Corona Devotionals

Seeking to pursue a godly/righteous/God-pleasing life  vs.  The pull, the haggle, the temptation and the being-overtaken  of sin Can they coexist? Haven't they always?   The juxtaposition of these two--this wanting to run unfettered for Christ, while (at the same time) having enemies (people and temptations) intending and presenting actual/symbolic/emotional/mental/spiritual/physical hurdles for us to overcome... this is the rhythm of earthly life, whether we want to accept it or not.   Whether we want to gird-our-loins-for-God in preparation for it or not.  ( Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee...   ~Jeremiah 1:17). Whether we will admit it or not.   This  dichotomy has always been the dance of mortals: this seeking-to-obtain- one -existence, while battling and holding-at-arms-length an opposite existence.   Since the very first two humans in the Garden of Eden tasted...

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:  ( 16)  “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”  ( 17)  So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. ~Esther 4:15-17 Esther (and all the Jews  in her area)  fasted for three full days .  What would be the (obvious) result of this? Emptiness.  She became empty of food.  She became empty of waste.  She became empty of self .  (I do not know much about spiritual fasting, but the main idea is to empty ourselves of anything and everything (physical/emotional/spiritual) that is keeping us from God, and to hunger solely for Him.  And then He can meet us in unobstructed ways, because we have cleared the way for Him to do so.) Esther  was seeking God's will and favor a...

Now, dear brothers and sisters,  regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this.  ( 2)  You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols.  ( 3)  So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.   (4)  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.  ( 5)  There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.  ( 6)  God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.   (7)  A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.   ~I Corinthians 12:1-7 Ever been jealous about someone else's spiritual talent?  More specifically, how about someone's special ability that the Spirit gives us ?...

The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies, I know most of it word for word.  We would watch it each December on TV when I was growing up, I was a nun in my high school production of it, and while studying abroad in Australia for college, I remember viewing it with eight female roommates from around the world.  (I found out that many other countries know this play word for word too.) As I was reading the Bible today, it brought to my mind a conversation that Herr Max Detweiler has with Captain von Trapp in the Sound of Music.  The Nazis were organized and moving strategically and murderously forward on their plan to exterminate the Jewish people, and Max is laissez faire about it, but Captain von Trapp is adamant that they must never allow others to be harmed without being personally affected as well. Max  :  What's going to happen's going to happen. Just make sure it doesn't happen to you. Captain von Trapp  :  Max. Don't you ever say that again....

If we are in  need of proof of God's resurrection power...just look around.   Springtime is a special time because it is a time of resurrection.  Not just for the trees, flowers and animals but for us  too. Some people live in places where it is green and lush all year round...and some of us live in Ohio.  That means that there are a few (too-quick) Spring/Summer months when the earth thaws and nature seems to wake up, unfurl and even explode.  It's a time of resurrection. Maybe the snakes, toads and beetles that lay dormant under the soil all-Winter-long were not dead , but them coming back from a comatose state in Spring sure seems  like a resurrection.   The naked trees and bushes, stripped of their leaves last Fall,  look  dead and barren all Winter, but the fullness of their leafy greenery these (Spring) days appears to us as their resurrection. The animals, the plants, and even the ground goes through seemingly dead seas...

It's hard to be different .  Ask the zebra--the only one in the animal kingdom with wild black and white stripes.  They will never "blend in", but they weren't created to. It's hard to be different .  Ask the giraffe with that neck that goes on forever.  They will never "fit in",  but they weren't created to. It's hard to be  different .  Ask the follower-of-Christ:  Purposing not  to step on-top-of-people to get ahead: we're told we will never be successful.    Choosing honesty in school, work, money, relationships: the world laughs at our morals.   Loving  others instead of  excluding them: "It'll never work", the world jeers. And yet-- There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces...who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people...  ~Esther 3:8 Are we  those people  today?  I sure hope so.   Do our...

Stand tall today in the knowledge of who we are and Whose we are.   But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  ( 5)  God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  ( 6)  And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” ( 7)  Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.  And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.  ~Galatians 4:5-7 Stand tall  today!  We are children of God!   The One, true God.  The Lord Almighty.  The King of Kings and Lord of Lords--He calls us His.  Doesn't that make us want to sit up a little straighter?  Stand up a little taller?  Feel  of greater value, worth and purpose?   Stand tall  today!  We are  children  of God!  He cre...