The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Metaphors of God’s Strength From the Psalms
Romans 15:13 reads “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
When we talk about God as Almighty and the Holy Spirit as having power, as in this verse, we don’t always think in terms of how that affects us. God being the God of hope that He is, fills us…..
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Secure In Salvation
[If parts of this devotional seem to repeat other recent devotionals, it is because I’m in the middle of preparations to speak at a conference with the theme of “Anchored” using, of course, Hebrews 6 as the basis of my messages. This just happens to be what I am studying right now.]
1 John 5:20 gives us some details about our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we generally overlook when we talk about salvation: “And we know that…..
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Holy Spirit Assignment, Part 2
The night He was arrested and taken to the High Priest, Jesus spoke to His disciples after supper in the upper room. The discourse spans John 13-17. Giving final instructions to His disciples, Jesus’ talk included specific information about the Holy Spirit. Here is what He said about the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers, including you and me.
The Holy Spirit…
Indwells Us Forever: John 14:16, 17 – “And I will ask…..
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Holy Spirit Assignment
There is a lot of confusion regarding the Holy Spirit. Different churches preach different things about the third member of the Trinity. But Scripture teaches us that God gives each believer the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (1 Pet. 1:12) and functions in a number of ways within us. Here are three of those functions.
First, He is one of the “two immutable things” of the Hebrews 6:17-18 discussion about the oath of God:
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Praying For Public Leaders
It is always painful to watch candidates for office jostling for position during an election year. In this epoch of social media and 24/7 instant news, it is difficult to avoid. The closer elections come, the more mud is slung and We the People cannot help but be polluted by it all.
Nevertheless, it is important that we be praying for our government leaders, not in the sense of praying for our favorite sports team…..
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Speak the Truth in Love, Part 2
My husband recently reminded me of an old saying that, as Christians, we are called to preach the gospel all the time and use words when necessary. It is our lives and what we communicate through our holy living and love that demonstrates to the world that we belong to Christ. It is, in fact, Christ living through us that becomes visible and shows His love to a needy world.
Jesus, Himself, told…..
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Speak the Truth in Love, Part 1
Quite often what we say gets us into a lot of trouble and causes deep division, even between the best of friends. In the public sphere these days, we hear many opinions that are touted as fact. Likewise, there is a lot of censure for the expression of contrary opinions. But Believers are in a unique position to counter the falsity around them by speaking the truth.
In James 3:2b-12, the tongue is…..
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What Fellowship Is All About
In Hebrews 10:24-25 we are urged to “…consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” In the New Testament there are numerous passages that address the expression of our unity in Christ through the mutual encouragement and provocation to holiness that is derived from…..
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Perfect and Entire
Among the very last verses of Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews declares God’s sovereignty in the individual lives of believers and blesses his readers with the desire for God’s perfecting work in their lives:
“Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you…..
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Jesus Our Example
The New Year is a good time to reflect on what God has accomplished in our lives in the past year. My focus has been on the people God has sent into my life in 2019 to not only encourage and pray for me, but also to challenge me to become more like Him. During our move in January we enjoyed the help and answers to prayer of many people, both family members and friends from church,…..