Corona Devotionals

(1) One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the   Lord . But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”   (2)  “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”  “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.   (3)  And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.  ( 4)  Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”   (5)  So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.  ( 6)  Soon every container was full to the brim!   “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.   “There aren’t any more!” he told her. ...

Find your " harp ". ~~~ If we will just be willing to reach out and tune in to God...He always shows up. There are lots of worldly "gods" to worship, and false-figments to throw ourselves at in times of desperation, but if we will seek the Lord...we will find the Lord ( You will seek  me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.   ~Jeremiah 29:13 ) , and the rest is His story. But we must seek. Are we there yet? Are we sick and tired of being sick and tired? Has our spiritual "d rought" gone on long enough? There were three kings  ( Joram, Mesha, and Jehoshaphat)  in the Old Testament  that came together to besiege the king of Moab.  They set out, but  all three armies traveled along a roundabout route through the wilderness for seven days.   There was no water for the men or their animals.     (10) “What should we do?” the king of Israel cried out. “The   Lord   has brought the three of us here...

Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.  ~Hebrews 11:1 Everyone talks about faith .  We marvel at people with "strong" faith .  We admire those "walking" in faith .   But what is " faith " and what will it look like in our lives?   I think it will look a bit like  a board being balanced on a fulcrum.  We need equal measures of  faith  (believing in and trusting God/ being sure ) and conviction (being convinced and accepting of the fact that we don't have all of the evidence).   Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.  ~Hebrews 11:1 We can know that we are living " faith " when we find ourselves in a precarious balance between seeing and  believing.   Right in the middle of those two is where faith is defined. Will we know it when we are "in-the-middle" of faith?   I should say s...

Anyone who loves to quarrel loves to sin...  ~Proverbs 17:19   We all have our own opinion, our own preferences, and something to say.   But will we?   Must we?   Speaking our minds is such a temptation, but the  acceptance-of (and silence- toward) others and situations is a gift that we can give to others and ourselves. Anyone who loves to quarrel loves to sin...  ~Proverbs 17:19   Today let’s stay out of sin by staying out of quarrels. Certainly God does not condone our acceptance of sin, but so  much of what we criticize, disdain, gossip and quarrel about is not sin.   It is simply life-done-differently than we would do it.   At the root of most quarrels  is pride.  Others are not doing what we think they should, and in telling them (or others) about it...we engage/invoke/invite a quarrel. Anyone who loves to quarrel loves to sin...  ~Proverbs 17:19   I do not love to quarrel.   But chewing on t...

One of our children has been away at church camp this week.  Allll weeeeek.  And while I pray and know that he is experiencing big fun and big growth in God, this mother's heart still aches for him by the hour. Who's watching over him?  No one knows his habits, preferences, and insecurities like me.  He's so far away and out of my "reach"... Are we missing anyone today?  Is someone we love  out of reach   in relationship, geography, or even separated from you by death?   Allow Psalm 139  to comfort and remind us of God's thorough, all-encompassing, unaffected-by-location, deep  love and knowledge for us and for all of His children today.   We (pridefully and errantly) deceive ourselves in thinking that "no one could love them like we do", but  there is One who does , and the Lord is always  actively loving His children and present with them, even if we are not.   Cherish  Psalm 139 today as a...

Just keep sharing God's Word.  People want  to hear it. As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week.  ( 43)  Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.   (44)  The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord.   ~Acts 13:42-44 Paul and Barnabas  were sharing truths about Christ, and the people  ate it up!  They begged  to hear more  the next week , and did you hear what happened the next week , as they kept sharing God's Word?   T he following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord ( Acts 13:44).   It reminds me of about 40 or 50 public elementary school students that gathered on Tuesday's this past year to hear Bible stories after school.  Preparing ...

What if we knew that today was our last day? How would we spend it? Training/teaching/living-for-God--in the hopes of passing on a legacy in Christ? Elijah lived his very last day the exact same way that he lived his other days--listening to God and believing in God's power and authority...and investing in others for Christ.   For Elijah  that meant mentoring  Elisha.  Many prophets watched and learned from Elijah's faith ( Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River.  ~2 Kings 2:7) , but Elisha was the one  that God put on Elijah's heart to mentor, lead, and build into.     Jesus had many admirers, students and onlookers, but (only) twelve were his specific assignment from God to teach intentionally and to "do life" with.   Heavenly Father, we can't affect or influence the whole world for You, but who can we invest and build into  t...