7 Day Devotional

Day 1: Nobody Can Taste It for You

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” — Psalm 34:8 (NLT)

Day 2: What Connection Actually Means

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” — Ephesians 2:21 (NLT)

Day 3: The Door Is Already Open

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way.” — Hebrews 10:19–20 (NLT)

Day 4: Hold Tightly Without Wavering

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” — Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

Day 5: We Think of the Ways

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” — Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)

Day 6: The 10% Principle

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another.” — Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

Day 7: Your Step, Not the Whole Staircase

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” — Psalm 133:1 (NLT)

Day 1: Nobody Can Taste It for You

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” — Psalm 34:8 (NLT)

Devotion

There is something singular about taste. You can be told a dish is good. You can be shown it. You can be seated in front of it, served it on the finest plate, surrounded by people raving about it. But until you actually get to eat it, you have no idea. Taste is the one sense nobody can use on your behalf.

This is true of connection too. You can hear about it, read about it, be invited into it. But the experience of genuine connection with God and with people only becomes real when you take the step toward it. This week is about that step. Not the whole staircase. Just the next one.

Reflection

Where in your faith or church life have you been observing rather than tasting? Watching from a distance rather than actually stepping in?

What is one thing someone has been telling you is good within church life or the faith that you haven’t yet experienced for yourself?

Prayer

Lord, I’ve been told about Your presence, Your community, and Your goodness, but not always tasting it for myself. Let me taste and see for myself that You are good. Amen.

Day 2: What Connection Actually Means

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” — Ephesians 2:21 (NLT)

Devotion

The word “connection” comes from the Latin com — together and nectere — to bind and to fasten. It shares a root with nexus and knot.

Here’s the thing about a knot: it only holds when both strands hold. A connection is not just a thing you have, like a Wi-Fi signal or a flight layover. It’s something active and mutual.

The Greek word behind “carefully joined together” in Ephesians 2 is a stonemason’s word. Each stone is selected, shaped, and set into the one beside it. Not dropped randomly into a pile. Fitted. And the grammar is present tense passive, meaning the fitting is still happening and God is the one doing it. You are not waiting to be chosen. You are being set in place.

This is what makes biblical connection different from the kind of connection we’re most familiar with. We have more connections than any generation in history: more contacts, more followers, more ways to reach people instantly. And yet loneliness has never been more common. Because having connection and being connected are two different things. One is a list. The other is a life. God is building something that goes all the way to the bone.

Reflection

Where in your life are you most connected in the surface sense?

The stonemason image suggests you are being shaped to fit alongside specific people. Who might those people be in your current season?

What is the difference for you between being in proximity to people and being genuinely connected to them?

Prayer

Lord, You are fitting me into place by being shaped, selected, and set beside the right people. I don’t always feel that process happening, but I trust that the fitting is still underway. Help me not settle for the kind of connection that fills my contact list but leaves me lonely. Build something real in me and through me. Amen.

Day 3: The Door Is Already Open

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way.” — Hebrews 10:19–20 (NLT)

Devotion

Before Jesus died, the Most Holy Place (the very presence of God) was sealed off. One man, once a year, with blood, after extensive preparation, was the only way to get access. Then when Jesus died, that access (the veil/curtain), was torn from top to bottom. Not from the bottom up, as if we had forced our way in. From the top down as if heaven was saying: I’ve opened this. Come in.

The word behind “opened” in Hebrews 10:20 is aorist tense meaning finished, done, standing open. This is not a door that opens and closes depending on your spiritual performance. It is a door that was opened at the cross and has never been shut since. God is not more present when the music is right or when you feel it. The access is constant, the invitation is standing, the way is already made.

Yet so many people stand worshipping at a door that is already open, reaching for a presence that is already here, contending for an access that has already been given. The pastoral invitation of Hebrews 10 is simply this: go right in, with a sincere heart and full trust. God Himself opened the door to new life for you. It is yours to enter.

Reflection

Have you been living as though God’s presence is something you need to work up or earn access to? What has that looked like in practice?

Is there a way you’ve been singing or praying about God’s presence as if it hasn’t arrived yet, when it has? What would it sound like to pray from inside the room rather than outside it?

Prayer

Lord, You made a way for me to have access to You. Today I stop standing outside what You’ve already opened and I walk in it boldly and with a sincere heart. I trust Your presence. Amen.

Day 4: Hold Tightly Without Wavering

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” — Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

Devotion

The grammar here is present active, an ongoing grip. It is a daily, deliberate holding on. The reason Paul gives for holding on is not your own faithfulness. It is God’s: He can be trusted to keep His promise.

This matters enormously for how we navigate seasons of doubt, dryness, or disappointment, including disappointment with the church. Nobody holds your hope for you. Not the pastor, not the worship team, not the person who originally invited you. At some point, the hope has to become yours to hold.

And Paul says the ground for holding it is not the quality of the church around you or the consistency of your own feelings. It is the character of God who promised.

Connection in a community requires this kind of holding on. Because community disappoints. People miss the mark. Leaders don’t always follow through. The form you submitted goes unanswered. The group you hoped for never ran. Connection does not mean you always get what you want. It means you hold tightly anyway, not because the people around you are perfect, but because the God who placed you among them is.

Reflection

Where has disappointment (in the church, in people, in circumstances) caused you to loosen your grip on hope? What would it look like to hold on anyway?

Is your hope currently your own, or are you depending on someone else to hold it for you? What’s the difference?

What is one promise of God you can anchor to this week when the grip feels hard to maintain?

Prayer

Lord, You can be trusted to keep Your promise. That’s not a slogan, it’s Your Word. Where disappointment has made me want to let go, remind me what I’m holding onto and why. Not the perfection of the people around me. You. Your character. Your word. Help me hold tightly without wavering today. Amen.

Day 5: We Think of the Ways

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” — Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)

Devotion

The Greek behind “think of ways” is katanoeō: to consider closely, to study carefully. This is not casual, occasional, whenever-it-comes-up kind of attention. It is the sustained, intentional focus of someone who has decided that helping other people grow is worth serious thought.

This is the job description of anyone who leads in the church and honestly, of anyone who is part of it. You are called to think about the people around you. To study what they need. To look for the ways you could motivate them toward love and good works. Not because it’s your role, but because this is what the body does for itself.

A first-time guest at church spent one hour in the building and she saw something good and immediately thought about how to pass it on. She didn’t need a title or a training programme. She just saw someone who needed something and moved toward them. That is Hebrews 10:24 in action. The church works when people stop waiting for a designated moment and start thinking about each other as a daily practice.

Reflection

Who in your church community are you actively thinking about this week (their growth, their needs, their next step)?

Is there someone in your world who needs motivating toward love and good works? What would it look like to pay close enough attention that you know how to actually help?

What is one practical thing you could do this week that would encourage someone else in their faith journey, even if they never know you did it?

Prayer

Lord, teach me to think about the people around me with the same care You think about me. To study them, notice them, consider what they need. I don’t want to be someone who waits for connection to happen to me. I want to be someone who creates it for others. Show me who to move toward today. Amen.

Day 6: The 10% Principle

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another.” — Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

Devotion

Here is a reframe that changes how community works: if ten people each give 10%, the person receiving still gets 100%. And if twenty people each give 10%, the person receives 200%, more than any single individual could ever give on their own. That is the mathematics of together. That is why the body metaphor works. No one person has to carry everything. Everyone carries something. And the collective becomes more than the sum of its parts.

This also means that expecting any single person (pastor, friend, leader, small group) to give you 100% consistently will always end in disappointment. It’s not because they don’t care. It’s because no one can sustain that. The design was never for one person to be your whole community. The design was for community itself to hold you… the gathered weight of many people each giving what they have.

Which also means that your 10% matters more than you think. The week you can only give 10%, you still show up. You still send the message. You still stay five minutes after the service. And someone receives something they needed from the only person who happened to be in the right place at the right moment. That’s not a small thing. In the economy of together, 10% is never negligible.

Reflection

Have you been expecting one person or one church experience to give you 100%? How has that shaped your disappointment when it didn’t happen?

What percentage do you realistically have to give right now? What would it feel like to give that amount without guilt?

Who in your community might be receiving your 10% as the most important contribution they got this week, even if you didn’t notice?

Prayer

Lord, thank You that You designed community so that no one person has to carry everything. I’ve been expecting too much from too few. And I’ve been discounting what I have to offer because it doesn’t feel like enough. Today I give what I have. Not the whole staircase. Just the next step. Let it be enough, because together, it always is. Amen.

Day 7: Your Step, Not the Whole Staircase

General • Taste & See That The Church Is Good •

Taste Connection

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” — Psalm 133:1 (NLT)

Devotion

Psalm 133 opens with a simple declaration: it is wonderful and pleasant when people live together in harmony. The Hebrew word yachad (together, as one) carries the sense of being unified without being identical. Not merged into the same person. Fastened together, the way a knot holds. And the Psalm says that where this happens, God pronounces His blessing. Even life everlasting.

This is where the whole month lands. Belonging. Family. Connection. All of it pointing toward the same reality: a community of people who have intentionally chosen to be knit together, who carry their 10%, who think about each other seriously, who hold the door open for the person behind them, who keep showing up not because everything is perfect but because the God at the center of it is.

Connection grows wherever we intentionally show up. Not once, not dramatically, but day by day, step by step. You don’t need to take the whole staircase today. One step is enough. Stay in the living room after the service. Text someone you’ve been meaning to reach out to. Sign up for something. Say yes to the coffee. Ask someone how they’re really doing. The church is never built in a moment. It’s built in the accumulation of small, faithful, intentional steps taken by ordinary people who decided that together was worth it.

Reflection

Looking back over this week, what has shifted in how you understand connection with God and with the people around you?

Where do you sense God fitting you into place right now, and are you willing to be shaped by that process, even when it’s slow?

Prayer

Lord, I don’t need the whole staircase today. Just the next step. Show me what it is — and give me the courage to take it. The door is open. The family is already gathered. The fitting is still happening. I show up. I hold on. I give what I have. And I trust You to build something beautiful out of it. Taste and see. I’m stepping in. Amen.

My Next Step