Posts with the category “devotional”

Nehemiah 2:6-10As we continue to look through the story of Nehemiah, we see an interesting section here today. Nehemiah was greatly troubled about what was happening with Jerusalem and wanted to help. We see that he first responded with sorrow but also prayer. Next, we see him before the king and asking that he would grant him the time and passage to go and rebuild the walls. It was exciting that ...  Read More

Nehemiah 2:1-5 Have you ever had a time in your life when you are doing something, but your mind is elsewhere? Sitting at work and thinking of your family at home? For me, this tends to happen most when I am driving (which is not always safe) and I drift into my own thoughts of things I need to do, conversations I had that day, or just thinking about the game last weekend. The next thing you know,...  Read More

“It’s worth the risk!” Have you ever heard that statement? So often, people make the choice to “play it safe,” when God is calling us to come out of our comfort zones to do something mighty! Nehemiah had everything to lose and nothing to gain…by the world’s standards. He was in an elevated position serving the most powerful king in the world, yet he saw beyond the comfort to the crisis. As a resul...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:1-11How do you respond to bad news and deep emotional stress? Do you respond with action? Do you respond with prayer? Nehemiah’s burden led him to tears, fasting, and prayer. He prayed to the “God of heaven,” acknowledging God’s great and awesome character. Prayer is Nehemiah’s first response, his first order of business upon hearing terrible news about Jerusalem. His prayer comes from ...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:5-11The story of Nehemiah is one of my personal favorites. This book is rich with history as well as a testimony to the faithfulness of Nehemiah. In these passages, Nehemiah is confessing before God the wickedness of his people. When praying, this is an important factor in our prayers. When taking the Lord’s supper, we are told to first reconcile with anyone with whom we are at odds wit...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:5-11How's your prayer life? I think we could all do better when it comes to prayer. Too often, prayer becomes our last resort when it could and SHOULD be our first line of defense. Nehemiah is a wonderful example of a man who went straight to prayer when there was a problem, but he didn't stop there. He prayed, and then he took action! Upon hearing the news of the wall of Jerusalem bein...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:4“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” I love seeing Nehemiah’s response to his brother’s news. He had gotten the report that Jerusalem was in great trouble and shame because the walls were broken and the gates destroyed by fire. This meant that the city was vulnerable, defenseless, and spiritually disco...  Read More

Nehemiah 1:1-3 & Genesis 18:16-33Genesis 18 with the story of Abraham and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are always a tough one to read. The people of the cities were truly wicked, and yet Abraham begged for them not to be destroyed because they are people and he believes surely, they are good and righteous people that live there, so God could not really mean to destroy everyone! We are all sinn...  Read More

Sometimes God has to expose our struggles and issues to get our attention. Sometimes, as was the case with Nehemiah, the struggles and issues are negatively impacting the people who we love the most. For Nehemiah, living in a plush environment as the cupbearer to the king, his eyes were widely opened when he heard the current state of his “hometown.” Recognizing the embarrassment and danger that b...  Read More

James 4:2-3I love the book of James.  It takes me about 15-20 minutes to read all the way through, and it’s filled with practical instructions on how to live out a genuine, active faith. Friends, I desire and need that wisdom.  As the page is turned to chapter 4, James has some harsh and important words for his audience.  “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what ...  Read More

Romans 12:1-2  “Not my will, but yours, God.” We say that often in our prayers, but when really pressed, do we really mean it? Now, I’m not trying to sound cynical, just real. We (well, I do anyway) often ask God for His will to be done when really, I’m asking God to affirm my will. A couple of problems with that approach. The first is obvious. We don’t set terms for God. Secondly, God in His perf...  Read More

John 14:1-14As Paisley is getting older and her personality is coming to the forefront in our lives, we are seeing that she is much like Sarah and me. She does not have any reservations about asking for something. Throughout our house, at some point or another, you will hear the sweet cries of WaWa, Pass-e, or Blank-ee. The calls will go on until whatever she is asking for is A. Given to her or B....  Read More

Matthew 6:19-21Have you ever seen the TV show Hoarders? It's a documentary about the living conditions of people living in all their “stuff”. Literally, these people buy so much stuff they will never use, and it just sits in their homes. Some of them buy things “just in case” they will need it. Some are hoarders simply because they have never decluttered over the years. Others are flat-out addicte...  Read More

Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord,   and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Man, when we look at this verse, it can be very enticing. “He will give you the desires of your heart”. What are some desires that you have? When I think of a list of desires, I often come back to the classic question, what would you do or what would you want if you won the lottery? Many of us already have a l...  Read More

Mark 11:20-26 Let’s move mountains! Prayer is truly an amazing thing. The ability to talk to the God who created all things, who saved us from sin, who is eternal and has been around from the beginning, has given us the ability to speak to him directly. He has also told us that we can have faith in Him and He will answer our prayers. We simply are to believe in Him and make sure that we are faithf...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:     There is a false gospel that exists in religious circles today called the “prosperity gospel.” It teaches that God has promised health, wealth, and prosperity for those who follow him. Bible texts are used out of context all the time, claiming that God desires to make you rich. Sadly, this is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. In fact, did you know that every disc...  Read More

1 Peter 2:13-17Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; l...  Read More

Colossians 4:5-6Salt, or more specifically, the sodium in it, is an essential mineral for keeping our bodies functioning healthily. It helps regulate fluid balance, nerve and muscle function, and generally to just keeps the body in balance. But for most of us, salt has always been associated with taste. It brings out the flavor of food. Sometimes an enhancement, and other times it’s the only seaso...  Read More

Romans 12:9-21When reading today's passage, my mind instantly thought of sibling love. I don't know if I can speak for all of us who have siblings, but at least for me, even though they drive me crazy at times, deep down I love them. If you are not aware, I am the youngest of 6 kids, don't worry, you read that correctly.  When it came to issues, we could probably spend a couple of days listing out...  Read More

John 18:10-11When it comes to our Christian beliefs, it can be so easy to be on one extreme or the other when standing up for truth. We either get caught up in emotions and say what's on our mind or sit back in silence and watch as truth is ignored or mocked. It’s clear throughout scripture that neither of these approaches are biblical. We see in this text that Peter was defending Jesus being take...  Read More

Matthew 10:34-39 It is very interesting when we look at what Jesus did and said. Jesus’s words have been taken out of context and misused so much over time. In today’s passage, it can look really difficult on the surface, but we have to dive in and see what Jesus was really saying.   It is important to realize that Jesus did not come to bring peace on this earth. Too often, as Christians, we want ...  Read More

Matthew 5:38-42 What is amazing about Jesus’ words is that they were NOT taken the way that they were originally intended to be taken. Has that ever happened to you? You gave your kids a command, or you questioned your spouse about something, or you asked a co-worker a question. Somehow, what you intended was not understood in the way you intended. In those awkward moments, what do you do?As the J...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:     On many occasions, Jesus would say to his audience, “You have heard that it was said” or something else like, “do not suppose!” What he was doing was making a counter-cultural point to the misunderstandings of the day. So much in today’s culture is like what Jesus encountered. There are so many contrived agendas of what the “true” Jesus had to say! Jesus is neither a p...  Read More

1 Corinthians 5:12-13Sadly, the line between culture and church has become blurred. The church has somehow taken on the responsibility of trying to adapt culture into the church…which is the exact opposite of how things should be. What has happened is that churches (and entire denominations) have become afraid to speak out against what is clearly unbiblical behavior, trying to justify it by taking...  Read More

1 Corinthians 5:9-11I think this portion of scripture often gets misunderstood. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, warning them not to associate with those who are caught up in sexual immorality. He takes it a step further by saying I am not talking about those who live in the world; he is talking about those who claim to be a Christian but are living in open sin. As believers, we must be able ...  Read More

1 Corinthians 5:1-8I look forward to being in heaven one day. Not just because we will see Jesus face to face, but because there will be no more sin. I don’t know about you, but I can't quite grasp what a world would be like without sin because it’s all we have ever known. Even within the church, there are those who profess to know Christ and are living in all kinds of sins, especially sexual immo...  Read More

Matthew 7:3-5 How easy is it to look at someone else and realize what they are doing wrong? We often get so caught up in pointing the finger at someone else or judging them harshly without looking at ourselves first.   I see this a ton with my daughters. They are 3 and 5 years old. They are best friends but also sworn enemies, as any natural sister groups are. Lately, my oldest has been pointing o...  Read More

Matthew 7:1-2 Why is it so easy to judge others but not ourselves?What do you think it means to judge someone in a Biblical context?Judging others comes down to a very tricky balance. We are supposed to hold other believers accountable for their actions. However, we often do this with hearts of judgment instead of love. We easily point out the sin in others and ignore our own. We should not be loo...  Read More

It seems that there is no greater buzz phrase out there that’s misunderstood in the church and beyond than: “judge not, or you will be judged!” It’s spoken all the time and in so many different scenarios. What if it doesn’t mean what you think it means? One phrase that you are going to hear often in this mini-series is CONTEXT IS KING! When Jesus spoke the polarizing phrase in Matthew, it was not ...  Read More

1 Timothy 6:6-10What a wonderful four months this has been JOYRIDING together through Philippians. This beautiful, joy-filled letter written by Paul has taught us some essential and much-needed truths. My takeaway was: finding joy and contentment in Christ, no matter the circumstances.  And here we are, with a final lesson, a final devotion in this series. And this one is certainly beneficial. Che...  Read More

2 Corinthians 8:1-5We all want to leave a legacy; something that we’ll be remembered for. Leaving a legacy hit me hardest in 2023, when both of my parents passed away within seven weeks of each other. My dad passed first. His illness was mercifully short. My mother, fighting both grief and cancer, passed a few short weeks later. To their great credit, several years prior, they had gone to great le...  Read More

Luke 12:13-21Let’s be honest, we all know there is something out there we are dreaming of, a bigger house, a better car, a better job. You get it, the list goes on for miles and miles.  Maybe you even find yourself thinking, if I had a better car I could do _____. If I had a bigger house, I could do _____.  Don’t feel guilty! We are all like this in some way or another, but here is when wishful th...  Read More

Philippians 4:22 & Romans 1-:13-15The gospel is for all people of every tribe, tongue, and nation. For every ethnicity and social status. In Paul's letter to the churches at Rome, he said he was obligated to share the gospel with Greeks and jews, to the wise and to the foolish. The good news of Jesus is not limited to America. It’s for the whole world to know! If we are being honest, I think most ...  Read More

Philippians 4:14-19 I love that as Paul wraps up his letter to the church in Philippi, he thanks them for everything. Early on, they had given to Paul to support his ministry. By doing so, they partook in what he was doing. They were sharing in his sufferings and the gospel going forward. They gave to him as a sacrifice. They wanted to serve Paul in his needs and by doing so, they served God with ...  Read More

Philippians 4:10-13 Paul starts here by showing thanks and rejoicing in the believers of Philippi. They are a church who have always had a love for Paul, and Paul always had a love for them. He then tells us that he is content and that He can do all things through Christ. It is interesting to me that contentment and a reliance on Christ go together. He actually says it is the secret. This whole bo...  Read More

Gratitude is the key to everything in life! If you’re a grateful person, you will work hard. If you’re a grateful person, you will love deeply. If you’re a grateful person, you will sacrifice for a cause. It’s the product of true joy. The kind of attitude that fully trusts God no matter what circumstances come your way. That is how the Apostle Paul ends his love letter to the Philippians. He remin...  Read More

2 Corinthians 10:5It’s been estimated that on average, we have 40-50 thoughts per minute. That is a lot of thinking. Have you ever really thought about what you’re thinking about? Beginning with Sunday’s message on a positive thought life and continuing through these daily devotions, we should know by now that our thoughts have immense power to shape our feelings, our actions, our reality, and see...  Read More

Psalm 46It’s clear to all of us that the world around us is a crazy place! For most, we take a look around and shake our heads. If you are anything like me, you want to start fixing the issues. You begin asking yourself, what can I do to stop this from happening?  However, it's not just the world that is like this; what about in your workplace? Are you the type of person who, when you see a task u...  Read More

Philippians 4:9I love chapter 4 of Philippians. Paul touches on so many things in this chapter. Rejoicing, anxiety, thought patterns, and contentment. Our verse for today, though, is about learning from Paul's example and putting it into practice. We all should have role models in our lives! For the Philippians and many other churches, it was Paul. We, too, can look to Paul as an example in our fa...  Read More

Philippians 4:9 One of my favorite parts of hockey is the NHL playoffs. They are gritty and the best playoffs in all of sports. To be the champion and win the Stanley Cup, a team must win a minimum of 16 games. That's a lot! That's 4 best-of-7 game series. They could play anywhere from 16 to 28 games to win the cup! Many players lay their bodies on the line and play through multiple injuries for a...  Read More