Recent Devotions
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. (I Kings 19:19, 21, ESV) A plow, twelve pairs of oxen, and a cloak. These very…
“That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:12, ESV) I received a text message last week that said, “We need to get tea on the calendar.” I understood the message immediately. It meant we hadn’t talked in a while, and…
“And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15, ESV) One of my earliest childhood memories is of the little white country church that sat on a hill not far from our home. It’s been many years, and I…
Readers Loved
“When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.” Psalms 69:32 ESV Have you ever felt tired? I have two daughters, both of whom were terrible sleepers since birth. They were most needy during the night, waking up anywhere from 5-6 times for a bottle, diaper change, or just some snuggles. At first, you are kind of okay with the lack of sleep because you’re surviving on the new baby adrenaline rush, but eventually, it catches up to you, and you crash, hard. Something similar can happen in our spiritual lives as…
“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Isaiah 64.8 For the past few days, we have considered women in the Bible who found themselves broken in body, mind, or spirit. The Lord reached out to each one, took the broken pieces, and formed a vessel that was of value for His kingdom. I trust that we have all been inspired by their stories and that they have encouraged us to bring our brokenness to the Lord and let Him restore and make…
“The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent”. Exodus 14:14 ESV We live in a day and age where we don’t usually have to step onto the battlefield and war for what is rightfully ours. We aren’t bloodied and bruised from the fight, and we certainly (hopefully) don’t carry swords and shields with us for protection. We do fight spiritually though, whether we realize it or not. We can pray, worship, intercede, and storm the gates of Hell, but we still sometimes need God to fight FOR us. There are some things that are simply…
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.” (Matthew 2:1, NKJV) Of all those mentioned in the nativity story, we know the least about the wise men who came from the East. Matthew is the only Gospel that mentions them. We are not told how many came, where their journey began, or how long they traveled. Based on what they told King Herod, it seems likely they arrived a year or more after Jesus’ birth. They found the young child in a house,…
