These six daily devotions are based on Louie Giglio’s book, At the Table with Jesus: 66 Days to Draw Closer to Christ and Fortify Your Faith. Sit down with Jesus at the table of your mind. Give Him access and influence in the deepest way possible. Fully trust that He is good and that He alone has your best interest at heart.

The religious leaders wanted to know who Jesus thought He was. In fact, they demanded to know. And when Jesus mentioned a connection between Himself and Abraham, they scoffed. Abraham was a national treasure for the Jewish people. A founding father. One of the most respected personages in history, right up there with Moses. What on earth could this rabbi be talking about?

That’s when Jesus dropped the bomb: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus is God. The God. The one and only Creator and Sustainer of the universe. And this same God has prepared a table for you in the presence of your enemies. This same God—the one and only God—has invited you to join Him. Jesus is God, and He is inviting you close.

Jesus is not just someone who lived a good life and taught some helpful things and deserves to be remembered favorably by history because He helped us find a better understanding of God.

No, Jesus is God—and He is the Son of God.

Everywhere Jesus went, the same question rang out over and over again: Who are you? The people wanted to know. The religious leaders wanted to know. Even the Romans wanted to know.

Eventually it was Peter—brash, impulsive, overzealous Peter—who clued in the rest of the disciples when he told Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Yes, Jesus is the Son of God. But what does that actually mean?

He is equal to the Father, but He came as a representative of the Father. He came with the Father’s authority and had access to the Father’s resources in order to accomplish the Father’s work. And so He is rightly known as the Son of God.

It’s easy to think of the Bible—God’s Word—as a book. Or, more accurately, a collection of books. Something that can be sold or given away. But it’s more than that. And we can get a glimpse of what that looks like when we read the first verse of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John was talking about Jesus in that verse. That’s why he used “He” at the beginning of verse 2, “He was with God in the beginning.” Jesus is the Word of God who was “with God” at the beginning and is God.

There are two ways to understand this connection between Jesus and “the Word.”

The first is what we call revelation. The Bible is God’s specific revelation to humanity. It’s one of the primary ways God has revealed Himself to us. Who He is, what He does, what He values, and so on. Jesus is the other primary way God has revealed Himself to us. As John said later in his gospel, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (1:14). Jesus revealed God to us not through lines on a page but by living, breathing, walking, talking, healing, teaching, and correcting.

The second way to understand Jesus as the Word of God goes a little deeper into the historical context of John’s day. In the ancient world, philosophers used the word logos to describe the concept of speaking or thinking. On a broad level, they referred to the logos as reason itself, as the mind of God.

Well, the word Logos is what John used to describe Jesus in these verses. “In the beginning was the Logos . . .” John wanted to introduce Jesus to his readers by pointing out that Jesus is unique. Unprecedented. Divine. He was and is the mind of God personified. The Logos made flesh.

In short, Jesus is the Word of God.

Scripture says it’s through Jesus that “all things have been created.” In other words, Jesus is the Creator of everything.

It’s important to note that the phrase “all things” really does mean all things. Jesus is the Creator of all material things, which means everything that has mass, everything we can touch or measure or observe in some way. But Jesus is also the Creator of all nonmaterial things. He is the source of all love, for example. He is the source of all truth. He is the source of all goodness and mercy and grace.

Jesus is even the Creator of time. He’s not bound by the minutes and months that cage all the experiences of our earthly lives. “All things have been created through him and for him.”

Jesus is the Creator of everything. Jesus is the Sustainer of everything. Jesus is God.

I hope you never lose sight of the wonder of that gift. The Author of life is interested in your life. The Creator of wisdom has offered you His wisdom. The Power that fuels countless stars is available to sustain you and support you and guide you in every way.

Respond

Who do you believe Jesus is?

Why?

In today’s culture, we mostly prefer antiheroes over saviors. We like protagonists who look and talk a little more like antagonists. When they run (or fly) into action, they carry some baggage with them. They make mistakes. They blur the lines between good and bad, right and wrong, functional and inspirational.

Maybe that’s why so many people have trouble believing the reality of who Jesus is and everything He accomplished, because Jesus is nothing like Walter White (Breaking Bad) or the Merc with a Mouth (Deadpool). Jesus is a Savior to the core.

I love the way Jesus’ character shines through in His encounter with the Samaritan woman. If you’ve heard that story before, you might remember that the Samaritans and Jews were mortal enemies. Think of the ethnic conflicts raging today—Israelis and Palestinians, Sunnis and Shias. That’s how much the Jews disliked the Samaritans. And the feeling was pretty much mutual.

Yet, while Jesus and His disciples were traveling, He decided to make a pit stop in a town called Sychar in Samaria. And when a woman from that town approached the well where Jesus was sitting, He did not ignore her, as was the custom of the day. Instead, He initiated a conversation. Why? Because there at the well, Jesus understood this woman was drowning— not in water, but in sin. She was drowning in the consequences of poor options and poor choices.

Jesus reached out to save this woman not because it was convenient for Him, and not because He wanted to expand His brand into the Samaritan community. No, He reached out simply because He is a Savior. He is the Savior. Reaching out to those in need is central to His nature and character. In fact, reaching out to those in need was (and is) the centerpiece of His mission and purpose. It’s what He lives for.

The people of Jesus’ day carried a desire deep within their hearts. That desire was based on a promise God had made many times throughout the Scriptures—what we know as the Old Testament. Specifically, God had promised that someone would come to make the world right once more. Someone would come to fix what had been broken and restore what had been lost. In other words, someone would come as Savior.

For centuries, God’s people had waited for that promise to come true. They had waited for Messiah to enter the world and accomplish His extraordinary work. Can you imagine, then, what it must have been like for that Samaritan woman—that regular, unheralded, underappreciated woman at the well—to sit in front of Jesus and hear Him say, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he”?

To her credit, she knew the truth right away. She believed. What about you? Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not important enough. Don’t let any enemy hiss their lies about who you are—the wrong color, the wrong age, the wrong neighborhood, the wrong whatever. Jesus is Messiah, and He says you matter. He is the Christ, and He set a place at the table of your mind as the fulfillment of the greatest promise ever made.

Jesus is Messiah, the Christ; He is the Savior of the world sent to rescue people like you and me. But that raises a big question: Save us from what? Rescue us from what? What is the problem Jesus came to solve on our behalf?

The big answer is sin.

I know—that’s not a popular word. Those three little letters feel too churchy. Too judgmental. Too uncomfortable. But the reality is we’ll never have a proper understanding of Jesus until we come to grips with sin. More to the point, we’ll never have a proper understanding of Jesus until we come to grips with our own sin. Mine. Yours.

What is sin? There are lots of definitions out there. Missing the mark of God’s standard. Disobedience to God’s will. Rebellion against God.

The problem is sin doesn’t exist out there in the ether. It’s not floating around like a malignant virus trying to latch on and push us in the wrong direction. As Jesus said, our sin is “from within, out of a person’s heart.” That’s why we constantly struggle with immorality, greed, anger, deception, envy, malice, and so much more. The sinful things we do are based not on wrong choices we make in our minds but on who we are at the core. We are corrupted from the inside out.

We need to be rescued. We could no more solve the problem of our own sinfulness than a man suffering from cardiac disease can heal himself by ripping out his own heart. We need the spiritual equivalent of a heart transplant. We need to be transformed from the inside out.

In other words, we need salvation. We need the healing work of Jesus, the Christ, who is our Glorious Savior.

Respond

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Describe your salvation experience.

It’s one of the most powerful moments in the entire Bible. When Moses turned aside to get a better look at something miraculous—a bush that was burning yet not consumed—he stumbled into a life-changing conversation with the Creator of the universe. During that conversation, Moses wanted to know God’s name. He wanted to know who was sending him back into the dangerous teeth of Egypt and Pharaoh.

God’s answer was both simple and profound: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’” (Ex. 3:14).

Sit with that for a minute. Chew on it in your mind. Moses asked God’s name, and God said, “I AM WHO I AM.”

If you ever wonder about the nature of God, I AM WHO I AM sums things up wonderfully. God exists in an eternal present. He is and He will always be as He is. He is the Rock of existence, of reality, and every other thing or idea is defined by Him and through Him.

When you can wrap your mind around that, remember that Jesus is God. Jesus exists as this same being—He is I AM WHO I AM. It’s appropriate, then, that Jesus used that phrase “I AM” to describe Himself on several occasions during His ministry on earth.

Jesus said, “I am the way.” And this is where some people get a little uncomfortable, because Jesus didn’t say “I am a way” or even “I am the best way.” He spoke singularly. Definitively. He is the way to the Father. The way to salvation. The way to eternal life.

Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. What’s more, the Jesus sitting there at the table of your mind is the same Jesus who has always been at work in history, even before there was a history. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Jesus has always been and will always be dependable, steady, and sure.

Around the third century after Jesus’ birth, different church councils determined that Christmas would be celebrated on December 25, just a few days after the winter solstice, a few days after the darkest night of the year. The symbolism was clear and powerful: Jesus’ birth meant that the Light had entered the world.

John placed a heavy emphasis on the imagery of light at the beginning of his gospel, and rightfully so:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . .

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world (John 1:1–5, 9).”

Matthew also emphasized that theme at the beginning of his gospel, noting that Jesus’ birth and ministry fulfilled a key prophecy from Isaiah 9:1–2: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matt. 4:16).

With all of that as background, Jesus understood exactly what He was doing when He declared, “I am the light of the world.”

This world is a place of darkness. You don’t need me to explain why that is true; you’ve seen it for yourself. But it’s not just the world. We as human beings are filled with darkness. We are corrupted by the darkness of sin, and we spread that darkness over and over through our sinful actions. Left on our own, we are creatures of darkness and will always walk in darkness. That is precisely why we need the Light.

When I read John 15, I like to picture Jesus walking with His disciples from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. I see Him passing by a grapevine, perhaps a vineyard or perhaps some wild fruit growing along the road, and stopping to observe. He motions for His disciples to gather round. They come close, hushed with the knowledge that the Teacher is about to teach.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener,” He says (v. 1). I imagine Jesus taking the grapes in His hand, maybe holding one out for the disciples to see. He speaks of how the Father prunes away any branches that don’t bear fruit, and He reminds the disciples that no branch can bear fruit by itself. In His words, “it must remain in the vine” (v. 4).

Then Jesus speaks the truth He has gathered them to hear: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”—we need the Great I AM.

Respond

Describe a time in your life when you turned to the Great I AM.

Which of Jesus’ “I AM” statements above did you lean on?

If you were the lord of something during Jesus’ day, for example, you were a ruler. You were in charge. The buck stopped with you. That applied to a patriarch being lord of his household—both family and servants—all the way up to Caesar being lord of the Roman Empire.

In that context, the idea of lordship was connected with authority. Specifically, to be a lord was to demonstrate authority over a particular region or people or province. Lords made judgments. Lords set the rules. Lords gave orders and expected to be obeyed.

That’s what Scripture is communicating when it refers to Jesus as Lord. He carries authority. He is authority.

The Lordship of Jesus is no small thing. He is exalted to such a level that “every knee should bow” and “every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Every being of every sort in heaven and on earth will eventually bow to the authority of Jesus. Every being of every sort in heaven and on earth will submit to His authority both physically and verbally because He is Lord.

The Old Testament made it abundantly clear that Messiah, the Savior, would have authority over creation. As Psalm 102:25 declares, “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

The psalmist was talking about Jesus, who is Lord over all creation. Jesus, who filled the sea to its depths and, to this day, both initiates and maintains the weather patterns that produce hot and cold, clear skies and clouds, cyclones and summer breezes. Jesus, who is master over every storm.

It’s important for us to understand that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical event. It happened in the same way the Declaration of Independence happened. It was not some divine parlor trick. Jesus didn’t flip a switch inside His brain that allowed Him to check out of Jerusalem for a few days and then check back in when things were more convenient. No, He died on that cross. His life drained away, and He experienced what every person has experienced when this life ends and the next begins.

Then, after death, He rose again. His body was filled with life once more. How is that possible? Simply because Jesus is Lord. Specifically, He is Lord over the grave. Jesus has authority over death. He is in charge of death, not the other way around. And through that authority, through that Lordship, Jesus conquered death on behalf of all people, including you and me.

Here’s the truth: You are an eternal being. Yes, your body will one day cease to function, but that won’t be the end of you. Not the real you. Just like Jesus, you will have a future even after you die. And when you are connected to Jesus, when you have accepted the gift of salvation purchased through His own death, that future is unbelievably bright.

So don’t be afraid of death. Jesus is the Lord over the grave.

In my experience, it’s one thing to recognize Jesus as Lord of all. It’s relatively easy to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord over creation, Lord over spiritual practices and realities, Lord over death and the grave, and Lord over evil and its consequences. After all, each of those elements is out there. They are broad truths that can be pushed to the background of our lives if we choose to do so.

On the other hand, it’s a much different thing to recognize Jesus as Master—specifically, to acknowledge that Jesus is my master. Doing so has a major effect on my life, because in order to recognize Jesus as my master, I need to acknowledge my own inferiority. I need to acknowledge my low position.

In short, if Jesus is Master, then I am His servant.

Either we are the masters of our lives or Jesus is.

Yet Jesus is not a hard-driving taskmaster. He is a servant-king. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for all.

A master who chooses to serve is a master you can follow.

And what’s more, His service sets you free.

He is Lord and Master of all. Remember to show honor and to let Him know your desire is to do His will.

Respond

What does “Lord of all” mean to you?

How do you honor the Lord?

The prophet often referred to as John the Baptist was a wild sort of man by any standard. Like Jesus, John’s birth was a miraculous event that included an improbable conception and a visit from the angel Gabriel. Unlike Jesus, lots of people knew about John’s birth and the circumstances surrounding it. That’s because John was the son of a priest, a known commodity. And the miracles connected to that moment were witnessed by other known commodities in Jerusalem rather than shepherds from the hills of Bethlehem.

Despite his famous beginning, John took a strange turn when he came of age. Rather than follow in his father’s footsteps as a priest, John decamped to the wilderness around the Jordan River, about twenty miles east of Jerusalem. Perhaps because of his famous birth, crowds of people began visiting John in the wilderness to hear what he had to say. And John had a lot to say. He preached with fire and passion, urging people to confess their sins and be baptized as a sign of their renewed commitment to God. He often spoke against the hypocritical Pharisees and other religious leaders, calling them a “brood of vipers” (Matt. 3:7).

One day, Jesus came out with the crowds to hear John speak. Jesus even waded into the river, requesting to be baptized. What happened next must have shocked everyone except Jesus: “Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’ ” (Luke 3:21–22).

What the people didn’t understand was that God the Father had just launched the ministry of Jesus, His Son. The same voice that created the universe spoke out to declare that Jesus’ mission was in full swing and God was “well pleased.”

John understood what was happening, though. He had prepared for this moment his entire life. So when John saw Jesus again, he cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Now, if you and I were standing on the riverbank, we might have felt confused by this declaration. Lamb of God? we might have wondered. Why a lamb? Why not a lion or a bear? Something a little more powerful?

No. John’s wording was perfect. Jesus is the Lamb because He is pure. Unblemished. Innocent. And Jesus is the “Lamb of God” because He came into our world to offer Himself as a sacrifice, to allow His own blood to be shed for you and for me.

On the cross, Jesus willingly bore the entire weight of human sin. Every sin committed by every person in history was thrown upon Jesus in a single moment. And it was agony. He was pierced by the reality of that sin. Crushed by it. And ultimately killed by it.

Led “like a lamb to the slaughter,” Jesus chose to suffer so you and I might choose to be blessed. He chose to suffer so that we might have life and have it abundantly. He chose to suffer so we would have the opportunity to fortify our minds and stand firm against the same sin, the same evil He endured.

In short, Jesus suffered to limit your suffering. Because He is the Lamb of God.What comes to mind when you hear the words redeem or redemption? Those are church words through and through. Pastors and church leaders use them all the time, and you’ll find them all over the place in articles, books, and Bible studies. But what do those terms actually mean?

The answer might surprise you.

Today, we talk about redemption as a synonym for salvation. But that wasn’t how the term was used for thousands of years. In fact, in the ancient world, redeem and redemption weren’t spiritual terms at all. They were financial words connected to debt. To redeem something meant to buy it out or buy it back.

Humanity exists in slavery to sin and death. We are born into that slavery, and we have no way of repaying that sin debt ourselves. We have no way of solving our own problem.

Instead, Jesus solved the problem for us by redeeming us, by buying us out of that debt, not with silver or gold but with His own “precious blood” as the Lamb of God.

Respond

List people in your circle of friends and family who need to know Jesus, our Redeemer.

How will you go about sharing Him with them?

When Jesus began His public ministry, the very first thing He taught was the reality of what we refer to as the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.

“Repent,” Jesus said, “for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt. 4:17). That was His first message. That was the primary theme He wanted to communicate: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Throughout His ministry, Jesus spent a lot of time describing that kingdom. He told His followers not to waste their time worrying about what they would eat, drink, or wear but to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). He declared, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough” (13:33). He meant the kingdom has a way of spreading within cultures. It grows. And Jesus taught Nicodemus, the teacher, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).

Jesus also described what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” He declared, “but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Jesus added, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).

Ultimately, Jesus made it clear that the kingdom of God is vastly different from any of the monarchies or nations that have ever existed on earth. It is spiritual. It is heavenly. As He said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Jesus is both God and man. He is our Savior and our Rabbi, our Friend and our Lord. He is both High Priest and the Lamb of God. Jesus is all of these and much, much more.

But the next time you have a conversation with Jesus, remember you are connecting with the King—your King. Remember you are building a relationship with the Ruler of the universe. And remember you have that opportunity not because you deserve it but because the King of all things stepped down from His throne and set up a table in the presence of your enemies.

Every monarchy that ever existed either has come crashing down or will come crashing down. Sure, many of them were impressive in their day. They left behind palaces and statues, and they left their mark in our history books. But the simple truth is that earthly kingdoms simply do not last.

God’s kingdom is different, though, because God’s kingdom is eternal. Everlasting. And the same is true for Jesus the King.

In 2 Samuel there’s an interesting interaction between King David and God. Having just finished a majestic palace for himself, David felt convicted about where God was hanging out in his kingdom. Specifically, the Israelites were still worshiping God at the tabernacle, which was basically a tent. A large and fancy tent, yes, but still a tent.

So David decided he would build God a house. A temple. He started making plans. He brought in the best architects and the best designers. He was prepared to spare no expense.

Then God stepped in and told David to stop. God reminded David that He had no need of a dwelling place. He was God! The same being who created galaxies and spun solar systems into existence could not be contained any place on earth, be it a tent, a temple, or the tallest tower.

Instead, God declared He would build David a house—not a physical structure, but a dynasty, a lineage. “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors,” God said, “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.” Then He added, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16).

Of course, God was talking about the Messiah who would be born in the line of David. He was talking about Jesus. But it’s important for us to understand that Jesus didn’t begin His existence when He was born in Bethlehem a thousand years later. Neither did Jesus suddenly become a king in that moment.

The truth is that Jesus set aside His crown and stepped down from His throne so He could accomplish the work only He could accomplish. Salvation. Sacrifice. Redemption. Atonement.

Jesus has always existed. He is eternal. And He has always existed as the unquestioned ruler of God’s kingdom. He has no predecessor. No successor. No heir. He was, is, and always will be King of kings.

Respond

How has Jesus shown himself to be King of kings in your life?

Write a prayer of praise to Jesus, the King of kings.