Corona Devotionals

Many, many times in the Old Testament God calls the people of Israel and the Jewish people "His chosen people" ( for you are a people holy  to the  Lord  your God.   Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the  Lord  has chosen you to be his treasured possession. ~Deuteronomy 14:2). So... How did God's "chosen people" expand from the Jews to all-of-you's ? To all of us , and any of us that choose to invite Jesus into our hearts? Well, here's a hint: it involved a dream, a hungry belly, a large sheet let down by its four corners and the earnest intentions of God's chosen and not-yet chosen people to know Him. Interested in the details? They truly are interesting, and the Bible rolls it out like scenes in a play. But instead of ending with a final curtain coming down, they actually culminate in the curtain opening up to everyone and all of us, regardless of whether or not we are of Jewish heritage. (Thanks be to God for opening His sal...

“Listen to me….  I have cared for you since you were born.  Yes, I carried you before you were born.  (4) I will be your God throughout your lifetime—even to your old age and gray hairs.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (13)  For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now!  I am ready to save… and show my glory…”  ~ Isaiah 46:3-4, 13 Sometimes I feel like I have lived a lot of life.   Kindergarten was forever ago!  (DO YOU REMEMBER KINDERGARTEN?)  Our youngest is finishing 5th grade  (DO YOU REMEMBER AGE 11?)  That seems like SUCH a long time ago for me.   Our oldest son will be studying for his drivers license soon. Even sixteen feels like ages ago.   I feel like time is flying. But then I look around at the world and those I pass, those I see, those I love, and I realize that maybe I haven't lived all-that-much life yet...

Put in the work.   God is Almighty.   God is sovereign. God is loving. And God has a plan for each and every one of us to be received by Him and then to be in service  for  Him.   And then when it comes down to it, we have to be willing to put in the work, or (in a word ) to suffer in serving Him.    (1) Lord, remember David and all that he suffered.  ~Psalm 132:1 David lived large for the Lord, and that included bearing suffering (challenges/set- backs/isolation/burdens) in His service.   Are we suffering?  Are we  working  for the Lord?  Are we persevering, trying, maintaining...are we  shining  for the Lord, even as we do-the-work and  suffer  for the Lord? David suffered  (and persevered into victory) under Saul and in life.  Do we have people/predecessors in business/family/home/social circles/church that we  suffer  under?      R...

Can we do a kind thing today? Maybe it will be noticed, maybe it won't.   Maybe it will matter to someone...and just maybe, it might matter for us.   Do you know a kind person?  A genuinely kind person?  You can spot them, because their intentions, hearts and acts are pure.  They are not bringing your garbage cans up from the road in the hopes that you will buy them a cake the next time you are at Costco.  But because their kindness and acts are such a blessing...it makes us want to buy them a cake, so we might.   And even if you bring the neighbor's garbage cans up every week of the year and they never acknowledge it... keep doing kind things .  If we are doing them for the right reasons (to show others the unwarranted kindness of Christ/to serve as Christ served/to demonstrate God's love), then no thank you is necessary.   (But sometimes it will come.) Let us not become weary in doing good,  for at t...

Have you had it? Your 'conversion' moment? When you realized/asked/accepted/submitted to Jesus being the Lord of your life... instead of you ? It might have been monumental. It might have been calm. It might have been spontaneous, or it might have been a-long-time-coming. Do you remember the moment? The prayer? The change ? I do. At 15 years old, God used a boy two grades older who liked me, but who liked Jesus even more. I can recall "Andy" leading me in a prayer acknowledging my sin to God, thanking Him for giving His Son Jesus to pay for my sin at the cross, and then asking Jesus to come into my heart and help me to follow Him. Andy didn't last, but the spiritual moment we shared on the phone will last for all eternity. It was not dramatic, but it was life changing. Deciding to follow Jesus has to be. Sometimes, our conversion to Christ can be dramatic. Saul hated Christ-followers.   Misled about God.  Educated in the law of religion but ignor...