Jim Dyet | June 28, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. (2 Sam. 11:9) HER SON OWNED A MANUFACTURING COMPANY, but she was an assembly line worker. When the company was invited to display and sell its products at a...
Jim Dyet | June 27, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. (2 Sam. 11:7) “IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU. How are you?” Do you ever wonder if the person who asks how you are really cares how you are? Have you asked how someone is...
Jim Dyet | June 26, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
But David remained in Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 11:1) IDLE HANDS ARE THE DEVIL’S TOOLS is not an exact quotation from Scripture, but it agrees with the apostle Paul’s note to the Thessalonian Christians. He observed that some of them were idle and had become busybodies (2...
Jarod Osborne | June 25, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain. (Ps. 65:9) AS WE GET OLDER, we gain responsibilities (or at least we should). It starts small, like being responsible to pick out your own clothes or pack your own lunch. Then you’re...
Jarod Osborne | June 24, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel?” (1 Sam. 16:1) I ONCE HEARD my dad say that getting fired from a job can be one of the best things that happens to an adult. I’m sure it doesn’t feel like a...
Jarod Osborne | June 23, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. (1 Sam. 18:14) CASTING CROWNS has a hit song called “Broken Together.” The lyrics tell us that you and I were never meant to be complete, that it’s good enough to share in our brokenness...
Jarod Osborne | June 22, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the lock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. (1 Sam. 17:34–35) MOST ANIMALS have a strong instinct to protect their young. Watch the Discovery Channel and you’ll see mama bear...
Jarod Osborne | June 21, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy. (1 Sam. 17:33) IN ANCIENT GREECE, courage was a core virtue. Plato said that “courage is a kind of salvation.” A soldier strong in battle was the model of courage. Perhaps that is...
Jarod Osborne | June 20, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7) SHAWN MEGIRA, a teenager from Long Island, New York, walks into the mall. He stands in line to order a drink, and looks behind him and, in his own words, “There’s like a line of fifty...
Jarod Osborne | June 19, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” (1 Sam. 16:11) THOSE WHO HEAR God’s voice calling them to do His work often have a predictable response. “Who, me?” Have you ever sensed God was asking you to do something that was way...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 18, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness. O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of earth. . . (Ps. 65:5) FUNERALS ARE GENERALLY NOTABLE for their glossy recollections of the deceased. And that is how it should be. The old proverb declares “Of the dead...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 17, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people. . . (1 Sam. 13:14) IF THE PROOF IS IN THE TASTE of the pudding, then, ultimately, the proof of character is in one’s deeds. All of us have known people who started well, with...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 16, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
You acted foolishly, Samuel said. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. (1 Sam. 13:13) SOME TODAY THINK THAT CHARACTER might just be negotiable. To them, policy that coincides with their philosophy matters more; to others personal charisma and...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 15, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance?” (1 Sam. 10:1) IF IT TAKES NOBLE CHARACTER to respond to authority, it also takes noble character to handle...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 14, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on a head of us”—and the servant did so—“but you stay here awhile, so that I may give you a message from God.” (1 Sam. 9:27) Character is often exhibited by one’s response to authority. If you’re a parent, you know that a...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 13, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans. . . (1 Sam. 9:21) Is it a sign of poor character to expect a promotion? Should one expect to be surpassed by the performance of others? Should one pretend...
Valorie Quesenberry | June 12, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man without equal. . . .a head taller than any of the others. (1 Sam. 9:2) Is your father a warrior? Saul’s was. Samuel the prophet called him “a mighty man of power.” He was no doubt respected among his friends and feared...
Diane Gardner | June 11, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him. (Ps. 64:10) GOD HAD ANOINTED KING DAVID . But with that came what often comes with leadership—opposition. Sometimes it is justified, such as when Nathan confronted David for murder and adultery (2 Sam. 12)....
Diane Gardner | June 10, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. (Acts 2:17) When a nation’s government sends out an ambassador, it sends her with the authority to speak on behalf of the country’s leadership. In many ways, she is her nation’s voice,...
Diane Gardner | June 9, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Here am I. Send me! (Isa. 6:8) Get up in front of all those people? No way. My husband and I were on a cruise ship, participating in a group activity. It turned out that the activity involved competition. The winner had the chance to win a free cruise. The ship’s...
Daine Gardner | June 8, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. (Isa. 6:7) “The buck stops here.” The phrase has a fascinating origin. In frontier days, when players gathered around a poker table, they passed a marker from person to person to indicate whose turn it was to deal the...
Diane Gardner | June 7, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
I am a man of unclean lips and life among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. (Isa. 6:5) One day, very early in my professional life, my inbox binged with yet another email from him again—that unusually demanding and relentless...
Jim Dyet | June 7, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. (2 Sam. 11:7) “IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU. How are you?” Do you ever wonder if the person who asks how you are really cares how you are? Have you asked how someone is...
Diane Gardner | June 6, 2018 |
Daily Devotionals
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isa. 6:3) Try to describe the look on a groom’s face when he first sees his bride. The feeling of laughing with a friend until you cry. The beauty of a sunset that took your breath away. The...
