Sermons & Devotionals by Anne Ortlund

Why do you do voluntary service? Because you enjoy it? Because it makes you a better person? Because it pleases your pastor or your spouse or someone else? Because you feel you need to pitch in and do your share? There were "church workers" called Levites in Ezekiel 44 whom God exposed as serving fo... Read More

Fix your eyes on Jesus for setting your goals I have the ugliest, most comfy, most loved pair of old sweats. And I have the ugliest, most comfy, most loved pair of old Nikes. I tell Melinda, our secretary, I'm gonna wear my sweats and Nikes in heaven forever -- unless I'm not supposed to wear anythi... Read More

I was listening yesterday to the "Haven of Rest" radio broadcast. My favorite keyboardist, Duane Condon, was accompanying magnificently, and one of my favorite singers, bass Glenn Shoemaker, was singing "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah." (I listen to "Haven," on which Ray is the speaker, every mornin... Read More

Parts of your life will be good, maybe even wonderful. Parts of your life will be bad, maybe awful. Don't fix your eyes too much on any of it. If you look too much at the good you'll get cocky. If you look too much at the bad you'll get defeated. Anyway, what's good today may be bad tomorrow, and wh... Read More

"One's ultimate loyalty must converge at a single point. To try to go two ways at once will rip a person down the middle." (Vernard Eller) * * * * * Jesus to Martha: "Only one thing is necessary" (Luke 10:42) * * * * * "What is that one thing? Surely it is that God be loved and praised for Himself a... Read More

Jesus' resurrection makes all the difference in your personal life. That's where everything changes! 1. Because of His resurrection He offers you His presence. In His earthly body Jesus could only be in one place at one time (Luke 10:1). But in His resurrection body -- On the evening of that first d... Read More

The "Ancient of Days," Daniel called Him. Take a long, hard look at Jesus Christ in the far-away past . . . back, back, back . . . . Back before creation, the Father had loved Him (John 17:24). Back before the world began, He shared the Father's glory (John 17:5), and with Him made all things (Colos... Read More

If you are Jewish, read these words with care. (In a sense, we Gentiles are jealous of you! -- you're so privileged as God's chosen race. And Jesus should be very special to you, very precious: Racially, He is one of you, not us.) "Messiah" means "the Anointed One," and your Jewish Scriptures, our O... Read More

There's a very old cartoon by H.T. Webster entitled "Life in Harden County [Illinois] in 1809." It shows two men talking. "Any news, Ezzie?" "Squire McClendon's gone down to Washington to see Harding sworn in." "I hear Bonaparte's trying to subdue Spain." "New baby boy born down the street at the Li... Read More

The come and go of busy feet With sound of hammer down the busy street, A little two-roomed house with scarce a breath Of air; in busy, crowded Nazareth. Yes, here for love of thee, through silent years -- Oh, pause and see, if thou art wise -- The King of Kings dwelt in disguise.1 Jesus was indeed ... Read More

Fix your eyes on Jesus to fix your eyes on Jesus Everything you learn about Jesus Christ, as you look and look, is so magnificent that you could never adequately explain Him to anyone else. A tribesman once "fixed his eyes" for the first time on the ocean. He was flabbergasted! He got a quart jar to... Read More

I told you before that I have a tendency to fuss. Any sin like that works seriously against you, because when you do have a legitimate complaint, people tend to shrug you off. Have you noticed? Or sometimes I exaggerate. And then when I repeat statistics I know are right, my family tends to whittle ... Read More

Ray tells me that once when he was a little boy playing in the park, he forgot that a seesaw isn't a slide. He slid down the board of the seesaw and painfully lodged a huge splinter in his bottom. It was too much for his big sisters to take out, so they escorted him to Dr. Lincoln's house, which was... Read More

Fix your eyes on Jesus when you feel without direction "What does it take," someone asked a circus tightrope walker, "to do what you do?" "Three things," he answered. "Raw courage. You commit yourself to begin walking, and then you can't change your mind. "Balance. You can't lean too far this way or... Read More

Ten months after Ray and I were married we had baby Sherry. Eleven and a half months later we had Margie. Seventeen months later we had Buddy. And immediately after that, Ray had a shrew for a wife. My problem wasn't Ray or the babies; all four were adorable! My problem was no quiet time, no focus. ... Read More

Our family has lived for several months at a time here and there overseas. Before we went the first time, we thought that Americans are worldly and materialistic because they have so much. Then we discovered that Christians overseas can be worldly and materialistic even though they have little. Thei... Read More

I have a memory of anger which is so childish I should have forgotten it -- but I haven't. I can't. I was a little girl, and my mother and I were having a tea party with my doll dishes. She was a great mom! But she said something that made me so frustrated I hit her arm, and the tea spilled all over... Read More

Have you moved recently and lost friends and you're lonely? Or have your friends moved and lost you, and you're lonely? Or do you have people all around but they don't know you well, or worse, don't understand you -- and you're lonely? Or are you a shut-in, and you're lonely? Fix your eyes on the on... Read More

If you are now suffering at the hands of others, Or if you have in the past and you're still suffering over those memories -- Is there anything harder to bear than undeserved suffering? Well, fix your eyes on Jesus. It sounds like a cliché but it's not, by any means. What does Jesus have to say to y... Read More

If you're feeling sad, there's a reason. Perhaps you've recently experienced some kind of loss. Studies indicate that depression -- sadness -- and loss go together. Have you ever lost your wallet? The sudden feeling in the pit of your stomach is depression. Have you lost someone dear to you? Your mo... Read More