In her sermon entitled, "The One and Only," Pastor Milissa invited us to consider what it means to believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Using the Nicene Creed as an ancient map, she showed how this foundational confession guides us back to God, reminding us that He is more than enough, the source of every good gift, and the Creator who sees, knows, and loves us.
We invite you to spend the next five days reflecting and praying through this devotional based on that message.
We invite you to spend the next five days reflecting and praying through this devotional based on that message.
Day 1: Listen | The God Who is One
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (The Shema, the foundational declaration that God is one, the Lord alone).
Reflect: Every hike begins by identifying the right trail. In a world crowded with competing spiritualities, philosophies, and self-made paths to meaning, the ancient declaration of the Shema cuts through the noise with stunning clarity: there is one God, and he is Lord. Not one among many. Not the highest on a list. The one and only. This is the trail you are on. Many voices will suggest shortcuts or alternate routes: the universe, manifestation, astrology, personal reinvention. But these are not trails. They are clearings that lead nowhere. Return today to the one trail. Name God as Lord alone, and let everything else fall away.
What competing voices or spiritual shortcuts have you been tempted to follow alongside your faith in God? How might naming God as your one and only Lord reshape your daily priorities? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Write down three areas of your life where you have been looking to something other than God as your primary source of strength, comfort, or direction. Surrender each one to God alone.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (The Shema, the foundational declaration that God is one, the Lord alone).
Reflect: Every hike begins by identifying the right trail. In a world crowded with competing spiritualities, philosophies, and self-made paths to meaning, the ancient declaration of the Shema cuts through the noise with stunning clarity: there is one God, and he is Lord. Not one among many. Not the highest on a list. The one and only. This is the trail you are on. Many voices will suggest shortcuts or alternate routes: the universe, manifestation, astrology, personal reinvention. But these are not trails. They are clearings that lead nowhere. Return today to the one trail. Name God as Lord alone, and let everything else fall away.
What competing voices or spiritual shortcuts have you been tempted to follow alongside your faith in God? How might naming God as your one and only Lord reshape your daily priorities? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Write down three areas of your life where you have been looking to something other than God as your primary source of strength, comfort, or direction. Surrender each one to God alone.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 2: The Source of All Good Things | The God Who Is Father
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: James 1:17
Reflect: It is remarkably easy to mistake the conduit for the source. A job brings provision, so we cling to the job. A friendship brings comfort, so we build our emotional world around the friendship. A season of health brings vitality, so we trust in our own strength. But James reminds us that every good thing flowing into our lives originates in God the Father. The gifts are real. The relationships are meaningful. The blessings are genuine. But they are straws, not the water. When you trace every good thing in your life back to its true origin, you find a Father who gives generously and without changing his mind about you.
Which blessings in your life have you been treating as sources of fulfillment rather than gifts from God? How does gratitude shift when you recognize God as the origin of every good thing? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Make a list of five things you are grateful for today. Beside each one, write the words: "This came from my Father." Offer each item back to God in a brief prayer of thanksgiving, acknowledging him as the source.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: James 1:17
Reflect: It is remarkably easy to mistake the conduit for the source. A job brings provision, so we cling to the job. A friendship brings comfort, so we build our emotional world around the friendship. A season of health brings vitality, so we trust in our own strength. But James reminds us that every good thing flowing into our lives originates in God the Father. The gifts are real. The relationships are meaningful. The blessings are genuine. But they are straws, not the water. When you trace every good thing in your life back to its true origin, you find a Father who gives generously and without changing his mind about you.
Which blessings in your life have you been treating as sources of fulfillment rather than gifts from God? How does gratitude shift when you recognize God as the origin of every good thing? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Make a list of five things you are grateful for today. Beside each one, write the words: "This came from my Father." Offer each item back to God in a brief prayer of thanksgiving, acknowledging him as the source.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 3: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made | The God Who Sees You
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Psalm 139:13-18
Reflect: Before you took your first breath, God was already watching over you with attention and intention. He designed the details of who you are, ordained the days ahead of you, and has never stopped thinking about you since. The psalmist reaches for the image of sand to capture the sheer volume of God's thoughts toward you: infinite, uncountable, relentless. You are not an afterthought in God's creation. You are not invisible to him, even when you feel overlooked by everyone else. The God who made galaxies and atoms also made you - specifically, lovingly, and on purpose. He still sees you now.
In what areas of your life do you feel unseen, forgotten, or overlooked? How does it change your perspective to know that God's thoughts toward you are more numerous than you could ever count? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Find a quiet place today and sit with Psalm 139:13-18 for an extended time. Read it slowly and replace the pronouns with your own name. Let this truth take deeper root in you: God made you with intention, watches over you with love, and has not stopped thinking about you.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Psalm 139:13-18
Reflect: Before you took your first breath, God was already watching over you with attention and intention. He designed the details of who you are, ordained the days ahead of you, and has never stopped thinking about you since. The psalmist reaches for the image of sand to capture the sheer volume of God's thoughts toward you: infinite, uncountable, relentless. You are not an afterthought in God's creation. You are not invisible to him, even when you feel overlooked by everyone else. The God who made galaxies and atoms also made you - specifically, lovingly, and on purpose. He still sees you now.
In what areas of your life do you feel unseen, forgotten, or overlooked? How does it change your perspective to know that God's thoughts toward you are more numerous than you could ever count? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Find a quiet place today and sit with Psalm 139:13-18 for an extended time. Read it slowly and replace the pronouns with your own name. Let this truth take deeper root in you: God made you with intention, watches over you with love, and has not stopped thinking about you.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 4: Unlimited | The God Who is More Than Enough
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Ephesians 3:14-21
Reflect: One of the quiet dangers of the Christian life is shrinking God down to the size of our own imagination. We ask small prayers because we expect small answers. We hold loosely to our faith because we are not sure God is truly sufficient for everything we face. But the writer of Ephesians anchors us to a profound truth: God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He is not limited by our creativity, our doubt, or our history. He is the Almighty. God is more than enough.
Where have you been limiting God by the boundaries of your own imagination or past experience? What would it look like to bring a bigger, bolder request before the God who is able to do immeasurably more? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Identify a prayer you have stopped praying because it felt too large or too unlikely. Write it down and pray it again today. Ask God to expand your vision of who he is and what he is able to do in your situation.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Ephesians 3:14-21
Reflect: One of the quiet dangers of the Christian life is shrinking God down to the size of our own imagination. We ask small prayers because we expect small answers. We hold loosely to our faith because we are not sure God is truly sufficient for everything we face. But the writer of Ephesians anchors us to a profound truth: God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He is not limited by our creativity, our doubt, or our history. He is the Almighty. God is more than enough.
Where have you been limiting God by the boundaries of your own imagination or past experience? What would it look like to bring a bigger, bolder request before the God who is able to do immeasurably more? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Identify a prayer you have stopped praying because it felt too large or too unlikely. Write it down and pray it again today. Ask God to expand your vision of who he is and what he is able to do in your situation.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 5: Seen and Unseen | The God Who Creates
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Genesis 1:1-2; Psalm 146:5-6
Reflect: The opening words of Scripture place God before everything. Before matter, before time, before the first breath of any living creature, God was. And out of nothing, he made everything: galaxies too vast to comprehend, atoms too small to see, and every layer of existence in between. When the Nicene Creed declares God as maker of all that is seen and unseen, it is claiming that there is no corner of reality that exists apart from him. You live in a world he designed. You breathe air he sustains. You carry a soul he fashioned. Nothing about your life is outside his creative reach or his ongoing care. He made it all - including you - and he calls it good.
How does recognizing God as the maker of all things - seen and unseen - change the way you move through your ordinary day? What might it mean to live with a constant awareness that you are inside a world God made and still sustains? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Step outside today and take five minutes to observe the created world around you. Whether you see trees, sky, pavement, or people, practice naming what you observe as the work of God's hands. Let creation draw you into a moment of worship and renewed trust in the God who made and sustains all things.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Genesis 1:1-2; Psalm 146:5-6
Reflect: The opening words of Scripture place God before everything. Before matter, before time, before the first breath of any living creature, God was. And out of nothing, he made everything: galaxies too vast to comprehend, atoms too small to see, and every layer of existence in between. When the Nicene Creed declares God as maker of all that is seen and unseen, it is claiming that there is no corner of reality that exists apart from him. You live in a world he designed. You breathe air he sustains. You carry a soul he fashioned. Nothing about your life is outside his creative reach or his ongoing care. He made it all - including you - and he calls it good.
How does recognizing God as the maker of all things - seen and unseen - change the way you move through your ordinary day? What might it mean to live with a constant awareness that you are inside a world God made and still sustains? Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Step outside today and take five minutes to observe the created world around you. Whether you see trees, sky, pavement, or people, practice naming what you observe as the work of God's hands. Let creation draw you into a moment of worship and renewed trust in the God who made and sustains all things.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".