Devos 365

Prayer: Dear Jesus, please come with me today as I read Your Word and think about our relationship. Please speak to me so that I can hear and help me listen rather than talk all the time. This concept that You are the Word is difficult to grasp and I ask that You would open up my heart and mind so that I can understand it better and apply it more effectively to my life. In Your name I pray. Amen. Read: John 1:1-14 http://www.esvbible.org/John 1:1-14/ Think about It: The tie between God the Creator, God the Son, and God the Spirit is eternal and unfathomable. As we think about the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, we have to harken back to the beginning when all was created. In that creating process, the Father speaks everything into being (except Adam and Eve, who He forms with His own hands). Now, in John 1 we are reminded that Jesus was there in the beginning as a part of that creative process. He was the very Word spoken in order to bring everything into being. ...

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for Your great love for me that would send Your Son to save me from my sins. Thank You also for Your Word that teaches me everything I need to know about You. It is my joy to read and study Your Word and I ask that You would send Your Holy Spirit as my Teacher and my Guide. May Your Word speak into the deep places in my heart and mind that I would be challenged and changed. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Read: Galatians 3:29-4:7 http://www.esvbible.org/Galatians 3:29-4:7/ Think about It: The Apostle’s Paul makes a fascinating correlation between the life of a slave and the life of a child. He points out that as they go through their daily lives, there is little difference between their realities. Both are told by someone else what to do, when to eat, when to sleep . . . their lives are governed completely by another. But while their lives may look similar, there is a huge difference between them and that is the disposition of their fu...

On Sunday we enter what is known in the Church as Advent. During Advent we look forward to the coming of the Christ Child and prepare our hearts the celebration of Christmas. We celebrate Christmas because it marks the beginning of the human life of Jesus, as He lives and breaths on this planet so that we might be saved from our sins. In preparation for Christmas, we will be taking a break from our regular study of Matthew and focus on the readings that will be a part of worship on Sunday mornings between now and Christmas. Today, that preparation begins. Prayer: Gracious Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I have come again to that time of year when we celebrate the birth of Your dear Son, Jesus. It seems like the year has gone by so quickly. But I know that each day was measured by You and allowed by You. I know that my life has been completely in Your hands every moment of every day. Now I ask that You would go with me into this season as we walk through the story of Jesu...

Matthew 4:18-25 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followe...

Matthew 4:12-17 12 Now when he heard that John had been [handed over] arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”   I have to confess I’ve always been a sucker for the happy ending. It works for me after I’ve invested a few hours in a story to have the hero / heroine walk off into the sunset with all the issue resolved and a bright future ahead. While there is indeed a bright future ahead for those who walk with Jesus as their...

Matthew 4:1-4 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil [Slanderer] . 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter [Tempter] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and thei...