisoner of my sin. I was unable to pay for it. I had wasted all of my resources on things that never satisfied me. Then Jesus said, “Come! What I have for you is worth more than you could ever afford, but I will give it to you free. Come, and you will be satisfied.”

My friend, this is the invitation of Jesus to you today. Come! Accept His gift of salvation, and your soul will be released from the prison of sin.

You may ask, “How?”  Here’s what God says you must do:

• Admit you are thirsty. Embrace the longing of your soul for satisfaction.
• Admit you are poor. Confess to God that you have no options left to satisfy yourself and that you cannot afford the gift He is offering.
• Repent (turn your back on) of all your past efforts to satisfy yourself.
• Turn to Jesus and listen to what He says. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved! Put your trust in His death and resurrection as the full payment for your sin, and God will give you eternal life!

The invitation has been sent. How will you respond?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, December 1, 2025

In Isaiah 54, God is speaking through the prophet declaring the promise of a restored nation of Israel after their fall into sin and captivity. He illustrates the barrenness and shame of the nation by referring to the life of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who was without child and shamed by her people. She was desolate, just like the nation of Israel would be. We know this passage speaks of Sarah because of Paul’s words in Galatians 4:26-27, where he quotes Isaiah 54:1 in reference to her and his picture of the New Jerusalem.

Isaiah understands the emotions Sarah must have felt, and he relates them to the emotions the nation of Israel will experience in its time of shame. He then declares how the Lord Almighty meets and ministers to us in those times of need. In the remainder of chapter fifty-four Isaiah declares the victory that comes from the Lord for His chosen people.

I was thoroughly blessed by the promises of God as I began to read what He was going to do. Remember, these are people who have made Him angry, as stated in verses seven and eight. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.

Yet these are people on whom He will have compassion. Isaiah 54:10says, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” This is the story of salvation – the undeserving receiving grace. Look at what God promises to do for them, and us:  

• The removal of shame and humiliation – verse 4
• Redemption – verse 5
• Reconciliation to God – verse 6
• Perfect Peace – verse 9 and 13
• Unfailing love – verse 10 – what a fantastic verse for today – go back to the top and read it again.
• The heavenly city built with beauty and strength – verses 11-12 (compare Revelation 21:10-21)
• Perfect Righteousness – verse 14
• No fear – verse 14
• Conquering power over sin – verse 15
• Powerful weapons and armor from the Lord – verses 16-17
• Powerful words from the Sword of the Spirit – verse 17

Such is the heritage of those who serve the Risen King. Such are the promises for the Children of God. In Jesus Christ all is accomplished.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, November 28, 2025

When I was in high school I had a job at a grocery store. As I was working to fill the cheese case, I had gone to the basement of the store to retrieve the items I needed from the walk-in cooler. I knew that the door latch had recently broken, but I was in my usual hurry and I accidentally shut the door behind me, locking myself inside. I started yelling for help. I yelled and shivered for about 45 minutes before someone found me. I was embarrassed and ashamed.

As I read the fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah I cannot help but think of Abraham’s wife Sarah. I imagine she cried “HELP!” many times as she struggled with her barrenness. Even though she had the promise of God to Abraham that they would have a son, time kept ticking away, and there wasn’t much of it left. But as she cries out, the Lord answers her with these incredible words, re-written from the original according to my understanding of what God is saying –

“I am your Maker, and I am your husband. I am the Lord Almighty, and I am all you need. I have all things under control, and no matter how lost you feel in the darkness of your despair, I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 54:5)

I am overwhelmed with this thought – “Whatever my need, God is exactly what I need at that time.”

If I am lonely, He is my love.

If I am struggling, He is my strength.

If I am needy, He is my nurturer.

If I am discouraged, He is my deliverer.

If I am poor, He is my provider.

God is exactly what I need at all times.

He made me. He loves me. He has a purpose for me. He provides for me. He never leaves me. He never fails.

Sarah discovered it.

How about you?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, November 27, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving

I wonder how long it will be today before I choose to say something that isn’t thankful?

“The potatoes are lumpy.”

“The turkey is dry.”

”My football team is losing.”

I hope today, and every day, can be filled with more thanksgiving. After all, it’s commanded.

Colossians 3:17  “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

The key to thanksgiving is found in that verse. We can give thanks to the Father through Jesus Christ. In other words, because we have our identity in Him, not in the quality of the food, the family, the friends, or the football, we can be constantly thankful. When we live life through the perspective of Jesus we have sufficient reason to be thankful.

Have a thankful Thanksgiving.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, November 26, 2025

When I rose this morning I was still thinking about the wonder of my justification through Jesus Christ.  Then I read the last verse of Isaiah 53, and in a fresh way an old truth jumped out at me. Isaiah 53:12  “…because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus was numbered with the transgressors – He became one of us!

Jesus, as God, became one of us so He could bear our sins and make intercession for us to the Father.

That got me to thinking about intercession – you know – when we go to God the Father and pray for someone else for their benefit. As I was contemplating that from the perspective of Jesus making intercession for us, the Lord put a clear thought in my mind. “True intercession requires total identification.”

This was the case with Jesus, who now sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes with Him on our behalf. Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” That is amazing – Jesus constantly talks to the Father on our behalf. In fact, the apostle John in First John 2:1-2 says Jesus is our advocate, defending us to the Father even when we sin.

But we must acknowledge that He is qualified to do that because He first totally identified with us in every way. Take the time to read and absorb these precious truths from the book of Hebrews that describe how Jesus identifies with us.

• “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for  the sins of the people.   Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18)
• “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,  Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.   For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.   Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Jesus is able to intercede for us because He identifies with us. He identified with our sin. He identifies with our suffering. He identifies with our needs. He identifies with our circumstances and experiences. Therefore He can intercede on our behalf to the Father. He does this through His indwelling Holy Spirit. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” (Romans 8:26-27)

Just think, our intercessor not only knows us completely, but also knows the heart and mind of God completely. He identifies with both, which makes Him the perfect intercessor and able to meet our every need.

Besides the huge blessing I have received from the truth of Jesus as my intercessor, there’s a huge challenge in this for me when it comes to how I pray for others. Can I really say I am interceding to the Father on behalf of someone if I have not first identified with the person for whom I am praying? Can I truly be interceding if I do not fully, as much as is humanly possible, identify with the Father’s heart for that person? How would my prayer life be changed if I really identified with others when I promised to pray for them?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, November 25, 2025

When I was on one of my trips to the Philippines fourteen years ago, my dear friend Glenn and I developed a little joke between us. It was actually more than a joke – it was a loving admonition. It involved the use of one word. In our conversations with each other or with other people, when we would hear any form of rationalization or defense of behavior, we would simply look at each other and say, “justification.”

I am amazed at how many times we had to say that to each other. I am embarrassed to admit how many times in any given day I attempt to justify my behavior or my choices. I think you can agree with me that we have become expert justifiers of self.

For example, I wonder how many hunters shoot at deer after sunset? I know I have heard it happen around me many times. I wonder how they would attempt to defend that action if confronted by a game warden.

How much justification of materialism will take place between now and Christmas? How much justification of gluttony will take place on Thursday? How much justification of setting aside our personal quiet time with our Lord because we are so busy is going on right now?

Justification simply means “to declare innocence.” The foundation for justification is laid out in the Old Testament law, where God declares that He will never punish the innocent or let the guilty off the hook. Exodus 23:7 says, “Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” When King Solomon dedicated the temple he had built for the Lord, he reviewed the laws that would be upheld in the spiritually revived nation. “Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.” (1 Kings 8:31-32)

Justification is the declaration of innocence. But notice that in the Old Testament law, only the truly innocent were declared innocent. Justification was simply the acknowledgment of what was already true.

In contrast to that, consider the justification that was provided by Jesus Christ through His death on the cross. Isaiah 53:11  “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” God has declared the guilty to be innocent! The Righteous Servant has born the iniquities of the unrighteous sinner. The innocent One has taken the punishment of the guilty.

But the guilty are not justified automatically. It is only by faith. The guilty cannot be declared innocent by earning it through obedience to the law. Galatians 2:16 says, ”A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” The law cannot declare the guilty to be innocent nor can it declare the innocent to be guilty.

But what the law does do is lead us to faith in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross so that He can declare us to be innocent. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:24,  “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” It is by faith alone in the finished work of Christ that we are justified. Paul specifically states this in Romans 5 where we read, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

How marvelous! How magnificent! How incredible! Jesus the Innocent One bore the sins of all the guilty, and those who have faith in Him are eternally declared innocent. Oh the splendor of justification!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, November 24, 2025

Fourteen years ago I discovered some significant truths from Isaiah 53:11. “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”

I rose from bed that day at 4:20 A.M. to prepare for a day of deer hunting. I was in the car on the way to my tree stand at 5:00. When I got to within six miles of the hunting land, it started to snow. It snowed hard, and it was wet. I put on all of my hunting clothes and started walking the 500 yards through the swamp and forest to my stand. The snow was so heavy that the flashlight did nothing but reflect back into my eyes, so I had to go by memory, which isn’t so good. Somewhere in the thicket I took a wrong turn and ended up looking for my stand for over 20 minutes. I didn’t really make any progress until I waited for a little of the natural light to appear. When I got there I was wet and sweaty; not a good combination when the plan is to spend hours sitting still in a tree.

As the snow continued to fall everything became white. Deer hunters love the snow, and I’m no different. It makes the deer so much easier to see, and I saw deer. I didn’t shoot any of them, making the decision to let each one grow up a little more, but it was so great to see them and watch their movements as they related to each other during this breeding season. Up until this time I hadn’t seen a deer, but when everything was white I was able to see what I was pursuing.

As I sat in the tree that day I pondered the truths that had been revealed to me:

• I thought about how long we wander around in the thickets of our circumstances looking for the tree from which we will have a better vantage point on life and be able to accomplish our goals. We think we know the way, but we constantly make the wrong turns and get lost.
• We get angry that we can’t find our way because the snow keeps blinding us with the reflection of our own light. We are mad at it because it increases the awareness of our lost condition.
• When we return to the place where we made the wrong turn, God is there waiting to reveal His way to us, and when we take it, we cease to be lost. We get to use His light, not ours, and that brings us to life.
• When we let the snow cover everything in us and around us, we finally get to see what we’ve been looking for. The pursuit of our heart becomes obvious.

Simple thoughts, but I trust the Lord will use them to help you understand how great it is to know that our sins are forgiven, and through the blood of Jesus Christ we have been washed from all unrighteousness and are now whiter than snow. We now can see our true purpose.

Pastor John