Tag: surrender
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Clothed in Rags
Psalm 94; Luke 6:27–36; 1 Corinthians 4:9–13 Bless your enemies. Except “bless” means something more than just be nice or even help them. “Bless” means to ask for God’s divine favor to come on them. We all want blessings, but we are being called to ask for God’s blessings for those who make our lives…
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Calling Others
John 6:44–51; Acts 15:12–21; Romans 1:16–25 (read online ⧉) One of the hardest things for any believer is the understanding that a loved one may not be with them in Heaven. Whether one believes in Dante’s 7 circles of Hell, the Hell of endless torment, or the Hell of eternal life “merely” not being in…
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A Time of Distress
Deuteronomy 4:25–31; Jonah 2:1–10; Matthew 9:35–38 (read online ⧉) Moses is not all that optimistic about the future spiritual health of the people of Israel. He’s downright pessimistic about what paths they will follow away from God. There is something in today’s opening verse that is important, “When you…have been in the land a long…
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Connectional Motivation
Mark 8:27–33, Luke 4:1–13 Giving up others to God’s hands can be very hard. It’s interesting that Jesus explained (in basic terms) what was going to happen. It wasn’t could happen; it was would happen. Peter, emotional Peter, didn’t want to lose his friend. There also could have been a bit or, “things are going…
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Trust and Temptation
Genesis 3:1–20, James 1:12–16, Hebrews 2:13–18 (read online ⧉) The reality is that humanity has a hard time trusting God. The story of Adam and Eve is a great allegory of humanity and trust. Adam, especially, should have trusted God wholeheartedly. Eve, too, should have trusted God and should have trusted Adam. However, Eve listened…
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The Circumcision of Jesus
Luke 2:21–39, Ephesians 2:11–14, Philippians 2:5–11 (read online ⧉) The “rush” of a newborn child and all the angst that went along this particular child’s birth should have settled down a little. The day of Jesus’ circumcision was a day of fulfilled law and ritual. Instead, two prophetic messages happen. In many respects, this is…
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Humble Joy
Proverbs 15:29–33, Zephaniah 2:1–4, Luke 1:26–38 Yesterday, it was hinted that humility is a requirement to experience true (Godly) joy. If you didn’t catch that (or didn’t read yesterday’s devotional), that’s perfectly fine. Humility as part of Godly joy is front and center today. In Proverbs, we read two things to focus on today. First,…