Scripture: Psalm 28:9 O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd, and carry them forever. Thought for the Day: The 18th-century French writer, Stendhal, penned these words, “The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.” In the well-known 23rd Psalm, the shepherd moves the sheep to green pastures and still waters. This sounds very comforting, but
Scripture: Psalm 66:19 But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Thought for the Day: Tomorrow is the World Day of Prayer, a worldwide movement started by women to affirm their common connection to Jesus, and to share their joys and sorrows, gifts and needs. It was Corrie ten Boom who said that we should not pray when we feel like
Scripture: John 4:46-50 Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus was coming from Judea to Galilee, he went out to meet him and asked Jesus if he would come and heal his son, for his son was about to die. Jesus said to him,
Scripture: John 3:3 Jesus answered Nicodemus, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Thought for the Day: The story of Nicodemus is fascinating and been the source of great Biblical and theological discussion throughout the years. It is also the birthplace of the evangelical question, “Are you born again?” Too often this notion has lost its original
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-5 When God began to create the heavens and the earth— the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters—God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared. God saw how good the light was. God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light Day and the darkness Night. There was
Scripture: Luke 9:18 Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Thought for the Day: The Confessing Church was a group of Christians who stood against the Nazi’s during WWII. In his 1936 lecture, “The Presentation of New Testament Texts,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposed an alternative strategy of reading Scripture. Instead of questioning the
Scripture: Psalm 46:2 (the Message) God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake… Thought for the Day: I’ve never put the words hide and fearless together. When people hide, I tend not to think of them as fearless. With that said, I was out for a run years ago
Scripture: John 3:20 All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. Thought for the Day: What scares you? What frightens you? It is interesting how the answer to that question has probably changed some throughout life. Depending on your age, what you said half your lifetime ago is not what you
Scripture: Luke 7:18-22 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is
Scripture: John 1:15-16 John testified about him, crying out, “This is the one of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace; Thought for the Day: What does it mean to speak of grace upon grace? The Greek word we translate as grace is Charis. It means a number