Recent Devotions
Many of you may remember that I love to watch nature documentaries. A few weeks ago I watched a video on the Serengeti, which is located in the African country of Tanzania. The Serengeti maintains herds of over a million wildebeests among a multitude of other animals. Even the greatest predators find it a struggle to stay alive during the dry season, which can last for up to half a year. They follow any source of water to find nourishment from the grasslands. The dry, seemingly barren land looks destitute until the season begins to shift. It is called the…
They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made… So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their…
Now Elijah said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 1 Kings 17:1. 1 Kings 16-18 narrates a story about Ahab, a king who was more evil than…
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So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (II Kings 6:16, NKJV) How could one man’s actions cause an entire army to go on a search mission to find him and seize him? Yet, that is what happened in II Kings 6. The man was Elisha, the prophet of the Lord, and the Syrian army wanted to find him. Is There a Spy? Time and again, Israel managed to evade the Syrian army. They seemed to always know where the Syrians would be. Was there a traitor within their ranks? The Syrian king was…
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” Psalm 46:1-5 While seeking the Lord for…
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8 “Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic—the term for something we are thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever. Authentic has a number of meanings including “not false or imitation,” a synonym of real and actual; and also “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” Although clearly a…
“They came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus… began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Mark 10:46–47, KJV In this passage we meet Bartimaeus—a blind beggar sitting beside the highway. That roadside was known as a place where outcasts, the unclean, and the overlooked gathered. His daily routine was painfully predictable: “I’m blind… can you spare a shekel?” Nothing about his day suggested anything extraordinary was coming. But then he heard something; voices, footsteps, movement. And because he…
