Note before sharing the devotional: in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination on September 10th, and in the midst of the (admittedly unexpected) intense grief I've experienced, despite confidence of his salvation, I felt it was time to spend at least the next several days sharing recent Scriptural devotionals from my Bible app, YouVersion, with you. The call is to preach the Gospel. Honestly, I haven't been doing it that much lately. This is a first step of many to try to correct that. Life is short. At my current age, and in part because of the ups and downs of my health condition, I am far more aware of this truth than ever before. And yet, even now I still have been guilty of forgetting and taking life for granted. So here goes:
For your own sake, receive Jesus Christ as your Lord, King, and Savior. Ask Him to come into your heart. Dare to trust Him with your whole life, including every aspect of your life. He died for you. He died for me. He may not have technically been assassinated like Kirk was, but He was crucified, which, to find a modern Western society comparison, is very similar to being lynched. He was 100% innocent. He did not get a fair trial. When He was flogged, He wasn't just beaten severely; He had chunks of flesh ripped out of His midsection to the point where many of His internal organs were visible. And then He had to carry a rough, splintered, heavy wooden cross (equivalent to the weight of a billiards or pool table), all while also wearing a crown of thorns that was piercing His head all around. The Sanhedrin didn't care; the Romans didn't care. But He did it anyway. And the fact that He was still able to carry a heavy, splintered wooden object the size of a pool table goes to show that, as the Bible says, He did indeed lay down His life when the punishment of His Father in heaven, and the wrath of God on all humanity, was satisfied. Lesser men, if they had gotten flogged the same way Jesus had gotten flogged, would've died right then and there, and if not, they certainly would not have been able to carry a rough, rugged, splintered, pool table on their backs. They would've died trying. But Jesus didn't die then; He only died once He laid his life down upon knowing that God's wrath was finally satisfied, after three whole hours of abandonment after all the other punishments had been handed out. After all that was done, He rose again from the dead on the third day. He conquered death, so that you and I can live and have that eternal life. Most importantly, Jesus chose this path willingly because He loves you, and because He loves me. He wants you to be in heaven with Him for eternity (in other words, the best place ever, for a very very long time). But you have to reject sin, repent, turn to Him, and let Him be King of your life. And for some, this may require dying a death similar to Kirk's. But heaven awaits afterward, for all those who truly trust and surrender to Jesus totally and completely.
And part of that is reading the Bible and getting to know Jesus personally this way. As such, here is the devotional for today:
Turn to Him
Around 957 B.C., after King Solomon spent years planning, building, and finally dedicating the temple that his father, King David, had longed for—God made Himself known by sending fire down from heaven and filling the temple with His presence.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night, explaining how He’d heard his prayer and chosen his temple—reminding Solomon how the Israelites should respond when they encounter hard things. He said:
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT
Though this specific message was given to a specific people at a specific time in history—humbling ourselves, seeking God, and turning from our sins are timeless actions that we should continue to live out.
True humility, honest prayer, and genuine repentance are the keys to intimacy with God.
And we can’t fake it. We can’t just go through the motions. We can’t merely pretend to “look” humble and repentant. And we can’t do these things on our own.
We need to come to God in order to receive His help. We need Him in order to maintain a posture of humility, prayer, and repentance.
So if you’ve found yourself feeling distant from God, trying to do things your own way, or intentionally running in the opposite direction of your Creator—it’s not too late to turn around.
You can still come to God, admit that you can’t go through life alone, and seek His help. He’s a loving, forgiving, and healing Father who specializes in making all things new. He never stops inviting us to turn to Him.
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV
Prayer: God, I am so grateful that I'm called by Your name. Even though I am imperfect, You still call me Yours. Each day, I want to live up to that calling and become that person You created me to be. Please help me to be more humble, to seek You more, and to turn away from things that are wrong. Thank You for Your willingness to forgive and restore. In Jesus's name, Amen.