Devotional

Assurance Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1 (NRSV) STORY Augustus Toplady was born in England in 1740. Toplady had an interest in religion during his younger years. At the age of 15, while attending a Methodist revival in an Irish barn, he was, in his own words, “brought nigh to God.” It was at this point that he determined to go into ministry. In 1762, while Toplady was walking along the gorge in Burrington Combe, in North Somerset, England, there was a terrible storm. It was among the rocks in the…

  Joy As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9-11 STORY Bobby McFerrin is best known to us for his iconic 1988 feel-good hit song Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Since then, he has received ten Grammy Awards. McFerrin’s love of music came from his childhood. Whenever he…

Faith And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:36 STORY July 18, 1965. Struck by a missile, a jet plane piloted by Jeremiah Denton came crashing to the ground in a ball of flames, setting the stage for seven and a half years of captivity in Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, Vietnam, better known as the Hanoi Hilton. There, along with seven hundred other Navy and Air Force airmen, he suffered isolation, malnutrition, disease, and torture. Denton, like the others, endured the…

Witnessing   But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?[a] And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? Romans 10:14 (NRSV)   and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew…

Hope Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 STORY Luther Haden Taylor was born on February 21, 1875, in Oskaloosa,…

Hope 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew[a] Beth-zatha,[b] which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people.[c] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The ill man answered him, “Sir,[d] I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him,…

Sin From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Matthew 16:21-23 STORY In the 1970s, Karl Menninger…

Compassion And the master of that slave felt compassion, and he released him and forgave him the debt. Matthew 18:23-35 (NRSV) STORY Henri J. M. Nouwen was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest, professor, writer, and theologian. After nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions, including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School, he left academia to counsel and mentor individuals with mental and physical disabilities. He is best remembered for his work at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario, where he began his residency in the fall of 1986. L’Arche means “The Ark.” L’Arche…