Daily Devotions by Steve Holm (Page 156)
Daily Devotions: April 20, 2019
April 20, 2019 For full passage click: Ezekiel 37:1-14 …“Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”’” vs. 11 The Israelites living in Babylon had given up hope. They and their descendants would die in the land of captivity and they would never know the land of promise. The prophet Ezekiel paints another picture for them. The…
Daily Devotions: April 19, 2019
April 19, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 22 …“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?…Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” vss. 1, 3 When we get a good dose of suffering on the discipleship trail it’s not unusual to feel as though we’ve lost touch with God. We wonder why rotten things are happening in our lives and, even…
Daily Devotions: April 18, 2019
April 18, 2019 For full passage click: John 13:31b-35 …“Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’” vs. 33 Goodbyes are never easy! And the ones we say toward the close of our lives are probably the hardest of all. Sometimes we don’t know if we’ll ever see this person that we’ve loved…
Daily Devotions: April 17, 2019
April 17, 2019 For full passage click: Hebrews 12:1-3 …“Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.” vs. 3 Most of us will, at one time or another in the course of our lifetimes, discover that there are people who have it in for us. Sometimes we’ll know the reason. We’ve done or said something that has caused offense and the victims are simply getting even as best…
Daily Devotions: April 16, 2019
April 16, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 71:1-14 …‘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…Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.” vss. 6, 9 Not everyone comes to faith as a child. Many followers of Jesus report that their parents gave them little spiritual direction as they grew up,…
Daily Devotions: April 15, 2019
April 15, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 42:1-9 …“Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it.” vs. 5 The prophet knew that the Creator of the Universe had given spirit to every breathing person on the planet. That spirit is our God-connection and is humanity’s common inheritance. It…
Daily Devotions: April 14, 2019
April 14, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 23:31-49 …“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.” vs. 36 According to Luke’s sources, Jesus’ last words were, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, the Inspired One expired, and gave up his spirit. Whether or not this is a description of what happens at the point of death is not the…
Daily Devotions: April 13, 2019
April 13, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 23:13-30 …“But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.” vs. 23 In a world where despots are in control, matters of justice are subject to the whim of the ruler. According to Luke, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and had him crucified anyway. The demands and loud shouts of the crowd were all that mattered. As citizens, we have an interest in…
Daily Devotions: April 12, 2019
April 12, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 23:1-12 …“But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’” vs. 5 The scribes and the Pharisees were right. Jesus had stirred up the people with his teaching wherever he traveled. He had painted a picture of the kingdom that touched the hearts of the multitudes and made them feel as though they were loved and…
Daily Devotions: April 11, 2019
April 11, 2019 For full passage click: Philippians 2:5-11 …“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” vs. 5 Jesus was the incarnation of the Christ and so are we! In us the very essence of God is pleased to dwell, and through us the world is being transformed. This truth has been around for millennia and it’s about time that we begin to take it seriously. It’s not that we’re called to puff up our…
Daily Devotions: April 10, 2019
April 10, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 31:9-16 …“I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.” vs. 11 The tough times will often reveal our truest and dearest friends. If we’re involved in a scandal, some sort of obvious misstep, folks will fall all over themselves in establishing distance; there’s no way they’ll want to be tainted…
Daily Devotions: April 9, 2019
April 9, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 50:4-9a …“The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” vs. 4 The prophet had a gift and he knew it. God had given him the ability to offer words of encouragement and consolation to hurting people. But he also knew that a…