Posts from June 2020 (Page 2)

Posts from June 2020 (Page 2)

An Open Dialogue: The Racial Divide in America

Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center Invites All to an Open Dialogue on The Racial Divide in America. Featuring: Joel Bjerkestrand and Sarah Payne Naylor Details: Thursday, June 25, 2020. 4:00 – 5:30 pm. At: Spirit in the Desert, 7415 E. Elbow Bend Rd, Carefree, AZ. Due to Social Distancing Guidelines, space will be extremely limited. Please call or email to reserve your seat: (480) 488-5218; sue@spiritinthedesert.org Facial masks must be worn during this event. This event will be streamed LIVE…

Daily Devotions: June 18, 2020

June 18, 2020 Psalm 69:16-18 … “Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.” vs. 16 Sometimes life seems to drag on and on with no discernible changes in our circumstances or condition. In those moments our feelings of impatience are often reflected in our prayers. Since we’ve been told and have come to believe that our Lord is full of steadfast love and abundant mercy, it’s hard to understand…

Daily Devotions: June 17, 2020

June 17, 2020 Psalm 69:7-10 … “It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” vs. 9                     We don’t know that Jeremiah wrote any psalms, but given the prophetic tone of Psalm 69, he could have penned its words. In every age Prophets spoke with passion and paid for it with rejection and persecution. Even friends and relatives turned against them. It’s that prophetic part of discipleship that…

Daily Devotions: June 16, 2020

June 16, 2020 Jeremiah 20:11-13 … “But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.” vs. 11 Through the centuries, Prophets have clung to their visions and dreams with a tenacious optimism that could not be extinguished even in the face of intense opposition and persecution. Jeremiah was carried away against his…

Daily Devotions: June 15, 2020

June 15, 2020 Jeremiah 20:7-10 … “For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’ For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.” vs. 8 Jeremiah gives us a glimpse of his mindset in today’s passage and he obviously wasn’t enjoying his work as Prophet. The message given him by the Lord sparked resentment in all that heard it, and he was regularly mocked on all…

Daily Devotions: June 14, 2020

June 14, 2020 Matthew 10:1-8 … “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” vss. 5-6 While Jesus did have occasional encounters with Gentiles during the course of his ministry, and granted their requests for healing, it seems clear from the Gospel record that he considered his call to have been to the house of…

Daily Devotions: June 13, 2020

June 13, 2020 Matthew 9:35-38 … “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” vs. 36 When Jesus began to preach and teach and provide a healing touch for hurting people he was stunned at the response. The crowds were enormous, so much so that he scarcely had time to rest and eat. They came, Matthew says, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a…

Daily Devotions: June 12, 2020

June 12, 2020 Romans 5:6-11 … “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” vs. 8 In recent years, there have been many instances when people of color have been killed while in the hands of the police. When that happens we can count on two very different reactions. On the one hand there are loud demands for justice and accountability; sometimes crowds of protesters fill the streets and there…

Daily Devotions: June 11, 2020

June 11, 2020 Romans 5:1-5 … “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” vss. 3-4 Most of us can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Africans to have been sold into slavery and hauled across the seas to spend their lives in hard labor on American plantations. Not only were beatings and abuse common, husbands, wives, and children…

Daily Devotions: June 10, 2020

June 10, 2020 Psalm 100 … “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” vs. 5 It’s easy to be distracted when we’re fed a mind-numbing stream of images, tweets, videos, and memes from every direction nearly every day. We get caught up in the charges and countercharges and are overwhelmed by the sense that evil is ruling in our world and that humanity is doomed. We can’t seem to shake the…

Daily Devotions: June 9, 2020

June 9, 2020 Exodus 19:5-8 … “The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.” vs. 8 According to Exodus, the people were eager to do what the Lord had required of them and willingly vowed their obedience. Of course, we know the rest of the story. Those same people quickly forgot their promise and followed the instincts of their hearts instead. Such has…

Daily Devotions: June 8, 2020

June 8, 2020                                                                                      Exodus 19:2-4 …“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” vs. 4 From the Israelites’ perspective, their deliverance from slavery in…