'hope' Tagged Posts (Page 17)
Daily Devotions
Revelation 7:9-17 “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” vs. 9 There is within the human heart a deep love for apocalyptic imagery, something we see regularly in the unending series of blockbuster movies with science fiction and end of the world themes. Audiences seem…
Daily Devotions
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 … “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” vss. 2-3 This letter of Paul to the Thessalonians is the oldest section of the New Testament and gives a glimpse into the inner life and concerns of the earliest Greek followers of Jesus. As such,…
Daily Devotions: August 5, 2020
August 5, 2020 Psalm 85:11-13 … “The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.” vss. 12-13 Some days it feels good to engage with “relentless optimism” like that exhibited by the psalmist as he surveyed the scene in Jerusalem so many years ago. There was really no historical basis for what he said, and the geo-politics of his time was anything…
Daily Devotions: July 17, 2020
July 17, 2020 Romans 8:19-25 … “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” vss. 24-25 Paul regularly spoke of hope as he wrote to early Christians. He knew that the glories of which he spoke were not readily apparent to them and that they wondered if they would experience resurrection.…
Daily Devotions: June 11, 2020
June 11, 2020 Romans 5:1-5 … “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” vss. 3-4 Most of us can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Africans to have been sold into slavery and hauled across the seas to spend their lives in hard labor on American plantations. Not only were beatings and abuse common, husbands, wives, and children…
Daily Devotions: April 18, 2020
April 18, 2020 John 20:19-25 … “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” vs. 19 The words of this verse seem eerily appropriate for many of us as we continue in this uncertain state we’ve come to call “social-distancing.” Because of fear we’ve isolated…
Daily Devotions: January 20, 2020
January 20, 2020 For full passage click: Isaiah 9:1-4 … “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” vs. 2 Light and darkness are familiar metaphors in Scripture! In this instance, Isaiah is using them to describe the hope that has filled the hearts of the people of Judah with the coronation of a new king. Darkness, in the form of the Assyrian…
Daily Devotions: October 21, 2019
October 21, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 31:31-34 … “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” vs. 34 Jeremiah prophesied during one of the most dismal periods of Israel’s history and watched as Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and the ruling…
Daily Devotions: October 1, 2019
October 1, 2019 For full passage click: Habakkuk 2:1-4 … “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” vs. 3 Even though Habakkuk saw nothing hopeful in the injustice and the turmoil that surrounded him and cried out in complaint to the Lord, he did not give up hope. We, who are his…
Daily Devotions: August 15, 2019
August 15, 2019 For full passage click: Hebrews 11:29-40 … “Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised…” vs. 39 The writer of Hebrews was well aware of the proud history of his people. He could recount the stories of judges, prophets, and kings in great detail. And it wasn’t only the notable folks who had caught his attention. There had been countless others, too, who had been faithful to the Lord,…
Daily Devotions: June 14, 2019
June 14, 2019 For full passage click: Romans 5:1-5 …“and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” vs. 5 Paul is able to tell the Romans that people of faith can even boast in their sufferings, not because they are masochists, but because God’s love, the very presence of God, has been poured into their hearts. His insight has stood the test of…
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…