Recent Devotions
“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.” Proverbs 15:1-2 At my first office job, I had a manual typewriter. At the end of each day, I had to type a long letter with several carbon copies. If I made a mistake, I had to erase it on each copy and retype it. Now as I am typing this on my computer, I can easily fix a mistake, just backspace, and remove it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to the words we…
“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.” Proverbs 1:1-4 What is your…
My burden for our children and youth has only grown in these last months. Now more than ever, we need to invest in the young men and women of our Nation. When I was a youth pastor, I noticed that most of my students wanted to use their voice, but…
Readers Loved
“Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” John 13:7 Have you ever wished that you could see into the future, even just a little bit? It would be nice to be able to check up on things and have some reassurance that everything really will be okay. I don’t read fiction novels very often, but when I do I usually skip to the last chapter just to make sure everything worked out fine before continuing on with my reading. The suspense of the novel is too much to bear and I have to…
“Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth.” Genesis 29:1-2 We are no doubt all familiar with the story of Jacob, how he had tricked his brother Esau and obtained his birthright, and then deceived his father into giving him the blessing. In fear for his life, he left his home and…
“And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work” (II Corinthians 5:8, New English Translation). Abundant life. We probably all view what that means in various ways. Does it mean when we serve God we will suddenly become financially well off? (Some call this the prosperity gospel.) Or does it mean life will now be completely trouble free and happy? (Ask the apostle Paul about this one.) Yes, we often do have more money because we are…
“Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.” Acts 9:25 This story in Acts 9 almost sounds like something we would read in a suspense novel. Saul has made some enemies in the city, and they are planning to take his life. Fortunately, he has some friends, who live near the edge of the city and in the night, they put him in a basket and let him down from the window so he can flee the city. Recently our pastor was teaching on this chapter in Acts, and he made…
