Daily Devotions by Steve Holm (Page 158)
Daily Devotions: March 28, 2019
March 28, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 …“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” vs. 17 Being a disciple of Jesus is far more than believing in him and walking in his way. While those things are important Paul describes discipleship as more of a mystical union, an entering into Christ that allows us to experience the pulsating energy of God that is…
Daily Devotions: March 27, 2019
March 27, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 32:6-11 …“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” vs. 11 The psalmist would have loved praise services. He couldn’t get enough of exultations and shouts of joy and wanted all the upright and the righteous to join in giving thanks to the Lord. Some who read these words might have the impression that they don’t have an invitation to the party.…
Daily Devotions: March 26, 2019
March 26, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 32:1-5 …“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” vs 5 The psalmist had been engaged in a great cover-up and his conscience had been nagging at him. We don’t know what had happened but it doesn’t seem to have been a public matter. Only he knew what…
Daily Devotions: March 25, 2019
March 25, 2019 For full passage click: Joshua 5:9-12 …“The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.” vs. 12 According to one of their ancient narratives, God had sustained the Israelites with a special bread from heaven through their years in the wilderness. But when they crossed the Jordan River and entered the land of Canaan, that…
Daily Devotions: March 24, 2019
March 24, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 9:6-10 …“So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’” vs. 7 It appears that in this parable, the man’s love for his fig tree was quite conditional. He could put up with three years of fruitless living, but that was his limit. That’s the…
Daily Devotions: March 23, 2019
March 23, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 13:1-5 …“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” vs. 5 Mass tragedies were common in Jesus’ world. Not only were the dominating powers cruel and unjust, there were few if any construction standards; death was always close at hand. Of course people wondered about such things, and there was often a tendency to blame the victims, that they’d been killed because of their…
Daily Devotions: March 22, 2019
March 22, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 …“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” vs. 13 Paul was a strong advocate of the gospel of grace and he knew that our salvation was not dependent on our own good…
Daily Devotions: March 21, 2019
March 21, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 …“and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” vss. 2-4 Paul was frustrated with the folks at Corinth. They’d been baptized into Christ and were feasting on Christ’s body and blood, but their behavior was abysmal.…
Daily Devotions: March 20, 2019
March 20, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 63:1-8 …“O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” vs. 1 There are some who say that there is a “God-space” within every human and unless that space is filled our lives will seem barren and pointless. While there are some difficulties with that kind of language, the psalmist…
Daily Devotions: March 19, 2019
March 19, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 55:6-9 …“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” vs. 9 Most of the things that we say about God are more a reflection of ourselves than they are of God. The truth is that our little minds and inadequate vocabularies are incapable of even coming close to describing the Divine Presence. We have a sense…
Daily Devotions: March 18, 2019
March 18, 2019 Isaiah 55:1-5 “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” vs. 1 The prophet’s words are bold, robust, and invitational. As we read his words our imaginations conjure up a marketplace full of smiling faces, a place where visitors are treated as guests rather than customers, a place of extravagant generosity. As we read on we…
Daily Devotions: March 17, 2019
March 17, 2019 Luke 13:31-35 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” vs. 34 Jerusalem had enormous significance for the Jews of Jesus’ day. In addition to being their religious and political center, it was the “Holy City,” the symbolic residence of God on earth. The books…