Posts Categorized: Devotional

How to Deal with Mud-Churners

Posted February 19, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Isaiah 57:15, 20-21 (NLT)

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirits of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts…But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt. There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.

Consider

Have you ever known people who like to stir up trouble? You might live with such a person.

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What to Give Up for Lent

Posted February 12, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Ephesians 4:31 (NLT)

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

Consider

Ash Wednesday is right around the corner. What are you giving up for Lent?

Lent is a traditional 40-day season of reflection, repentance, and self-denial as we remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our salvation and the triumph of his resurrection. The purpose of “giving up something for Lent” (traditionally, fasting) is to learn to depend on God by temporarily abandoning those things in our lives that we fear we cannot live without.

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Go, So I Can Bless

Posted February 5, 2018 | Judith Ingram

Scripture

Genesis 12:1-3 (NRSV)

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Consider

We can easily make the case that these three verses in Genesis 12 provide the foundation for God’s great story of redemption.

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Wilderness Time

Posted January 29, 2018 | 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 January 22, 2018 | 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 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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