Posts from May 2023 (Page 3)
Daily Devotions
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” vss. 13-14 John 14:8-14 Citing this verse, followers of Jesus have regularly asked Jesus for any number of things. It seems we don’t have any trouble thinking of things that he could help with. Most of the time our requests will likely have to do with healing, either…
Daily Devotions
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” vss. 1-2 John 14:1-7 According to John, before his death Jesus prepared his disciples for his leaving by assuring them that he was just going away to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house. His words,…
Daily Devotions
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” vs. 9 1 Peter 2:6-10 As the age of denominationalism slowly grinds to an end, it’s easy to become discouraged. It’s not easy to accept that what we found so helpful and precious means virtually nothing to our children and grandchildren. But the extinction…
Daily Devotions
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood…” vss. 4-5a 1 Peter 2:2-6 Travelers to Israel and Palestine often find themselves being bussed from one ancient ruin to another. While some historic sites have been partially reconstructed, most remain destroyed, maybe just a pile of rocks at the bottom of an archeological dig. Leaders…
Daily Devotions
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” vs. 5 Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 Redemption is one of those words that is used regularly by Christians and often connected with Jesus’ death on the cross. It describes the process by which we are made right with God through grace. It’s interesting that the psalmist, long before Jesus, also knew about redemption and claimed it as his own, a gracious gift from his faithful…
Daily Devotions
Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.” vs. 60 Acts 7:59-60 Alone among the gospel writers, Luke reports that Jesus spoke words of forgiveness from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” And now we hear similar words from the first martyr, Stephen, as he is being stoned. Their voices remind us that sometimes…
Daily Devotions
Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.” vs. 58 Acts 7:55-58 Paul was very open about his past, that he had in fact been involved in the persecution of the followers of Jesus. In his letter to the Galatians he writes that he violently persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it, not out of hate, but…