Posts by Rev. Steve Holm (Page 95)
Daily Devotions
There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’” vs. 6 Psalm 4:5-8 Twenty-five hundred years ago there were people wandering around Jerusalem, shaking their heads in disgust at the constant stream of bad news that daily came their way. They longed for good news–and so do we! There are daily reports of political scandals, international tensions, and the continuing effects of the global COVID shutdown.…
Daily Devotions
When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.” vs. 4 Psalm 4:1-4 The psalmist is here advising his enemies to think twice about the harm they might intend to do to him. Rather than simply acting on their feelings and saying something they will regret, he says they should take to their beds, consider options and then be silent. This is timeless wisdom! Many of us are plagued by runaway tongues and end…
Daily Devotions
And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.” vss. 17-18 Acts 3:12-19 According to Luke’s account, after the healing of the crippled beggar, a crowd gathered around Peter and John in the temple precincts. Peter uses the opportunity to confront them with their complicity in the death of Jesus, in whose name the man had…
Daily Devotions
But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” vs. 31 John 20:26-31 We don’t really know who John was. Although there has been a ton of speculation about his identity he remains shrouded in mystery. But what we do know is his reason for writing the book that bears his name–he wanted his readers to know that…
Daily Devotions
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” vss. 22-23 John 20:19-25 The gospel writer John understood that the Holy Spirit could not be contained and said that it was like the wind. We could hear the sound of it but not know where it was coming from, or where…
Daily Devotions
All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.” vs. 24 1 John 3:23-24 We do a lot of talking about the Holy Spirit in our congregations and some people are eager to claim that they possess the Spirit, thereby implying that there are many who don’t. As a result there are folks who go through life wondering…
Daily Devotions
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” vs. 18 1 John 3:18-22 From the beginning faith communities have known that there are some who are adept at talking the talk, but who don’t come close to walking the walk. And sadly, these are the ones who are mostly responsible for the widespread opinion that all Christians are hypocrites. Even though they’re a minority among believers, their inability or unwillingness to love in…
Daily Devotions
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” vs. 17 1 John 3:16-17 Sometimes the words of scripture are so plain and obvious that it’s impossible to miss their point. There’s no way to squirm out of the spotlight they shine on our lives. That’s the way it is with the epistle writer, John, today. We don’t know the situation precisely but he…
Daily Devotions
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” vs. 1 Psalm 133 The psalmist nails it today! His dream has been around for a long time and describes one of our deepest yearnings. There is nothing that can be any better than unity in the life of our communities. When Jesus was completing his mission John tells us that he told his disciples that he was giving them just one commandment, that they should love…
Daily Devotions
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” vs. 4 Acts 4:32-35 There are some folks who have a hard time figuring out what to do with passages like this in scripture. The rejection of private ownership in favor of holding all things in common seems somehow wrong to our ears. At the very least it sounds…
An Easter Message
Rev. Steve Holm, retired pastor and Spirit in the Desert daily devotions writer, shares the good news of Christ’s resurrection in a scripture-based Easter message for a pandemic-weary world.
Daily Devotions
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,” vss. 3-4 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Toward the end of his letter to the Corinthians, after having touched on any number of topics that were causing dissension in the congregation, Paul takes time to review…