Daily Devotions by Steve Holm (Page 139)
Daily Devotions: August 28, 2019
August 28, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 81: 1, 10-16 … “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” vs. 10 From the Psalmist’s perspective, the Lord was responsible for Israel’s existence as a people. Once they had been slaves. The fact that they had a land of their own was totally due to the Lord’s intervention. Not only had the Lord…
Daily Devotions: August 27, 2019
August 27, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 2:9-13 … “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” vs. 13 Jeremiah’s descriptive image tells the whole story. In forsaking the Lord, Israel had replaced the fountain of Living Water with cracked cisterns of their own construction that couldn’t even hold water. It’s a familiar tale for the people of…
Daily Devotions: August 26, 2019
August 26, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 2:4-8 … “Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.” vs. 4 We find the phrase “Hear the word of the Lord” regularly from Jeremiah as he lived out his life as a prophet in Jerusalem. God had given him words for the people and he could not rest until they were spoken. Often, the words were condemning. Israel had failed to…
Daily Devotions: August 25, 2019
August 25, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 13:15-17 … “When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” vs. 17 Public opinion was solidly on the side of Jesus in the Sabbath-healing controversy. Jesus had broken the proscription about healing, but he had won the hearts of the crowd. The religious authorities had been humiliated. Jesus had pounced on their hypocrisy, implying…
Daily Devotions: August 24, 2019
August 24, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 13:10-14 … “But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’” vs. 14 For the leader of the synagogue and other religious authorities, obedience to the Sabbath commandment was at the heart of what it meant to be…
Daily Devotions: August 23, 2019
August 23, 2019 For full passage click: Hebrews 12:22-29 … “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe…” vs. 28 Jesus came announcing the presence of the kingdom of God and taught his followers to pray for its coming on earth as well as in heaven. Mostly though, the best we’ve been able to do is catch periodic glimpses of…
Daily Devotions: August 22, 2019
August 22, 2019 For full passage click: Hebrews 12:18-21 … “You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest…” vs. 18 The writer of the book of Hebrews, writing to people who were familiar with Scripture, found inspiration in the faith of the ancestors, but also pointed to the limitations of their stories. Here he compares the experience of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai with the new covenant mediated…
Daily Devotions: August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 71:1-6 … “Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.” vs. 6 What a blessing it is to have a life-long connection with God and be aware of it! Most of us know that we were born and that we have mothers, but not so many know God as the sustainer and protector of their lives. The Psalmist…
Daily Devotions: August 20, 2019
August 20, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 1:6-10 … “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” vs. 10 Jeremiah’s boyhood commission likely made a huge impression on him. He believed that the Lord had put words in his mouth, and from that point on he devoted himself to bringing that message to whomever would listen—and even those who wouldn’t!…
Daily Devotions: August 19, 2019
August 19, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 1:4-6 … “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” vs. 5 Jeremiah did not believe that he was a prophet by chance, nor did he think he had chosen to be one. Rather, he was convinced that what he was doing in Jerusalem was his destiny. God had appointed him even before…
Daily Devotions: August 18, 2019
August 18, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 12:54-56 … “You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” vs. 56 There are times when we humans are pretty adept at making our predictions. Like folks in Jesus’ day, we’re even skilled at figuring out what the weather is going to be, and we don’t even look at the clouds. A quick look at…
Daily Devotions: August 17, 2019
August 17, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 12:49-53 … “From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three…” vs. 52 We’ve all become aware of the increasing divisiveness in our country as opinions have become polarized, and it’s been more difficult to find common ground. In some instances, life-long friendships have been threatened, family members have stopped speaking to one another, congregations have splintered, and we’re finding it harder and harder…