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 |  Daily devotions of Christian scripture and encouragement |
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Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:15-17 E-mail: ehwharton@Writing.com "TABLE OF CONTENTS"  "KEYWORDS" Whats the meaning behind 'Doves on Distant Oaks?' ▼ What version of the Bible is used? ▼ |
Summoned by God April 20, 2024 at 5:34pm There are many things I enjoy about going to worship services. Some people call it church, others just call it services. Here in the South, I’ve heard people call it preaching, but that puts critical limits on what worship service truly is.
I’m not speaking about the building where I go every Sunday morning, and other times as well. Though, thats where I do go for worship service. When I consider what I mean, I lean toward a Greek word, ecclesia , which the Encyclopedia Britannica d... [Read more] Good Friday and Easter April 20, 2024 at 5:37pm Easter has always been considered a day to celebrate power over death. It’s hard not to focus on that, because Jesus is the only founder of a religion that was raised from the dead. All others remain in the grave. Only the tomb of Jesus remains empty.
That is a powerful principle and a great hope for us all. However, when we stop to think about it, death of the soul was never something with which we had to contend. Freedom over death has always been part of how God made us. Our sou... [Read more] Following the Crowd April 20, 2024 at 5:40pm The events surrounding the Christian Holy Day of Palm Sunday leaves us with an example of how we are to react as followers of Christ. Most of the world knows what Palm Sunday signifies, regardless of faith. It’s the day Jesus entered Jerusalem to the adoration of the crowds. Though there is some debate whether this was on Sunday or Monday, the timing matters little to us today.
However, what always surprised me when reading about the events of Easter week, was how quickly the mood of th... [Read more] Struggling in the Waves April 20, 2024 at 5:44pm Growing up, my family vacationed on the New Jersey Shore. Not the nefarious Atlantic City or the raucous teen-mecca of Wildwood, but one of the small, quiet beach towns in between. In the process, I learned an important lesson about water safety. That being, watch out for riptides.
The thing about riptides is that not only will riptides pull a swimmer away from shore, but sideways as well. I distinctly remember one day in particular. I was in my preteen years and we had been warned tha... [Read more] Baby Sharks April 20, 2024 at 5:47pm My twin grandsons, age four, have a bathtub toy they like to play with. I would call it a little whale, but they correct me and tell me it's a shark. I think that's only because they like to sing the Baby Shark tune while playing with it.
It has a little tail that flips quickly back and forth, which propels it across the water. It only does that when it's in the water, which I never gave much thought to. That is, until one day I picked it up—on dry land as it where—to ... [Read more] Loud Words April 22, 2024 at 9:17pm During the last days, Satan and his army of fallen angels will supposedly ascend to heaven and do battle. They will be defeated and sent back to earth to continue their evil work—perhaps with renewed energy. As if it isn't bad enough down here right now.
Yet, these verses from the book of Revelation show an important spiritual principle that we often forget or fail to apply. It's something that can show us the path to spiritual victory in the midst of our personal spiritual warfar... [Read more] Put Me In, Coach April 20, 2024 at 5:56pm I have always been a Philadelphia Eagles football fan. That's to be expected, growing up near the Philadelphia area. Even though I've moved around over the years and now live in the Deep South, I still bleed Eagles green. Although they won the Super Bowl in 2017, perhaps the more exciting time for me was the team they fielded in the late 1970's, leading to their first Super Bowl appearance in 1980.
It all began when the team hired Dick Vermeil to be their new coach in 1976. ... [Read more] God's Tapestry April 20, 2024 at 5:59pm Soon after my mother died, I was tasked with clearing out her "stuff." Among her belongings I found my grandmother's Bible. It contained a finely embroidered bookmark. It was remarkable for its delicate workmanship. With colorful threads that formed images and a verse from the Bible, it could easily be classified as a true work of art sewn from the most basic elements of linen and cotton. Can you imagine the splendor of the design when sometimes they are made with gold and silver... [Read more] By Whose Will? April 20, 2024 at 7:26pm I was thinking the other day about a phrase I often use when I pray. I'm prone to petition God by saying, "Father, I'm at your disposal, what would you have me do?" I don't think I'm the only one to pray in this manner, but is that the right question? I believe we can turn to Jesus himself and His relationship with God to more fully understand the answer to that question.
Jesus was aware of how God was working in his life and then simply joined him. He automaticall... [Read more] Unconditional Trust April 20, 2024 at 7:28pm Trust is one of the hardest of the emotions to get a handle on. We can look around at the world today and it's hard to find an adequate supply of people and institutions we can trust. We are always being let down ... by leaders, by friends, even by our spouses. Trust of political leaders is at an all-time low.
Perhaps the problem is that we live in times where most people think in terms of "What's in it for me?" That makes it difficult to make and maintain relationships. ... [Read more] Judge Not April 20, 2024 at 7:31pm The words that Jesus spoke about judging, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" that are found in Matthew 7, are considered by many to be the most misunderstood words in the Bible. The problem is that people, believers and non-believers alike, tend to take just those first few words out of context and throw them around like some kind of holier-than-thou weapon of condemnation for those opposed to their own actions. Think about the irony of it: by telling others not to judge you, ... [Read more] The Mercy Seat April 20, 2024 at 9:01pm We are all lawbreakers. Who among us has not broken a law at one time or another in our lives. Just think of all the times just in traffic. Perhaps it was a rolling stop at a stop sign, going a little faster than the speed limit, or racing through a yellow light (yes, yellow means stop). For me, it was that last one that got me.
My wife and I had just spent a full day in a city about 1½ hours from where we lived. We had done a lot of running around, trying to accomplish what we could s... [Read more] One-Another Ministries April 20, 2024 at 9:18pm One of the most destructive forces in the church today is conflict. Disunity makes the church look weak. Paul compares us to a body with each of us performing a specific function and none able to function without the other. That's a good analogy, but I also like to think about the church as a chain. Since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, it's every member's responsibility to build up each link, so that none break and destroy the chain. That's what disunity do... [Read more] The Legacy of Asaph April 20, 2024 at 9:29pm Asaph was a man mentioned in the Bible whose name usually doesn't bring immediate recognition. However, he was just as important as King David in one sense, since he wrote a few of the Psalms—at least 11 that we know of. He was a gifted poet and singer, serving as a worship leader during the time of King David (2 Chronicles 29:30).
Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang prai... [Read more] Eyes on the Lion April 20, 2024 at 9:33pm I was watching a nature program that showed a pride of lions on the hunt. The scene was on the Serengeti Plains of Africa and the lions were following a herd of grazers, obviously looking for weak individuals and waiting for the opportunity to strike. That was not unusual ... lions hunt, it's their nature. What was unusual was that herd after herd of other grazers—buffalo, wildebeests, gazelles, elands, zebras, and so on—were following the lions. It looked like one giant parade of ... [Read more] The Fruit of the Spirit April 19, 2024 at 2:51pm The parable of the sower is well known (Mark 4:3-8). It has been read and re-read countless times, been preached on heavily, and analyzed to death. We know its about four different kinds of people who hear the Word: (1) those who hear, but don't take it in; (2) those who hear and take it in, but it doesn't last very long; (3) those who hear, take it in, but the temptations of the world choke it out; and (4) those who hear, take it in, and produce a crop.
Consider what "crop... [Read more] Feelings of Guilt April 19, 2024 at 5:54pm You've probably heard it said that "the Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded." For some, this may be true. Sometimes we take Paul's admonition to Timothy about correcting behavior in others a little too far. Often we tend to focus more on the rebuke than the encouragement. Correction is not a bad thing, but if not done with kindness and patience, it can actually drive people away from the Church. It often has.
That said, we are just as hard on ourselves a... [Read more] Becoming Christ-like April 27, 2024 at 9:59am Throughout the Bible, there are numerous verses that show our path to final salvation is a three-step process. These three words are used often: justification, sanctification, and glorification. The first and last are more single events, while the middle one is a bit harder to understand because it is both a condition and a process.
Justification means to be made righteous in the eyes of God. This occurs because Christ was obedient to God, suffered and died for our sin, and made availabl... [Read more] Victory is Ours April 20, 2024 at 9:44pm Any one who has watched professional football for any length of time will recognize the title of one particular game in 1978 called the "Miracle of the Meadowlands." It was a game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, played at the Meadowlands Stadium in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants were leading 17-12, had possession of the ball, with only 31 seconds left in the game. The Eagles had no timeouts, so all the Giant quarterback had to do was kneel down and l... [Read more] The Love of a Mother April 20, 2024 at 9:47pm There is a special place of honor we grant to mothers. This is not limited to those who are followers of Christ, but to us, there is a extra special bond that is biblical in nature. We recognize this because of the bond we read about between Mary and her son Jesus.
It's a bond that was formed in suffering. All mothers suffer—through child-birth, child-rearing, and then watching their lifelines of love stretched to their absolute maximum when children leave home. An anonymous quote,... [Read more] God's Forgiveness April 19, 2024 at 6:35pm Here we stand trying to do good, knowing what is good, and still we do what we know we should not do. This is even what the apostle Paul said of himself, who was one of the greatest apostles and author of 23 percent of the New Testament. If he struggled so mightily with doing what was good and righteous, what chance have we?
Often the biggest lies we tell are the ones we tell ourselves—to justify our own behavior. If we were to grade ourselves on several aspects of our Christian walk, j... [Read more] The Power of Prayer April 20, 2024 at 10:05pm The National Day of Prayer is observed the first Thursday in May in the United States. So, it's appropriate to consider prayer the very centerpiece of our spiritual existence. Without prayer, there would be no communication with God and because of that, no power we could call upon, no praise we could give, no victory we could claim. Without prayer, our faith would be toothless.
Most of the time, we think of prayer in a nurturing role, placing it in a supportive position. At one chur... [Read more] Experiencing God April 20, 2024 at 10:21pm There is a discipline in mathematics that actually crosses many disciplines. It's called mensuration and it's how we measure things. It can be applied to just about any academic study.
Notwithstanding that the study of techniques to measure things is important, to much time spent studying how to measure them detracts from the time and effort to engage with the character and personality of that which we study. And that fact not only can, but should, be applied to our grasp and appre... [Read more] Who's In Control? April 20, 2024 at 10:35pm Many biblical scholars agree that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, predating the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses. They only argue about how old. Using only the Bible as a source and theorizing about Job's age in relation to others who's ages are recorded, many think it was written slightly before the time of Abraham. As such, it's the earliest written record of God's relationship with man. Just as important, it's the earliest written record of... [Read more] To Patiently Endure April 20, 2024 at 11:23pm One of the more interesting characters in the Bible is a man named Job. He probably doesn't need much introduction since he is fairly well known, even in secular circles. To summarize, a man of wealth and property is directly attacked by Satan, who wants to prove that his faith is wealth-based. Job loses his entire family, all his property, and his body becomes covered in boils. Nevertheless, he refuses to loose faith in God.
There is a well-know phrase taken from James 5:11, ".... [Read more] |
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