Devotions Archive

I’m Exhausted!

Today’s Truth
“Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:30, MSG).

Friend To Friend
I had just arrived at my favorite coffee shop. As I opened the door, the smell of freshly brewed java greeted me and filled my creative mind with possibilities. I was eager to get to work and excited that my warm coffee-friend would come along with me for the ride. As I grabbed a cup from the counter and paid, I asked the barista how she was doing.

“I’m exhausted!” She lamented with a sigh.

I knew exactly how she …

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Taking Every Thought Captive – conclusion

Today’s Truth
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV).

Friend To Friend
Over the past few days, we have been looking at steps to taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  Let’s review:

Step One: Recognize the Enemy’s True Identity 

Step Two: Recognize Satan’s Lies 

Step Three: Reject the Lies 

And today we are looking at step four: Replacing the lies with the Truth

Before we come to Christ, we learn ways to …

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Taking Every Thought Captive – part 4

Today’s Truth
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV).

Friend To Friend
This week we have been looking at four steps for taking every thought captive.  Today, let’s look at step three:

Reject the Lies 

Once I had a door-to-door vacuum salesman come to my house.  To my detriment, I let him in.  Before I could convince him I did not need a new vacuum cleaner, he had his demonstration trash sprinkled all over my foyer …

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Taking Every Thought Captive – part 3

Today’s Truth
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV).

Friend To Friend
My neighbor, Michael, was a stand-in for Samuel, the nine-year-old son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) in the movie The Patriot.  For months, Michael wore his long hair with extensions, slipped on Italian knickers and knee-high stockings and acted the part of an American colonial boy.  He traveled to rural South Carolina where part of the movie was filmed and received an education …

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Taking Every Thought Captive – part 2

Today’s Truth
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV).

Friend To Friend
Yesterday, we looked at 2 Corinthians 10:5 and the idea of taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This battle is not fought with …

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Taking Every Thought Captive

Today’s Truth
“We are destroying speculation and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB).

Friend To Friend
Several years ago, my family went on an excursion out West.  We flew to Nevada, rented a car, and then proceeded to log in 2500 miles in ten days.  One of our stops was Jackson Hole, Wyoming – cowboy country.

On Saturday night, we attended the local rodeo. There we sat, three city slickers among whoopin’ hollerin’ locals.  The cowboys’ skills entertained and …

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Whose Report Will You Believe?

Today’s Truth
“We should go up and take possession of the land,” they said, “for we can certainly do it…If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us” (Numbers 13:30, 14:8 NIV). 

Friend To Friend
This month, I’ve been talking a lot about faith. Believing God…it’s what takes us into our personal Promised Land. In the Old Testament, God brought the Israelites out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery.  Moses led the people under the blood-stained doorframes of the Passover, across …

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Waging Peace

Today’s Truth
Philippians 4:2-3 “I encourage both Euodia and Syntyche to have the attitude the Lord wants them to have.  Yes, I also ask you, Syzugus, my true partner, to help these women. They fought beside me to spread the Good News along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the Book of Life”(GWT). 

Friend To Friend
If we have a personal relationship with God then we have access to all of His power and all of His peace.  Now stop for a moment and read that statement again.  Do you really believe it?  …

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Sit Down and Be Quiet

Today’s Truth
“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.  He did the same with the fish” (John 6:11 NIV). 

Friend To Friend
Have you ever noticed this pattern in the gospels – the disciples get in a bind and Jesus bails them out.  It reminds me of the old fifties program, Father Knows Best.  The kids got in trouble, the father solved the problem and then he taught us all an important life lesson at the end.  Come to think of it, “Father Knows Best” would be …

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What’s Your Temperature?

Today’s Truth
“Search Me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Psalm 139:23-24, ESV)

Friend To Friend
I got a phone call in the middle of a workday from my son Preston. He was calling from the nurse’s office at the school. Here’s how the conversation went:

“Hey mom. It’s Preston. I’m not feeling well, and I have a temperature of 96.5. Can you come get me?”

“96.5 degrees?” I asked. “Honey, that’s below normal! That doesn’t sound …

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