This 5-day devotional draws directly from Josh Howerton's sermon “Showcase — BEST OF: WORSHIP WITH US LIVE + HEAR A POWERFUL WORD” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Dead, Buried, Raised — and Made New
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever wondered if there's more to following Jesus than just believing the right things? Like maybe faith was meant to be something you live, not just something you hold?
Today's Scripture "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." — Romans 6:3–4
Reflection Here's the beautiful thing about baptism: it's not a religious ritual for people who have it all together. It's a visible picture of something that already happened to you the moment you trusted Jesus.
When you placed your faith in him, something real and permanent changed in the spiritual realm. The Holy Spirit immersed you into Jesus — covered you in his perfect life, his death, his resurrection. You were united with him. The old you died. A new you came up.
Baptism in water is the public declaration of that invisible reality. Like a wedding ring that says I belong to someone, going under the water and coming back up says the old me is gone, and I'm walking in something new.
This isn't about being religious enough or good enough. It's about trusting that what Jesus accomplished is finished — complete, sufficient, enough. Your job isn't to earn it. Your job is to trust it and go public with it.
That's the foundation everything else this week is built on.
Today's Step Sit with this question today: Do I actually believe that the old me is gone — that I'm not just forgiven, but made new?
A Closing Thought The same God who raised Jesus from the dead has declared you a new creation. That's not a feeling — it's a fact worth standing on.
You Were Never Meant to Do This Alone
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Be honest for a second: does your faith sometimes feel like it's running on empty? Like you're trying hard to live like a new person, but the old patterns keep showing back up?
Today's Scripture "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." — Ephesians 5:18
Reflection Here's what nobody tells you when you first become a Christian: believing in Jesus is the beginning, not the finish line. And trying to live the Christian life on willpower alone is exhausting — because you weren't designed to do it that way.
The apostle Paul wrote to people who were already Christians and told them to keep being filled with the Spirit. Not once. Continually. The implication is honest and a little humbling — we leak. The pressures of daily life, the weight of old habits, the noise of the world — it all slowly drains us if we're not being replenished.
Maybe you've been white-knuckling your faith for a while. Trying to be patient with your kids, kind to a difficult coworker, honest when lying would be easier. And you're tired. That tiredness isn't a sign that faith doesn't work. It might be a sign that you've been trying to run on empty when there's a source of power available to you that you haven't fully drawn from.
God doesn't expect you to sustain yourself. He offers himself — his Spirit, his presence, his power — for exactly the moments when you feel like you have nothing left.
Today's Step Tell God honestly where you feel depleted today. You don't have to clean yourself up first — just come as you are and ask.
A Closing Thought The fact that you feel empty isn't a failure; it's an invitation to ask the one who promises to fill you.
How to Actually Ask for More
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What would it look like to stop going through the motions and start genuinely seeking God's presence in your everyday life?
Today's Scripture "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" — Luke 11:13
Reflection Jesus made it simple: ask. That's not a throwaway line — it's a promise from the Son of God. Your heavenly Father wants to give you the Holy Spirit. He's not withholding. He's waiting to be asked.
So what does that actually look like on a Tuesday morning before work, or in the middle of a hard conversation, or at the end of a day when you're running on fumes?
Start here: make space to ask. Even five minutes in the morning before your phone lights up. Not a polished prayer — just an honest one. God, I don't want to miss anything you have for me. Fill me today.
Then pay attention to where you're straining. Is there a relationship where you keep reacting in ways you don't like? A fear that keeps resurfacing? A habit you can't shake? Those aren't just personal problems — they're invitations to ask for something beyond your own strength.
Finally, don't wait until you feel ready. The disciples in Acts were told to wait for the Spirit — but they were actively praying together while they waited. Seeking is its own kind of readiness.
You don't have to have a dramatic experience to take this seriously. You just have to be willing to open your hands and ask.
Today's Step Pray this simple prayer today: "Father, if there's anything more you have for me, I want it. Fill me with your Spirit."
A Closing Thought God rewards those who seek him — not because they're impressive, but because he's generous.
When the Dam Breaks
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
What if the thing standing between you and a more alive faith wasn't effort — but surrender?
Today's Scripture "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." — Acts 1:8
Reflection Imagine someone who has been a Christian for years — faithful, sincere, trying hard. They read their Bible. They show up. But something feels stuck. Certain struggles won't budge. Their faith feels more like maintenance than movement.
Then they start asking a different question. Not what do I need to do better? but God, is there anything you have that I haven't received yet?
They begin praying that way — not dramatically at first, just honestly. I don't want to miss anything you have for me. Days pass. Then weeks. And then, quietly, something shifts. A sin they'd battled for years begins to loosen. A coldness in prayer gives way to something warmer, more real. They find themselves genuinely moved by things that used to feel routine.
This is what being filled with the Spirit can look like — not always a lightning bolt, but a dam breaking. A slow accumulation of honest asking, followed by something opening up inside you that you didn't know was closed.
The power God promises isn't just for preachers or people with dramatic testimonies. It's for anyone willing to stop settling for a faith that runs on their own steam and start asking for the real thing.
Today's Step Ask yourself: Have I been settling for a version of faith that relies mostly on my own effort? What would it look like to genuinely open that up to God?
A Closing Thought You were made for more than a managed faith — you were made for a Spirit-filled one.
Saved, Baptized, Filled — and Still Going
Friday — Carrying It Forward
As this week closes, here's a question worth sitting with: which of those three things — salvation, baptism, being filled with the Spirit — do you most need to lean into right now?
Today's Scripture "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." — Acts 2:38
Reflection All week we've been walking through a pattern that shows up again and again in the New Testament: people come to Jesus, they go public with their faith through baptism, and then they seek to be continually filled with his Spirit. Saved. Baptized. Filled.
These aren't three boxes to check and move on from. They're three ongoing realities to live inside of.
Maybe this week you realized your faith has been mostly private — and you've been putting off going public with it. That's worth doing something about.
Maybe you've been baptized and you know Jesus, but you've been coasting. You haven't asked for a fresh encounter with the Spirit in a long time. That's worth changing.
Or maybe you're still figuring out what you believe — and this week gave you something real to think about. That's a good place to be.
Wherever you are, the invitation is the same: don't stay there alone. God is not far off, waiting for you to get your act together. He's close, ready to fill anyone who sincerely asks.
Carry that into your weekend. Into your family. Into Monday.
Today's Step Choose one thing from this week — a prayer, a step of obedience, a conversation — and actually do it this weekend. Don't let the moment pass.
A Closing Thought The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you today — not someday, not when you're ready, but right now.