Daily Devotions

Jesus, You make it clear that harboring ill feelings towards someone that has wronged us, is prohibited. You did not say it was not a good thing; You said if we do not forgive others, You would not forgive us. That is a very heavy burden for some of us to bear. Help us to examine our hearts and see if we are holding any grudges or ill feelings towa [...]

Father, we know that in the end, your righteous indignation with those who did not accept You nor Your Son, is promised. We do not know the specifics of their fate but we do not need to know. All we need to do Father is to be among those who are saved, whose salvation is assured.

You tell us that if we are insensitive to the needs of a weaker brother that we are sinning against You. That is a powerful reason for us to show patience when we are inclined to do otherwise.

Father, we are Your children and You have taught us that the saints are on tiptoes, so to speak, watching for the arrival of a soul into the kingdom. Your joy in our redemption, made possible by Jesus’ cleansing, preparing us for entry into Your presence, is even greater than our joy in our children.

The children are a special treasure in Your eyes. What is it Father that we adults lack? Do we lack the forthright nature of a child? Their innocence is genuine, not contrived. Their faith in Your love and the love of those around them is not like our faith as we mature. Our faith in other adults is usually conditional, based on how things are goin [...]

Jesus, You taught us that if we do not forgive our enemies You will not forgive us. You said to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Yet when the enemy attacks we are inclined to take matters into our own hands. Give us the courage, we pray, to display patience when our lower nature tempts us to “get even”, right now!

You are the light, Jesus. As we come to You we are directed and taught, as friends. In seeking You and Your Holy word, fervently, we are voluntarily coming to the light that our lives might be clearly seen as a loving witness of Your presence in us.

Jesus, these verses remind us of the phrase “you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” wherein we focus on obedience in some small matter, in almost a compulsive way, believing that such obedience earns us points with You.

Father, we can say boldly that we have access to the mind of Christ and that You teach us all things we must know, things that exceed the wisdom of man. We look to our teachers for wisdom and you tell us that Your testimony to us exceeds that of our teachers and the “ancients”, those who lived before You. How can we not look to Your Holy Word f [...]