First15 Devotional

Today as we continue to explore ways God is a wonderful, giving Father, we’re going to focus on the delivering power of God to set the captive free and rescue his people. Wherever you find yourself today, know that God is a safe rescue and the deliverer of our souls. He loves you mightily and is working on your behalf at all times. May that truth bring you immense peace and comfort as you experien...

Our heavenly Father is the giver of every good gift. This week in the First15 devotional we’re going to explore the different gifts only God can give. His mercies are vast, powerful, and real. His love has the ability to completely overwhelm and satisfy every one of our needs. Everything he gives us satisfies, transforms, and leads us to abundant life. As we spend this week stirring up our affecti...

In today’s First15 podcast, we’re going to respond to God’s open invitation to seek his face. God desires to meet with you just as you are. So great was his desire for real, restored relationship with you, that he would send his only Son. May the weights and cares of the world fall off of your shoulders today as you set out to seek the heart of your good and loving Father. Our Scripture for today...

In today’s First15 podcast, we’re going to create space to talk about and receive God’s great gift of love. You and I were made to be loved by God. And until we make room to receive the unselfish, steadfast, tangible love of God, we’ll spend the rest of our lives striving, vying for affection from others. May striving cease today as we receive the lavish affection of our good and loving God. Our S...

In today’s First15 podcast, we’re going to dive deeper into the reality of God’s goodness. At every turn, just when I wonder how good God really is, he always has a plan to show me how truly loving and good he is. So as we begin, where are you questioning God’s goodness today? When things go wrong, when we get hurt, it’s only natural to start questioning and building walls. But rather than going o...

In today’s First15 podcast, we’re going to spend time reflecting on how worthy God is of our devotion. Life is never better than when God is fully at the center of our lives, and fully at the center of our hearts. May we authentically give God our devotion today as we take time to discover how holy and worthy he is.   Our Scripture for today comes from Isaiah 6:3 , and today's worship is Devot...

In today’s First15 podcast, we’re going to take time to simply focus on how trustworthy our heavenly Father is. Our trust is always meant to be a response to God’s trustworthiness, an act of love given as we receive the unconditional, life-changing love of God. May our hearts be filled with greater measures of trust as we make space for God to fill. Our Scripture for today comes from Psalm 9:10 ,...

Every day we experience fear in some way. Whether it’s fear over the opinion of others, fear of the future, or fear over the ways and plans of evil, we’re in need of comfort and faith.   Today we’re going to spend time focusing on the protection God offers us every day in his goodness and love. May our hearts be comforted and our hands filled with strength as we make space for God to fill. Our Scr...

It’s vital to the Christian life that we as sons and daughters of the most high God allow our affections to be stirred by the loving, powerful nature of our heavenly Father. Too often we feel that God is distant or separated from us. Too often we allow misconceptions or lies to place a rift between us and experiencing God. So as we spend time this week focusing on God’s character, allow who he is...

In the last episode of this week where we’re seeking to stir up our affections for God, today we’re going to look at God’s faithfulness. You and I can have faith, because God is faithful. His faithfulness lays the foundation we need to love him, follow him, and walk with him. May God draw us closer to him, and give us a greater measure of faith today as we focus on his steadfast love and faithfuln...

In today’s podcast, we’re going to stir up our affections for God by looking at what it means when Scripture calls us his children. As a child of God, you are adopted into the family of the Creator of all. And you have a good, and loving Father, filled with grace, mercy, and compassion. May God give us eyes to see who we are to him today, and the courage to abide in him in life-giving relationship...

In today’s podcast, we’re going to stir up our affections by looking at God’s invitation to us in Revelation 3:20 to share a meal with him. This metaphor, this image of sitting across the table from God, especially in the context of the author of Revelation, John’s, culture, creates a pathway for you and me to journey down that leads to real, close relationship with our Creator and Savior. May we...

In today’s podcast, we’re going to stir up our affections for God by looking at his wisdom. Not only is our God wise, but he longs to share his wisdom with us as his people. Living with true wisdom, true perspective, knowing how to order our desires and our days is one of the real keys to living an abundant life. May we praise God for his wisdom, and ask him with boldness and confidence to share t...

In today’s podcast, we’re going to continue our series seeking to simply stir our affections toward God, by looking at his boundless grace. On a daily basis, it’s God’s grace that always draws me close first. His forgiveness, his loving compassion, his gaze changes everything. May God open our eyes and hearts in a special way today to receive his grace in every corner of our hearts. Our Scripture...

In today’s devotional, we’re going to continue our pursuit of stirring up our affections for God  by looking at how God exchanges our burdens for his peace. As a society, we are more continually stressed now than ever. Stress has become our new normal. But in God, we have  the opportunity to live with a peace that surpasses our understanding. May God guide us down his path to peace today as we mak...

This week we’ll start a new series, making space to simply stir up our affections for God every day. Today, we’re going to look at the reality that our God loves to give us good gifts. May God empower us to live with open hands and an open heart, ready and willing to receive all that he longs to give.   Our Scripture for today comes from James 1:17 , and today's worship is Gifts from God by Ch...

Today we get to celebrate the amazing gift of Easter Sunday. Eleven words recorded in Matthew 28:6 changed human history: "He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” The stone that sealed the tomb of Jesus was but a pebble compared to the Rock of Ages. And because of the incredible miracle of the resurrection, we can all live with unshakable joy and hope. Our Scripture for today comes from...

Is guilt from your past part of your life today? Do you still feel shame over sins you’ve confessed? Are you carrying a silent burden of mistakes and failures you’re glad no one knows? I know the feeling. Here’s the good news: today, Saturday of Holy Week, has a lesson of hope for us. So let’s explore this great hope and how we can walk in complete freedom from guilt and shame.  Our Scripture for...

In today’s devotional, we are reflecting on Good Friday, the day Jesus went to the cross on our behalf. Thinking about the death of Jesus is a somber experience, yet it’s important for each of us to recognize the incredible length God was willing to go to on our behalf. So today, let’s explore why Jesus had to suffer and what his sacrifice means for each of us. Our Scripture for today comes from R...

In our weeklong journey toward Easter, today is known as Maundy Thursday. This is a significant day in the life of Jesus, and so it’s also a significant day for us as children of God. Yet  even as his children, we all have moments where we question whether or not he truly loves us. So today, may we be reminded of the depth of his love and the lengths he went to in order to restore a relationship w...

As we continue our week of preparing our hearts for Easter, today we’re going to look at how God speaks. We often associate prayer with taking time to talk to God. We may even be consistent in sharing our worries and requests with him. Yet the power of prayer isn’t fully realized until we learn not just to talk, but also to listen. God desires to speak to each of us. He longs to lead us, teach us,...

Loving God can sound so simple. But when we think about what it means to love God with everything we have, we all have to recognize that we fall short. Thankfully, our relationship with God isn’t built on our own faithfulness, but his. So as we continue to journey toward Easter this week, let us reflect on God’s great love for us and the distance he went to demonstrate it through the life and deat...

Today we’re launching a brand new series as we make our way toward Easter. God’s love is for everyone, and today we’re looking specifically at how God invites us to receive his mercy and grace by drawing near to him. May he guide us to a better understanding and a deeper experience of his promises today. Our Scripture for today comes from Hebrews 4:16 , and today's worship is Temple by Jeremy...

As we finish this week of looking at different ways God speaks, today we’re going to look at the role of taking action in hearing God. One of the most powerful ways to discover what God thinks and how God feels is joining him where he is at work in the world around us. So my prayer today is that God opens our eyes and ears to discover fresh parts of how he declares his heart to us, and that we’re...

In today’s devotional, we’re going to look at the value of solitude in making space to hear from God. In all the noise of our world, solitude is more important now than ever. We need quiet to tune our ears to the still, small voice of God. We need the type of peace that only comes from quieting our hearts and minds. We need the type of relationship with God that can only be formed in solitude. May...