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This is why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him. If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. — Romans 13:6-7 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Ouch! Tax day. Not my favorite day, how about you? But where would we be without government, order, and laws? Anarchy! Rebellion! Lawlessness! Dog-eat-dog days where all people are "in it" only for themselves! While we may not always like how the system functions, we need to know from God how he wants us to live with flawed people in community. Paul is not naive. He knows he is likely going to be imprisoned and martyred by the Roman government. So, we can follow Paul's example as we seek to be redemptive in our living, obedient in our citizenship, and ask God to bless our countries and bring revival to them. Jesus left us this principle: "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar...

I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you... that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. — 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Thoughts on Today's Verse... The story of the Gospel is simple. The grace of the Gospel is glorious. The sacrifice of the Gospel is incomprehensible. The victory of the Gospel is eternal. The core of the Gospel is Christ, and him crucified and raised on the third day. We live in light of God's third-day solution accomplished for us in Jesus' resurrection from the dead! My Prayer... Almighty LORD, thank you for the empty tomb and Jesus' victory over the grave. Just as Jesus' death pardoned my sin, his resurrection assures my future. Thank you for grace and glory. May my life be lived each day by the power of the resurrection. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questio...

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. — Romans 3:23-24 Thoughts on Today's Verse... "I blew it!" Come to think of it, we've all blown it! We don't measure up. We're not divine. We are not righteous on our own. We all fall short. We might be decent by the world's standards, but decent won't save us in the presence of a holy, infallible, and perfect God. Only the truly righteous make it past the grave and into glory. Thank God! Grace is freely given, and the price for our sin was paid by Jesus. While I "blew it," Jesus renewed it from sin, death, hell, and the evil one! While I "blew it" - and admit, you blew it, too - Jesus renewed our lives for life with him now, and in glory forever ( Colossians 3:1-4 ). Jesus even presents us to the Father as "holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation" ( Colossian...

Jesus said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." — Luke 9:23-24 Thoughts on Today's Verse... "I've just got to get away and find myself." If that is our goal, we must know it won't ever happen. We do not "find ourselves" or "find our life" by pursuing it ( Matthew 10:39 ). We find life, true and lasting life, by losing it for something and someone greater than ourselves. We find our lives by losing them to Jesus, to the work of his Kingdom, and to the grace of blessing others and bringing them to Jesus ( Matthew 16:25 ). My Prayer... Master and Maker of all that lives and breathes, take my life and make it yours. Use my every breath for your glory. Holy Spirit, I trust your transforming work to make me more like Jesus, more JESUShaped. LORD Jesus, I pray that my words ...

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. — 1 Peter 2:24 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus bore our sins. He didn't just carry them to the cross; he also suffered the penalty we deserved for those sins. His anguish was our healing. His suffering was our righteousness. How can we ever think of going back to sin after he suffered so much to bear its penalty? So, let's begin each day declaring, "Today, O God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I die to my sins and live for righteousness! Please help me live up to my commitment by the transforming power of the Spirit to make me more like Jesus, more JESUShaped each day" ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ; Colossians 1:28-29 ). My Prayer... Holy God, how you could stand to see your precious Son under the weight of my sin, along with all the sin of human history, I will never understand. Thank you for such great love and for being su...

At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:6-8 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus did not die for us because he had some high hopes for who we are. He certainly didn't die for us because of what we had done in the past that merited his sacrifice. No, he died for us because he knew exactly who we are and where we would be without him. Praise be to God; we are now God's righteousness because Jesus took our sin upon himself and gave us God's grace and righteousness in place of our sin ( 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ). While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He now chooses to call us his friends and his family ( John 15:15 ; Hebrews 2:10-14 ). Video Commentary... ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Praye...

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. — Hebrews 1:3 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus was Immanuel, God with us ( Matthew 1:23 ). He was no imitation, no knock off, and no clone; he was God with us, God in human flesh ( John 1:1-3, 14-18 ). To this day, he sustains all creation with his word - so much for "Mother Nature," it is brother Jesus, who sustains all things by his powerful word. And now, God-with-us has paid for our sins and is not just God-with-us, but he is also God-for-us, and is constantly at the Father's side to help us. My Prayer... Precious LORD, as you have so many times in the past, please take these humble human words and bring them to the Father as my friend and brother ( John 15:15 , 21:5 ; Hebrews 2:10-14 ). Thank you for your sacrifice for my sins. Thank ...

If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life. — Romans 5:10 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Jesus didn't just die for our sins; he is alive forever for you and me. In fact, he is at God's right hand, claiming each of us as his own ( 1 John 2:1-2 ), proclaiming us to God as holy and blameless ( Colossians 1:21-22 ), and living to intercede for us ( Hebrews 7:25 ). If God was willing for his Son to die to save us, why would he withhold anything from us now that the Son lives victoriously over death to save us home to our Father ( Romans 8:32 ). My Prayer... Holy and Righteous Father, I thank you for Jesus, who is at your side and who knows my heart, my struggles, and my world. I thank you for your constant care and protection through all of my difficulties and triumphs. Please make your presence known to me, and in me, more clearly today than ever before as I ...

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. — Galatians 2:20 Thoughts on Today's Verse... When we were baptized into Christ, we shared in his crucifixion and burial, and were raised to be a new person through our faith in the power of God ( Romans 6:3-7 ; Colossians 2:12-15 ). Christ is not only alive in us, but our life and future are joined with him in his glory ( Colossians 3:1-4 ). The real challenge is for us to be Christ's presence to our broken world! How do we do this? We do this as we live by faith in Jesus, who gave himself for us. Our motivation to do this? It is not to earn our salvation, which has already been given to us by grace, and we received it by faith. Now, we do it to honor him who sacrificed his all to save us. We can say with the apostle Paul: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in ...

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. — James 5:16 Thoughts on Today's Verse... To confess and be rid of our guilt of sin is to do three things with our sin: Recognize sin for what it is in God's eyes - to confess literally means to call our sin the same thing God does. Get rid of our secrets and be honest with another Christian about that sin. Receive prayer from a righteous disciple of Jesus and receive forgiveness and healing from that sin. James' language is powerful and clear. He wants us not only to experience forgiveness, but he also wants us to be healed from our past sins. Rather than hide, rationalize, dismiss, or ignore our sin, James and his brother Jesus want us to embrace God's path to full healing. Let's confess our sins to one another so we can be healed! My Prayer... Holy Father, I have sinned. I now confess my own personal sin of ________...

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. — 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Thoughts on Today's Verse... What are you living for? What drives your life? What is the compelling motivation for your life? While these are all important questions, the most important question, however, is this: "Who am I living for?" Only one person can ensure that my life will count in meaningful ways after my body quits working ( 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 ). Only Jesus enables me to confidently know that I will never die ( John 11:25-26 ). He has already died for me and conquered death! If my body fails, the living part of me will go to be with Jesus, awaiting the resurrection ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ; Philippians 1:19-24 ). If he was willing to do all of this for me, then I'm for sure going to live for him a...

In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. — Ephesians 1:7 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Forgiveness! What a sweet and precious gift. What we were powerless to fix or pay for, God did for us in Jesus. He gave us the gift of forgiveness. With him, each day is a fresh start and a rebirth of the springtime of our souls. But my, such a terrible cost he paid to give it to us! Jesus paid for what we could not afford so we could find "the riches of God's grace" in Jesus. Praise God! My Prayer... Thank you, Father, for your anguish and cost to forgive my sins by the blood of your Son. I refuse to take the cost of my sin lightly. I commit to live for your glory in appreciation for your grace. In the name of him who sacrificed all for my salvation and gave me the gift of "the riches of God's grace," I pray. Amen. The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware. Y...

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. — Hebrews 12:2 Thoughts on Today's Verse... "He drives where he looks, he drives where he looks!" That statement by Nan, a wife disgruntled by her husband's driving, absolutely spoke the truth. Vail invariably would turn the steering wheel in the direction he was looking, terrifying all of us who rode with him as he looked around. This principle is also true of each of us and our lives: "We live where we look!" What our hearts seek and what our minds focus on steer us toward our goal, like a heat-seeking missile following its target's exhaust. That's why we must "fix our eyes on Jesus." We focus upon Jesus to both know him and become like him ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). Our lives will follow where we look. So let's fix our gaze and focus our hearts o...

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" — Matthew 20:17-19 Thoughts on Today's Verse... One thing the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) make clear: Jesus' death on the cross was no accident - it was no tragedy outside the will of God. Jesus knew the challenge that awaited him in Jerusalem, and he walked into his horrific challenge to deliver us from the same fate he suffered. His trust in the Father's "third day solution" opened the doorway for God to secure victory for Jesus and all of us who build our futures through our faith in him ( Colossians 2:12-15 , 3:1-4 ). The question for us is straightforward: Will we face our challe...

The fool says in his heart there is no God. — Psalm 14:1 Thoughts on Today's Verse... At one time or another, most of us raised an angry fist to fate and cursed the darkness. Each of these actions is equally ineffective. To deny the existence of God is something else altogether. To rob heaven of God is to rob ourselves of grace, hope, and future. How foolish to forget that behind a Creation of wonder, order, variety, beauty, power, and pattern is the Grand Creator. He is far greater than his handiwork, and we dare not ignore, deny, or dismiss him, for then we become our own gods, left to only worship ourselves and the beauty created for us. How small our world becomes when we do deny there is God ( 1 Corinthians 1:18-32 ). My Prayer... O LORD God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer, we thank you for not only being there always as the great "I AM," ( Exodus 3:13-15 ; Hebrews 13:5-6 ) but being with each of us this very day. Please use us, your children, to awaken our skeptical...