Corona Devotionals

I was about five-people-deep in line at a store the other day when the cashier had to step away to help a customer. As the line grew longer and people waited, a few men in the front struck up conversations. We all heard as they exchanged profanities as if they were pleasantries, and then they compared tips about where to buy the cheapest bottles of alcohol in our city. One of them said that he had walked thirty minutes to get to this store because he had lost his license and almost died in a drunken driving incident recently. And yet another man let us all know that he had just given plasma to "make some money", and that all he really wanted to do was to go home, lay down, and have a drink. This.... this is our world, friends. Day to day we may live in a little bubble of church-goers...we might prefer to stay in our homes and our status quo churches...but the truth is that we live in a lost world full of lost people. Does this make us sad ? Does this make us mad ? Does ...

Ever think about what heaven will be like? I do. Will we see Believers that we knew?  Will we eat good food?  Will our pets be up there?  What will the weather be like?   Take a peek into heaven.   Imagine it...   But we do not have to imagine, because God has written to us in the Bible about what we will see in heaven.  The Lord has given us a preview.  A read- through.    Let's take a peek  at what we can expect in heaven. Ready to push-open the door?  Revelation 4 (1) Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said,  “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.”   ( 2)  And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.   ( 3)  The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of...

The Bible (God!) says to love one another .  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  ( 35)  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  ~John 13:34-35   The Bible says to love our neighbor .   ... ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’   ~Matthew 22:39 The Bible says to love your brother . But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for  you yourselves are taught by God  to love one another .  ~I Thessalonians 4:9 And... of course,  first and foremost, the Bible says for us to love the Lord  our God with all our heart, soul and strength. Jesus sa id to him,  “‘You shall love the  Lord  your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  ( 38)  This is the first and great commandment.  ~Matthew 22:37-38   “Hear, O Israel:...

Lord, you have cleared us out, and cut the weeds away.   Pride gets overgrown, and apathy must be ousted.   We want to whine " Why me? ", and we quibble that " It's all too much ", but You (Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth), call us on it.   You see our sins of selfishness and pride, and through Your Word (the Bible) and Your Spirit, You cut the poison out of us .   Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;  wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (8)  Let me hear joy and gladness;  let the bones you have crushed rejoice. ( 9)  Hide your face from my sins  and blot out all my iniquity. ( 10)  Create in me a pure heart, O God,  and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  ( 11)  Do not cast me from your presence  or take your Holy Spirit from me. ( 12)  Restore to me the joy of your salvation  and grant me a willing spirit, to susta in me.  ...

It all started when I found a poem called "Daffodils", by William Wordsworth, and upon reading it, I knew it would be a nice piece that I could share with my friends at the nursing home this month. I had a number of other short books to read with them, but I was most excited about the daffodil poem because it was Spring-y, classical, and daffodils are in season and bloom right now: so it was perfect. What if I could bring them each a daffodil flower !? The idea jumped into my mind minutes before it was time to go. The idea was so simple, but I thought it would be a brilliant way to bring a breath of spring into the institution-bound residents that I would soon see. I pulled on some boots and in our yard and in the yards of neighbors: I found lots of daffodil greenery, but the only blooming daffodils were in my neighbor's yard. They were both already at work, and I had no other daffodil-options, and so after weighing my choices (and time), I snipped some. These weren...

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ( 4)  Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,  ( 5)  to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.  ~Titus 2:3-5  ~~~ I am truly grateful for the example of  the  older women (some older -in-years, and some older -in-faith) in my life.  (I hope you know who you are!)   Their example encourages my ego when I get too "me" focused.   Their influence  shapes  my spirit, so that I know what a Godly woman looks/acts/thinks like.   Their wisdom washes over me when I get riled up. And their foundation in God and His Word keeps me tethered to the Lord because if they can live for Him , then I can too.   ~~...