How do you know your life is about to get better?
How do you know your life is about to get better? It’s when you wake up during the night with a repeating line of song in your head . . . “for I’m a part of the family, the Family of God.” And then it starts over again. It’s when you learn that you really weren’t as happy as you thought you were. It’s when you witness for the first time in your life genuine Christian behavior. It’s when you…
Taking Shortcuts
Taking Shortcuts From Our Daily Bread – July 2, 2017 Read: Luke 9:57–62 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.—Luke 9:23 Sipping her tea, Nancy gazed out her friend’s window and sighed. Spring rains and sunshine had coaxed a riotous expanse of color from a well-groomed flowerbed of lilies, phlox, irises, and evening primrose. “I want that look,” she said wistfully, “without all the work.” Some shortcuts are fine—even practical. Others short-circuit…
Verse of the Day – 1 John 2:15-16 KJV
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Cleaning House
Cleaning House From Our Daily Bread – July 1, 2017 Read: 1 Peter 1:22–2:5 Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.—1 Peter 2:1 Recently, I switched rooms in the home I rent. This took longer than expected, because I didn’t want to simply transfer my (extensive) mess to a new room; I wanted a completely fresh and uncluttered start. After hours and hours of cleaning and sorting, bags of stuff sat by the front…
Verse of the Day – Hebrews 13:5-6 KJV
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
We are the Notes in God’s Symphony. He arranges Us and . . .
Thursday morning (June 29, 2017) I wrote a Roscoe letter titled “Lord I’m not a Preacher!” You can read it at this link https://www.highlandparklc.com/lord-im-not-preacher/ that same afternoon, a close friend of mine who reads the Letters from Roscoe handed me this printed letter that he had written a few days earlier (June 26, 2017). The last line was hand written. I am sharing it with you as exactly as it was given to me in written form. I awakened this…
Time to Flourish
Time to Flourish From Our Daily Bread – June 30, 2017 Read: Luke 13:1–9 “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.”—Luke 13:8 Last spring I decided to cut down the rose bush by our back door. In the three years we’d lived in our home, it hadn’t produced many flowers, and its ugly, fruitless branches were now creeping in all directions. But life got busy, and my gardening plan…
Romans 8:6-8 KJV
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But Lord, I’m not a Preacher . . .
I’m not qualified to preach to someone, but lately I’ve felt God telling me to write something about this subject. I’ve thought to myself, that sounds right but I don’t want to be ‘preaching’ to anyone. I don’t know enough. Then as I was publishing this morning’s devotional (By the way it comes from Our Daily Bread. ODB.org ) I read something that sealed it. Wham! Bam! Case closed! So here it is. I’ve been thinking about how far I’ve…
Faith in Action
Faith in Action From Our Daily Bread – June 29, 2017 Read: James 2:14–26 Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.—James 2:18 As a friend drove to the grocery store, she noticed a woman walking along the side of the road and felt she should turn the car around and offer her a ride. When she did, she was saddened to hear that the woman didn’t have money for the bus…
Verse of the Day – John 3:20-21 KJV
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reprove. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Unfinished Works
Unfinished Works From Our Daily Bread – June 28, 2017 Read: Romans 7:14–25 Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!—Romans 7:24-25 At his death, the great artist Michelangelo left many unfinished projects. But four of his sculptures were never meant to be completed. The Bearded Slave, the Atlas Slave, the Awakening Slave, and the Young Slave, though they appear unfinished, are just as…