Blog (Page 180)
Daily Devotions: June 14, 2019
June 14, 2019 For full passage click: Romans 5:1-5 …“and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” vs. 5 Paul is able to tell the Romans that people of faith can even boast in their sufferings, not because they are masochists, but because God’s love, the very presence of God, has been poured into their hearts. His insight has stood the test of…
Daily Devotions: June 13, 2019
June 13, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 8:5-9 …“Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet…” vss. 5-6 The ancient Hebrews believed that, in spite of their universal insignificance, God had given humans dominion over all things that lived on the earth. We can certainly understand the logic of their reasoning—at…
Daily Devotions: June 12, 2019
June 12, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 8:1-4 A Psalm of David …“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” vss. 3-4 If we’ve taken any time at all to reflect on our place in space and in time, we will likely resonate with what the psalmist has said. We live…
Daily Devotions: June 11, 2019
June 11, 2019 For full passage click: Proverbs 8:22-31 …“then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” vss. 30-31 According to this section of Proverbs, Wisdom was the Father’s partner in the creation of the universe and produced an earth that was finely tuned and carefully ordered. Obviously, the writer had deep respect for the intricacy and connectedness…
Daily Devotions: June 10, 2019
June 10, 2019 For full passage click: Proverbs 8:1-4 …“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;” vss. 1-2 It’s possible to accumulate massive amounts of knowledge in the course of a lifetime and yet run a huge deficit when it comes to wisdom. Many of us have acquaintances who are a perfect match for that description. They can have multiple degrees but not…
Daily Devotions: June 9, 2019
June 9, 2019 For full passage click: John 14:15-19 …“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” vs. 19 The man, Jesus of Nazareth, did not have a long life. Hostile powers conspired to torture and kill him while he was, by our standards, a young man. But death could not contain him, and his followers soon reported his continuing presence. “He’s alive,” they proclaimed…
Daily Devotions: June 8, 2019
June 8, 2019 For full passage click: John 14:8-14 …“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ”Show us the Father”’?” vs. 9 We don’t know what Philip was thinking when he asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father, but evidently it had not dawned on him that, in Jesus, they had been seeing…
The Spiritual Practice of Prayer
The Spiritual Practice of Prayer… Prayer may be the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about spiritual practices. And it should be – prayer is the oxygen of our life as Christians. Without prayer in our lives we are merely observers of a relationship with God rather than participants. Why do I say that?… As in any relationship, our relationship with God can never grow if there is not some level of communication. Prayer is that means of…
Daily Devotions: June 7, 2019
June 7, 2019 For full passage click: Acts 2:14-21 …“Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” vs. 21 Peter was so excited that he could not contain himself. The Holy Spirit had exploded on the scene in spectacular fashion and he was convinced that the things that were happening were a fulfillment of what had been written by the prophet Joel many centuries before. This was the pouring of the Spirit upon all flesh,…
Daily Devotions: June 6, 2019
June 6, 2019 For full passage click: Acts 2:1-13 …“And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” vs. 6 We love our own native languages. In fact, many of us would prefer that everyone in our country would be forced to learn English as the official language. There are even some who become angry and suspicious when they hear other languages spoken in their presence. Such…
Daily Devotions: June 5, 2019
June 5, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 104:31-34, 35b …“May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.” vs. 34 Meditation is a foreign notion to many followers of Jesus. Often, they have associated the practice with eastern religions and aren’t comfortable dabbling in that which is not familiar. Obviously that was not the case with the psalmist. He’s been meditating on the wonders of creation and trusts that the Lord will be pleased. His…
Daily Devotions: June 4, 2019
June 4, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 104:24-30 …“When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.” vs. 30 According to the psalmist, all creatures of the earth and sea, great and small, including the great Leviathan, were made and are sustained by God. More than that, none of them could survive apart from the presence of God’s spirit. In other words, the universe itself has an intimate connection to God…