'Devotional' Tagged Posts

First Advent Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-2 Message:Advent has begun! It is the season of the liturgical year when we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Christ child. We wait with anticipation of a coming Messiah, which will bring hope, peace, joy, and love to a hurting and broken world. Too often, society rushes us to the celebration of Christmas before we have time to prepare. The month of November barely begins before Christmas items blanket store shelves,…

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”       Caregivers are often the silent forgotten sufferers of illness. They strive daily to care for loved ones but all the focus is on the sick or failing person. Often they juggle jobs, total care, all of the household and the only thing they sacrifice is themselves and their care. Everyone asks about the sick person; everyone prays for…

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,     These are some of the last words Jesus spoke to the disciples. All he asks of us is that we spread the Word of God and his love to everyone we can. We do that by believing in him and living a life that show the world who he truly is. It is…

2 Samuel 23:2 BSB The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His word was on my tongue.       So, how does the Spirit of the Lord, speak through us? Well first we have to let him in and then we have to recognize that it will give us the words to speak. God, through the Spirit, can help us communicate what He needs us to. In Acts 4:8-9 we hear “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,…

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;      God gave us the scriptures because he loves us and he wants us to know what to do. Jesus himself gave us the basics of the rules “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor…

 Joshua 1:8 ESV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.   The “you shall meditate on it day and night” sounds a lot like Paul’s “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) both send the same message; that…

Psalm 19:14 KJV  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.      The words that we speak and the actions that we make are all affected by what lives in our hearts and minds.  We have to start there if we are going to live the life that God wants us to. We do that by reading his Word, following his teachings, sharing his love…

Psalm 119:9 NKJV How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.     It is the Word of God that keeps us on the right paths. We need to ask our selves if all of our deeds and words are in line with the scriptures. Now I know that following the rules isn’t always easy, but God gave us the rules because he loves us. Like any good parent he know that rules are necessary…

Romans 10:9 NIV  Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.      We read in John 1 that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Jesus is the Word. So, if we keep the teachings of Jesus in our hearts and minds and we tell others about him then we are sending…

Matthew 5:43-44 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…      When I was a kid one of our teachers took us over to the VFW to meet the WWII…

Ephesians 4:29 BSB Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.      Physical attack can harm the body, but words can crush the soul even more. That old saying about sticks and stones is wrong. We can do far more damage to someone with words than we can with a stick and the damage done is harder to heal. The harm…