Posts Categorized: Devotional

Wilderness Time

Posted August 28, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Mark 1:12-13 NLT

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.

Consider

Jesus’ forty-day wilderness experience is a theological echo of Israel’s forty-year trek in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. For both Jesus and the Israelites, this period was an important test of character and a preparation for the ministry of bringing God’s message of life and saving grace to nations who did not know God.

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Shadows On the Heart

Posted August 21, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Isaiah 1:15 CEB

When you extend your hands, I’ll hide my eyes from you. Even when you pray for a long time, I won’t listen. Your hands are stained with blood.

Consider

Isaiah begins this passage with a plea for God’s children to turn back to the law of the Lord (1:10). Like the Israelites of Isaiah’s time, we, too, get lost in the rituals of prayer and worship and miss the point of the law—relationship. God cares exclusively about what motivates our worship and our prayers, not about how elaborate we make them.

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The Secret to Facing Adversity

Posted August 14, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Philippians 4:11-13 CEB

I’m not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.

Consider

It is a testimony to his faith that Paul could write so optimistically while chained in a Roman prison. The secret, he says, is relying on the power of Christ.

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The Humble Poor

Posted August 7, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Revelation 3:17-18 ESV

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”

Consider

In 1739 Charles Wesley, brother of John, wrote the classic hymn, “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.”

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Choose Your Lord

Posted July 31, 2023 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Joshua 24:15 NIV

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Consider

Joshua has been leading the Israelites since Moses’ death. Now in his final speech, he challenges them to think about to whom or to what they wish to surrender control of their lives. Will it be to the God of Israel, who has shown them mighty power and trustworthiness?

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