Morning Devotional 032525 Resurrection People

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  March 25, 2025

1 Kings 18:36-39

36 At the time of the evening offering, the prophet Elijah drew near and prayed: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. I have done all these things at your instructions. 37 Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people will know that you, LORD, are the real God and that you can change their hearts.” 38 Then the LORD’s fire fell; it consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up the water in the trench! 39 All the people saw this and fell on their faces. “The LORD is the real God! The LORD is the real God!” they exclaimed.

Good Morning. God hears us when we pray!

When we read all of the rules and requirements for approaching and talking to God as told in the Old Testament, we are overwhelmed and think, “I can’t do that!” We can’t, nor are we expected to do so. We are a resurrection people. 

The Old Covenant that God had established with His people required strict obedience to the Mosaic Law. Because the wages of sin is death, the Law required that Israel perform daily sacrifices in order to atone for sin. Moses predicts that Israel will fail in keeping the Old Covenant, but he then sees a time of restoration. At that time, Moses says, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” The New Covenant involves a total change of heart so that God’s people are naturally pleasing to Him.

The prophet Jeremiah also predicted the New Covenant. “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. . . . This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law of Moses and to establish the New Covenant between God and His people. The Old Covenant was written in stone, but the New Covenant is written on hearts. 

This shift from laws being written on stones and tablets to being written on our hearts is significant. The resurrected Jesus becomes our conduit to daily conversations with God. Jesus, Emmanuel, means God is near. God is closer than the very breath we breathe. 

Speak, my brothers and sisters, God is listening! 

Loving Lord, Maker of all things! We are your children. We thank you for listening to us when we speak. Thank you. We love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: No matter the format, God hears our prayers.

O God, I love you! Pastor Liz