Corona Devotionals

 Please do not forget that we are "sent".   We are not  here on earth to be self-focused and absorbed bumps-on-a-log.  We were each born with a purpose and we were created by a purposeful Creator to spread the Word about how great God is!  He changes lives.  He changes moods.  He changes families and He changes individuals.  If He has changed you, then God has a message for us: 5 Jesus sent out the...apostles with these instructions:... 6 " but (go) only to...God’s lost sheep. ~Matthew 10:5-6 Please don't get tripped up by the word "apostles".  That means  us.   No, seriously, it does.  The twelve that Jesus was addressing in this speech were his hand-selected apostles, or disciples, but they were our predecessors.  Our "big brothers in the faith", if you will, and just as Jesus commissioned them to get out and pound the pavement for Him, He has hand-selected us to share the exact same message. When Jesus says "...

... the LORD will hold me close  ( Psalm 27:10) Ever have one of those days? The funny thing was, it snuck up on me.  I didn't feel the "badness" mounting, or notice the weight of the world on my shoulder's until it was all just THERE.  Crushing me.   Crushing my smile and c rushing my spirit.   I do sales calls for a living.  You all might hate talking to people that you don't know, but I only "don't know" them for a moment, and then we are friends...in my book.  Well, that happens sometimes.  When someone cracks the door for conversation, and then we establish some common ground, and our product speaks for itself, so really, it's just about starting the conversation. But, oh, the challenge of doing that some days.  People can be downright mean, and they are vicious sometimes to sales callers.  Those days and people are rare, and I am usually not overly affected.  But there were a number of meanies today, and when I went ...

  I trust in the Lord for protection.  So why do you say to me, “Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety! 2  The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings.  They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right. 3  The foundations of law and order have collapsed.  What can the righteous do?” 4  But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven.  He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth. 5  The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.  He hates those who love violence. 6  He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds. 7  For the righteous Lord loves justice.  The virtuous will see his face.  ~Psalm 11:1-7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I remembe...

Do you ever feel like your days are non-stop?  Or your weeks are non-stop,  or your life is non-stop? The chores, tasks, have-to's, meals, laundry, job, and people might change, but the requirements of us stay constant and heavy.   But, if we think that our lives  are non-stop, we can be comforted by The Comforter who had non-stop daily tasks (when He walked the Earth) that topped ours easily.  I do not say that to pooh-pooh our daily schedules and requirements, but to put our demands of life in perspective  and to help us realize that just as Jesus relieved people of their burdens 2,000 years ago, He can do the same for us today . In Matthew Chapter 9, I was overwhelmed just reading  all that Jesus had on his plate in one day: 18 As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.” 19 So Jesus and ...

What does it mean to "do" Bible study?   Does it mean that we need to have a Bible, a dictionary, a Hebrew-translation book, a history book highlighting ancient Biblical peoples and locations, highlighters, pens and a gold-embossed writing journal in front of us?   Does "studying the Bible" conjure up complicated and elaborate prep and knowledge...and time  that most of us are not prepared for?  And dare I mention: that on many days, many of us are not even interested in? Wait a second! That is actually not at all  a true definition of "Bible study", if you ask me.  We need a Bible.  Anything else is optional.  (I also require coffee.)  We don't have to  write anything down, we can just read some verses and think.  Apply them to our lives and current life situations.  Read the verses again, and think about them again.  This is studying the Bible. I like to write, so a journal is helpful to me, to jot down the ver...

The fields are ripe for harvest, friends.  No, I am not talking about zucchini, tomatoes or pumpkins, although those are plentiful right now.  I am referring to people.  Lost people.  Lack-of-purpose people.  Unloved people and empty people.  They are sitting in their homes and at their jobs and on the sidelines of their kids games, and they need Jesus. Our world, politics, and media are trying to pull them farther and farther away from God’s love and His plan for their lives, and now is the time for us to rise up and speak up, for Christ.  Where would you be without Him?  Heck, even with  Jesus I am a mess some days!  But I have direction and balance a lot more often than I ever did before knowing Jesus.  The Lord gives us our footing in an ever-shifting world, and He is our true-North.   He is the only thing that brings sense or meaning to our lives.   And we know Him because someone cared enough to tell us about Him. ...

Reconciliation is a big word, but the depth (and experience!) of its definition ( the restoration of friendly relations)  is even bigger. Do you have a hurdle in between you and a friend or someone you love?  A conversation that went-awry, contrasting opinions that boiled over, or different stances that cemented your feet (and hearts) far away from each other? Day to day we can live with the distance, but the affliction of it remains.  And repeatedly God pecks at our conscience about restoring the relationship.  Peck, peck, peck, at our ego, in feeling that we are right and justified.  Peck, peck, peck at our heart to soften in the name of love.  Peck, peck, peck in the name of sanity because the division often brings crazy-talk in our heads and instability in our lives.   God knows that relationships are work, but He also knows that there is blessing in the process of working for  healthy relationships too. When we are afflicted, God calls ...