Posts with the tag “annika”

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 16--Verse 13-14Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.At the close of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul leaves his final instructions. He calls them to be alert, grounded, mature, unwavering—and ultimately do everything in love.These are some great things to apply to our own walk as Christians. ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Exodus 20-- Verse 3You shall have no other gods before me. In Exodus 19-21, we see a stunning display of God’s power and His outline for morality for the people of Israel. These are the first laws given to them to follow, and they come down to two things: love God and love your neighbor (Mark 12:29-31). This is the struggle of the human condition. It’s hard for us to love God...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Exodus 3--Verse 11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”I remember the day I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me about pursuing worship ministry. I was afraid, and I didn’t feel well equipped for the task. Moses was being called to do something great and scary. He also did not feel equipped, although God had a...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Genesis 34--Verse 30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land…’When we see injustice, our natural reaction is anger—and rightfully so. What we do with that anger says a lot about us. Dinah’s brothers were furious about the rape of their sister, and rightfully so. But what they did with that anger went...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Genesis 16-- Verse 13“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’” Have you ever tried to take matters into your own hands, instead of letting God write the story of your life? I know I have many times, and in Genesis 16-18, we see how Sarai and Abram took matters into their own...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 21--Verse 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”‭‭This is the hope of the entire book of Revelation! When the new heaven and earth are created, we will physically dwell with God. The whole earth will be re...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 16--Verse 15“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!” There is some scary imagery of God’s judgment in this passage—BUT this is for those who do not call on the name of the Lord and who worship the beast. For us, the warning is to keep our garments on! And wha...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 11--Verse 15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” With all the intense imagery in this chapter, and all the mystery within it, this verse is what I’m the most excited about. Jesus will rule and reign o...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 6--Verse 9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. There is a special honor in heaven for those who are martyred. They will be avenged. While in the USA the likelihood of us being a martyr is very low, unless you go to another country as a missionary, it is imp...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 1--Verse 8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Jesus is coming back for us! I am so excited for the Day when we get to be with Jesus. I know sometimes thinking of the Lord’s Day can give us anxiety, but be encouraged, the heart of this letter is God’s love for His Church and His desire to be re-un...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 John 4--Verse 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.I’m so thankful for the Body of Believers. We are all around the world, diverse, have  different worldviews—yet God has called us together as His children. That’s amazing! Any Christian you meet is your brother and your sister.Jesus, in love, sacrificed Himself so that we could be free from death...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Peter 2—Verse 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.Sin is attractive. It’s easy to get sucked into things if we don’t have a strong community to hold us accountable. The world makes it seem easier to just give into our fleshly desires, but we’ve all seen the destruction that sin br...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Peter 2--Verse 9But you are a chosen race, a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.When we put our faith in Christ, we are adopted into His family and become co-heirs with Him. We have access to God’s presence through the Holy Spirit and we get to ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from James 2--Verse 26For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.Faith is empty if it doesn’t truly impact our actions. James was deeply concerned about believers having compassion for others because of their faith in Jesus Christ. This whole passage, he talks about treating the poor and the rich equally as well as caring for those in nee...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Hebrews 10--Verse 10And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. It’s so amazing that Jesus has fulfilled the Law through His death and resurrection! This passage also states that “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Aren’t you glad that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice? That he h...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Hebrews 5--Verse 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.The writer of Hebrews told the Hebrew Church that they had become “dull of hearing” and needed basic principles re-taught to them.Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in other things or to let apath...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Philemon--Verse 18If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it.I love in this little letter how Paul is acting on behalf of Onesimus—who was once a bondservant—meaning he was working a debt off. Paul is asking for his freedom and stating that he will repay any debt he owes Philemon. Isn’t ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Timothy 3--Verse 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. As Christians, we should never stop learning and growing in our faith. I love how Paul encourages Timothy to not only continue to learn, but to revisit the past and remember the truths he was taught from other believers. Like this passage says, it...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Timothy 4--Verse 8For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It’s not easy to train your body to do something. Whether it’s running, swimming, singing, dancing, or painting—new skills take a lot of effort and time. Sometimes it gets frustrating as we practice the sam...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Thessalonians 2--Verse 3Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. Paul the Apostle urges the church of the Thessalonians to not be “quickly shaken” or “alarmed” by those claiming the Day of the Lord has come. Instead, he tells them to remember what they wer...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Thessalonians 2-- Verse 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.Paul was making his appeal of his trustworthiness and thanking God for the Thessalonians in this letter. I love how in this c...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Colossians 1--Verses 21-22And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Jesus’s ministry is one of reconciliation. He has reconciled us to God—wow! This is why we share the Good News, so that others too may be reconciled ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Ephesians 6--Verse 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.There is always so much more going on beyond what we can see in the physical.That person who screamed at the grocery clerk in line, the person comp...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Ephesians 1--Verse 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I love this prayer of blessing that Paul gives to the church in Ephesus.We need revelation of the knowledge of Christ through the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is who directs us in all wisdom. When you’re reading a Script...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Galatians 2--Verse 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.Paul was opposing those who were teaching non-Jewish believers that they weren’t truly saved unless they followed the Law—mainly by getting circumcised. Paul...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Corinthians 10--Verse 17Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.Boasting, or bragging, about ourselves and our own successes falls short. When we take credit for what God has given us, we tell Him that we don’t “need” Him. We also take credit away from the true provider.It’s tempting to want to be self-important—in fact, our culture teaches us to be: “Sell yourself for th...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Corinthians 5--Verse 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.Have you ever been estranged from someone? Whether it was a family member, a friend, or even a spouse—I’m sure it was difficult. Sometimes the estrangement is our own fault, and sometimes it isn’t, but if you were able to reconcile that relatio...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 16--Verse 13-14Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.At the close of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul leaves his final instructions. He calls them to be alert, grounded, mature, unwavering—and ultimately do everything in love.These are some great things to apply to our own walk as Christians. ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 11--Verse 18For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.Paul is admonishing the church in Corinth because they were not only divided—but they were dishonoring the Lord’s Supper by not considering those at the end of the line. They were eating their fill and getting drunk! The poor especially were going h...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 6--Verse 6 ...but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?Unity is so important to the Church, and so is accountability. Paul would rather we settled trivial matters not in the court, but in house. He talks about how the Corinthians were so quick to defraud or wrong their own brothers and sisters—instead of being humble with one another....  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 1--Verse 10I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.Does this verse mean that everyone in the Church must think the same about everything? Absolutely not! But, we see in the church of Corinth that people were quar...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 12--Verse 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. We are called to overcome evil with good, to love our enemies, and to take it a step further and even serve them. This is so counter-cultural—especially in our society’s polarized climate. We may not agree with how others choose to live their life or what opinions they hold—whether they are ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 7--Verse 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.We all do the wrong thing. We all sin. We all make mistakes. It’s our struggle between our flesh and our born-again selves. Even Paul had this struggle—and he openly admits it in his writings. He thanks Jesus in verse 25 for being the one who will deliver us f...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 2--Verse 1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. It’s easy to pass judgment, but it’s hard to give grace. I think we’ve all judged somebody—it feeds into a feeling of superiority, that we somehow are the moral officers—that we someh...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 25--Verse 25But I have found that he had done nothing deserving death.Have you ever been falsely accused? It’s frustrating, painful, and in Paul’s case—even a life or death situation.I love how Paul is cool under pressure during his trial. He states, “I do not seek to escape death.” Even though he knew he didn’t deserve to die. Whatever accusations were thrown at him, Pa...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 20—Verse 24But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.It’s natural to fear death, but Paul didn’t. He knew that his end was near, and he rested in the assurance he had in Christ. He knew that if he died, he would be w...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 15—Verse 11But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.In the Jerusalem Council, the early Church leaders made an important decision that was guided by the Holy Spirit: Gentiles (non-Jews) did not have to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. This was huge for the Church, and for new believers. It was the decision t...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 10--Verse 28b…but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. This thought was revolutionary to the Jews. Not only was Jesus for them—He was for the whole world. Those of us who aren’t Jewish people were not excluded from the promises of God. That’s pretty exciting! It’s easy to put people in ‘otherness’ boxes. “Oh, he’ll never become a Christia...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 5—Verses 41-42Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.Wow. The apostles were beaten—and they rejoiced!It’s so backwards in our world to find joy when we suffer. It’s human nat...  Read More

Daily Devotional from John 21--Verse 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” This last chapter of John is so powerful. Peter had betrayed Jesus 3 times, and now Jesus gave Peter the c...  Read More