Devotion.al

Feed Your Soul

  • Trusting Joy

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

    Integrity, 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 .

    “ 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 in these situations. Joy? Yes, even in these situations. Perhaps, joy is most critical in these situations. The freedom 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 grace, 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 Advent season, stirring our hearts to not take Christmas for granted, but to be stirred into of joy-filled praise of the Father, Son, and You. Continue to quicken our hearts and aid us in our journey of faith.

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

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

    Amen.

  • Defining Justice

    Defining Justice

    Psalm 52; Jeremiah 21:11–14; Revelation 21:22–22:5 “This then is how you should live, begin your morning by administering justice. All those who know and follow the will of God will rescue people from their oppressor, particularly for those whose God promised gift has been stolen from them.” [A paraphrase by Ian] There is no question…

  • Wrong Thing Vision

    Wrong Thing Vision

    Psalm 52; Ezekiel 31:1–12; Galatians 6:11–18 “When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” That philosophical question is designed around the presence of a human being. “Sound” being a human word, the implication is that the tree wouldn’t make a sound, as there is no one around to hear. From a…

  • Green Majesty

    Green Majesty

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; Ezekiel 17:22–24; 2 Corinthians 5:11–17; Mark 4:26–34 If you’ve ever walked in a forest, particularly a rain forest (like the one on the Olympic Peninsula), you might see a fallen and dead tree. On that dead tree, or from even its stump, there is a new tree or trees growing. While the…

  • Finer or Better Things

    Finer or Better Things

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; 2 Kings 14:1–14; Mark 4:1–20 Every generation is in danger of not being as faithful as the one(s) that preceded it. There is, of course, the huge possibility that “this” generation (whichever generation “this” is) will restart a journey of renewed faithfulness. The church in the US—and so-called Christian Culture—is experiencing a…