What Will Help You Flourish?

Scripture — Psalm 92:12-15 (NIV)

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Devotion

I have been writing devotions for 18 years. That adds up to way more than 3,000 devotions. During all of this time, I’ve never done what I’m going to do today. We’ll see if this is a worthwhile effort!

I started writing devotions in 2008. They were called “Daily Reflections” and were published by The High Calling, a ministry of the H.E. Butt Foundation, where I then worked. (They are now available at the Theology of Work Project website.) Back then, I wrote seven devotions each week.

When I came to Fuller’s De Pree Center in 2015, I continued to write daily devotions, now called Life for Leaders. At first, I was doing seven per week. But thanks be to God, soon we had the resources to hire several other writers to share the writing load. I scaled back to five devotions per week, with weekend devotions written by some great partners in this work. (Now, as you know, we publish weekday devotions, three of which I write.)

During my first years of devotion writing, my mother tried to read every single one. But Mom would regularly confess to me that she couldn’t keep up. I’d tell her that was just fine. But she felt some sort of motherly obligation to read every word I wrote. Plus, she often said, she feared that she would miss devotions that would be helpful to her. (Maybe, in heaven, she can go back and read the ones she missed!)

I have wondered sometimes if other Life for Leaders readers might also miss devotions that would have spoken to their particular situation and need. I started wondering about this again as I have been finishing up this current series on Biblical Wisdom for Flourishing. So, I decided to try something new today. Rather than writing a unique, substantial devotion, I’m going to give you the chance to read a devotion that you missed. Or, if God spoke to you clearly through a previous devotion, today you’ll have the chance to circle back and read it again.

So, with no further ado, here are the devotions from this series on flourishing:

Flourishing Like a Palm Tree (Psalm 92:12-15)
What You Need to Flourish (Psalm 92:12-15)
Unexpected Flourishing (Psalm 92:12-15)
Will Your Flourishing Last? (Psalm 92:5-8)
Flourishing and Fruitfulness (Psalm 92:12-15)
Flourishing in Community (Psalm 92:12-14)
Flourishing as Branches (John 15:1-2, 4-5, 8)
Flourishing and the Gospel (Colossians 1:3-6)
Flourishing in Every Good Work (Colossians 1:9-10)
What Do I Need to Flourish? (Colossians 1:9-10)
Flourishing as Living Fully (John 10:7-11)
Flourishing as Living Richly – Part 1 (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Flourishing as Living Richly – Part 2 (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Flourishing as Living Truly (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Do You Need to Be Wealthy to Flourish? (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Will Going to Church Help You Flourish? (Hebrews 10:24-25)

This list highlights the fact that many of the devotions in the series are based on Psalm 92:12-15. So, it seems appropriate to conclude where we began. From Psalm 92, we receive the promise of flourishing. When we are in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we flourish. We can live fully, richly, truly, and faithfully. We can bear fruit that glorifies God because we are deeply connected to God, like a branch to a vine.

Flourishing is possible because God created us to flourish (Gen 1:28). Even in a world injured by sin, we can live fruitfully and joyfully. In John 15, Jesus says that if we abide in him, we will bear much fruit and God will be glorified. Then Jesus adds, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (15:11). If we abide in Christ so that we flourish, then we will experience not just the life, but also the joy of Jesus. On this note, I conclude this series.

And, on this note, I offer a preview of our next devotional series, Experiencing the Fullness of Joy. Beginning tomorrow, we’ll examine many biblical passages on joy, seeking to learn how we might live and lead joyfully. Stay tuned . . . .

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: God Makes Change Possible (Hosea 14:1-9, Amos 9:11-15, Micah 4:1-5, Obadiah 21).