'COVID-19' Tagged Posts

'COVID-19' Tagged Posts

Daily Devotions

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand…” vs. 1-2a Romans 5:1-2 There are some people who stopped going to worship during COVID times and discovered that they really didn’t miss it. They liked having Sunday mornings free, and found that they could fill their spiritual needs just as well in walks beside still waters and quiet evenings…

Daily Devotions

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” vs. 3 Isaiah 60:1-6 When the people of Israel returned from exile the prophet was ecstatic. He believed with all his heart that this was a turning point, the dawn of a new age of prosperity, and that the kings of the nations would come with their treasures to Jerusalem. New trade routes would open and caravans from afar would find their way to the hill…

Daily Devotions

He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord!” vss. 19-20 Psalm 147:18-20 Sometimes Americans get irritated by the legal excesses that seem to pop up from time to time. It seems there are rules for everything–most recently there have been mask and vaccination mandates issued by various arms of the government to stem the spread of Covid. Some…

Daily Devotions

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” vss. 24-25 Hebrews 10:19-25 Congregations have had a tough go of it during these long months of the pandemic. While there has been some financial assistance from the government most have had a tough time with worship. Many did not hold services at all and pastors were forced to get creative…

Daily Devotions

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.” vs. 13 James 5:13-15 James imagines that the community to which he is writing has close connections, not only to other members of the community, but to God, the Divine Presence and Source of all Being. This means, he believes, that in every situation of life the people will turn to God, not only with prayers for healing when there is suffering, but…

Daily Devotions

So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?’ vs. 11 Numbers 11:4-6,10-16 The people complained to Moses about conditions in their camp, and Moses complained to the Lord about the people. This incessant reciprocal whining was understandable and necessary. Humans have to be able to vent when the pressures pile up. It was true…

Daily Devotions

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” vs. 1 James 3:1-5 There is a strange paradox connected to the teaching profession. On the one hand we see teachers being regularly disparaged and discounted in popular commentary. It is said that they suck up massive amounts of taxpayer dollars while working short hours for only a portion of the year. As a group they’re…

Daily Devotions

Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.” vss. 5-6 Psalm 98:5-9 The psalmist gives us a glimpse of temple worship and makes us wish we could have been there. While arrangements likely varied from season to season there were plenty of opportunities for musicians to pull out all the stops. They spared nothing in…

Daily Devotions

There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’” vs. 6 Psalm 4:5-8 Twenty-five hundred years ago there were people wandering around Jerusalem, shaking their heads in disgust at the constant stream of bad news that daily came their way. They longed for good news–and so do we! There are daily reports of political scandals, international tensions, and the continuing effects of the global COVID shutdown.…

An Easter Message

Rev. Steve Holm, retired pastor and Spirit in the Desert daily devotions writer, shares the good news of Christ’s resurrection in a scripture-based Easter message for a pandemic-weary world.

Daily Devotions

For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.” vs. 24 Psalm 22:23-26 We’ve heard the voices of the afflicted big time during this last year. Every country in the world has been affected, and millions of families have suffered pain and loss. Jobs have disappeared and the education system has been stressed to the max. Some have even echoed the psalmist…

Daily Devotions

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;” vs. 22 Isaiah 40:21-26 The prophet may not have had our cosmology–we’ve pretty much discarded the notion of a three story universe–but he certainly had an understanding of God that defies the centuries. In his estimation the Lord was above and beyond all things and human…