Today

April 2022 Devotional

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O Yahweh.
Psalm 51:17 NLT

As Yeshua went throughout His life and especially in His last three years, He was known for His words – of wisdom, divine knowledge and words of healing – as He traversed the highways and towns preaching, teaching and transforming lives. Crowds followed Him to hear His Words, disciples left their livelihood at His word. But in the last hours of His life, He chose His words very carefully. He did not respond to ridicule, or give a retort to ignorant statements, He did not speak to prove His sovereignty or ask for an escape from a cruel death.

However, there is one scene of compassion at the very end of His life that still resonates today when He spoke to a thief, also hanging from a cross but deservedly so. In that moment, the man recognized the Messiah even as he was staring at the slowly closing door of his own wretched life, aware that what awaited him was more torment, he turned and snatched the opportunity to ask for grace and mercy. The the other condemned criminal cursed at Yeshua, those on the ground flung up insults like sharp stones but this man in contrast, chose his last words carefully and was heard.

Our Savior ignored the insults, His own agony and suffering and responded by extending His love, because that is who HE IS – Yahweh’s salvation. He rescued the repentant man from eternal damnation and ushered him into ‘paradise’, that same day.

Regardless of the life you have lived, and the struggles you may be facing in your life, today remains an opportunity for change. Salvation is still available to renew the repentant, to give hope and peace to the disheartened and disappointed. His Word is still able to change your life and change your today, forever.

For those of us who have experienced the power of salvation, we must ensure that we share this gospel of hope to those who may feel hopeless and unworthy of love. May we choose our words carefully and allow others to see that there is a Door that leads to eternal life and joy that can be accessed today. Will you pray with or for someone? Will you introduce them to unconditional love through salvation in Yeshua? His love still beckons and offers eternal life today.

Read: Luke 23:39-43

Write: Do you or someone else you know need His grace and mercy today? This is the moment, seize the day and receive His love. Think of another person, perhaps someone who you may know that struggles with accepting love or is depressed or addicted or just lost. Stand in the gap for them, and may the power of salvation be extended and experienced today.

Pray: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication