Posts with the category “devotional”

1 Corinthians 9:14I think if you were to poll pastors on what is the most controversial (if not difficult) topic to preach on, it would be on giving (tithing). Why? Because it is about money. Tithing, or a tenth, goes back to the book of Genesis when Abraham gives a tithe to Melchizedek as a way of expressing thanks to God for a victory. This became part of the Mosaic law. The New Testament does n...  Read More

John 12:1-8 As a parent, it's interesting to me to sit back and watch Paisley do things by herself. I often wonder why in the world she is doing that, but the same is true for anyone. Have you ever wondered that not just from your kids, but from strangers out in public or even family members?  I always love reading today's Bible story, here you have Jesus and his disciples eating dinner with Lazar...  Read More

Nehemiah 12:44-47Praise the Lord for our leadership at Emmanuel! Until I was on staff, I did not fully grasp how much our pastors take on. Sitting in staff meetings, I am able to hear some of the day to day things that are on their plates. I’ll tell you it’s far more than just preparing and delivering a sermon on Sunday mornings. The pastor, as the shepherd of his flock, tends to the needs of his ...  Read More

Nehemiah 12:31-43 How do you tend to respond to God providing in your life? Do you take time to stop and recognize how God got you through the possible trial or hardship in your life? Do you just jump to the next thing and quickly forget about everything because you're caught up in the busyness? When God works in our lives, we must stop and praise Him. He is worthy of our praise!   Here in Nehemia...  Read More

Nehemiah 12:27-30The wall has been built! Praise the Lord! After building the wall, the Levites came back to sing praise to the Lord and worship the Lord. They are having a time with intentional praise. God is good, He helps us with our needs, and has done so much for us. We are coming into a month where we focus specifically on Thanks. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. We take time to gathe...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:   After a major spiritual victory in your life, do you take the time to praise the Lord? Nehemiah did. In fact, he led the entire nation of Israel in a very intentional and inordinate “program of praise” to God for his power, protection, and provisions in rebuilding the broken-down walls of Jerusalem. Often, in our lives, it is easy to take God’s goodness for granted. We m...  Read More

Matthew 5:6This title! I’d love to hear from any one of you about how happy or blessed you feel when you’re hungry. Is anyone happy when they are hungry? And maybe there is a reason that you’ve been told that you get “hangry” when your food cravings aren’t fulfilled.  The title of today’s devotion comes straight out of the book of Matthew: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...  Read More

Matthew 5:3-4Several years ago, the movie “Unbroken” was released. Based on the book of the same title, it tells the story of Louis Zamporini. He was an Olympic athlete who, at the start of World War Two, became a bombardier. He survived being shot down, stranded at sea, and eventually as a prisoner of war. It is a fantastic tale of overcoming great odds and forgiveness. During a Billy Graham revi...  Read More

Nehemiah 10:30-39 Have you ever gotten that feel-good attitude when you complete a task or goal? The kind that makes you stop for a minute and say what’s next! I’m ready to tackle anything! Well, I imagine that is what Nehemiah and his team felt like as well when they finished the project.  When we complete a major task or overcome a setback, we tend to find our purpose to continue to keep going. ...  Read More

Nehemiah 9  This is a lengthy chapter of Nehemiah, but I promise it’s worth your time reading it. This is such a powerful moment for the Israelite community. They spent half a day reading from the Law, worshipping, and confessing sin to God. Almost the entire chapter is a prayer to God by the Levites. Throughout the prayer, there is a consistent theme of remembrance. The Israelites had turned thei...  Read More

Nehemiah 8:5-9 When you think of something as broken, do you think of it in a negative way or a good way? Being broken can really have two different meanings. We typically think of something that is broken as something that is either no longer good or trash unless it can be fixed. There is another side of being broken that can be a good thing. There are many examples that we could think of. Take a...  Read More

Nehemiah 8:2-3What an amazing passage showing people who are hungry for the truth! This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately, about how many people are hungry for truth. Many people are seeking today for something to help them feel whole. Something to hold on to. So many things in this world promise to be the truth or to give a sense of purpose in this world. The Bible tells us the...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:   Often, a physical problem eventually sheds light on a spiritual problem. For Israel, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem was a physical problem. After they had achieved this daunting task, they soon realized what the “greater reason” was for rebuilding the walls – spiritual revival! When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he found more than just broken walls; he found broken l...  Read More

Nehemiah 7:4-63Can you imagine being carried away into exile, barred from your homeland, and expected to live under another country’s rule?   As we’ve journeyed through the book of Nehemiah, we’ve been reminded that this is exactly what happened to the citizens of Jerusalem at the hands of the power-hungry ruler of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, who initiated the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish ...  Read More

2 Peter 3:17-18Ever since Christ’s ascension, there has been the anticipation that He’s return is imminent. And it is right to have felt, as then, and to feel even now this way. For man does not know the day of His return. Even though there have been two millennia, Christ’s return remains at “any moment.” Eschatology, the study of end-times, is dicey. It’s important to have an understanding of wha...  Read More

1 Timothy 4:12-16 If you are not aware yet, from reading my devotions, Nehemiah is one of my favorite books of the Bible. There are so many great lessons throughout the book that apply to modern day leadership. Nehemiah is a man of courage, strength, and perseverance. When the opposition came, he dealt with it while also continuing to move forward with his mission to build the wall. If you are any...  Read More

Colossians 2:6-7A few weeks ago, our staff went up to Lake Ann Camp for a team-building retreat. One of the team building exercises involved working in pairs and walking through the rigid forest. Sounds easy, right? Well, one person from each pair had to take turns closing their eyes and being led by their partner. An exercise to show us how we have to trust our team, or, taking a step further, tr...  Read More

Nehemiah 7:1-3 The massive task of building the wall has finally been finished. However, the work doesn’t stop there for Nehemiah. Nehemiah needs to find people he can appoint to leadership for the long term to help oversee and be faithful stewards of what God has restored. The wall being restored was a huge deal, but this is also a very big deal. When looking for someone to lead, what do you thin...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:15-19Quote from Warren Weirsbe’s commentary on these verses, “If you can’t see Satan working, it’s probably because he has gone underground.” The wall is finished, and it seems as if the fight for Nehemiah should have been over! He won! But Satan is not one to give up. He is still trying to find a way to hurt their progress. Tobiah is trying to intimidate Nehemiah, and there are nobles ...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:   They said, “It couldn’t be done,” yet the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in a meager 52 days. Unbelievable! Have you ever seen God move and work in your life in a miraculous way in a short period of time? If you’ve been blessed to have experienced this kind of a miracle in some way, it has a way of strengthening your spiritual trust in God, yet it’s only the beginning! ...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:15-19Here in Michigan, we are all quite familiar with “orange barrel season” when major road and bridge construction is underway across the state, leading to numerous traffic delays, detours, and lane closures. The roadway is lined with graders, excavators, rollers, dozers, dump trucks, concrete mixers, and more.  Some of our local road improvement projects can take a year or more to co...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:10-13 It is safe to say no one likes being accused of something you didn't do. If you come from a family like mine, where there are 6 kids, it was often easier to pass the blame on someone else rather than take the heat. Of course, that is not the right thing to do at all, but unfortunately, it happens all over. From siblings to workplaces, people try and accuse others of some sort of p...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:9What is your prayer life like? As we have studied Nehemiah, we have seen time and time again that Nehemiah was a man of prayer. Prayer was his first line of defense before any decision, and when under pressure from those opposed to his project. One might think someone would give up by now with all the opposition, threats, rumors, and accusations that Nehemiah had. Not to mention buildi...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:5-8 Throughout the entire time of rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah has faced a lot of opposition. When previous attempts failed, some of his enemies tried deception and intimidation. This was an attempt to discredit Nehemiah’s leadership and destroy his reputation.   We see in these verses that an open letter was received. This might be a small detail that would get overlooked, but one tha...  Read More

Nehemiah 6:1-4Nehemiah was given a job to do. Build the wall! He needed to continue this work no matter what. He knew what he needed to do and stuck to his work. Now, these people wanted to take him away and meet with him because they did not want Nehemiah to be able to finish his task. Time and time again, they sent him letters, and time and time and time again, he refused to meet with them. He w...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:   Sometimes pushbacks come in forms beyond physical threats. When Sanballat and his henchmen came for Nehemiah and the Jews, Nehemiah was physically ready, having positioned, equipped, and motivated the people. They were aligned properly through much planning and preparation. In fact, it could be argued that they were more prepared now for an attack than they had been in t...  Read More

1 Corinthians 12:26The human body is fascinating, and every part of it is necessary and serves a beautiful purpose. It’s remarkable to know that our bodies have the ability to regenerate and repair themselves. A few other notable facts are that the skin can be grafted from one part of the body to grow on another part. It is the human body’s largest organ and is constantly renewing itself. And wow,...  Read More

Acts 4:32-35We are all familiar with the old church saying, “the church isn’t brick and mortar, it’s the people inside.” Well, as cliché as that might have become, it is biblically accurate. Those of us who call ourselves Christians are the church. That is why we refer to ourselves as a church family. As with the nuclear familiar, it is the people that make it home. As I write this, we are just a ...  Read More

James 1:27 As Christians, it's easy for us to fall into this trap of contentment. A feeling that pulls us into thinking what God has blessed us with is for our personal use. With that being said, we also know as Christians that it is not from God, but a tactic used by the enemy to try and hinder the growth of the kingdom. We see in James 1:27:Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultl...  Read More

Nehemiah 5:13-19It’s much easier to be a follower than a leader. To go with the norm, go with tradition, go with the culture. It takes a brave person to break away from that and choose to be a leader. It’s also easier to break rules, take the easy route, or be lazy. Being a follower of Christ, you will be in the minority. You may be the only Christian in your family, workplace, or friend group. Ma...  Read More

Nehemiah 5:7-12 Have you ever been taken advantage of in some way? I am sure we can all say yes to that question. Whether it was a big deal in your life or as something small like your sibling conning you in a bad trade for Halloween candy, it never feels good to be in that position. In Nehemiah, we have seen the Israelites face opposition from external forces, but here we even start to see intern...  Read More

Nehemiah 5:1-6The Jews in this passage are crying out for help. It seems as if there is a famine, and people are having to overpay the officials and nobles just to live! They are even selling sons and daughters into slavery in order to keep food on the table. Nehemiah is outraged! He is shocked by the sin of the officials who are taking advantage of their own people and their hunger. Sin is someth...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:   Why would God put such an “unusual” story in the middle of the “walls project” in Jerusalem, led by Nehemiah? Perhaps it’s because what was actually “broken” in Israel was much deeper than physical walls. Sure…the walls represented protection and prosperity, but the people had even bigger problems. They had allowed syncretism to invade their land as they “mixed” worship ...  Read More

Read Philippians 2:9-11One day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Have you bowed your knee to Jesus, and if you want, who hasn’t in your family or friends’ circle? It’s time that we take the Gospel of Jesus more seriously!Who are you presently “praying for” who needs Jesus in his or her life?How can you strategically plan to talk ...  Read More

Read Acts 9:17-22Saul yielded himself to the Holy Spirit and was baptized to identify himself with “the Way” – the group of people he once hated! Immediately, he began to preach the Gospel of Jesus! A man who was completely driven against God was now completely driven for God! God chose him for a purpose! God has chosen you for a purpose!What are the “evidences” of a changed life in Christ?What ar...  Read More

Read Acts 9:10-16Tarsus was an educational center with its university ranking with those of Athens and Alexandria as the finest in the Roman world. Saul was about to get the ultimate “education” of being a disciple of Jesus. Unfortunately, his reputation preceded him as being untrustworthy. He needed to embrace the process of proving!What’s a time in your past where you had to “prove yourself” aft...  Read More

Read Acts 9:6-9In this moment, Saul became completely vulnerable and helpless in blindness. Instead of “controlling” his life, he was now waiting for God’s direction. Instead of pursuing his passions, he was about to find out what God wanted him to do. It’s in these moments where true growth takes place…because you have NO OTHER OPTIONS!What has been the hardest thing for you to submit to Christ i...  Read More

Read Acts 9:3-5Saul went to get “arrest warrants” from the high priest, also a civil authority. Damascus, a key commercial city with several trade routes, was located 175 miles northeast of Jerusalem. If he could “stamp out” Christianity in Damascus, he could eliminate its spread throughout the Roman Empire. On his way, he was confronted by Christ.How did God get your attention when you needed Him...  Read More

Read Acts 9:1-2There was great antagonism against “the Way” (Christianity) led by a young Pharisee named Saul. He had been named after the first king of Israel. He had been trained under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel. His chief goal in life was to “snuff out” Christianity, as he saw it as a threat to the laws and traditions of Judaism (Legalism vs. Grace).What is your greatest temptation that drifts y...  Read More

Nehemiah 4:21-23So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, e...  Read More