Walking Daily With Jesus: A Red Letter Devotional
Dig deeper into your Christianity with a daily guide using the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Purpose
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” -Colossians 2:6-7
Preface
What would it be like to walk with Jesus -- listening to His words, reflecting on His teachings, and allowing them to shape your daily life?
Walking Daily With Jesus is a devotional designed to help believers deepen their relationship with Christ by focusing exclusively on His spoken words -- the “red letters” of Scripture. Drawing from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, each day invites readers to encounter Jesus’ teachings directly, without distraction.
Every entry includes:
A carefully selected passage featuring only the words of Jesus
A brief, thoughtful reflection to help apply His message to everyday life
A closing prayer to guide personal conversation with God
The book is about hope, love, and a commitment to live a life closer to Jesus Christ – in all ways.
About the Author
Dr. Randall Hansen is a well-known educator and author in the healing space, but this is his first Christian book. He has been a Christian his entire life, having been baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal church. He became more of a Bible lover (and amateur scholar) after a healing journey brought him closer to God. For the last decade, he has regularly attended a Bible-led church that cemented his desire to write a book like this one – to give others the spiritual guidance he has received from the words of Jesus in the Bible.
About You
You picked this book for a reason. Are you searching for a greater understanding of Christ by studying and reflecting on His words? Are you seeking a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior? My hope is that this book is a key part of deepening your faith and becoming closer to Jesus.
Prologue
A number of the teachings of Jesus were in the form of parables – stories that illustrate specific points He wanted to make. Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:11 that he is switching his teachings to parables “because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” He adds in Verse 13: “This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
In all, Jesus shares 30 parables during his teachings, found mostly in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. All of the parables are too long to include in a daily devotional, but the listings to them are included in the back of the book for reference so that you can spend time with each of them.
However, for the purposes of the book, we need to ground ourselves in the first parable Jesus shares in Matthew 13:3-9, as it discusses the four types of people who hear His words and what they do with the teachings. This is vital to understand, but before discussing more, here is the parable:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Jesus then explains the four types of people:
1. “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” -Matthew 13:19
2. “The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and t once received it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.” -Matthew 13:20-21
3. “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” -Matthew 13:22
4. “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” -Matthew 13:23
In nonfarming terms, this parable explains the four types of Christians:
1. Along the path, where the ground is hard: a person with an unbelieving or hardened heart who cannot understand the message.
2. The rocky ground, without much soil: someone with a professed faith, but whose faith withers when any kind of troubles arise.
3. The thorny ground, where weeds can dominate: a person who has faith, but has not truly surrendered their life to God and let worldly concerns and personal ambitions choke their faith.
4. The good soil, which is perfectly suited for the seed: a person who is receptive to the word and strong in faith. A person who hears and understands the word and bears great fruit in their life.
How is your soil? How is your heart? How is your faith?
I can tell you my story… I started out in my childhood with good soil; my mom and I regularly went to church, and as an altar boy, I had many powerful personal experiences with God. Yes, I had “childlike” faith, but this is also what Jesus seeks, as pointed out in Matthew 18:3: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Unfortunately, I experienced several traumas over the next two decades, including a sexual assault from a priest, and my heart hardened, and I believed God had deserted me. I was a combination of rocky and thorny ground. The trauma wounds made me question God, and my reaction to the trauma wounds was to become a workaholic, starting my own business on top of my regular teaching job, and the weeds of culture and success choked my faith.
Finally, during a healing journey, God slowly began revealing Himself again. Things really changed for me when I met my future wife, and she took me to her church, where they only taught the Bible, and the weeds began dying, and the soil started to become fertile again. God reopened my heart with the help of the Holy Spirit.
This is my hope for you with this devotional.
This book is designed to amend and enhance your soil. To open your heart to the magnificence of the love of Jesus Christ, who came to earth to redeem us and to teach us the ways of the Father.
As you turn the page and begin your healing work, my only request is that you come with an open heart, willing to hear and understand the words of our Savior.
