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Category: YouVersion App
You Version Daily Devotional, The Power of Stillness
The Power of Stillness
We’re busy people.
Between work and home, family and friends, full schedules and unending tasks, it’s tempting to hurry through our days without even stopping to look up.
But, speaking through the psalmist, God said:
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalms 46:10 NIVWhen was the last time you were intentionally still (and not just when you were sleeping)? When was your body and mind quiet enough to acknowledge that God is God?
Regardless of the past, what will you choose today? You can close this app, check “time with God” off your to-do list, and continue on with business as usual. Or, you can allow the knowledge and truth of God to bring peace to your restless heart.
There’s something about stillness that compels us beyond ourselves. There’s something about stillness that heightens our awareness of and need for God.
It’s one thing to acknowledge God with our words, but another to put Him above every other good, bad, and distracting thing in our lives—to live in a way that honors and magnifies Him.
There will come a day when, ready or not, God will reveal Himself fully. There will come a day when, willing or not, every secret will come to light. There will come a day when, like it or not, He will be exalted above the nations and honored throughout the world.
But you don’t have to wait to worship Him. You don’t have to wait to call Him your God. You don’t have to wait to make Him the Lord and King of your life.
You can be still —right now—and know that He is God.
My Thoughts
When I listened to the daily refresh this morning, the lady speaking said something that really spoke to me. She said that being still isn’t just a passive action, waiting for God to move. Rather, it is active, trusting that He will act. For me, it is knowing that God’s answer is just exactly what I will need, although it may not be what I wanted. God, our Creator, sees everything about our lives and answers according to what we truly need, not just for the present but for the future that we face. It gives me hope and comfort to know how totally trustworthy God is.
Really Listening
Hearing vs. Listening
Throughout the pages of Scripture, there’s a word that gets repeated:
“hear,” or a related word, “listen.” In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “Shema” translates into English as “hear” or “listen” and is often used to emphasize the act of listening, understanding, and obeying.Today’s culture places value on doing many things at once; we often try to listen while focusing on other tasks, which divides our focus. The sound of someone’s voice might come into our ears, but if we’re also scrolling social media, doing schoolwork, or making a meal, we might not fully understand their words.
But in the biblical context, “hearing” does not simply include sound reception; it also involves active obedience and an effort to understand.
In Mark 4:9, Jesus invites us to listen—to hear and obey, encouraging us to pay careful attention to His words: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus isn’t just asking us to audibly hear His words and carry on with our personal agenda; He’s urging us to actively listen and obey, to live by His truth. Listening and obeying are what build our faith in Jesus Christ. Hearing the Word of God should lead to a transformed life marked by fruitfulness.
As you reflect on the idea of listening in Scripture, consider your heart and spiritual receptivity. Are you attentive to God’s Word, allowing it to transform your life, or is your hearing divided, causing you to resist His call?
What I Think
My focus word for this year is “listen” so how appropriate that today’s scripture verse and teaching is about listening actively, a skill that I am working on since that is something God told me I need to cultivate. I am one of those multi-taskers. I scroll through my phone, straighten up something around the house, have the TV on in the background, and all the while my husband is talking to me. I must confess that a lot of what he says is repetitive since he is at the age that he cannot remember saying things previously. But that is no excuse not to give him my full, undivided attention. I used to (before I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to make “listen” my focus word for the year) play games on my phone as we went on errands together, or even long trips. I realized when I was the driver for my husband after his surgeries how lonely it must have been for him for me to always be occupied while he was busy keeping us safe as he drove. You see, after his surgery, he slept, and I had no one to talk to. So, that was the beginning of being prompted to be an active listener, not just of my husband but of everyone.
I also noticed that since I am a Type A personality and have difficulty sometimes with my words (since my stroke), I am often forming a response in my mind while someone is speaking. The Holy Spirit admonished me, reminding me that He will help me speak when it is time, but my job when someone else is talking is to listen attentively and trying to understand what they are really saying, not just their words but their hearts behind the words.
I am discovering that listening is not always automatic or easy. Most of the time, at least for me, I have to discipline myself to focus. One of the things that has helped me is imagining that it is Jesus talking to me. Would I tune Him out, be disrespectful to Him? I hope not…nor should I be so to others. I never know when God might have a message for me in the words that someone else is speaking.
The Scripture today says that “He who has ears, let him hear.” We all have ears, and unless you have a hearing impairment, you can hear. But hearing the words or the sounds of the words isn’t enough. We have to really listen, strive to understand and if the word is from the Lord, to follow through with obedience. I know that I feel better about myself and the other person when I am really listening and responding appropriately to them. God listens to us, and I am sure at some times, He would prefer to tune out our whining, complaining and constant requests. But He never does…He models listening for us. He is always there, always ready to answer and He always understands our needs, our frustrations and our basic weaknesses of just being human. Can we not extend that same grace to the people all around us?
Listening is a skill, but it is also a privilege. Think, if you can, of someone you know with a hearing disability. What they would give for the gift of being able to hear clearly! We have that ability and misuse it or ignore it, in favor of our own selfish desires and needs. I am so thankful that God is leading me this year on a journey of self-discovery as well as finding out about others by really listening to them.
How about you? Do you really listen or are you preoccupied and multi-tasking? Hear…really listen…and then your actions will make more sense to you and to the other people with whom you are interacting.
Be a Mobile Mountain
From the YouVersion Bible App, Daily Refresh
Mobile Mountain Communities
Imagine a community where honest people work together to fix brokenness. Every person you meet loves you authentically, and you love them in the same way. How would living in such a community change the way you think, feel, and act?
Jesus invites us into that kind of community. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
The Greek word for “hill” can also mean “mountain,” and in the ancient imagination, mountains were places where Heaven and Earth intersected—where people could encounter the gods. The ancient Hebrews understood mountains as unique spaces where God meets with humanity and where both dwell together as partners.
Abraham experiences divine testing and blessing on a mountain. God invites Moses up a mountain to receive instruction. And the prophet Isaiah uses mountain imagery to dream of a day when the Heaven-on-Earth space will expand beyond the mountain, filling the world with God’s Kingdom and vanquishing the darkness of evil.
This makes Jesus’ teaching truly wild! He’s saying that Heaven and Earth reunite through people—through us. When Jesus calls his followers a “city on a mountain,” he’s saying they will bring the mountaintop experience to the world. He’s inviting us to become mobile mountains, creating pockets of Heaven on Earth wherever we go.
We do this by letting go of the old ways of fighting our enemies and picking up the practices of Jesus—feeding the hungry, living justly, and loving people patiently. When this happens, the light of God’s way that leads to true life shines through us, piercing the darkness. So let’s find ways to be mobile mountain communities and participate in making God’s Kingdom shine brightly on Earth as it is in Heaven.
My Two Cents
The imagery in this devotional made me think about mountains in the Bible. Moses received the Ten Commandments on a Mountain and Jesus prayed on a hillside garden and then died on a hill, Golgotha. A mountain seems to be a place to meet God, to get direction from Him or to carry out His instructions to us. Instead, I think many of us, including me, have become immovable mountains. We have God’s truth inside us but we don’t go out to share it. We wait for people to come to us. Jesus didn’t stay on the mountainside praying. He left and went out among the people, ministering to their needs wherever He found them. Note that He found them; that means He was always looking, eyes open and heart ready to reach out and help others. I think we Christians are waiting for the sinful world to recognize their sin and come to us. I just don’t see that ever happening. People need to be told the truth before they can believe the truth. People need to know that there is a place to get closer to God before they can even attempt to do so. I like the line above that says we are to be “mobile mountains.” We bring God to people instead of expecting them to come to us and then we will tell them about God. Not many unchurched, unsaved people get up early on Sunday morning and head to church to hear God’s Word. Thus we need to lose our concept that if we make the church inviting enough, with enough programs and appealing worship, that they will come. It won’t happen…they don’t know what they are missing, and even worse, they don’t care. We need to take the gospel to them! Jesus didn’t say, “Sit in the church and wait for them to come.” Rather, He told us to go. We are to be the ones to carry His message to the world, not sit complacently and wait for a dying world to come to us. Tell your mountain to move…and get going with sharing His love and His sacrifice with everyone that God puts in your path. We can make a difference in the world if we will only realize that we are God’s testimony to the lost people; we are the conduit from them to God, until they come to know God personally themselves.
What do you think? Do you agree that we need to be a mobile mountain?
Not Alone in Battle
Sometimes, I feel as though I am all alone, fighting the battle against my own sinful nature. Today’s devotional was a welcome and humorous reminder that I am never alone. I used to watch the Popeye cartoons every Saturday morning. In spite of the fact that the show always ended the same way, I sat in front of the TV weekly to get my weekly look into heroism and true love. The answer was in a can of spinach. (Yuck!)
These days, when I am battling against temptation, I have only to call upon the name of the Lord and He is right there, reminding me of scriptures that I have memorized and testimonies from my past. God is always there and He does truly love me. We are all blessed to have a Savior as close as the next prayer and always willing to help us in our struggles.
From the YouVersion Bible App, “Daily Power, Day 9” by Craig Groeschel
I loved the old Popeye cartoons. You know, Popeye the Sailor Man? It was clear he was our hero and Brutus was his natural enemy, threatening to harm poor Olive Oil, the love of Popeye’s life. Every episode, after Brutus’ taunting and bullying, Popeye reached the point where “that’s all I can standz, and I can’t standz no more.” Out came his can of spinach, down it went, and suddenly his muscles were popping and fists were flying. Brutus didn’t stand a chance!
I’m convinced we occasionally need to choose a “Popeye moment.” When the Enemy attacks and we keep struggling, we need to “draw a line in the sand” and have a showdown. That’s all we can stand, and it’s time to change.
What fight are you facing today? Are you overworking, missing what’s most important in life? Are you battling an addiction and telling yourself it’s not that big of a deal? Are you putting off a conversation, hoping the problem will solve itself? Are you making excuses as to why you can’t drop the pounds, making jokes about it to help relieve your pain?
Maybe it’s time to stop. Make a decision. Enough is enough. It’s time to change. The good news is your strength doesn’t come from a can of spinach. Yours comes from our God. His power is available to you. His strength dwells within you. His spirit will help you do what you can’t do on your own.
Power Lift: That’s it, Lord. I’m tired of fighting temptation and giving in more times than I can count. Help me change—and help me change now!
A Poem that God Created
I really enjoy poetry, the rhythm of each verse, the way the words flow together to paint a beautiful picture, the different ways poems can be written. I loved the analogy in today’s devotional about being a poem created by God. We are each His masterpiece and each of us has a specific purpose to fulfill. Like poems from poets, we are meant to be in the world and help others to see the imagery that the poet was inspired to write about. God wants others to see His Son in us and He wants us to know how very much He loves us, so much that He created us to be a unique part of His creation. I am, and you are, exactly who God created us to be, a masterpiece meant to serve and love God and others.
From the YouVersion Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 8” by Craig Groeschel
I’ve seen a bumper sticker on several cars that makes me chuckle every time. It simply says, “God don’t make no junk!” (Ironically, it seems like every time I see this bumper sticker, it’s always on an old clunker.) But it’s true: when you’re in Christ, God don’t make no junk!
You are the masterpiece of God, created for the Master’s purpose. The reason it’s important for you to believe this is because when you know who you are, you’ll know what to do. Otherwise, you might be tempted to accept the labels others stick on you and settle for much less.
You are special in Christ, the Master’s creation, created for the Master’s purpose. The Greek word translated as “masterpiece” here in Ephesians 2:10 is poiema (POY-ay-muh). To be “God’s poiema” literally means to be “a work made by God.” Because we derive our English word “poem” from this word, I like to think of us as his beautiful poems.
In Christ, your life should be a poetic statement of God’s glory. The master artisan designs each of our lives to join and interlock to create a big picture, a giant living tapestry, woven of people. Sometimes, from where you’re standing, you might not be able to see where you fit. But if you can take a step back and look at it from his perspective, you can see the overall masterpiece, the perfect workmanship of God.
Power Lift: God, help me to remember that I’m your masterpiece, as unique and beautiful as a poem. I am not who others say I am but who you say I am. My identity rests in you.
Spiritual Pollution
From the YouVersion Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 7” by Craig Groschel
When I was growing up, it seemed like every adult I knew smoked cigarettes. I never realized the effect it had on me until I went away to college. After being away for several weeks, when I came back home, I thought, “Man, this place smells like smoke! Wow, I never noticed that before.” Then I kind of got used to it again and didn’t think about it until I got back to my dorm Sunday night.
When I walked into my dorm room, my roommate said, “Dude, get out of here! That’s rank! Where have you been—inside a chimney?”
Then it dawned on me. For the past eighteen years, I’d lived in this smoke-filled environment and didn’t realize the toll it had taken on me. I had been breathing in this secondhand smoke, this poison, and it was affecting me and I didn’t even know it.
So often our culture affects our souls the same way. We breathe in secondhand toxins that infiltrate our minds and hearts and make us sluggish. After a while we don’t realize it and are just going with the flow, doing what everyone else around us is doing, not what God wants us to do.
If you want to build a stronger relationship with Christ, you have to live apart. You have to follow his ways and not the crowd. You have to recognize the impact that those around you are having on your faith.
Power Lift: Father, thank you for calling me to a life that’s set apart from the world. Today help me see the ways I have been affected by spiritual pollution.
My Thoughts
I grew up in a household in which my mom smoked constantly. I wasn’t aware of the effect on my health until I left home and was not around smoke anymore. My asthma was definitely exacerbated by the presence of smoke, and I am still really allergic to any hint of smoke in the air around me. Thank goodness that God has taken care of me!
The smoke I was around could be seen, smelled (in the air and on my clothing) and was a real problem for my physical health. But the things that I allow into my mind and the people I associate with have an effect on my spiritual life. It is my choice to distance myself from harmful things spiritually, just as I would not stay around smoke because of the detrimental effects on my lungs. Being around people and taking part in things that do not help me grow spiritually is harms my spiritual growth. We are to be in the world but we shouldn’t do as the world does or begin to think and act as they do. I can love people without accepting their non-Biblical beliefs.
Don’t Fall for Counterfeits
There is one true God. The Bible says this truth over and over. Yet there are many in the world today who don’t read or believe the Bible and they are chasing after other gods, trying to get the spiritual food they need from the wrong source. Sometimes each of us is probably guilty of chasing after counterfeits, the next great thing in the spiritual world. There are false teachers everywhere trying to get us to turn from God and towards them, but they are crafty and use God as their hook. Then, they reel in the unsuspecting and unwise person until they are trapped in the lie that they fell for. I am kind of like a banker who recognizes counterfeit bills because they handle real ones all the time. The more I press into God, the less likely I am to fall for counterfeits. Today’s world is very sneaky…the false gods are on the computer, the television and even in books that seen innocuous. But I believe that if we have a close personal relationship with God, the Holy Spirit that lives within us will warn us of danger when a fake god tries to captivate us with promises of wealth, health and long life. God gives the promises we need to spend eternity with Him, and that is enough for me.
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 6” by Craig Groeschel
Be Ready to Step Out
I am not a “people person.” In fact, I am an introvert who enjoys books and interactions with people online, but I don’t enjoy going out to be among the masses of people. In fact, I was once diagnosed with agoraphobia (fear of crowded places) and was on medication and therapy as a result. I say all that because today’s devotional deals with stepping out and being with people. I cannot see Jesus just texting someone the answer to their prayer. He reached out and touched them. He spoke to them personally, listening and getting to know them and their needs. Jesus was a “people person” and if I am going to be like Jesus, I have to step out and be there for others. I am not sure how to begin, but as my father-in-law used to wisely say, “The best way to begin is just to start.”
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 5” by Craig Groeschel
Some people blame our lack of genuine community on the invention of the air conditioner. Before AC, people would sit on their front porches in the evenings and try to catch a breeze to cool off. They would wave at neighbors and visit with the ones who stopped to chat over a glass of lemonade. With air conditioning installed, people can stay inside and don’t have to interact with their neighbors.
Attaching garages to our houses didn’t help either. Instead of walking from our driveways or detached garages and exchanging greetings with neighbors along the way, we pull in, shut the door, and we’re inside our house. Fences, gated communities, answering machines, and caller ID reinforced this notion that we want to be left alone. We don’t have to interact with anyone, so we don’t. Now people interact online and through social media and really never have to interact. You can even shop online.
But Jesus always had time for other people. He talked to them, fed them, healed them, and forgave them. He often met physical needs in order to address spiritual needs. If we’re too busy even to interact with the people around us, let alone engage with their struggles, then we’re not following Christ’s example. And we’re also missing out on the blessing of loving and serving one another.
Today take the time to stop, listen, and talk with someone you see every day but rarely slow down to get to know.
Power Lift: Lord, it’s easy to make excuses about why I don’t engage with more people in my daily life. But you remind me to show your love to everyone I meet. Give me wisdom to know when to interrupt my schedule in order to bless those around me.
God’s Will
Knowing God is trusting God to do what is best for all, not just for me. I confess that there have been many times when I did not understand God’s will and why things were happening. My trust faltered, and in my weakness, I would find myself crying out to God and asking for reassurance that He is still in control. One such time was when our daughter miscarried when she was almost seven months pregnant. We had just spent a week together in a cabin, enjoying games, outings, food and fellowship with her and her family. The last days we were there, Hope stayed in bed, saying she wasn’t feeling well and just needed to rest. When she and the family left, she told me that she felt fine and was eager to get the sonogram done early that week that had been scheduled for a while already. My husband and I were still at the cabin, this time with our son and his family taking their turn with us. Then the phone call came. Hope was sobbing and I could barely understand her words. But they became plain soon enough, “She’s gone. The baby died.” I don’t know if I have ever felt such heartbreak before. Our beloved daughter was feeling so lost, and we were well over a day’s travel away. We hastily explained to Scott what had happened, packed up and went home (three hours away) and then re-packed and headed to Pennsylvania, praying for God to be with Hope and Aaron and the four children as they grieved. When we arrived the next day, we found that the obstetrician had Hope go through labor and give birth to the deceased infant. Tessa was perfectly formed, but tiny. Tests showed that she had a tumor and died from it. The family was in shock and inconsolable. My lighthearted and faith-filled daughter was silent and sad. My grandchildren didn’t understand how such a tragedy was possible. We went through the days following the loss trying to help Hope cope with the loss and to choose to move on. She was convinced that this was her last baby and she had lost her. Tessa Serenity was never going to walk the earth. I took walks with the younger children around their large property and we talked about where Tessa was now…in the arms of the Lord and happy to be there. But the sadness prevailed. Hope mustered her belief in a good God the best that she could and went on with life. Two summers later, we met at a shopping center on our way to the beach for a trip together again. I had kind of dreaded the trip because the last time we had been together for a vacation had ended in such heartache. When Hope got out of the car, she had on a shirt with a rainbow that said something like, “God keeps His promises.” She then told us, right there in the parking lot, that she was pregnant and that this baby was a “rainbow baby”, a gift after the loss of a beloved child. We cried together and rejoiced in God’s goodness. Less than five months later, little Teagan Noelle was born. I guess I should add here that Hope and Aaron name all of their children with the letter T and online she calls her children T1, T2, etc. The latest, little Teagan, is not called by a number because it was too difficult to skip the number 5 that belonged to Tessa and Teagan and the other kids didn’t understand the number 6. So Teagan became “sweet Tea” and that’s her nickname to this day. She knows that she has a sister waiting for her in heaven who was to be number five. And we all praise God for the blessing that she is. She just turned eight, a precocious and loving child who is the delight of all in her family. So why did Tessa have to leave this life so early? I don’t know and probably never will. But these events led me to lean hard into God and to trust His sovereignty even when I don’t understand it.
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power by Craig Groeschel, Day 4”
Years ago my wife Amy’s brother, David, was very sick. He was in the hospital, so we had everyone we knew praying for him—for his health, for healing, for a full recovery. For weeks and weeks, we prayed and prayed. But after several months, God healed David in a way we hadn’t planned. My brother-in-law, who was only thirty-four, left this earth and joined God in heaven.
My wife lost her only brother. My in-laws lost their only son. We were devastated and it was hard not to wonder, “Where was God in that? Why did we have to lose David?”
I helped do the funeral, and I invited people to know the Jesus who had changed David’s life and set him free from the bondage of a dark past. That day so many people said yes and invited Christ into their hearts, including Uncle Blue, a great guy and one of our family’s favorite people.
Recently Amy and I were reflecting on the positive ripple effect we could see in so many lives—all because God did not answer our prayer the way we wanted. “Would you trade everything that’s happened to get your brother back?” I asked. Without hesitating, she said, “No way. What God has done through our loss is greater than anything I could imagine.”
God’s will matters in the midst of our prayers. You don’t always get what you want when you want it. But you can always walk by faith and trust in God’s will.
Power Lift: Dear God, there’s so much I don’t understand about your ways. Today help me walk by faith and not by sight, trusting in your perfect and holy plan for my life.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 