Daily Devotions by Steve Holm (Page 125)
Daily Devotions: April 20, 2020
April 20, 2020 Acts 2:14a, 36-41 … “So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.” vs. 41 According to Luke, the growth of the early Christian community was explosive, with 3000 persons being baptized in response to Peter’s sermon. While we might question Luke’s numbers and the impact of a particular sermon, there is little doubt that there was missionary zeal among believers from the very beginning. They’d been touched by…
Daily Devotions: April 19, 2020
April 19, 2020 John 20:26-31 … “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 When John wrote his Gospel there was no doubt about his convictions or his intentions. He may not have known Jesus personally, but he was certainly aware of his life and ministry, and he had come to believe that Jesus was…
Daily Devotions: April 18, 2020
April 18, 2020 John 20:19-25 … “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” vs. 19 The words of this verse seem eerily appropriate for many of us as we continue in this uncertain state we’ve come to call “social-distancing.” Because of fear we’ve isolated…
Daily Devotions: April 17, 2020
April 17, 2020 1 Peter 1:6-9 … “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy…” vs. 8 We’re all pretty much in the same boat when it comes to Jesus. None of us ever saw him in the flesh and we certainly can’t see him in bodily form now. He lived a long time ago and we’re totally…
Daily Devotions: April 16, 2020
April 16, 2020 1 Peter 1:3-5 … “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” vs. 3 Most everyone is now hoping for a quick end to the restrictions that we’ve been facing because of the COVID-19 virus. Even more than that, we’re hoping that we can stop living in fear. Not only…
Daily Devotions: April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020 Psalm 16:7-11 … “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” vs. 11 The Psalmist was secure and content in his relationship with the Lord. As he moved along life’s pathway, the things he saw and experienced sparked joy in his soul, and he knew that as the journey continued, those daily pleasures would abound. Some among us, even in the presence of…
Daily Devotions: April 14, 2020
April 14, 2020 Psalm 16:1-6 … “Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” vs. 1 There have been some religious folks, from a variety of backgrounds, who have claimed that, since God is their refuge and strength, there is no need in this pandemic to follow regulations on the size of crowds or physical distancing. Their leaders have encouraged them to continue to come together in large numbers and trust that God will protect them. Naturally they…
Daily Devotions: April 13, 2020
April 13, 2020 Acts 2:14a, 22-32 … “But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” vs. 24 While it’s unlikely that these words from Acts are Peter’s exact words, they do represent the convictions of the early church as it took shape in Jerusalem during those tumultuous years following Jesus’ death. The disciples had had a powerful experience of his continuing presence and they believed that…
Daily Devotions: April 12, 2020 – EASTER SUNDAY!
April 12, 2020 Matthew 28:1-10 … “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’” vs. 10 There’s a double word of grace in today’s text. Twice the women hear–once from the angel, and once from Jesus–that they should not be afraid. That’s good news at any time, but it’s especially important now as we continue to deal with COVID-19. Once we had thought that restrictions…
Daily Devotions: April 11, 2020
April 11, 2020 Romans 6:3-11 … “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” vs. 4 This has to be the strangest Lent that any of us have ever experienced! As the days have turned into weeks, and now months, our understandable fear of disease and death has led to ever-increasing isolation…
Daily Devotions: April 10, 2020
April 10, 2020 Isaiah 52:13-53:12 … “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” vs. 4 As news of the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, there were some who saw it as God’s punishment for humanity’s embrace of deviant lifestyles, or perhaps our failure to care for the earth. That’s not an unusual response. Religious folks have always been quick to blame natural disasters on profligate…
Daily Devotions: April 9, 2020
April 9, 2020 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 … “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” vs. 34 Maundy Thursday gets its name from a derivation of the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment. It’s a day set aside in the church, not to remember the origins of Holy Communion, but to remind us of the new commandment that Jesus gave his disciples at their last…