Recent Devotions
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9 When our children are small, we often place gates at the bottom of the stairs or in the entrances to some rooms. These are not meant to limit our children, but to protect them from unsafe places. We love them. They are too young to understand the dangers, so we establish some boundaries to keep them safe. Jesus said that He was the door or the gate to salvation, which is open to all.…
“For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” Psalm 48:14 The word guide is used to describe someone who leads others through unknown areas, or one who directs, supervises, or influences, usually to a particular end. I like to read…
“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalm 18:2 One of the hardest things to accept as I grow older is the fact that I…
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“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Matthew 19:21 When Jesus was here on earth, His teaching drew crowds of followers. Some followed Him because of the miracles he performed. Others saw Him as the One who would deliver them from the Roman oppressors. It is possible that some just saw Him as a diversion. They listened to His teachings but did nothing about them. The young man in this story, apparently, was hungry for…
“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10, ESV) How do you turn a nation back to God when it seems to have lost its way? That question seems relevant in our present times. Is revival and restoration even possible? The Book of Ezra offers hope. As we read through its chapters, we discover how one man’s dedication and determination became the catalyst for a nation’s revival. Ezra, one of my favorite Old Testament characters, was a scribe and a…
“Give us day by day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3) A little water and a morsel of bread. That is all the prophet Elijah asked from the widow woman. A simple request, but it was not an easy one to fulfill. Times were worse than difficult; they were desperate. Because of drought and famine, food was scarce. All the widow had left was a scant handful of flour and a little oil. It was only enough to bake a small cake for her son and herself. Their resources were gone, and soon they would die from starvation. Elijah did not stop at this home by accident.…
Psalms 34:18 ESV “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” I’m sure that many of us have experienced a situation in life that resulted in a broken heart. I recall one specific break-up in high school that left me with swollen eyes that could hardly open, a bad case of the sniffles, and a heart that felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces. Of course in high school, this quite literally felt like the end of the world to me. I am glad to report that I have since recovered. There are…
