Corona Devotionals

It's time to come home.   (Metaphorically speaking) our Nation has stayed out too late, broken curfew, "acted out", thrown enough temper-tantrums and just plain behaved-badly for too long.  It's time to come home...to Jesus.   The sad part is that our pride keeps us from  seeing and owning  our sinful distance from God.  We don't even realize how far we've strayed, in fact, we have the audacity to argue with the Lord about the loyalties of our hearts.  We  think  we are "good enough". He knows that we are not giving Him our whole hearts, our whole selves, or our whole tithe (offering).   The proof of our deficiencies is in our failing National/social/moral pudding.  And even though the Lord  could  shut and lock the front door on us, His love is too deep for that. 6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change... 7 ...Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.   “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?

Is God calling you out of your comfort zone? Is there an adventure on the horizon, a new job, or a new relationship that He has said "Yes" to in your life, and yet we are in the cold feet stage? It's one thing to talk  about faith and living it out , but it is quite another thing to actually do it.  Can I get an amen? For some of us (we know who we are), it's time to shift from cold feet and dipping a toe in the water, to trusting God.  It's time for us to dive in to what God has next for us. Joshua and the Israelites were at the same point.  They were traveling, and they had a promised destination in sight...the Promised Land!  (What is on your docket that you have been waiting to happen , and it finally has, or is about to?)  But the Israelites had a barrier in front of them, the Jordan River.  We might have barriers blocking the path to the "next big thing" that God has for us, too: Fear, money, change, health, pride, etc.  But God reminded the Israel

In February, just before the Corona lock-downs began, I got to spend a few precious days with my Gramma before she passed. She had a long and lively life and she was spunky right until the end.  But it was the end, and as I sat by her bedside, it was a beautiful thing for me to sing her songs of comfort and hope, like Amazing Grace and I Have Decided To Follow Jesus .  I pray that she did.   We also read scripture.  God's word is a gift that is perfect for all occasions, and Gramma and I read from Revelation about what heaven will be like.   Heaven will be stunning on so many levels.  The very first thing to behold about heaven is that we will be in God's presence:    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s

My Papa planted an apple tree in his yard each time a grandchild was born.  He planted different varieties, and I can't remember if I was a Macintosh or a Golden Delicious, but I realize now how special it was that Papa celebrated our lives with a fruit-producing tree.   I pray that you and I are producing fruit for Christ in each season of our lives.   Psalm 148 jogged my memory of Papa's fruit trees when I read God's Word today.  In it, we are reminded to  Let every created thing give praise to the Lord (Psalm 148:5),  and God actually mentions fruit trees.    Psalm 148 1 Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord from the heavens!  Praise him from the skies! 2 Praise him, all his angels!  Praise him, all the armies of heaven! 3 Praise him, sun and moon!  Praise him, all you twinkling stars! 4 Praise him, skies above!  Praise him, vapors high above the clouds! 5 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. 6 He set them in p

Did anyone tell you Bible stories when you were little?   Did you have the pleasure of learning about David and Goliath or the Prodigal Son on a flannel board in a Sunday school classroom? For many of us, Bible teachings were a part of our childhood foundations, and they set a warm fuzzy feeling about God's love and future for us.  God does love us, and he has a future in Heaven for us with Him if we choose to live our lives on earth for Him.   I'm pretty sure that the Sunday school flannel board didn't clarify that Heaven is not the default location for our souls, but rather it is a privilege that Christ died excruciatingly on the cross for us to inherit if we choose  to follow Christ on earth. Today's scripture is anything but warm and fuzzy, but it is also Biblical truth, spoken by John as he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos as a result of spreading the gospel of Christ.  While John was there, he and God had lots of alone time, and John received "visions&

For  God's  a jolly good fellow, For  God's  a jolly good fellow, For  God's  a jolly good fellow... And nobody can deny. Often on family vacations, but also periodically during a week, our family will (boisterously) burst out into a rousing rendition of "jolly good fellow" when someone has earned it.  It might be for a good meal cooked, thanking daddy for a treat he's given, persevering through something hard, making good grades or...the possibilities are endless.   Sometimes it's hard to sing it for someone else.  Like if you lost in pinochle to the "jolly good fellow", but you still sing.  Most times, it's fun to "honor" the jolly good fellow because they have earned it in some way. God has earned a "jolly good fellow" rendition from us today, wouldn't you agree?  Or even if your situation, health, or attitude doesn't have you "feeling like singing" today, it doesn't make God any less worthy of the

I am not a math person.  Numbers have never been black and white to me, more of a gray area that I never really grasped well. But I am a Jesus person.  I love Him!  I love what He did for us, and that He loves us, even though the math doesn't work out.  After all of our screw-ups in life and saying the wrong thing, and (God knows) we have done  the wrong things: Still , He says to us with unconditional love in His voice: I have loved you with an everlasting love ." (Jeremiah 31:3).  But coming back to the numbers, I feel lately as if Christ-followers are in the minority.  Perhaps it's because we can no longer meet in large groups, so it just feels like there are fewer of us .    But in relation to the media news and the conversations that I have with friends, family, and acquaintances verbally and on social media: I do not sense Jesus being a critical part of people's daily lives or heartbeat of their actions right now.  I feel that we are down in (Jesus) numbers. B

Don't forget who your Daddy is ( our Heavenly Father/Daddy) .   We can't forget our roots, and where we came from. Have we forgotten our royal lineage to the King of the Universe and that the blood in our veins pumps because He created it to do so?  We must also remember that we are saved (delivered!) by the blood of God's Son, Jesus.   The days and stresses and mandates and questions of Corona have masked our vision and understanding of God and ourselves.  We sort of feel like captives in this current situation, don't we?  Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—all who seek the Lord! Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.  ~Isaiah 51:1 Right off the bat, God firmly but affectionately cups our chin in His hands and says, " Listen to me".  He knows that we are running ourselves ragged listening to everyone else and their opinions about how we should live and proceed.  But God reminds us:  Listen to me, all who hop

Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd.  ~Zechariah 10:2 What do "household gods", "fortune-tellers", and "interpreters of dreams" have to do with us?   Could a Biblical prophet (Zechariah), who was ranting to his friends and neighbors 2,000 years ago about their wandering relationship with God have any relevance in our 21st century modern-day lives? God says "Yes".   His Word is alive.  It never grows stale, or out-of-date and what God says is consistently relevant.   How is that possible?  Because God is always present and relevant with us, and with all of the "us's" before us.  In the book of Exodus, when Moses asked what to "call" God,  God said to Moses, “ I am who I am .  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I a

I am feeling sheepish.   Are you familiar with sheep?  First of all, they lack coordination between mental and physical tasks.  For instance, if they fall onto their backs they cannot get back up, or "right" themselves.  Seriously--it's true.  They are probably thinking, "I should just rollover and get up."  But they can't.   The next thing about sheep is that they  are not very bright.  They "follow" each other by instinct, even if it is into danger, or to slaughter.  Yikes!--Turn your brains on, guys! The third thing I know about sheep is that they are pretty defenseless.  They need a shepherd to care for them, and to protect them from danger. And in lieu of this discussion, I will say it again, I am feeling sheepish--about myself and about our Nation. Like sheep, we are lacking coordination between mental and physical tasks.  Unfortunately, Corona has taken a toll on our mental health.  We feel much more insecure as individuals and as a Nation t