'faith' Tagged Posts (Page 12)
Daily Devotions
What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?” vs. 9 Psalm 30:6-12 This psalmist wrote that the Lord had given him great prosperity, and that his wealth was a source of great stability. It’s a situation that many of us can identify with. Simply by virtue of where we live and an economy that multiplies portfolios even while we sleep, we’ve become accustomed to…
Daily Devotions
For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” vs. 5 Psalm 30:1-5 The psalmist had an intimate relationship with the Lord, the kind of connection that a child might have with a parent. Within the context of that relationship, the psalmist experienced all the estrangements and intimacies that are felt in any healthy family. The times of isolation were balanced by tenderness…
Daily Devotions
And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” vs. 41 Mark 4:39-41 Mark concludes this little story of the stormy sea with a question and his intention in using it is clear. Centuries before in Psalm 107 the psalmist had written, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be…
Daily Devotions
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” vs. 38 Mark 4:35-38 The disciples weren’t sleeping during the windstorm on the Sea of Galilee. The boat was bouncing on the waves, and they feared for their lives. But when Jesus was somehow able to sleep, they woke him up, somehow assuming that he didn’t care that they were about to…
Daily Devotions
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” vss. 28-29 Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 The seas have always held a fascination for those who lived along their shores. Thousands of years ago we discovered that the oceans held a great storehouse of food, fish of every kind, and we built boats and used nets to harvest their riches.…
Daily Devotions
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?” vss. 4-5 Job 38:4-11 The Lord takes Job and his companions to task for their presumptive knowledge, and tells them that they don’t know squat! In fact, almost everything is beyond their understanding. We live in a time when many assume that human knowledge knows no bounds, and it’s true,…
Daily Devotions
With what can we compare the kingdom of God…It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs…” vss. 30-32 Mark 4:30-34 When Jesus came into Galilee he proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand, and he then devoted his teaching to describing the nature of that kingdom and how its power…
Daily Devotions
He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.’” vss. 26-27 Mark 4:26-29 Jesus frequently talked about the kingdom of God in his teaching. He understood it as a present reality in our world and used parables to describe what it was like. Those parables frequently used metaphors about ordinary things that…
Daily Devotions
So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight.” vss. 6-7 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Paul told the people in the Corinth house church that when he died he would be at home with the Lord. He’s not alone in expressing that sentiment. In fact, there are many among us who believe the same thing. Like Paul they have…
Daily Devotions
Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.” vs. 22 Ezekiel 17:22-24 Ezekiel knew the sorry saga of Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem. He was familiar with the king’s futile attempt to make a treaty with Egypt. He’d likely been part…
Daily Devotions
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” vs. 16 2 Corinthians 4:13-16 Even as the apostle Paul grew older and became more aware of his physical limitations he never once told the Corinthians that he was staying away from carbs, counting his steps, or going to the gym for strength training. But he does tell them that his inner nature was being renewed day by…
Daily Devotions
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.” vss. 3-4 Psalm 130 If, by the grace of God, we have reached a point in life where we have given up on the folly of blaming others and are able to humbly confess our own sinfulness we are still left with the burden of our iniquities. We can even find ourselves so close to the bottom…