Philippians 1:29, “It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake…” Some thoughts from this morning’s journal on this passage: I want to consider the word “granted.” Paul says that it has been granted to the Philippians […]
Psalm 42:11, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” One of the implications of Christ’s death and resurrection is invincible hope for anyone who would receive Him as their life. The one trusting in Christ simply cannot be hopeless…they cannot enter a place of utter destitution of
Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Two awesome things to quickly note here. First, “The eternal God is your dwelling place.” That deserves a lot of thought. The true land, the true haunt, the true home for the people of God is not primarily a
Psalm 6:7, “My eye wastes away because of grief…” Isaiah 43:2, “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” A few things to notice in these two passages. First, in Psalm 6, see that the Lord’s provision for David has not kept this “man after God’s own heart” from sleepless, grief-filled
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Isaiah 44:23, “Sing, O heavens, for YHWH has done it…break forth into singing, O mountains…for YHWH has redeemed Jacob and will display His beauty in Israel.”Matthew 27:51, “And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Since this picture did not grow out of a journal entry and was instead the product of post-reading musings,
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Mark 9:43, “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” I’m not going to write a big description this morning in order to put more time into monthly support pictures
Psalm 13:1,5, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?…But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” The “but” in verse 5 is an adversative that begins David’s ascent out of the shadows and into the light of hope. Up until this point he has
Ephesians 2:14-16, “For he Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might
Psalm 124:1,4, “If it had not been YHWH who was on our side…then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us…” I debated whether or not to use this text as an illustration this morning. In the context, David is clearly talking about YHWH’s preservation of His people
I can’t possibly do justice to this chapter and the concept of God’s sovereign purpose as Paul unfolds it in this chapter—I can’t possibly do justice to this topic in a morning journal entry. This requires long hours of careful study. However, here is a general, “10,000 ft. Flyover” version of that consideration. Ephesians
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Jeremiah 31:14, “I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares YHWH.” The feasting of the priests on abundance and the satisfying of the people with God’s own goodness seems to be parallel concepts. The abundance on which the priests will feast is
Psalm 8:3-4, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” God has made the universe essentially infinite in order to mercifully
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” – Galatians 6:14-15 An edited entry from this morning’s journal: The
Isaiah 40:10-11, “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him…He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom…” I really love this passage from Isaiah because it–like many other places in scripture–sets before us both
Mark 5:36, “Do not fear, only believe.” Do not fear, only believe. Jarius’ daughter has just died, and this is what Jesus speaks to him. Two questions, what is he to believe and what is the dichotomy between fear and belief? First, what is Jarius to “only believe”? Well, in context it seems that
2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Strongholds seems to be a term Paul is using for any invisible
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Mark 2:10, “…the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” I get so familiar with the idea of sins being forgiven that it can lose its wonder for me at times…but consider what Jesus is saying here. He is claiming to have the authority to forgive injustices and transgressions committed against
Genesis 29:7, “‘Water the sheep and go, pasture them.’ But they said, ‘We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.” What first caught my attention here was the repetition of “rolling away the stone” language (29:3, 8,
Hebrews 10:12, “[Christ] offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins…” During the evenings this week I’ve been preparing a message for this coming Sunday on the topic of “seeing Jesus in the Old Testament.” The strategy I plan to use to help people “see Jesus” in the first 2/3 of scripture is
