Read:  Revelation 1:1–3; 3:11–12 It was Ernest Hemingway who once said, "Time is the least thing we have of." And he was right. How quickly time passes—and how often we lament this. If only we could tack an extra twenty-five or thirty years on to the usual span. There is so much more we want to see, to celebrate, to do. So many places to go, so much to enjoy, to feel, to read, to talk about, to participate in, to encounter. Yet, for each of us, this thing called time is in such short supply. Our frustration is only compounded by the numerous unimportant, dumb things that steal our minutes and siphon the significance out of our hours. You know what I mean. Stuff like getting gas or a haircut, standing in the eternal line at the DMV, doing the laundry, washing all the dishes after every meal, mowing the lawn, and a dozen other time-consuming things that have to be done but keep you from doing the things that make life so invigorating and fulfilling. Since "time is the least thing we have of" and since there is no way we're going to escape all the stupid time-traps that accompany our earthly existence, seems to me that we're left with two choices: Either we can fuss and whine about not having enough time, or we can take the time we've got left and spend it wisely. I mean really wisely, with our priorities in the right order. Speaking of that, what are you doing with the rest of your life? I'm talking about cultivating relationships, building memories that will help lift the load of future trials, and the deliberate pursuit of activities that will yield eternal dividends. Do you have a family? Rather than leaving them the leftovers and crumbs and giving your job your best hours and your most creative ideas, how about rethinking the value of strengthening those ties? And while we're at it, let's not leave out necessary time for quietness, for personal reflection and refreshment. You say you don't have time to add another week to your squirrel-cage lifestyle. Don't kid yourself. You keep blowin' and goin' like you've been doing most of your adult life, and you'll wind up mumbling to yourself in the twilight years, wondering how you could have stayed so busy yet accomplished so little. Hey, maybe Hemingway wasn't right after all. You and I have more time than we realize . . . once we get our priority ducks in a row. Have you ever wondered how you can stay so busy yet accomplish so little? Think seriously about how you can reorder those priorities.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. – Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) Have you ever held on to something so tightly it hurt? I remember the first time I went ziplining, I held onto my harness really tightly. I almost felt like my life depended on how tightly I held on. By the end of the ride, my hands hurt. I was holding on with all my might. In a way that’s what we’re supposed to do with the promises we see in the Bible. We might see a promise like we’re made righteous in God’s sight. However, when we look at our own life we see all our faults, shortcomings and failures. Instead of focusing on those things, we should be holding tightly to the promises in God’s word. When we truly hold tightly to them, we let them become more important to us than the other things going on around us and our feelings. Choose today to hold onto God’s promises without wavering. Hold on to the promises in the Bible like your life depends on it. Hold onto what God says and know that God will always come through for us on His promises. He will never let you down or leave you.

Nothing can satisfy your longing for God except communion and fellowship with Him. The apostle John wrote, And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever (1 John 2:17 AMPC). The world makes it easy for you to fill your ears with all kinds of things that drown out the voice of God and push Him far into the background of your life. However, the day comes for every person when only God remains. Everything else in life eventually passes away; when it does, God will still be there. Seek God earnestly today, and He will abide in you. Prayer Starter: Father, I desire a deeper, closer relationship with You. Help me to make You a priority today and every day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. —Galatians 6:14 (TLB) What glory is there in the cross? It was an instrument of torture and shame. Why did Paul glory in it? He gloried in it because the most selfless act ever performed by men or angels took place upon it. He saw-emanating from that rough, unartistic beam upon which the Son of God had been crucified—the radiant hope of the world, the end of the believer’s bondage to sin, and the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of men. A lone man dying on a cross did more to restore man’s lost harmony with God, his fellowman, and himself, than the combined genius and power of earth’s mighty. With my finite limitations, I cannot fully comprehend the mystery of Christ’s atonement. I only know that all who come to the cross in simple, trusting faith lose all their guilty stains and find peace with God. Prayer for the day Like the Apostle Paul, Father, help me to glory in the cross of Jesus and more fully understand the tremendous meaning it has for me as a believer and for all who would come to its foot and kneel.

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24 Have you ever had times when you didn’t feel close to God? I know I have. I’ve had days when my stomach has been twisted up in knots wondering about what to do, or whether I was making the right decision. I’ve struggled with wondering where God was when loved ones have died and at times when it felt like things weren’t going well in my family. There are going to be times in your life when you don’t feel close to God. It might because of difficulty, being busy or any other number of reasons. When your emotions are all over the place, there’s one thing to keep in mind. We don’t contact God with our emotions and feelings. We talk to God through our spirit. So when our emotions are all over the place, if we can get quiet, we can usually get peace in our spirit. Often we’re too busy and distracted to quiet our emotions and hear from God. If we can get quiet, we can usually find the peace and direction we were looking for. So if today you don’t feel close to God, be encouraged. God hasn’t moved. He loves you and He desires to talk to you. Your situation isn’t hopeless. Just realize that your relationship with God isn’t based on your performance or how you feel today. It’s based on what Jesus did for you on the cross. That means that you can come to God any time any place and He is ready to hear from you. It doesn’t matter if it’s been two years since you last spoke to Him. He loves you and is ready to speak to you. Don’t let your emotions get in the way. Choose instead to believe God’s word and walk in your relationship with God.

“In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.” – 1 Samuel 1:10 (NIV) Daily Meditation: 1 Samuel 1, 1 Samuel 2:1-21 Have you ever longed for something so deeply that you felt it in your very soul? Have you ever experienced pain pouring out of you in anguish over a desperate desire of your heart? In 1 Samuel 1, the Bible tells us of one woman who felt that kind of deep, searing pain. Hannah desperately wanted a baby, but she couldn’t get pregnant. Year after year she prayed, but she did not conceive. For a time, her prayers went unanswered. In the depths of her despair, she “prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.” At her wit’s end, she vowed to dedicate the child to God if only she could have a baby. The intensity of her grief and the fervency of her silent prayers were so great that the priest thought she was drunk! But her story does not end in sorrow. The priest told Hannah that God would grant her request, and He did. It is hard to imagine all the stress and pent-up emotions Hannah endured, but God took care of her. She did become pregnant and went on to dedicate her son, Samuel, to the Lord as she had vowed. And Samuel went on to make history, doing great works for God. There is one amazing detail about this story… Hannah went on to bear three more sons and two daughters! Her prayers were not answered immediately, but God honored her faithfulness and showered her with blessings beyond her requests. His plans for her were greater than her own – and the same is true for us. Your Father knows your needs. Renewal is coming! When we have a desperate desire, we want it fulfilled right away. We want our prayers answered immediately, but sometimes waiting is required. Hannah prayed year after year before finally experiencing the answer to her prayers. Waiting can be difficult, and living with unanswered prayers is stressful… unless we make the choice to surrender and fully trust God to satisfy our longings in His time!

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind . . . —Mark 12:30 Christ touches every area of our lives. He touches our minds and we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. God invites people to use their minds, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18). We are told in Scripture not to be like the horse or mule, “which have no understanding” (Psalm 32:9). Christ declared that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. We are told to fear God, to love Christ, and to hate sin. Fear, love, and hate are emotions. Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, preaching at the City Temple in London, said, “What is wrong with emotion? Christianity is falling in love with Christ. Has anyone ever fallen in love without emotion?” Prayer for the day May my love for You embrace my whole being, Lord Jesus. Teach me true love. In your loving name, Amen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:55–58 Easter is a season of great gladness for those who know Christ. But for those who are without “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory” (2 Corinthians 4:6), there is nothing to rejoice over. Jesus left us with the great hope and certainty that He is going to return to bring a new Heaven and a new earth where, we are told, there will be no more sorrow, trouble, or death for those who have believed and followed Him. There will be trouble, sorrow, and suffering for those who have neglected or rejected Him. As Christians, our great task is to obey the command to tell the whole world about Christ crucified, buried, yet risen again. My prayer for you during this season of the year, when we meditate on our Savior’s great sacrifice for us on the cross, is that you will be filled with great peace and hope, because “He is risen!” That is the Good News. As you follow Christ, are you obeying His command to tell others that He is risen indeed?

From Genesis to Revelation, we are warned that “it is later than you think.” Paul writes to Christians in Romans 13:11–12: “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” There are millions of people around the world who do not have peace at this moment because they have never found the secret of peace. Some of them may have riches today as a result of greed and covetousness; but their souls are lean, their hearts are cold toward God, their consciences are dulled, and their minds are blinded. They need to know that there is a God of marvelous love who sent His Son Jesus Christ to this world. And as a demonstration of His mercy, Christ—who is the Prince of Peace—went to the cross to make a way for peace between God and mankind. Are you living in the reality of Jesus’ victory over death? In what tangible ways can you share that victory with others so that they, too, can have life?

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” – Luke 6:38 It can be really easy to get caught in the trap of getting. You might be saving for new shoes, a new phone, and trying to get a new car. Getting things can seem really important at times, however, the Bible encourages us to not make getting the main priority in your life. Instead, the Bible encourages us to be givers. And the awesome part about being a giver is that God rewards those who give. So when you give, you’re not throwing away your time or money. Everything you give to God is always given back to you in many ways. God wants to reward you for your giving. So decide today to make giving a habit in your life. Choose to begin to give and see how God will provide and reward you for your faithfulness to give.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:44–49 Good Friday celebrates the day our Lord died for our sins on the cross. I have often sat by the hour and tried to imagine the agony and suffering He went through because of our sins. At one point He said from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He meant that God had accepted His work on the cross as the penalty for our sins. Christ’s death on our behalf is the reason God can forgive us and still be just. And His death teaches us the depth and breadth that there should be in our forgiveness of one another. While that holy Friday was tremendous, it was only a prelude to Sunday morning when He was raised from the dead. Godly women had come to see His tomb, but angels made the glorious announcement, “He has risen!” (Luke 24:6). His resurrection guaranteed that we, too, will be raised, if we are believers and obeyers of His Word. As you celebrate the truth that Jesus came from Heaven to redeem you, are you reflecting His likeness to those around you?

As we approach the celebration of Good Friday, I’m reminded of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross and the glory and the power in each saying. Jesus was alone. He had come to His own, and His own did not receive Him. When He was being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, we are told that “all the disciples deserted him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). The crowds who had so recently shouted, “Hosanna!” would soon shout, “Crucify him! … Crucify him!” (Matthew 21:9, 27:22–23). Now even His loyal Twelve had left. And at last we hear Him cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Not only had He been forsaken by His human companions, but now in that desperate and lonely hour, He—because He was bearing our sins in His own body on the cross—had been forsaken by God. Jesus was enduring the suffering and judgment of Hell for you and for me. How can you show your gratitude to God for allowing His Son to endure the shame and suffering of the cross?