Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your… Read More
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.” 1 Samuel 16:7 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness… Read More
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to… Read More
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for… Read More
“In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments,… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?3 My tears have… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the conscience, to reward each person according to their conduct, according… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 This is what the Lord says:“The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.” 3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,… Read More
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5 Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. Psalm 27:7 When the people of God entered the Desert of Zin, they couldn’t find… Read More
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1,2 Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not… Read More
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is… Read More
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. (3)Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2,3… Read More
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one… Read More
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 These words remind me of Rambo. That’s what everyone in our middle school called him. Rambo wore a camouflaged mesh trucker cap, cowboy boots, Wranglers and western shirts with pearl snaps – long before hipsters made any of that cool. His hands… Read More
Israel wanted a human king, like all the other nations. And she got what she wanted. Her first king, Saul, was succeeded by his son-in-law David. David’s reign is summarized in 2 Samuel 8:15… “David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.” After his… Read More
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain… Read More
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 If you were of the world, the world… Read More
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” (16)But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your… Read More
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (8)That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. (9)Do not eat the meat raw… Read More
Philippians 2:7,8 Jesus made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Shoppers hurry out into the December chill, hear the… Read More
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our… Read More
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (4)Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (5)Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6)who, though he was in… Read More
“But all my friends have one!” Every parent of a teenager has heard these words. And every parent remembers being a teenager who said these words. God’s children – the Israelites – were just as whiny and just as driven to be like everyone else. God brought his children out… Read More
Shaun Groves