'love' Tagged Posts (Page 12)
Daily Devotions: February 17, 2020
February 17, 2020 For full passage click: Exodus 24:12-18 … “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’” vs. 12 According to the Exodus tradition, the law and the commandment came directly from the Lord, with Moses as an intermediary. Those tablets of stone became the focus of community life for…
Daily Devotions: February 11, 2020
February 11, 2020 For full passage click: Psalm 119:1-4 … “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.” vs. 1 Psalm 119 is a carefully composed poem of 22 stanzas, each of which begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its 176 verses are intended to glorify the law and encourage readers to obey its commandments and ordinances. The Psalmist begins by observing that the reward for blamelessly walking in…
Daily Devotions: December 6, 2019
December 6, 2019 For full passage click: Romans 15:7-13 … “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” vs. 13 Paul’s life had changed in amazing ways and we can imagine that at times he found it hard to believe that he, a devout Jew, would be writing a powerful Epistle of inclusion to Gentiles. At one point, he had…
Daily Devotions: November 25, 2019
November 25, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 2:1-5“ … He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” vs. 4 Isaiah believed that one day Jerusalem would be established as the hub of God’s rule. From there, God would establish order and justice among the nations and there…
Daily Devotions: August 12, 2019
August 12, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 5:1-3 … “Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.” vs. 1 As Isaiah began his work in Jerusalem, he took pains to remind the people of the special love relationship that existed between them and the Lord. It wasn’t just an accident that things had worked so well for them in their long history as a nation. They…
Daily Devotions: June 29, 2019
June 29, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 9:51-56 …“When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’” vs. 54 James and John had been with Jesus from the beginning. They’d seen him preach, teach, and heal the sick. They likely were confident that he was the Messiah, the one sent by God for the sake of Israel. But they still hadn’t grasped…
Daily Devotions: June 17, 2019
June 17, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 65:1-9 …“I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name.” vs. 1 Long after the nobility of Judah had been hauled off into exile, the prophet recounts their complete rejection of the Lord. They had completely turned their backs on…
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: May 19, 2019
May 19, 2019 For full passage click: John 13:34-35 …“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” vs. 35 During those exciting first centuries of the Church’s existence, apostles and evangelists went all over the Mediterranean world and beyond, proclaiming the powerful message of God’s universal grace and unconditional love. Thousands were convicted by the Spirit and were baptized into the Body of Christ. And then the leaders of these fledgling…
Daily Devotions: May 12, 2019
May 12, 2019 For full passage click: John 10:27-30 …“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” vss. 27-28 There is an unparalleled regard for mothers in our culture. It’s not that every mother is perfect, some are far from that. But in general, we appreciate our moms and will go out of our way to honor…
Daily Devotions: February 14, 2019
♥ February 14, 2019 For full passage click: 1 Corinthians 15:16-20 …“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” vs. 17 For Paul, God’s greatest act of love was forgiveness, and he often speaks of Jesus’ death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice that removed our sins. In this passage however, he links forgiveness to resurrection and says that, if Christ had not been raised, we would still be in our…
Daily Devotions: February 1, 2019
February 1, 2019 To read full passage click: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 …“Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” vs. 8 Christianity is known for its trends. Every few years there is a major breakthrough of some sort and we become obsessed with the newest and the latest worship practices and doctrinal statements. At those moments, there are endless debates…