Scripture Reading:
Genesis 1

DEVOTIONAL:
The word of God is powerful.

Step with me on cliff of a mountain ledge and look at the vast open air all around. Do you see that? Now imagine standing there and looking into the abyss of nothing. No light. No mountain crags. No snow. No valleys. No nothing. Just darkness.

We are hard pressed to explain how empty vast nothingness feels. It’s not just cavernous space. It’s also imprisoned potential.

After all, the possibilities may come to mind, but what about the power to make it happen? One needs power to materialize possibility, especially in such large, vast space.

Now, look again. There God stands in Genesis 1. He stands on the precipice of nothing. Looking at nothing. Hearing nothing. Standing on nothing. And then He starts talking to nothing.

We, who talk all the time, might find it hard to appreciate what happened next. His words materialized the very earth we inhabit. No meetings with the architect. No consultations with financial services. No surveys with city planners. No sketches or drawings to give a first pass at it. No permits. Just God, standing there by Himself talking to nothing.

At His word things started to appears

God’s word is so powerful that what doesn’t exist has to appear at the sound of His voice. His word created the world. His word creates your world. His word gives possibilities an avenue to materialize.

And here is the good news… you have never had a moment in your life where God spoke and the miraculous did not occur. When God speaks in your life, He needs nothing with which to start. He can take nothing, speak to nothing, and make something appear.

Do you need that? Is there something that doesn’t exist right now that your life really needs or that your heart really desires? Stop right now and ask God to speak that empty space, that empty chair, that impossible dream. How word creates what doesn’t exist.

Over the next few weeks God is going to speak. He’s going to speak to you. He’s going to speak to your future. He is going to communicate His plan. How do we know? We know that when we open God’s word, God opens His mouth. All life needs is a word from God.

As we journey together through these weeks of devotion, remember that this word, His word will accomplish something new and unexampled in your life.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. Reflect on a time when you felt God spoke into your life. What changed as a result of His word, and how did it transform your perspective or circumstances?

2. What "impossible dream" or "empty space" in your life do you need to surrender to God, trusting that His word has the power to materialize what doesn’t yet exist?

Scripture Reading:
Genesis 12:1-3

DEVOTIONAL:
God reserves the right to send you on a journey to an undisclosed location.

Read Genesis 12:1-3 again.

Did you see that? God told Abram, “Go… to the land which I will show you.”

God speaks to move us. He speaks to move us from the where we are to where He wants us to be. His word comes to materialize His will for our lives.

Through Abram, God wants to bless the world. Through Abram, God wants to build a family not merely by babies and births, but by faith. It’s going to require a father that knows how to live by faith. His descendants will be people like him; people who recognize God’s voice and respond in obedience. That’s the kind of family God wants. So, God gives Abram a word. God will give you one, too.

Abram lives in Ur of the Chaldees. That’s the equivalent of a posh, sophisticated land. God told Abe to leave.

Abe asks, “Where?” And God’s answer is, “You will know when you get there.” All Abe could tell his family is, ‘We are going to know when we get there.’ He’s sailing under sealed orders.

“That’s far fetched!” some think. Is it really? Have you ever offered up to God something that others think makes no sense? Some higher earnings, some comfortable relationship, some opportunity of a lifetime? Have you ever had to look at loss and answer, “but The Lord will provide”?

If not, that’s a boring life.

There’s nothing more exciting than journeying with God in some part of your life where you don’t know where you’re going… where you truly say, “I’m trusting God.”

God’s word will give you in-the-moment direction. His word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path (Psalm 119). He may not disclose the full itinerary up front, but He will give you enough to take the next step. That is what faith is for. Faith will help you respond to God’s word with a swift obedience.

Look at Abram. You never know how fantastic the destination is until you leave the familiar at God’s word.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. Have you ever sensed God asking you to take a step without knowing the full picture? What did you learn about Him and yourself through that experience?

2. If faith is responding to God’s word with swift obedience, what is one area in your life where you need to take the next step, even if the destination is unclear?

Scripture Reading:
Joshua 1:1-9

DEVOTIONAL:
You’re going to win.

I know. I know. It doesn’t look like it. You don’t have the resources or the people. There’s no way that so much can be achieved with something or someone so little.

Think again. Read Joshua 1:1-9.

Joshua’s call narrative teaches us something about the all-sufficiency of God’s word in the face of our human inadequacies. Whenever God speaks to you, He doesn’t require your strength. He provides His own. God’s word equips you to conquer where He calls you.

Hopefully by now you are noticing a pattern. God’s word is the agent of God’s ability. This is why we have such confidence in and place a premium focus on His word.

When you are outnumbered, if you have God’s word, you are not overpowered. Joshua faced the biggest assignment of his life. He is to succeed the nation’s hero, Moses. Nobody had ever accomplished what Moses did. Moses was the great liberator. Through his leadership, 430 years of Egyptian slavery came to a screeching halt. Through his leadership, the prayers of generations were answered. The people tasted of freedom for the first time.

Now Moses is dead. 😵

It’s the shock of a lifetime. How do you pick up and move on after the greatest leader of human history? It’s simple. You need a word from God.

God’s word empowers you to be a capable leader. One problem: Joshua is afraid. God’s word speaks to his fears and assures him victory.

You can stand in those promises today. God has a, “Do not fear” word for your life. As you read God’s word, there some 365 variations of the phrase, “Do not fear.” Did you catch that? 365. It’s as if there is one for every day of the year.

Only God’s word adequately answers our fears.

All Joshua has to do is take God at His word and Joshua will win his battles. That may sound crazy to you, but it’s true. Our battles are not won by our own strength. They are won when we are careful to do all that God says (Joshua 1:7-9).

Do you have some area of life where you need victory? Be careful to meditate upon and then practice God’s word. Then say it with me, “Victory shall be mine.”

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. How do you typically respond to fear or uncertainty? What role does God’s word play in your response?

2. Joshua was reminded to meditate on God’s word continually (Joshua 1:8). What practices can you adopt to make meditating on God’s word a regular part of your life?

Scripture Reading:
John 1:1-14

DEVOTIONAL:
Little Johnny was learning to pray. His father told him that God, though invisible, makes transformation visible. His father told him that He could pray to God whom he did not see, assuring little Johnny that God saw him.

That’s when little John voiced the desire of the ages: “I can’t see Him. I need God with some skin on Him.” What a beautiful picture of the real need of life. We need God with skin on Him. That is to say, the human need is know God intimately and to know that God feels our pain.

Read John 1:1 and John 1:14.

In the very beginning, before was-was, God’s word was present. He identifies Himself with word such that they are one and the same. That’s good news.

Even more, God’s word became flesh. That is the striking, scandalous claim of John 1:14. In the cultural context of that world, the idea of God and the world of humanity did not commingle. All that is bad about us is so opposite all that is good about God.

When God became flesh He made Himself touchable, relatable, and accessible. Now, we no longer have to be distant from God. He has come near to us. He put skin on Himself.

His nearness does not diminish His greatness. Jesus is both God and man at the same time. The word of God is therefore the most relevant read of all time. His word communicates the mind of God in language we understand.

When you pick up God’s word, when you hear His word proclaimed from the pulpit or hear it sung in church, and when you hear His voice you are hearing that He has skin in the game. He has come near to you. He is invested in your transformation.

Your time in God’s word will thicken your skin. Your enemy shoots fiery darts. Life has puncturing seasons. Like a balloon, life will stick a pin in you and work to deflate you. You can endure and resist defeat by growing thicker skin. A regular diet of God’s word will build you up, fight your temptations, and cause you recognize the voice of God.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. How does the truth that “God put skin on Himself” impact your understanding of who God is and His desire to be near to you?

2. Are there areas in your life where you feel deflated or defeated? How can you invite God into those areas through prayer and His Word? Spend a few moments writing your prayer.

Scripture Reading:
Hebrews 1:1-4

DEVOTIONAL:
Consider this question: Is Jesus merely prominent in your life, or is He preeminent? Prominence means He’s important—one of many priorities. Preeminence, however, means He is in a class all by Himself, supreme over all things, shaping every aspect of your life.

Hebrews exalts Jesus not as one among many, but as utterly incomparable to anything or anyone in this world.

Read Hebrews 1:3.

Jesus is not a mere reflection of God but Is God in His fullness. There is no other Savior, no greater revelation, no higher authority. All of God is available to us in Jesus Christ. Truly, there is nobody like Jesus, and He deserves to be preeminent in our lives.

Why? Because both the revelation of God and the redemption of humanity are found in one person: Jesus Christ. He doesn’t just speak the Word of God

—He is the Word of God. Through Him, we hear the heart of the Father and receive the gift of salvation.

Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power, and after making purification for our sins, He sat down in victory at the right hand of God. This is significant. In the Old Testament, priests never sat down because their work was never finished. But Jesus’ atoning work on the cross is complete. His seated position is a posture of triumph and authority. His work for our salvation is finished, and He reigns as King.

So today, let’s ask ourselves: Is Jesus taking His rightful place as preeminent in our lives? Let’s surrender to the One who is above all and holds all things together, including us.

God has been speaking, and still speaks. If you want to hear the voice of God, listen to Jesus. If you want to feel the passion of God, look at Jesus. If you want to know God, sit with Jesus. There is nobody like Him!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. How can you create space in your life to hear from God more clearly, and how does recognizing Jesus as the ultimate Word of God shape the way you listen for His voice?

2. Is Jesus preeminent in your life, or does He hold only a prominent place among your priorities? What steps can you take to give Him His rightful place as supreme in your daily decisions and actions?

3. Take a few moments and write out a prayer, inviting God to make Jesus preeminent in your life. Express your gratitude for His full revelation in Christ and ask for His guidance in hearing His voice more clearly.