Blog (Page 208)
Daily Devotions: August 10, 2017
Romans 10:5-11 “because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” vs. 9 It is such good news to know that salvation comes through faith and not through works of the law. We’ve all known stories of people who have resisted the gospel through their entire lives, then on their deathbeds have confessed Jesus as Lord and have then found peace. Such…
Daily Devotions: August 9, 2017
Psalm 85:8-13 “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” vs, 10 Some of those who wrote the psalms were poets of the highest quality and their images stand the test of time in magnificent fashion. In this verse, we see a picture of God’s saving grace that captures the essence of our salvation. Steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace are the essential attributes of God and the psalmist describes beautifully what happens as they…
Daily Devotions: August 8, 2017
1 Kings 19:11-18 “and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.” vs. 12 There was violent wind, an earthquake, and fire, and the Lord was not there. But then came silence, sheer silence, and Elijah heard the Lord clearly. This magnificent, ancient story has touched hearts and minds both inside and outside the church as it speaks to the human experience of the Divine Presence.…
Daily Devotions: August 7, 2017
1 Kings 19:9-10 “At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?’” vs. 9 Elijah was running for his life. He had been called as a prophet of the Lord and had served as diligently as he possibly could, even using force and violence to destroy the prophets of Baal and tear down their altars. But his enemies were not…
Daily Devotions: August 6, 2017
Matthew 14:16-21 “Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’” vss. 16-17 Sometimes we don’t realize that the little we have is enough to make a big difference. We’re very aware of how impossible and entrenched the world’s problems seem to be, particularly the ones that revolve around poverty and hunger. Some might even say, quoting Jesus out of context, “the…
Daily Devotions: August 5, 2017
Matthew 14:13-15 “When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’” vs. 15 The disciple’s suggestion was a reasonable one. They had likely been excited by the prospect of a day with Jesus in a deserted place. But the crowds had followed, and Jesus, even though he had wanted the…
Daily Devotions: August 4, 2017
Romans 9:1-5 “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” vss. 1-2 Paul had come to believe that Israel had lost its way and had forfeited its favored position by its insistence that righteousness before God could be achieved by obedience to the law. It was because of their intransigence that he had been called to proclaim the message of justification…
Daily Devotions: August 3, 2017
Psalm 145:14-21 “The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” vs. 20 Those of us who love the idea of universal salvation and who bask in the good news that God has compassion for all tend to skip over the portions of scripture that describe God’s destruction of the wicked. We don’t like the passages about hellfire and damnation and ridicule preachers who make that a part of their message. The problem is…
Daily Devotions: August 2, 2017
Psalm 145:8-9 “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” vs. 9 Our eyes are drawn to the word “all,” in verses like this, and we wonder if it can possibly be true. Can the good Lord really have compassion over all? Surely there are exceptions! But there are no caveats in the psalmist’s verses, and no thing and no person is excluded. The words of Genesis 1, “and it was very…
Daily Devotions: August 1, 2017
Isaiah 55:3-5 “See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.” vs. 5 The prophet’s vision was beyond audacious. He wasn’t speaking to a triumphant nation, a country that had won major battles and expanded its boundaries. He was talking to a remnant, the few survivors of a beleaguered small country that…
Daily Devotions: July 31, 2017
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” vs. 2 We don’t have control over every part of our lives, but we can, for the most part, make decisions about how we spend our money and our time. When it comes to money, financial advisors will tell us to make…
Daily Devotions: July 30, 2017
Matthew 13:44-52 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” vs. 44 Of course Jesus isn’t endorsing unethical behavior in telling this parable; that’s not the point at all. Rather he’s focusing on the amazing joy that comes with encountering God’s kingdom in the world. Most of the time we probably don’t even think about such…