Jer. 23:28–29 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Read the context The prophets in Jeremiah's were rounding off the sharp corners of God's Word. Why? Because the truth hurt — God's people had sinned! Scripture is powerful. There are times when what it says will hurt. Don't...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Hebrews 4:12–13 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Read the context The doctor's scalpel is a strange tool — it hurts someone in order to heal. Sword... scalpel... you don't always like the way...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Psalm 119 How sweet are your words to my taste, — sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; — therefore I hate every wrong path. Read the context Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. The whole song sings the praise of God's Word. Why? The Bible is more than just a book to tell you what to do, it's the story of God's love for you. Nothing tastes sweeter to the believer than knowing that the God of the universe loves you. Find your delight in the Word of...
4 days ago • 1 min read
1 Cor 3:5–11 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Isaiah 55:10–11 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,and do not return to it without watering the earthand making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Read the context "Pastor... will you pray for rain?" The earnest farmer makes his request because he can't create rain... that his crops...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Matthew 13:23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Read the context I'm currently working on developing my green thumb. Up til now, most things I plant die. I conveniently blame the elements. God has a plan for the seed of your faith. He's an expert gardener. He plants you in his word and strengthens you. Grow your roots deeper in his promises of...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Psalm 65 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty,and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. Read the context "Knee high by the 4th of July." I'm no farmer, but just...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Acts 5:27-32 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Deut. 10:18-21 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Read the context Not everyone can boast living in...
10 days ago • 1 min read