'Change' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’” vss. 2-3 Acts 11:1-10 When the disciples received their commission to go with the gospel and proclaim the good news of Jesus they did not know what the Holy Spirit had in mind for them. They never dreamed that the traditions and customs of Judaism that were so dear to their hearts were going to be…
Daily Devotions
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” vss. 18-19a Isaiah 43:16-19a Isaiah knew that Israel’s past did not define its future. What had happened in the wilderness and in their captivity was simply a part of history. Obviously their God-connection would continue but from now on everything was going to be new. In fact, if they opened their…
Daily Devotions
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” vs. 1a 1 John 3:1 We regularly hear that we are children of God, and for some that’s really old news. It’s old hat, something we take for granted. But for John, the epistle writer, it was spectacular, the supreme example of God’s abundant love. We can suspect that it meant so much to him because, in one…
Daily Devotions
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” vss. 11-12 Romans 13:11-14 Paul felt that the Romans needed a wake-up call! He was expecting that the end would be coming soon, that Jesus would return to complete the work that he’d gotten started. So he encourages the…
Daily Devotions
As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.” vs. 9 Jeremiah 28:7-9 Jeremiah was suspicious of the prophet Hananiah. It might well be true that Hananiah’s placating message was from the Lord–if so, they’d soon find out. But in Jeremiah’s experience the true prophets always called for repentance and change, and if our scriptures can be trusted, he was right!…
Daily Devotions
…and the prophet Jeremiah said, ‘Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles.’” vs. 6 Jeremiah 28:5-6 Jeremiah wasn’t the only prophet in Jerusalem in those years before its destruction. Hananiah also had a vision for the future, and his optimistic words were like candy to the ears of the people. Jeremiah…
Daily Devotions
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee… From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” vss. 12, 17 Matthew 4:12-17 After John had been arrested, Jesus returned to the area where he had grown up to begin his active ministry. At first his message of repentance seems to be an extension of what John had been saying, and that’s not surprising. In any age, those who…
Daily Devotions
Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet…” vss. 5-6 Psalm 8:5-9 As the psalmist meditated on the wonders of the universe and considered what place humans had in the whole scheme of things, he concluded that we are almost like gods on our planet. Crowned with glory and honor, humans have…
Daily Devotions
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” vss. 1-2 Matthew 3:1-6 John felt it inside first. Something new was in the wind and he knew beyond a doubt that God had broken into the world. He’d been railing against the corruption of the temple for years, and had joined the Essenes in the wilderness as a protest. In solitude he had prayed, and now God…
Daily Devotions
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” vss. 9-10 Psalm 51:1-10 Even though most people are acutely aware of their shortcomings, they have different ways of referring to them. Some are comfortable with calling them sins, while others might call them personality defects, addictions, or mistakes. They are those words or actions that haunt us from the past…
Daily Devotions
And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.” vs. 14 Exodus 32:11-14 The Israelites believed that their survival as a people had been dependent on great leaders like Moses who were able to even change the mind of the Lord. Their forefathers had deserved punishment for their disobedience, but the Lord listened to Moses and spared them. It may seem strange for us to think of God as a being whose…
Daily Devotions
For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love…” vs. 8 Philemon 1:8-9 Paul has a favor to ask of his friend Philemon, a leader of the congregation at Colossae. Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus, a new Christian, has become a companion to Paul in prison. Paul would like Philemon to welcome Onesimus back as a brother in Christ and to…