Corona Devotionals

“But as for us, the  Lord  is our God, and we have not abandoned him... ( 11)  ...We are following the instructions of the  Lord  our God, but you have abandoned him.  ( 12)  So you see, God is with us. He is our leader. His priests blow their trumpets and lead us into battle against you. O people of Israel, do not fight against the  Lord , the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed!”   ...(14)  When Judah realized that they were being attacked...they cried out to the  Lord  for help. Then the priests blew the trumpets,  ( 15)  and the men of Judah began to shout. At the sound of their battle cr y, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel and routed them before Abijah and the army of Judah.   (16)  The Israelite army fled from Judah, and God handed them over to Judah in defeat... ( 18)  So Judah defeated Israel on that occasion because they trusted in the  Lord , the God of their a...

Did you hear about the big snowstorm that hit Buffalo? No--this isn't the first line of a joke...a huge  storm descended on Buffalo the other day and dropped over  six feet of snow.  It came quickly and it moved fast.  There were predictions and ample weather warnings...but would we have been "ready" if we were living in that city? https://twitter.com/i/status/1593637300415729668 The news stories and photos of the snowstorm seemed to me like a perfect example of something else that we have predictions and ample warnings for: Jesus coming back, or the day we die.  Either one of these can happen at any time... will we be "ready"?   The Bible is absolutely clear that we should prepare our hearts (Ask Jesus in!) before  that hour, because  no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.     Only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36).  And when we meet Jesus, our life-decisio...

One of my least favorite "arguments" or "answers" has always been: " Because I said so. "  There is no proof or validation to this phrase, just a sense of rush, and an air of impatience and arrogance. There must be reasoning, proof, validation, and most importantly... truth  in order for something to be true.  We can't just make up our own truths and validate them because we said so. And yet, people do. God is Truth, and His Word is the basis for our truths. It makes me want to  stand on a  mountain top and shout , and I'm not the only one.  Abijah  felt the same way when  Jeroboam  persisted in ma king-up his own truths and twisting God's Truth. ...Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim and shouted to Jeroboam and all Israel: “Listen to me!  ( 5)  Don’t you realize that the  Lord , the God of Israel, made a lasting covenant with David, giving him and his descendants the throne of Israel forever?  ( 6)  Yet Jeroboa...

The other day at a youth church event, the parents that were gathered in the back of the room were a constant distraction and even disruption as they talked (loudly) amongst themselves  while the pastor preached to their kids! ~~~ Last year our son used to (exasperatedly) tell us stories of a kid that would attend their school Christian group every week, and every week  the kid 's phone would ring repeatedly as he would make phone calls, take phone calls, and often step out of the room during their lesson adm onishing our son to "wait for him to get back". ~~~ In a recent afterschool Christian group meeting, our daughter had one middle school boy playing a soda-pop can like a horn , complete with honking, while many others in the group were so loud that she decided to take a break in the middle of their time for snack, just to quiet them down. ~~~ What can we do when we want to throw in the towel because of distracting or difficult people when we are trying to serve the L...

Running low on " good things " today?  Doesn't it (sometimes) seem like/trend like/read like/tweet like/water-cooler-chat or backyard-fence-visit like/intimidate like/depress like... there are no  good things in the land? . I know. It's no secret that many have abandoned  the Law of the  Lord,  and at times, that's us .   It is evident all around us that people have  followed each other  in this sin.  When we look around...or when we live our days...we can wonder: Are there  any  good things  left in the land? There are still some good things in the land ...and no matter how bleak we feel the "forecast" for today is...there will always  be  some good things in the land, because God is in the land.   T he Bible reminds us of that today.   ~~~ The Israelites (and their king, Rehoboam ) were God's people, but like all of us at times/seasons of our lives...they wandered from Lord and His ways....

Go with God.  Move with God.  Be flexible and even nomadic in pursuit of Christ and in finding those who are also authentically seeking Him and staying true to the Bible. Non-believers, but  God's  people too (including us!)-- can get off track, can misconstrue truth, or can flat-out worship the wrong things--and we must have our spiritual wits about us to be discerning...and to be obedient to  follow God  wherever He is and wherever He is going.   Often, that will take us right out of our comfort zone, but we must side with  God and those living for Him if we are going to stay true to our Lord. Such was the case in the Old Testament Book of 2 Chronicles .  Two kings ( Rehoboam and Jeroboam ), both from Israel (land of "God's people") were taking sides against each other.  I'm sure they each had their social and political stances, as all enemies do, but the main line drawn in the sand between them was the opportunity to worship the...

Once, while visiting a loved one in the hospital, I connected with one of the nurses.  She opened up about a child she had breathed life back into a few months earlier at a public poolside.  She had been trained in CPR, but she said that it was a woman who came from across the park to pray for her (and the child) and speak encouragement into her as she did the compressions and breaths that "got her through" the stress of the emergency trauma and procedures that afternoon. "I couldn't have done it without her, and I have no idea where she even came from", I remember her telling me tearfully.  She said the woman "just showed up" beside her and began praying and encouraging her to 'keep going' as she knelt and performed CPR on a non-responsive little girl who had been underwater for almost five minutes.   The woman would tell her later that she was on the other side of the park but felt an urgency in her spirit to run over and pray for the situat...