Posts with the tag “demetrius”

Daily Devotional from Exodus 23--Verse 10Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.Some songs have no rhythm. Everything just bleeds together. Non-stop work has no rhythm. Fitting everything in your schedule has no rhythm. Saying yes to every opportunity has no rhythm. But a cadence of creation was set in place back in Genesis 1-2. And in order to move to the music you...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Exodus 4--Verse 14Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Moses: Then why didn’t you choose Aaron in the first place? You know this type of work requires eloquence! I can’t persuade an empire to relinquish their labor force by a stammering tongue. What are you thinking, God? You know Aaron is better at this kind of thing. God: But I haven’...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Genesis 39--Verse 12She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. I’ve always loved the image of Joseph’s garment dangling in the hand of Potiphar’s wife. It tells me he knew who he was and to whom he belonged. And I believe we must share the same conviction. I say this because sometimes temptation...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Genesis 21--Verse 17What troubles you, Hagar?People may abandon you or kick you to the curb, but God never will.Take Hagar for example. After getting tangled up in a sticky situation, she and her son get dumped in the middle of a wilderness with only a loaf of bread and a skin of water. Discarded and rejected. No comforting voices, no encouraging touches. None but one…What tr...  Read More

The first devotional post of the New Year! Let's SOAK UP the Word together in 2023. If you'd like a video overview of the first part of the book of Genesis before diving in, check out the link at the end of this post from our friends at The Bible Project.Daily Devotional from Genesis 1--Verse 2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God wa...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 22--Verse 5They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light.Isn’t it interesting that the Bible begins and ends with a world filled with light, yet with no sun?On the first day, God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. Yet the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day. And then at the end of time, the sun will no longer render ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 17--Verse 14They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those with him are called the chosen and faithful.Have you taken league with the lamb?Of all the critters we should link up with in a great war, why in the world would you want to? A lamb is not going to do anything for you. Maybe you’d be...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 12--Verse 10Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God.Do you know you have an accuser? That’s right. His name is the devil. And that’s what his name means – “Accuser.” You might not know it, but he stands before...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 7--Verses 9-10Behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”Take a moment to imagine t...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Revelation 2--Verse 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.Have you ever tried to give away some furniture, and can’t seem to get anybody to take it? But once you put a price on it, it’s gone by the end of the day! Same principle applies to the things of God. If the Lord made his will painfully clear, nobody would seem to value it. But if he wer...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 John 5--Verse 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.John Calvin famously said, “the human heart is an idol factory.” There’s just no way around it. We are hard-wired for worship. If Jesus is not the object of your devotion and affection, you will manufacture little deities. Causes and careers will be your idols and icons. Hobbies and pursuits will be your gods and g...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Peter 3--Verse 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.God doesn’t want anybody to perish. So, the Lord waits, and he waits, and he waits. He is certainly the most patient being to have ever existed. He wants people’s salvation more than anything...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Peter 3--Verse 15Honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.The Bible tells us to destroy arguments (2 Cor. 10:5) and to defend the faith (1 Pet. 3:15), but lest we get too zealous, keep reading verse 15. Peter says, “do it with gentleness and r...  Read More

Daily Devotional from James 3--Verse 5How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!In the fall of 2017, a 15-year-old boy was lighting some firecrackers and accidentally sparked a wildfire that destroyed 50,000 acres along the Columbia River Gorge. It burned for more than 3 months before it was fully contained. And, more than 6 months later, the fires were still found to be smoldering. Su...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Hebrews 11--Verse 10[Abraham] was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.Abraham is known as the father of our faith. He’s a pretty significant guy. However, if you think about it, what did the man do? He basically walked around looking for a city. Doesn’t seem all that striking. But we honor him today, not for his triumphs, but fo...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Hebrews 6--Verse 10For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.Any good bank is going to keep track of every penny you invest. They don’t get to play fast and loose with your cash. And if they can take care of all details, don’t you think God is able to do so as well? Every act of servi...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Timothy 4--Verse 2Preach the Word.Have you ever listened to a preacher and realized that after 10-15 minutes, Scripture has not once been referenced? Or perhaps a Scripture is read at the beginning, but it only served as a point of departure? But Paul’s clear mandate is to preach the Word. So that means open the Word and stay with the Word.Preacher, you have nothing else to...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Timothy 5--Verse 14Give the adversary no occasion for slander. Paul encourages us, as representatives of the gospel, to consider living your life in such a way that doesn’t invite slander. You might choose to do something based on your preference or freedom, but Paul constantly reminds us to be thoughtful of what appearances may bring. As Christians, you will have your crit...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Thessalonians 3--Verse 1Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. I love the high regard Paul has for the Word. He asks for prayer, not for the purpose of provision, not for the desire for safety, not for the hope of direction, but that the Word of the Lord would have free course. That was his central ambition. Is it yours? Ma...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Thessalonians 3--Verses 12-13May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father.Jesus has taken it upon himself to make you holy. Think of it. One day you will be blameless – clean, flawless, and perfect! No tinge of guilt. No speck of shame. No...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Philippians 1--Verse 12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Opposition never hinders the gospel! If anything, it only accelerates it. Think of communist China. China is officially an atheist country, yet it’s on course to be the world’s most populous Christian nation within 15 years. Chairman Mao wanted to elimina...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Ephesians 2--Verse 14For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.There was a thick-slab wall that stood in the temple. It read: “Foreigners must not enter…Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.” This was called the Thanatos Inscription. Thanatos is a Greek word that means de...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Galatians 3--Verse 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.Paul uses an interesting metaphor to describe the role of the law. Back in the day, a guardian was an esteemed servant who attended the child from his home to school and then back to his home again. He wasn't the teacher, but he conducted safe passage for the...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Corinthians 11--Verse 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weaknesses.Theologian, Karl Barth, used to say, “When we speak of our virtues, we are competitors, but when we confess our sins, we become brothers.” There is something disarming when we disclose our weaknesses. However, weaknesses are something we typically don’t like to put on display. We’d r...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Corinthians 6--Verse 2Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase that means seize the day. More literally it means pluck the day.Yes! Pluck the day for it is ripe. You can’t pluck yesterday because it’s beyond ripe. You can’t pluck tomorrow because it’s not quite ripe. But you can pluck today because there’s fruit tha...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Corinthians 1--Verse 12We behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity.We can spend so much time wrapped up in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—peering into the lives of others because we are too bored with our own. The mundane tasks that scream for our attention don’t seem as compelling as the latest thread of vacation pics of the family we barely know. There’s...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 7--Verse 17Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. I love the part at the end of John’s Gospel where Peter gets his commission from the Lord on what he is to do in life and how he is to honor the Lord in death. But then Peter points to John and inquires, “What about him?” And to that the Lord retorts, “Do...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Corinthians 2--Verse 12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.Eva Paole was a housemaid working in Argentina when she discovered that her birth father was a well-off landowner that had died years before. By law she was entitled to his estate and took her claim to court. Aft...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 13--Verse 8Owe no one anything, except to love each other. Try not to ever place yourself at the mercy of another. Be indebted to no man. Be free and unencumbered. This means endeavor to self-support. As a Christian, God would rather you be under no obligation, but one—and that’s to love one another. We are only beholden to love. Ideally, we are not to be on the tab fo...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 8--Verse 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.Another way of interpreting flesh is simply human effort. Sometimes we get immersed in effort – our efforts and the efforts of others. And when we get inundated in all that, pretty soon we can begin to detect an odor of death. Everything just becomes lifeless. But, good...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 3--Verse 20By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.Have you ever felt like you needed to curry the favor of a hard-to-please boss? Or ingratiate yourself to the society of important people? You finally feel you’ve have arrived, only to discover the standard keeps getting moved ahead. Your best efforts never seem good enough. And, unfortunately...  Read More

Daily Devotional of Acts 26--Verse 8Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?One of the reasons I consider myself a Pentecostal believer is because of statements like this. Is there anything too difficult for God? If he created the world out of nothing, why is it thought incredible that God should raise the dead? Is it beyond him to heal sickness, to cast out demons, to ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 24--Verse 16So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.This is interesting what Paul is saying here. Keeping a good conscience toward God and man is the best thing you can do, but to keep it up, you must mold your will to God’s and it’s painful. Following God is not always easy; we often want something different and we need to be humble eno...  Read More

Daily Devotional of Acts 21--Verse 13What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? If you fear it, then it will be your master. But if you don’t, you get to be the boss. For much of my early life I had a fear of dying, until I finally had enough....  Read More

Daily Devotional of Acts 16--Verse 6They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Asia was a province on the western end of modern-day Turkey. It had remained untouched during Paul’s first missionary journey, and now he had hopes of going there during his second. But the Holy Spirit said, “No.” Why? Why does God shut down p...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 11--Verses 25-26Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.Everybody had grave suspicions when it came to this fellow named Saul. And for good reason. He wreaked havoc upon the church for years. And recent reports of him now claiming to follow Jesus was probably just interpreted as some kind of ploy. Allow him admittanc...  Read More

Daily Devotional of Acts 6--Verse 7And the Word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly. Do you see the correspondence? Sowing and Reaping. Seedtime and Harvest. One comes before the other. Some people hold the notion that the church brought forth the Scriptures. But this text shows us that the Scriptures are actually responsible for the church. When the Wo...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 1--Verse 7It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.Whenever our family goes on a long trip, our youngest child will usually and persistently ask, “When are we getting there?” And often our response is the same, “we’re not sure; just enjoy the ride.” I think God answers that question similarly, “Just trust me on the timing ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from John 17--Verse 11Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. Jesus prays for us that we would be one, just as the Father, Son and Spirit are one. We call this phenomenon the Trinity—a divine diversity found in unity. And if you were to take a peek inside the Trinity, do you know what you would find? You would discove...  Read More

Daily Devotional from John 12--Verse 24Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.The principles of the Kingdom are often counterintuitive—You want to live? Then you must die.You want to win? The you must lose.You want to receive? You must give.You want to rise? You must sink.You want to be great? Be small.You want to be first? Be l...  Read More