“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” (Psalm 138:8) Verse eight follows verse seven, where the psalmist says to god, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out  your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.” We all have times when trouble surrounds us on every side, where the heat is on, angry voices mock and scorn us. Sometimes the enemy works through people, sometimes it’s a voice inside our heads. Either way, it is allRead More →

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19) Today we are handed a fragment of a prayer that begins in verse fourteen and we learn the purpose of it from verse thirteen: So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bowRead More →

“I give [my sheep] eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) This is a great promise–if we are trusting in Christ to save us from our sins and have committed ourselves into his hands, we will live forever with Him and no one can snatch us out of his hands. He does of course specify that his sheep are those who hear his voiceRead More →

“ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) In a classic putting of the cart before the horse, the rabbi’s words are delivered to us as the verse of the day the day after his disciple Peter expounded on it. In context, this speech is recorded right after  Peter confesses Jesus is not simply another John the Baptist, Elijah, or some other prophet, but the Christ,Read More →

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) In context, if I understand correctly, Peter tells us in verses 13-25: Obey the local, state, and federal government, and the leadership of any other institution you may belong to, attend, work for, or serve under. This is God’s will because it silences the historical objection to Christians’ assertion that Jesus is Lord. Based on the the Emperor of Rome’s assertion that he is Lord, non-Christians of the day felt to be a ChristianRead More →