September 12, 2025 Devo

I want you to fulfill this verse today. I want you to declare to the world, “The Lord reigns!” But I don’t want you to use words. And I don’t want you to tell them the Lord reigns over THEM. I want you to show the world the Lord reigns over YOU! Yeah, I know. You were hoping I would give you arguments to use with people around you about how they need to get their lives right with God, and how they need to change their ways, and they better start shaping up and submitting to God. In a way, I AM trying to arm you to do that. But I want to do that in a way that will actually WORK. I want to help you do it in a way that might make a few people around you really want to seek out the Lord and submit their lives to Him. But you don’t do it by hitting them over the head about what THEY need to do. You do it by showing them what it’s like to have God reigning over YOU! I know that doesn’t sound nearly as enticing, but I promise you that it is a LOT more effective.
Try showing your spouse that God reigns over you as a husband or a wife. Show her that this is what a husband looks like who is “loving his wife as Christ loved the church.” Show him that this is what a wife looks like who is fully surrendered to the Lord. You’ll freak them out. Try showing your kids how a parent deals with their children when that parent has God reigning over their heart. Show the love and the compassion and the care and the concern that our Heavenly Father shows. Show them that God reigns over your life by the patience you demonstrate and the grace you give. Do something today that makes them wonder what has happened to you.
Go to work. But don’t go as a disgruntled employee who’s upset because they have a lousy job that 2/3 of the world would give anything to have. Go as an employee whose God reigns over them. Give God reign over your attitude, your interactions, and your work ethic. Don’t try to get by doing the bare minimum. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Work as unto the Lord and not unto men.” Stop trying to witness to your fellow workers with your words and simply show them a life that is sold out to Jesus. Show them a life where God reigns. I’ll bet if you did that, your invitations to church or that conversation you’ve wanted to have about God might be a lot better received.
When God reigns, we’re different people. It changes the way we live, the way we speak, the way we work, and certainly the way we treat other people. I know you wish people would get saved and get their act together. And they might. But maybe the way to lead them to God reigning over them is to show them how awesome it is when God reigns over US. Because telling them to submit to a God we’re not really submitted to isn’t working very well. That’s God’s Word for you today.