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Devotional “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” The book of Joshua is a beautiful lesson in God’s commitment to His people. In many of our devotionals, we stress the importance of faithfulness. The book of Joshua reminds us that God is faithful to keep every promise He makes. God has the ability to do whatever He chooses, but He will always do what He says He will do. So when Jesus says that no one

Devotional “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” In Romans 9:20, Paul compares us to clay and God to a potter. Christ is the creator of all things, and He made each of us with care for a purpose. No two people are the same, but He loves each one of us as a Father would his children. God does not make mistakes, so when we question His choices, we question His wisdom and sovereignty. Most of us

Devotional “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel was a priest taken captive during the first Babylonian Exile that was known for his prophesies of God. His book is split into four parts: the call of Ezekiel, a warning to Israel, a warning to surrounding nat

Devotional “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” One of the more popular verses in the Bible, and one of my favorite verses, is Matthew 6:34. This is a quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reminding us not to carry tomorrow’s burdens today. Most people take this verse out of context, which makes sense given the weight of the words, but the context takes it even further than Jesus tell

Devotional “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.” Like many Proverbs, this verse stands as a lesson on its own. It highlights the difference between one who is diligent and hard-working and one who pursues unrealistic dreams. In all my verses so far, I have used the ESV translation, but for this verse I like the NIV. Rather than the use of “worthless pursuits”, it uses the word “fantasies”: “Those who work their

Devotional “And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.” In our last devotional, we discussed Isaiah 12:2 and where our lasting strength comes from. Today I wanted to talk about what our next step must be when we recognize God as our strength. Just a couple verses later, in Isaiah 12:4, Isaiah says that we must give thanks and make God’s acts known to all people. He doub

Devotional ““Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”” Isaiah 12:2 is one of the most popular verses in the Bible. It comes during a time shortly after the judgement of Israel, and provides praise to the Lord for His salvation. This verse represents a transition from the Lord’s anger to mercy and gives hope to the people of future deliverance. When we say God is our salvati

Devotional “But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” Uzziah was the 10th king of Judah who reigned 52 years, making him one of the longest reigning kings of Judah. Starting at the age of 16, Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He was instructed in the fear of God, and as long as he followed the Lord, the Lord brought prosperit

Devotional “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” This quote comes directly from Jesus, who at the time was answering the question of which commandment is the most important. This line of questioning was with the leaders of Israel and was a large part of what caused Jesus to be killed. One thing we know about Jesus is that he chooses his words carefully; he is the ultimate teacher a

Devotional “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?” On my current yearly read-through of the Bible, I find myself in the middle of Job as we transition from strength training to overall fitness. Job was a man tested by the devil and was forced through many challenges and obstacles to test his faith. His story is one of my favorites and teaches us a memorable lesson of where to find our confidence during challenges. Job lost his fami

Devotional “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” James was a letter written by Jesus’ half-brother, James, who rose to prominence as the leader of the original Jewish-Christian church in Jerusalem after Peter moved on to begin new churches. James grew up with Jesus and was heavily influenced by his Sermon on the Mount. He was also influenced by Pro

Devotional “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Timothy was a missionary of the early Christian church and a disciple of Paul, who eventually became the leader of the church in Ephesus. 1 and 2 Timothy are letters from Paul to Timothy that emphasize the need for our perseverance in faith during challenges. My favorite chapter of both books is 2 Timothy 4. If you could look at my Bible, you would see that most of this chapter is high

Devotional “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches” We spoke in our last devotional of Haggai, a minor prophet, who lived in the time of Israel’s exile. The book of Jeremiah serves as a warning to the people of Judah prior to this exile. Jeremiah is one of the five major prophets often referred to as the “weeping prophet” because of the emotional tone of his warnings ag

Devotional “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” Haggai is one of the twelve minor prophets that lived in the time of Israel’s return to Jerusalem due to Babylonian exile. His book is used to encourage the Jewish people to rebuild the house of the Lord. This book, chapter one specificall

Devotional “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Paul refers to our physical bodies as an earthly tent. Like all things on earth, these tents or dwellings are temporary. When our earthly dwelling is destroyed, we will have an eternal home in heaven. Paul acknowledges that life in our earthly bodies comes with struggle. But instead of

Devotional “The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.” We’ve already touched on Psalm 33:16 in our introduction to King David and the story of David and Goliath. In Psalm 33:16, David says that a king is not saved by his great army or a warriors strength. He makes a point that no one person, or many people for that matter, can act as a savior. Psalm 33:17 takes this thought even further and elaborates that there is no resource that

Devotional “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”” We’ve already touched on the story of David and Goliath in our Psalm 33:16 devotional, but that is only scratching the surface of the story of David. Just before that story, in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel is being tasked by the Lord to anoint a so

Devotional “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” To follow up on our last devotional where Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians, I would like to discuss one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. Although Romans is the first book of letters in the Christian Bible, this is not the case chronologically. Paul’s letter to the Romans was actually his

Devotional “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians is a letter written by Paul addressing the conflicts within the church in Corinth. It is split into 5 sections and reads as 5 short essays, each including a problem that Paul responds to. In 1 Corinthians 9, specifically verses 19 through 27, Paul writes about how he had all the rights of a free man. He gave up these rights in order to

Devotional “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” A proverb is not unique to Christianity. Proverbs are short, traditional pieces of advice, experience, or truth that are passed down through generations. Commonly used proverbs can include examples like: “Better late than never” “Don’t judge a book by its cover” “The early bird catches the worm” What makes the book of Proverbs unique in the Bible is that it was predominantly