Posts by Rev. Steve Holm (Page 176)

Posts by Rev. Steve Holm (Page 176)

Daily Devotions: May 19, 2018

May 19, 2018 John 15:26-27, 16:4b-6…“You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” vs. 27 After Jesus had departed from this earth, it’s likely that the disciples were regularly questioned about his life and ministry. And, as Jesus had predicted, they had opportunity to testify about what he had said and done. It’s unlikely that any of them had been taking notes so they were forced to rely on their memory; and since they’re…

Daily Devotions: May 18, 2018

May 18, 2018 Romans 8:22-27…“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” vs. 26 Most people pray at one time or another. With some, it’s occasional and almost spontaneous, a blurting out of some deep concern in a moment of crisis. Others are more intentional in their prayer life and take time nearly every day to offer up…

Daily Devotions: May 17, 2018

May 17, 2018 Psalm 104:31-35…“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.” vs. 33 The psalmist felt a calling to continually praise God for the wonder and majesty of creation. Everywhere he looked, from dawn to dusk, he saw the signs of God’s creative and renewing spirit. How often we miss out on the joy of that kind of living! We tend to get so immersed…

Daily Devotions: May 16, 2018

May 16, 2018 Psalm 104:24-30…“When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.” vs. 30 The psalmist believed with all his heart that God had given the spark of life to all living things from leviathans to creeping, crawling things–nothing was excluded. And God wasn’t only the creator, God was the sustainer! All flesh was dependent on God for all things. Apart from the Spirit of God, there could be no existence.…

Daily Devotions: May 15, 2018

May 15, 2018 Acts 2:14-21…“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” vs. 17 The disciples were living in heady times, changes were multiplying and tensions increasing. There were rumors of rebellion and insurrection. The Roman armies were flexing their muscle. And they were convinced that the…

Daily Devotions: May 14, 2018

May 14, 2018 Acts 2:1-13…“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” vs. 1 Both John and Luke have accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit: in John, Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” In Luke’s version, the disciples are gathered on the day of Pentecost and the Spirit comes like the wind to fill them. The differences are not surprising–that’s how scripture is, but there is one…

Daily Devotions: May 13, 2018

May 13, 2018 John 17:11-17…“I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” vs. 15 In his High Priestly prayer, Jesus expresses concern for his disciples; he’s going to be leaving them behind and he wants them to be safe. Even though he knows that God loves the world, there’s also a sense that the world can be a dangerous place. Most of us know what…

Daily Devotions: May 12, 2018

May 12,  2018 John 17:9-13…“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 While we often speak of Jesus living among us in this world, it is also true that we live apart from him. John speaks of Jesus’ absence and the fact that…

Daily Devotions: May 11, 2018

May 11, 2018 John 17:6-8…“for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” vs. 8 As John tells his Jesus story, he wants his readers to know that Jesus has come from God and that his words are God’s words. In fact, the abiding principle of the entire gospel is that Jesus is the…

Daily Devotions: May 10, 2018

May 10, 2018 1 John 5:9-13…“And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” vs. 11 About the end of the first century when John was doing his writing, there was considerable controversy about the content of the gospel message. Already there was division within congregations about various issues and alternative wisdom was being proposed. John is calling his readers back to the essence of the testimony that the Spirit of God…

Daily Devotions: May 9, 2018

May 9, 2018 Psalm 1:4-6…“for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” vs. 6 The psalmist’s world was a bit more black and white than we’re sometimes comfortable with. We tend to see people as more of a gray, a mixture between good and bad, and when our scripture paints a more decisive picture we want to protest. Some solve the issue by ignoring the passages in question and focusing…

Daily Devotions: May 8, 2018

May 8, 2018 Psalm 1:1-3…“They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” vs. 3 So who are these folks who prosper in all that they do? According to this psalmist, they are those who love the law of the Lord and who meditate on it both day and night. Jesus said nearly the same thing at the close of…