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Romans 8:1 (Passion Translation)  So now the case is closed.  There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus,  the Anointed One.  Guilt and condemnation are life-draining toxicities that the enemy leverages against us in an effort to derail us from our God-given calling.  When we crossed the line of faith in Jesus,  we were immediately  “rescued from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13). …

Romans 8:6  (NLT)  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  The Bible makes it clear that life and peace comes from living in sync with the Holy Spirit—such a contrast to today’s anxiety and stress!  We need replenishment strategies to help us access the life and peace that is available to us as Christ followers.  Start with your schedule.  Are you beginning the day…

Mark 10:38b (NIV)  Jesus said,  “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the  baptism I am baptized with?”  John the Beloved heard the heartbeat of God (John 13:23).  He walked the heights and depths and was persecuted severely for his faith.  So often we want the depths of God’s power revealed in us,  but are we willing to pay the price (Matt. 20:20-28)?  Can you drink this cup?  It is a haunting question.  You can go…

Mark 9:9 (NIV)  As they were coming down the mountain,  Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Consider how many others Jesus asked NOT to tell what they had seen:  the parents of the girl raised from the dead (Luke 8:53-56);  the man healed of leprosy (Luke 5:12-15);  and Peter,  James,  and John coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:9).  Miracles are only…

Luke 9:28b (NIV)  (Jesus)  took Peter,  John,  and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray.  Occasionally,  Jesus would take these three and give them a private tutoring session.  Evidently,  there was some kind of capacity within them,  a responsiveness that Jesus perceived.  Of course,  they did not understand all the things they saw and heard—Christ’s transformation experience left them speechless.  Maybe the bigger truth was that they were smart enough to NOT tell anyone at that…

Luke 10:1 (NLT)  The Lord now chose 72 other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit.   The disciples and apostles were appointed to go and preach.  They were followers who gave up something to follow Jesus (Mark 1:18:  “left their nets to follow Him”).  (See Luke 14:25-27;  Luke 9:57-62.)  When Jesus starting teaching about  “taking up a cross,”  the drop-outs began (John 6:60, 66).  Following Jesus as a disciple…

John 10:27 (NIV)  My sheep listen to my voice;  I know them,  and they follow me.  The next ring of people who circulated around Jesus were the believers.  They listened to what Jesus said and followed.  Christ’s words began to make an impact on their lives as they listened and obeyed.  They leaned in closer to Christ and His teachings and were not as intent on the miracles as they were on His words.  They noticed that He spoke with…

John 6:2 (NIV)  A huge crowd kept following  (Jesus)  wherever He went,  because they saw His miraculous signs as He healed the sick.  Different groups of people circulated around Jesus.  The outermost group was the crowd who was drawn by the spectacular,  captivated by the miracles.  Jesus loved all the people who came to see Him;  and the miracles certainly were attention getters that caused people to draw near.  But then what?  Jesus wanted people to be captivated with Him…

Psalm 23:1 (KJV)  The Lord is my shepherd.  The name Yahweh Rohi means  “the Lord Our Shepherd”  and it portrays God as the spiritual shepherd of His people.  Sheep know their shepherd’s voice and rely on it for direction.  Shepherds protect their sheep from danger.  Yahweh Rohi leads us,  protects us,  delivers us from evil,  and meets our spiritual needs.  Psalm 23 beautifully describes how God is a shepherd in our lives.  He has your best interests in mind,  so…

Matthew 6:9 (NIV)  This,  then,  is how you should pray:  “Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name…”  “The Fatherhood of God has taken on new meaning since Calvary,  but its roots are well-grounded in the Old Testament revelation.  Deut. 32:6;  Isaiah 63:16;  Jeremiah 3:19,  and Malachi 1:6 reveal God as Ab (the New Testament equivalent is Pater),  the Father of the nation of Israel.  In this role,  He tenderly cares for His people’s needs,  disciplines them,  and provides for…

Genesis 17:1(NIV)  When Abram was 99 years old,  the Lord appeared to him and said,  “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai);  walk before me and be blameless.  “El Shaddai”  indicates strength and refers to God’s power or omnipotence.  God can do anything that is consistent with His will and nature.  The name  “El Shaddai”  is first linked with God’s promise to multiply the seed of Abraham in seemingly impossible circumstances.  Job references El Shaddai 31 times—more than any other book…

John 14:6 (NLT)  Jesus told him,  “I am the way,  the truth,  and the life…” “For thousands of years people have been asking,  ‘What is truth?’   While some philosophers claim that it is impossible to know absolute truth,  others have spent their lives trying to discover what truth is.  Pontius Pilate asked Jesus,  ‘What is truth?’  (John 18:38).”  Earlier,  Jesus had defined the term in the simplest possible way:  “I am …the truth…”  The truth of God is the…

II Peter 1:4 (KJV)  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:  that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,  having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  Every day,  the serpent wraps itself around some kind of tree in our pathway and tempts us by trying to captivate our attention and sell us on some form of evil indulgence.  Everyday heaven watches in as we make a fresh choice to follow…

Psalm 89:14  (NIV)  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne…  God is righteous and just.  The scriptures use the words righteous and righteousness over 500 times and the terms just and justice another 100 times—mostly referring to God.  This underscores the truth that we don’t have to be afraid that God will act in an unfair way.  When He gets involved in a person’s life,  He is fair and righteous.  Furthermore,  God upholds those who live uprightly and…

John 15: 12 (Passion Translation)  So this is my command:  Love each other deeply,  as much as I have loved you.  Christ’s last words to his disciples are worth studying in depth.  Though they did not understand all that He said,  He planted in their memory words that the Holy Spirit would bring back to their thoughts in the coming days.  Love is the most powerful expression of our faith.  As we  “continually let His love nourish our hearts” (15:9)…

Mark 12: 41 (Passion Translation) Then He  (Jesus)  sat down near the offering box,  watching all the people dropping in their coins.  Jesus noticed what others missed:  ”She sacrificed out of her poverty and gave to God all that she had to live on,  which was everything she had.”  “Although in the Bible wealth is shown as an aspect of God’s blessing and approval,  the New Testament brings the added emphasis of the possession and use of wealth or money…

Exodus 16:4 (NLT)  Then the Lord said to Moses,  “Look,  I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you.  Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day.  I will test them in this…  “God provides for the needs of His people.  Just as He provides for the birds without putting it into their mouths,  God makes provision for His people without promoting idleness.  He provided sufficiency without surplus…

Mark 13:31 (NIV)  Heaven and earth will pass away,  but my words will never pass away.   God’s word is faithful,  steadfast and true.  Jesus said,  “The earth and sky will wear out and fade away before one word I speak loses its power or fails to accomplish its purpose” (Passion Translation).  God’s word never loses its power,  but it seeks entry into believing hearts.  Psalm 138:8 – The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me (KJV);  The Lord will…

Mark 13:3-4 (NLT)  Later,  Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple.  Peter,  James,  John,  and Andrew came to Him privately and asked Him,  “Tell us,  when will all this happen?”  Jesus described some of the end-time signs but then specifically told them,  “but don’t panic” (NLT) “keep your head and don’t panic” (The Message) “do not be alarmed” (NIV).  During this pandemic don’t live in fear—live alert.  Hear Christ’s words for us today:  “This…

Mark 13:2 (Passion Translation)  As Jesus was leaving the temple courts,  one of his disciples came to Him and said,  “Teacher,  look at these magnificent buildings!  And what tremendous stones were used to build all this!”  Jesus turned to them and said,  “Take a good look at all these enormous buildings,  for I’m telling you there will not be one stone left upon another.  It will all be leveled!”  Jesus’  prophecy was fulfilled by the Roman prince Titus in AD…

Genesis 1:26 (NLT)  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”  Mankind was given the spiritual likeness of personality with intellect (Psa. 139:1-4;  sensibility (Heb. 3:10) and will (Col. 4:12).  We were given moral likeness  “in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph 4:24).  And we were given physical likeness (i.e. man’s physical form is made after the spiritual form of God [Num. 12:8;  Ex. 33:18-23; Rev. 5:1-7;  Matt. 18:10] (Beutler,  2).  Jesus redeems us.  The Holy…

Genesis 2:8 (NIV)  Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east,  in Eden… all kinds of trees… In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   Everyday Adam and Eve had to make a moral choice—to pass by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in order to obey God’s directive and not eat from it.  In this way they expressed free…

Genesis 15:6 (NIV)  Abram believed the Lord,  and He credited it to him as righteousness.  Genesis teaches us many lessons.  Abraham is our example of faith (Gal. 3:7);  and Joseph’s life is a remarkable lesson for all who suffer unfairly  “and is a challenge to faithfulness in this age of undisciplined permissiveness” (Hayford,  4).  God is always leading us in growth opportunities,  to engage our faith in new ways as the Holy Spirit guides and directs us.  Look over your…

Genesis 1:2 (KIV)  …the Spirit of God moved (was hovering NIV) upon the face of the waters.  New creation comes as the Holy Spirit hovers (Luke 1:35).  The Holy Spirit also worked in Joseph,  which was evident to Pharaoh:  “Can we find such a one as this,  a man in whom is the Spirit of God? (Gen. 41:38).  It was God’s Spirit that drew those animals into Noah’s ark.  At every impossible situation that threatened to frustrate the fulfillment of…

John 5:46 (NIV)  If you believed Moses,  you would believe me,  for he wrote about me.  Moses,  who wrote Genesis during the forty wilderness years,  wrote about Jesus in Gen. 3:15:  He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.  “This statement is the inaugural declaration that God will triumph over Satan.  Seen prophetically,  God declares that one would come from a woman to fulfill this sentence of death on the devil” (Hayford,  page 5).  The  “seed”  of…

Genesis 1:1 (NIV)  In the beginning,  God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis means  “beginning,”  and there are so many beginnings in this book:  the revelation of God,  the material universe,  the human race,  the human family and human sin,  the revelation of a redemption plan,  the beginning of world nations and languages,  and the Hebrew race.  Jesus confirmed the authenticity and inspiration of Genesis (Matt. 19:4-6;  24:37-39).  Genesis is written in historical style, (not poetic,  not mythical) because…

Mark 1:35 (NLT)  Before daybreak the next morning,  Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.  Jesus needed His Father’s direction—clarity of mission,  next steps,  power for the day,  Abba’s love.  None of us can live up to all the expectations put on us.  In Abba’s presence we find release from those weights.  The Holy Spirit spreads God’s love around in our hearts and melts fear.  Don’t miss your one-on-ones with Him. 

I Cor. 14:12 (NIV)  …Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts,  try to excel in gifts that build up the church.  Don’t hold on too tightly to your spiritual gifts—your identity is not based on what you do.  It is based on who you are in Christ Jesus.  And sometimes God takes us way outside our comfort zones because something needs to be done and there is nobody else to do it.  Are you willing to step up and…

I Peter 5:5b (NIV)  All of you,  clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,  because,  “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Humility is a superpower these days.  It takes humility to confess that you have sinned.  It takes humility to admit that you were wrong.  Humility enables us to grab the life jacket so we can get pulled to safety.  Grace is available to us from the hand of God but pride creates a barrier.  The…

Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)  Always be humble and gentle.  Be patient with each other,  making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.  Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit,  binding yourselves together with peace.  Have you learned to listen deeply,  to recognize when someone is carrying pain that you have no experience with nor understanding of?  Jesus has power to heal deep trauma and we get to be carriers of that healing power.  It is in…

Romans 12:12 (NIV)  Be joyful in hope,  patient in affliction,  faithful in prayer.  We are living in tense times:  the pandemic,  social issues,  hurricane destruction,  disrupted routines,  anxious hearts,  hateful campaigns.  The tension is real.  Jesus told us that hardships would come,  and we shouldn’t be surprised.  The good news is that out of the hard,  dark,  unpleasant places,  good can come if we will just keep walking.  We won’t see it immediately.  And sometimes we can’t think beyond the…

Mark 10:32 (MSG)  Back on the road,  they set out for Jerusalem.  Jesus had a head start on them,  and they were following,  puzzled and not just a little afraid.  He took the Twelve and began again to go over what to expect next.  “Listen to me carefully.  We’re on our way up to Jerusalem.  When we get there,  the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars.  They will sentence him to death.  Then they…

Romans 8:14 (NLT)  …For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  The Holy Spirit guides us in a diversity of mysterious ways (John 3:8;  Luke 4:1;  Numbers 10:12).  He guides us through the peace of God (Col. 3:15);  by speaking distinct words (Acts 8:29);  by forbidding us to take an intended course of action (Acts 16:6);  by restraining us from an intended course of action (Acts 16:7);  and by an utterance of the Spirit…

Romans 12:2 (NIV)  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….  The thought processes of the renewed mind are based on a new point of reference (Isaiah 55:7-9).  Transformed thinking involves: 1) refusing to allow our thinking to be patterned after those who don’t know God;  2) enlightenment by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:17-18); 3) surrendering our bodies to God’s demands in order to enable the Spirit to…

I John 2:15 (NIV)  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world,  the love of the Father is not in him.  The spirit of the world is all around us in our society,  active and vigorous in its appeal to the residue of the old nature within us (Eph. 4:22;  Col. 3:5-9).  So even Christians are in danger of loving the world.  But love for the world is incompatible with love for God, …

Luke 8:11 (NIV)  “…the seed is the word of God.”  The soil is the heart (Luke 8:12).  As seed,  the word of God needs a congenial soil for it is subject to the laws of growth (Mark 4:26-29).  To produce,  it must be sown in a prepared and properly conditioned heart and watered in a warm atmosphere of personal devotion.  How many people are stuck with a form of religion that is without power  (II Tim. 3:5),  captivated by  “everything…

Matthew 11:25-26 (MSG)  Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  “Thank you,  Father,  Lord of heaven and earth.  You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people (the childlike NLT;  little children NIV;  babes KJVS).  God does not put a premium on ignorance (Matt. 22:29);  but He does not put a premium on academic achievements either,  however useful they can be as an adjunct to a God-given ministry,  as a servant though not as a…

Matthew 5:6 (NIV)  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they will be filled.  Spiritual hunger presupposes a spiritual capacity.  That hunger originates in God (John 6:44).  If you feel it,  realize that God is calling you to Himself;  and if you do not divert it into other channels and destroy it,  then you can be sure that your hunger will be satisfied.  The earnest seeker can expect a reward:  I will give you the treasures of…

Matthew 24:13 (NIV)  …the love of many will grow cold…  “Satan tailors temptation to taste.  What is your taste?  He will use bait accordingly.  Do we have an authentic taste for the Word of God?  If so,  he will tempt us with legalism”  (Beth Moore).  Nobody got on Jesus’  nerves more than some of the religious leaders of His day who embedded themselves so deeply in the Law that they overlooked love.  They missed caring for the person in favor…

I John 3:23 (NIV)  And this is His command:  to believe in the name of His Son,  Jesus Christ,  and to love one another as He commanded us.  How do we love one another as Jesus commanded?  Consider how Jesus treated his traitor disciple Judas,  or his doubting disciple Thomas,  or his betraying disciple Peter.  Consider how He hung on the cross and prayed,  “Father,  forgive them;  for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)  while the…