Posts from 2026
Daily Devotions
John 17:6-11…“And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” vs. 11 For the people of Norway this is Syttende Mai or Constitution Day, their national day of celebration. It’s a big day, the Norwegian equivalent of the Fourth of July, and many Americans of Norwegian…
Daily Devotions
John 17:1-5…“I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.” vs. 4 In John’s gospel, Jesus concludes his ministry by gathering his disciples in an upper room for final instructions and a closing prayer. In that prayer he indicates deep satisfaction with the way his life has unfolded. He believed that he had successfully concluded all the work that he had been given to do. That conviction is borne out the next day by…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 5:6-11…”Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” vs. 8 We can’t be sure if the disciple Peter was really the person who wrote the epistle bearing his name. But if it was, he certainly knew what he was talking about. He probably never forgot the day in Galilee, when Jesus, just after calling him the Rock, humbled him in front of his peers by saying, “Get…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 4:12-14…“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” It’s good for us to get a glimpse of what life was like for Christians in the beginning years of the Church. While they were fired up by the good news of the gospel there were also fiery ordeals for them to endure. Peter refers to those occasions as being times of…
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…