Jim "Umf" Lo | August 14, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord. (2 Chron. 33:12) A student recently asked, “Why did you become a Christian?” Her question brought to mind one Wednesday night when I was still in high school. My mother and younger brother got into a heated argument. In...
Leah E. Good | August 14, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals Voices
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. (2 Kings 22:1) DO YOU WONDER if God can or will use you? Perhaps you want to serve God but worry you might be too young, too old, too inexperienced, or too broken. Human...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 13, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. (Ps. 69:30) I TOOK A SELF-DEFENSE class in which the instructor continually was saying that you have to use your attacker’s weight and aggression (or momentum) against him. He demonstrated what to do...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 12, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced. . . . There was great joy in Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 30:25–26) MOM AND I THREW my papa a whopping retirement party with all the decorations and trimmings. We invited many friends and family he’d known through the years. All were...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 11, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Come to the temple of the Lord. (2 Chron. 30:1) FOR YEARS I HAVE TRIED to make a difference in people’s lives by sending cards. I send all kinds of cards: Thank You, Happy Birthday, Get Well, Cheer Up, Thinking of You, Sympathy, etc. In our church’s bulletin, I notice...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 10, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. (2 Chron. 29:29) I sat on the back porch during a thunderstorm. I watched the trees and bushes bowing back and forth, and I listened to the thunder clap and bang. The...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 9, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
We have purified the entire temple of the Lord. (2 Chron. 29:18) I NEEDED A MEDICAL PROCEDURE that required me to “cleanse” my body days prior to the procedure. This involved taking many medicines and being on a restrictive diet. It was a brutal process that demanded...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 8, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him. (2 Kings 18:6) AS A GIRL OF FOURTEEN YEARS, I always prayed I’d get to attend a Christian university, but my dream never unfolded for one reason or another. Heartbroken, I let go of my dream when it seemed...
Tammy Barnes Teeter | August 7, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. (2 Kings 18:3) MY PARENTS ALWAYS TAUGHT me to do the right thing in God’s eyes. They led by example and by purposely applied pressure if necessary, for which I am truly grateful. I...
Lawrence W. Wilson | August 6, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before. (Ps. 68:28) HAVE YOU KNOWN someone who lived in the past? Perhaps it was the friend who reveled in high school triumphs long into his thirties, or the singer who told and retold the story...
Lawrence W. Wilson | August 5, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. (2 Kings 11:21) “SO DAD, YOU’VE ACTUALLY been alive for seven decades.” My daughter was being cute, pointing out that because I’d been born in the final month of the 1950s and survived to see the first sunrise of 2010,...
Lawrence W. Wilson | August 3, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, and let it be used to repair whatever damage is found in the temple. (2 Kings 12:5) ONE OF THE WORST MISTAKES you can make in any venture is to throw out the old with no plan for the new. You’ll see this...
LAWRENCE W. WILSON | August 2, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. (2 Kings 11:18) THE SURGEON STOOD AT my hospital bed and said, “I hear you’ve been having trouble lifting that leg.” Having undergone a joint replacement surgery the day before, I didn’t think...
Lawrence W. Wilson | August 1, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He made a covenant with them . . . then he showed them the king’s son. (2 Kings 11:4) “I NEVER LET THEM THINK about it,” Gordon told me. He was explaining his approach to dealing with prospective customers for his landscape business. In response to my puzzled...
Lawrence W. Wilson | July 31, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
But Jehosheba . . . took Joash . . . and stole him away from the royal princes who were about to be murdered. (2 Kings 11:2) “PUT THAT MONEY AWAY and pretend you don’t have it.” That was the advice my father gave me when I earned my first real paycheck. For once I...
Amy Knepp | July 30, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. (Ps. 68:9–10) THE COUPLE SAT BLISSFULLY GAZING into each other’s eyes. Silver hair framed the woman’s smiling face. The man tenderly clasped the woman’s hands with his own worn hands and gently...
Amy Knepp | July 29, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The high places, however, were not removed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (1Kings 22:43) THE COMBINEDAROMAS OF COFFEE and chlorine wafted through the air as Jen and her husband watched their twin girls swim down the lap lanes of...
Amy Knepp | July 28, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. (2 Kings 3:17) CAREY STEPPED OUT of her car and took a deep breath. She tried to ignore the butterflies she felt in her stomach as...
Amy Knepp | July 27, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
“What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?” (2 Kings 3:10) SUMMER HEAT rose from the dark pavement as the wind softly blew through the growing corn. Jade was going on a late evening...
Amy Knepp | July 26, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God. (2 Chron. 19:3) WHERE ONCE THERE WAS A SPRAWLING NEIGHBORHOOD with stately houses, now only rubble remained. Streets that had been lined with...
Amy Knepp | July 25, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?” (1 Kings 22:4) “THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO. When Rebekah is about to sit down, kick her lunch tray so her food spills everywhere. It will be so funny.” Jackson had a funny feeling in...
Amy Knepp | July 24, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
In everything he walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. (1 Kings 22:43) JACK LOOKED DOWN into the face of his newborn son. He noted his son’s small pouty lips and the dimpled chin, the same...
Jill Printzenhoff | July 23, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds—his name is the Lord—and rejoice before him. (Ps. 68:4) LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS EASY. Regardless of social status, occupational position, leadership role, or financial wealth, no one is immune to...
Jill Printzenhoff | July 22, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (1 Kings 18:17) THE ROOT SURFACED in the garden when Adam blamed Eve, and she in turn blamed the serpent. Unfortunately, the deadly vine didn’t end there, but infected others and eventually...
