Posts from May 2026
Daily Devotions
Psalm 68:32-35…“Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people.” vs. 35 In our enthusiasm we are likely to describe most any sort of experience, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, as being “awesome.” But sometimes we use it so frequently that its impact gets watered down. After all, the more things we add to the “awesome” category, the less awesome any of them become. For the psalmist however, it’s…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 68:1-10…But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy. Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds—his name is the LORD— be exultant before him vss. 3-4 There is a contemporary popular worship song by Robin Mark called “Days of Elijah.” The chorus has an upbeat tempo and its lyrics could well have been written by this psalmist: “Behold he…
Daily Devotions
Acts 1:6-14…“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” vs. 8 The disciples were hoping for a quick fix after the resurrection. Not having a clue about what lay ahead they were still looking backward and thinking that now might be the time when the fabled Kingdom of Israel might be restored. But the resurrected…
Daily Devotions
John 14:18-21…“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” vs. 21 At first this may seem like a tough standard. Jesus says those that love him are those who have his commandments and keep them, and we immediately question just what those commandments are. It turns out he isn’t talking about the Ten Commandments,…
Daily Devotions
John 14:15-17…“This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” vs. 17 In order to comfort his disciples on the night before his death, Jesus assures them that they will not be alone, that he will send them the Spirit of truth. He goes on to tell them that the world cannot receive that Spirit of…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 3:18-22…“He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison…” vss. 18b-19a It’s not easy to know what Peter was referring to as he wrote to the suffering exiles in Asia Minor. He was obviously familiar with the basic message of the early church, that Jesus had suffered on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all the…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 3:13-17…“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the- hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” vss. 15b-16a The exiles to whom Peter was writing were suffering. We don’t know the particulars but we can guess that it might have had something to do with periodic suppression by the Romans. Or it could have been related to the ongoing struggle with the Jews who were…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 66:16-20…“Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” vs. 20 While the psalmist did believe that God had answered his prayer, he also believed that God would not have listened to his prayer if he had iniquity in his heart. We can understand his reasoning because those same assumptions are often operative among us. It makes sense from a human point of view that God would pay no attention to…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 66:8-15…“I will come into your house with burnt-offerings; I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.” vs. 13-14 The psalmist evidently knew a thing or two about tough times. He compares his own travails to the plight of the Israelites in Egypt and the perils of their flight from slavery. He flooded the heavens with prayers and, as humans are prone to do, promised payment if those…
Daily Devotions
Acts 17:22-31…“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we too are his offspring.’” vs. 28 There were Jews living in Athens and Paul went first to the synagogue to argue and debate with them about Jesus as the messiah. But when some of the Athenian sages heard what Paul was talking about they invited him to come and speak to them on Mars Hill near the…
Daily Devotions
John 14:8-14…“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 As far as some Christians are concerned this is the point in his ministry when Jesus gave his disciples the secret code that would guarantee answered prayers. All that they would need to do to get their heart’s desire would be to offer their prayer…
Daily Devotions
John 14:1-7…“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” vs. 6 Thomas was confused about Jesus’ words. Jesus had said that he was going away but that he would come again and take them to himself, and that the disciples knew the way to where he was going. But Thomas didn’t know where Jesus was going, and he didn’t know the way. So Jesus makes…
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