13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13 ESV) When the days get long and our time feels short it can be difficult to abound in anything, much less...
Even When We Are Unaware
14 If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:14 ESV) When we read this scripture, especially once we are established in the faith, it seems hard to believe. We know that what we ask must be in God’s will for it to come to pass. But...
Wide Open Doors
9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9 ESV) We want to think that when God opens a door to us that everything will be smooth sailing. But, as the saying goes, “A smooth sea never made a good sailor.” Throughout...
No Empty Returns
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11 ESV) I think often of this verse as I write these devotions. Both in...
Vanity, Vanity
22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 ESV) Ecclesiastes is one of those...