Devotion.al

Feed Your Soul

  • Trusting Joy

    Psalm 37:3-6, Joel 2:12-13, Isaiah 12:2-6, James 1:2-4

    , so it is said, is doing the right thing when nobody is watching. It can be tempting to do the wrong thing when no one is watching. It is often easy to do the right thing when everyone is cheering.

    It’s when no one is cheering, or people are even grumbling or threatening those who do right, that we come to the hard part of living out our faith.

    “Trust in the LORD, and do what is good…”
    Psalm 37:3

    “…I will trust [the LORD] and not be afraid…”
    Isaiah 12:2

    When it gets tough to do right, all we can do is trust God. Sounds easy, but how often do we fail to trust God, and instead trust ourselves, others, or things?

    James calls on us to be filled with joy in these situations. Joy? Yes, even in these situations. Perhaps, joy is most critical in these situations. The to feel joy is fully reliant on trusting God.

    Let us pray:

    Dear Heavenly Father, we know with our heads that we need to trust you. As we are frail human beings, help our hearts to trust you further than yesterday, and even more so tomorrow. Grant us the peaceful assurance of your , compassion, and love. Help us to continue to seek the coming Messiah, and to be filled with joy of knowing you.

    , be with us through the remainder of the season, stirring our hearts to not take Christmas for granted, but to be stirred into action of joy-filled praise of the Father, Son, and You. Continue to quicken our hearts and aid us in our journey of faith.

    , Son of God, thank you for becoming like us. Thank you for experiencing a life like ours. We are thankful that you know temptation, yet did not sin, us strength to choose the God-lit path of faith that goes through the .

    Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we lift you up on our praise. Help us to joyfully sing your praise, for your glory.

    Amen.

  • The God of Where

    The God of Where

    Psalm 123; Jeremiah 7:1–15; 1 Corinthians 4:8–13 The change between Jeremiah and Corinthians cannot be overstated. The clash between law and grace is right there before us. The CEB (the primary translation currently being used to write and to read for this devotional) and NRSV translated Jeremiah 7:7 as, “…only then will I dwell with…

  • Begging In Faith

    Begging In Faith

    Psalm 88; 2 Kings 20:1–11; Mark 9:14–29 Regardless of your views on the COVID vaccine, medical science (including vaccines) has been miraculous over the years. How medical practices have been improved is amazing (My grandfather once told me of a vaccine he received as a kid. The process was highly unsanitary.). Medical science continues to…

  • Passed The Gates

    Passed The Gates

    Psalm 88; Leviticus 15:19–31; 2 Corinthians 9:1–5 I have long felt this passage in Leviticus to be unfair to women. No, not because of certain cultural influences of today. Perhaps it was the era I grew up in, or because my mom worked as a school teacher. Or in conjunction with that, my dad was…

  • Knowing Limits

    Knowing Limits

    Psalm 88; Leviticus 21:1–15; 2 Corinthians 8:16–24 What is your limit? Or, perhaps, who is your limit? Republicans? Democrats? Communists? Libertarians? Capitalists? Roman Catholics? The homeless? The hungry? A different skin color? A different nationality? A different religion? Neighbors? Friends? Family? Children? Spouse? Relations and relationships are some of the biggest variables in human existence.…