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“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,” (Psalm 95:6-7) To ears familiar with a certain chorus, the psalm’s transition here is as jarring as the stopping point is awkward and incomplete. We go from an upbeat worship tune playing in our heads to a solemn, perhaps even tuneless, warning not to harden our hearts against the voice of God. So what is the connection? We are the sheep of his pasture,Read More →

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“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” (Ephesians 2:19) If you’re a Christian and you weren’t born Jewish, you’ve probably been told at some point that you’re a gentile. By birth, that is true. But you’re also a naturalized citizen of Spiritual Israel, aka the Kingdom of God. We have equal rights with the other spiritual heirs of Abraham, Issac and Jacob–while those with the physical bloodline are cut off from Israel if they’ve rejected Israel’s king (Jesus) and hence themselves renounced their citizenship.  We should of course still love,Read More →

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“ I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1-2)   Lord, thank you for hearing our voices and our pleas for mercy. We love you and we worship you. I pray we would trust at all times that you will hear us, and know by faith that your ear is inclined to us, when our hearts are inclined towards you. Turn our hearts towards you, by your grace today. Renew our determination to seek you and call uponRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, God's love, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:18-19) Is your foot slipping, stumbling and falling flat into sin’s mud? Trust in the steadfast love of the Lord–not to make the mud less muddy and falling acceptable–but to catch you by the hand and hold you up from doing a face dive into the mud.  His blood washes us clean, and his love can keep us clean. In the hour of temptation, take your eyes off the mud of this earth and look up toRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, God's love, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) If God is for us, who can be against us? Will he who gave us his own son to save us not provide everything we need? These are great promises, but we must stop and consider the flip side. He who did not spare his own son the cross won’t spare us from all the trial, tribulation, pain and sorrow of this life, either. But none of these things can destroy our eternal soul and separateRead More →