Corona Devotionals

It's a bit of a process....faith is. God's word, God's lessons, God's truth and the understanding of how it all applies to our lives...it's a process.   At one point, we may be intimidated by God's law or His call/correction on our life, and we can also be downright angry sometimes about Him/or the Bible "calling us out" on sin or misdirected allegiance in our lives, but in time...in wisdom...and in submission to Him... something changes , and I dare say that it's us  becoming more like Him.   He changes us through the process of faith, which is like an  (often reluctant)  metamorphosis of us  growing out of an ill (spiritual) fit in our lives and developing into a more-beautiful/more Christ-like revealing of Him-in-us. Sometimes it's easy and seamless but most times.. it's a process .  Take David for example.  His heart was right in wanting to serve the Lord.  But his "process" and his understanding-of-God's-holiness was a...

The crazy thing about the Bible is that it is timeless.   This Book that is over 2,000 years old is relevant  and timely  to right now and to us  today. Don't believe me?   Believe God  and see if His Word addresses the cultural-shifts and changes/acceptances/moral decay and the blatant opposition to Him and His order of things.  And His ultimate dominion over all of it.   God sees us, and He sees our hearts.  He knows that we all know Him, because how could we not?   Indeed, there is no way  to rationally deny the (miraculous) conception of a baby or the blaze-of-beauty within a sunset, because God has made it obvious to us.  We have no excuse. But people make  so many   excuses , don't they?   Yes, they know  God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks (Romans 1:21). And instead of accepting God's truth (and beauty), so many today create their own truth, and worship any...

What are we praying for today?   Healing?  Peace?  Money?  Comfort?  Protection?  Health?  A miracle?  Joy?  Strength? We pray for lots of things, and God tells us to: S o I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Luke 11:9) .  But when was the last time we prayed for the opportunity to encourage others in their faith, and also to be encouraged in ours (Romans 1:12)?  Those items are not usually on my daily prayer docket, but they were on Paul's, a leader in the very first Jesus-movement in Bible days.  I know (and admire) that Paul had a mouth for sharing the hope and story of Jesus like no one else to everyone else.  But I never knew that he had such a heart for encouraging other Believers along the way.  But it makes sense.  We can't do this life (faith) trek alone, and we aren't supposed to.  Paul understood that, and h...

Sometimes we complicate it.  Sometimes the world, the church, our expectations and our ideals complicate  our mission. But today, God's Word reminds us to simplify. Our mission, as Believers in Jesus is very simple.  It is not  detailed, doing it should not  be exhausting, and is not reserved for only-the-elite (in degree/faith/age/status/etc.) to share the Good News .   ( 3)  The Good News is about his Son... ( 4) ... He is Jesus Christ our Lord.  ( 5)  Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.   (6)  And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.  ( 7)  I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.   May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give y...

I was in a fix.  A pinch.  A pickle.   I had the way , but I needed help with the means.  I needed a big, strong person's help, and time was ticking.   We have a big van that can seat many kids (and often does), but it was in the shop.  We have a bigger  van that can  seat even more kids...but the bench-seats were not in it.   I needed a big, strong person to help me load the heavy benches into the van, and the first couple people I asked couldn't/ didn't  show up.   And time was ticking.   The purpose  of getting the benches in the van was to take home the six kids I had already  (happily/willingly/for-the-love-of-Jesus!) volunteered to drive home after Bible study, and I needed to leave to get them in fifteen minutes .  It used to be hours from now, then it was only an hour from now, and now it was about now  that I had to leave...and no benches were in the van because I had n...

But after a while the Philistines returned and raided the valley again.   ~I Chronicles 14:13 Back in the Bible days, the Philistines were the continual thorn-in-the-side of the Israelites.  The Philistines were always after the Israelites... returning and raiding them  (time after time), even after the Israelites had defeated them.  The Philistines just wouldn't go away. We have our "Philistines" too, don't we?   We gain victory (in Christ!) over t he issue/situation/attitude/stance/conflict/person/relationship/sin/depression that  habitually inhabits our space, and there is triumph and encouragement.  We see, experience, and are strengthened in our faith by God's undeniable presence and protection.  It's victory with the Lord! And then  after a while  the enemy  returns and raids us  again.  (Can I get an "Amen"?)   The exact same thing was true for David with the Philistines. This "faith" thing is ar...

W hen the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. But David was told they were coming, so he marched out to meet them. ( 9) The Philistines arrived and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim. ( 10) So David asked God, “Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord replied, “Yes, go ahead. I will hand them over to you.” (11) So David and his troops went up to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. “God did it!” David exclaimed. “He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood!” So they named that place Baal-perazim (which means “the Lord who bursts through”). ~I Chronicles 14:8-11 ~~~ Went to bed crying last night.  The pressure, the responsibility, the expectations, the burden-of-living-for-Christ is just too much sometimes.   Sometimes this is me (and maybe you), but last night, this described our youngest child.   A month into...