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In: Bible and Theology, Forgiveness, Grace, Prayer and Devotions

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7) In the “take your own devotions seriously” category, the day after my devotions reminded us, among other things, to pray about everything and always ask God for direction and his opinion, I let my husband talk me into going out to some marketing class on Saturday morning when I’d wanted to spend a relaxing day at home.  In a classic, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death” moment, we ran off the way that seemedRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“ The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.” (Psalm 14:1) So Bible Gateway does have a sense of humor, making this the verse of the day on April 1. I managed  to get through this day without seriously thinking about trying to deceive anyone, something God managed to convince me is wrong (read: convict me of being wrong) even for “fun.” It is foolish to say there is no God, and only growing more foolish the more we look inside the cell and see the order and structure of factory assemblyRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Prayer and Devotions

“But he was wounded for our transgressions;  he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6) So Easter is upon us and our verses of the day are turning our eyes towards the cross. Not a bad focus to have. It can be so easy in the rush and the stresses of life to focus on our problems and leave the lord out. SometimesRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's Character, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:3-4) The suffering messiah so badly tortured he barely even looks human as they crucify him isn’t nearly as popular as the image of majestic  conquering king coming for his Bride that many a fluttering heart amongst us longs for. I imagine our hearts will say “you’re beautiful!” and I know weRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's Character, God's love, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) We have a tendency to reason about what God would do and how he would act from our fallen sinful nature. We reason, since we love so-and-so, and we accept their behavior and love them just the way we are, since this is what our love does, surely that is what God’s love does, too. Nope. He loves us, but he doesn’t accept our sin–he wants us to surrender it to him, so he can in turn makeRead More →