Ken Schenck |
October 17, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Rom. 7:15) THE LITTLE WHITE CHURCH STOOD ALONE in the middle of a field, next to a busy highway. One day the strangest thing happened. A semi veered off the highway, crashed...
Ken Schenck |
October 16, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. (Rom. 7:14) HAVE YOU EVER FACED AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK? There are a few annoying people who seem to be good at everything, but most of us are good only at a few things. In my family, I am...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 15, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God. (Ps. 73:17) THE GREAT RECESSION KILLED MY JOB. I was working at a small Bible college that operated on a shoestring budget. Then the shoestring broke. Since I was the...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 14, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Rom. 6:5) THE SCIENCE-FICTION FILM ARRIVAL is about a linguist who’s trying to communicate with aliens after their arrival on Earth. As she learns...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 13, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23) BLAISE PASCAL WAS A GENIUS. In the seventeenth century, he invented a forerunner of the computer! He also pioneered the study of probability. And Pascal had a...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 12, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Rom. 6:18) “RENT A SENIOR,” the local high school announced. The senior class was raising travel funds by hiring themselves out for a few hours. The apostle Paul makes a more radical...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 11, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (Rom. 6:12) IT MAY BE OLD-FASHIONED NOW, but it was once popular music among Christians. The hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be” came from the pen of nineteenth-century British poet...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 10, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Rom. 6:8) AVERY IS A VIBRANT YOUNG CHRISTIAN. She sings on a worship team and helps out at an after-school center for at-risk kids. She’s passionate about these ministries because of her own...
Jerome Van Kuiken |
October 9, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Rom. 6:3) ABU-KHALIL WAS AN EGYPTIAN MUSLIM who converted to Christianity. His story is told in the book Into the Den of Infidels by Lynn Copeland. After Abu-Khalil was...
Michael Jordan |
October 8, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. (Ps. 72:19) THERE’S A WONDERFUL AMBIGUITY in this psalm. At the beginning, it seems to be about an Israelite king. The Psalm is traditionally attributed to Solomon, and we imagine Solomon wanting to become...
Michael Jordan |
October 7, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
I have made you a father of many nations. (Rom. 4:17) WHEN WE FACE DIFFICULT FACTS IN our lives—the death of a spouse, disappointment with friends, financial troubles—we may be tempted either to despair or to minimize the problems. Abraham did neither. Instead, he...
Michael Jordan |
October 6, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Rom. 4:25) SOMETIMES WE ACT AS IF the resurrection were simply the cherry on top of the gospel, a happy but ultimately unnecessary ending to Jesus’ story. After all, we think,...
Michael Jordan |
October 5, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The words “it was credited to him” were not written for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness. (Rom. 4:23) ABRAHAM’S FAITH WAS CREDITED to him as righteousness. This faith was not mere intellectual belief in historical facts about God but...
Michael Jordan |
October 4, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God. Romans 4:20 MY WIFE IS A WONDERFUL BAKER, and is renowned especially for her pies. Shortly before we got married, she taught me a new phrase: “pie-crust promises.” These are promises that are easily...
Michael Jordan |
October 3, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring. (Rom. 4:16) MANY OF US LIVE EACH DAY as a series of battles: we have tasks to accomplish and in which we must excel. We have people to deal with, some...
Michael Jordan |
October 2, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
It was not through the law . . . but through the righteousness that comes by faith. (Rom 4:13) FRIENDS OF MINE WHO LIVE in Israel tell me that many public buildings have a Sabbath elevator, one that can be set to stop automatically on every floor during the Sabbath....
Yolanda Moore |
October 1, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy. (Ps. 72:4) “HOW DID THE FOOTBALL GAME go last week?” asked the principal. “We won, sir, 21 to 7,” replied the student. “That is great! How’s your family doing?” the principal continued....
Yolanda Moore |
September 30, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Rom. 5:2) THE WAIT WAS FINALLY OVER! It was Christmas Eve, and the family had gathered together. We opened the gifts as soon as everyone arrived because the kids had been waiting for days to see what was in the boxes...
Yolanda Moore |
September 29, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Rom. 5:11) “YOUR DAUGHTER IS GOING TO have a baby.” On two occasions I had heard those words loud and clear from the Lord, as if He were in the room with me. The...
Yolanda Moore |
September 28, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. (Rom. 5:10) DO YOU EVER STRUGGLE WITH who you are in Christ? Does the enemy try to tell you that you’re not good enough for Jesus or that you could not possibly be saved because of what...
Yolanda Moore |
September 27, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Rom. 5:6) “LORD, IT IS GETTING CLOSE to the time for me to leave. I am afraid, and I need a work from you soon.” I had prayed for six months for God to remove my fear of...
Yolanda Moore |
September 26, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Rom. 5:3) HUSBAND’S JOB LOSS. Daughter’s infertility. Grandson’s depression. Breast cancer survivor. What do all of these have in...
Yolanda Moore |
September 25, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:1) “THE BIOPSY IS GOING TO BE positive for cancer, and I’m going to handle it.” These were words whispered in my ear by God, through the Holy Spirit, on August 27, 2014. Peace was given to me. No matter...
Devon Smith |
September 24, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you—I, whom you have redeemed. (Ps. 71:23) THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE confident prayers of God’s faithful children, lifting their requests and praises heavenward toward Him. That never gets old to me. Psalm 71 gives us a...
