Daily Devotions by Steve Holm (Page 154)
Daily Devotions: March 4, 2019
March 4, 2019 For full passage click: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 …“Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” vs. 13b A plague of locusts had descended upon Israel and Joel believed that they were a sign that the day of judgment was near. He pleads with the people to return to God with genuine repentance and not empty ceremonies. He wants them to know…
Daily Devotions: March 3, 2019
March 3, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 9:33-36 …“While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.” vs. 34 The disciples had seen Jesus in all his transfigured glory and they were stunned; they didn’t know what to make of the experience. Sometimes that’s what it’s like when we glimpse the Divine Presence in the course of journeying with Jesus. We’re befuddled and struggle to find a…
Daily Devotions: March 2, 2019
March 2, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 9:28-32 …“And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” vs. 29 Jesus had invited the inner core of his disciples to join him on the mountain for prayer, but it appears they came more as observers than participants. The kind of meditation that Jesus practiced was intense and involved more than going through a list of friends and family that were having problems.…
Daily Devotions: March 1, 2019
March 1, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Corinthians 3:1-2 …“Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” vs. 1 We live in a time when many are lamenting the decline of the Christian church. All across the land congregations are losing members and closing, seminaries are declining in enrollment, and the percentage of people calling themselves religious is becoming smaller every year. In some places, there is almost…
Daily Devotions: February 28, 2019
February 28, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 …“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” vs. 18 Paul had come a long way from his days as a zealous Pharisee. As he reflected on the old story from Exodus where Moses had veiled his…
Daily Devotions: February 27, 2019
February 27, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 99:6-9 …“O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.” vs. 8 The psalmist had a strong appreciation for the ancient leaders of Israel; Moses, his brother Aaron, and Samuel the prophet. They were in regular communication with the Lord and often cried out to God on behalf of the people. And the Lord God answered their prayers, and sometimes there…
Daily Devotions: February 26, 2019
February 26, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 99:1-5 …“Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” vs. 4 As homeowners, we are gratified when we are able to establish substantial equity in our property. At the very least it means that when we retire we’ll have more assets than liabilities which is generally a good thing. The psalmist uses equity in a different sense while speaking about God’s intentions. He believes…
Daily Devotions: February 25, 2019
February 25, 2019 For full passage click: Exodus 34:29-35 …“Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” vs. 29 As the Israelites sorted through the traditions of their ancestors, they were particularly drawn to the Moses narratives, the stories told about the great leader who had liberated…
Daily Devotions: February 24, 2019
February 24, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 6:32-38 …“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” vss. 35-36 Sometimes we wonder why Christians behave so despicably in light of our Lord’s clear and unmistakable instructions about how to live in the world. It’s…
Daily Devotions: February 23, 2019
February 23, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 6:27-31 …“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you… Do to others as you would have them do to you.” vs. 27, 31 In Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, Jesus gives his followers their marching orders in words that we regularly quote but seldom take to heart. It’s just too hard to love enemies and practice the golden rule. It flies in the…
Daily Devotions: February 22, 2019
February 22, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Corinthians 15:42-50 …“What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” vs. 50 Paul sums up his teaching on resurrection by saying that our physical bodies do not inherit the kingdom of God, a notion that can be disconcerting to those who believe that heaven is populated by people doing eternally the things that brought…
Daily Devotions: February 21, 2019
February 21, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 …“And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.” vss. 37-38 The Corinthians had many questions about resurrection for Paul, and sometimes he gets a little testy in his answers. He thinks…