DECEMBER 31 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 11:25-30 My prayer for the new year is that I would rest in the Lord completely. Faith happens when we rest in the Lord Jesus. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our Sabbath and that we should have entered into complete rest. Only Jesus can give us complete rest. Only He is able to do all things in our lives, and I believe He desires to do so much more for us than we are willing to let Him. The rest is there, because Jes

DECEMBER 30 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING:  JOHN 5:1-15 Why are we so afraid to leave our comfort zone as Christians? It seems that far too often we trust our comfort more than we actually trust the Lord. We have even convinced ourselves that our comfort is a sign of God's favor and blessings. We must be careful that we haven't bought into the "ideology of idolatry!” That is, that things are what really rule us...give us hope...give us peace...give us self-worth. I believe that on

DECEMBER 29 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: JOHN 10:7-10 In all the years I have been in the ministry what has been universally true is that everyone I have met wanted to have a full and abundant life. They have all wanted to be loved. They have all wanted their existence to matter. They have all wanted peace and joy and fulfillment. Some have through the years found it, while others have sadly missed it. What was the determining factor between whether someone found that abundant l

DECEMBER 28 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 94 Casting Crowns have a song from years ago called, "The Voice of Truth.” It has to do with life and all the different voices that speak into our lives telling us who they think we are or who we should be. There is the voice of discouragement, there is the voice of defeat, because of overwhelming odds, there is the voice of depression...there is the voice of discontent, there is the voice of doom. The song has a line that goes, "wi

DECEMBER 27 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 25 The intention of our lives ought to be that we live to be a blessing to others. It is not always possible to know what everyone around us needs in every situation, but we can always be a blessing to others by obeying God. It has long been my belief that in our communities we do not need to take surveys to see what people would like the church to be...but that we need to be on our knees and asking God to make us into the church He

DECEMBER 26 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 22:34-37 When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said that we are to, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and body.” He said after answering that question that the second great commandment is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said in these two commandments is contained the whole of the law. Have you ever looked at the Ten Commandments? When you do you will find that the first four dea

DECEMBER 25 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: COLOSSIANS 1:1-19 I am sure you all have seen the word history written like this..."HIS-story.” The Scripture say the Jesus has preeminence in all things, that includes history. When you read that wonderful book called the Bible...it is about Jesus! He is the theme that runs throughout the Scriptures. It was at Bethlehem that we celebrate His birth, but not His beginning. And it was at Calvary that we mourn His death, but not His ending.

DECEMBER 24 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING:  JOHN 1:1-14 I am not sure what your expectations are for the gifts you will receive this Christmas, but I can tell you that if you are a born again Christian you have already received the greatest gift of all time! God, in His great love, chose to send His Son for you...for He chose you from the foundation of the world. This is an incredible gift that God has given. It is the best of gifts. It is the most valuable of gifts. It is the Gif

DECEMBER 23 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 2:1-12 I have been around for 67 Christmases and out of all of them I remember one above all the rest. It was the Christmas of 1968. Mom had just delivered the fourth and last of her children, Tim. I was ten years old and Tim, like me, was born with the RH factor between his blood and Mom's. Tim's was much worse than mine, going through three complete transfusions. Even at that age I could tell that Dad and Mom were worried if Tim

DECEMBER 22 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: DEUTERONOMY 32:1-6 Some things are hard for us to completely grasp and comprehend from our view here on earth. One of those is that God is perfect in all that He does. Everything He does is perfectly as He intends it to be...and that includes you and me. There is an old saying, "God don't make junk." This is so true, and He does not make mistakes. You say, when you look at yourself..."I have so many flaws." Can I ask you...by whose judgme

DECEMBER 21 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PHILIPPIANS 1:19-26 Here is an eternal truth that we better get a hold of, "To live is Christ, to die is gain!" If we live for anything else other than Christ, then to die would be loss. Far too many people live to make money, believing that if they get enough their lives will be fulfilled. But the pursuit of money will leave you empty, because it cannot satisfy...and the love of that money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some live thei

DECEMBER 20 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 We fool ourselves if we think we can mess with sin and handle it. When we play with sin, it is not we who are handling it, but it is sin that is handling us. We have all probably made statements like, "oh, I can do this, or look at this, or watch this and it has no effect on me." That is not true...even if we try to fool ourselves into believing it is true. Sin is always destructive...ALWAYS! We place ourselves in a dang

DECEMBER 19 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING:  ISAIAH 1:18-20 We are so limited in what we can see and what we can understand. If someone tells you they have all understanding and have all the answers, they are lying to you and fooling themselves. Sometimes we can't see past the nose on our faces. In our governmental systems we have intelligence agencies that acquire information in order to give the information to those who make decisions, so they can have guidance on doing what is r

DECEMBER 18 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: JEREMIAH 17:5-10 There are those who would say, "let your conscience be your guide.” That is not good biblical advice...for it is what is in we humans that defiles us...our hearts are deceitfully wicked. Left to our own conscience, we would always go away from God, rather than go toward him. Now there are those who would say that man cannot do good on his own. I am not in that camp; for I have seen lost people do good things on the human

DECEMBER 17 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: JEREMIAH 7:21-27 Reading and/or hearing the Word of God are wonderful things, but they are never enough...it is at the point of obeying the Word where our lives really begin to change. When we were wonderfully saved by the Lord, He took us from death unto life. He gave us His Holy Spirit that we could begin to understand His Word and also begin to obey His Word. A transformed life happens at the place of application of God's truth into ev

DECEMBER 16 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 1 JOHN 2:15-17 What are we living for? That's a great question. Some live for today, some for the thrill of it all, some to get as much as they can. We are not gnostic in our belief system, that is to say, we don't see the natural or material things as innately evil. To be sure, this world system is evil and contrary to God and the prince of this world is doing all he can to get us away from trusting God. Things are just things, but the p

DECEMBER 15 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 116 I am going to ask you to join me in going a little deeper today. Have you ever stopped and thought about why you love and trust the Lord? I am sure that at the beginning of our relationship with Him most of us would answer something like...because He forgave my sin and gave me eternity in heaven. As time goes by in any relationship we need to re-evaluate the basis of our relationship. With God I fear that far too many of us base

DECEMBER 14 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-25 The message of the cross is an offense to those who will not believe. The world cannot understand the need for the cross or its message. It is from a proper perspective of the cross that we are called to live. We can never walk away, ignore it, never take it for granted and never lose its prominence in our lives. Paul said that he would boast in nothing except for the cross of Christ. He told the Corinthians that he

DECEMBER 13 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PSALM 118:15-29 Christmas is coming! And soon families will gather in their homes around the tree and find a package or two with their name on it. It's there because someone loved you enough to go out and select a gift just for you. You will take that gift and open it and then you will choose how you will treat both the gift and the gift giver. You will receive the gift with joy and be very grateful to the one who gave it to you...or you

DECEMBER 12 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: PHILIPPIANS 2:12-16 Jesus said in John 15, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." This verse reminds us that it is Jesus who wills and does everything through us to accomplish His purpose in our lives. This verse is not a call to laziness, but actually to great activity in the things of God...activity that is empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit Himself. We are reminded by our Savior that the Christian life is not one where He saves us