Devotionals & Poems

Posts in category Hope

I Am’s of Jesus

I Am’s of Jesus

No less than seven times in John’s gospel did Jesus identify Himself as “I am”, I see these powerful statements linking Him with God the Father who in Exodus 3:14 indentified Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM”. As “God manifest in the flesh” 1 Timothy 3:16, Jesus is everything God the Father […]

Broken cisterns

Broken cisterns

In Isaiah 55:1-3 God gives a special invitation: Water in the Bible speaks of life, wine represents gladness and joy, milk symbolizes nourishment, and bread that which strengthens, (cf. Psalm 104:15; 1 Peter 2:2; Revelation 21:6.) These verses in Isaiah give a clear invitation to separate from the past; to Israel at that time from […]

God, our ultimate warrior

God, our ultimate warrior

As we continue looking at Psalm 46, in verses 8-11 we see God as our victorious warrior. The desolations He makes in the earth are explained by Jamieson-Fausset-Brown as literally, ‘who hath put desolations’, destroying our enemies.” Making wars to cease might refer to the time the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers […]

The trespass offering

The trespass offering

Troubled or thankful

Troubled or thankful

Are you troubled and cast down in your mind and spirit? Has the darkness and gloom of this present world around us engulfed you in its hopelessness? Is the turmoil of society troubling you? Are you cast down because you are going through a time of personal difficulty like feeling rejected by one that was […]

Watchful and ready (Parables of Jesu...

Watchful and ready  (Parables of Jesus, part Thirty-seven)

Our focus of attention in Mark13:32-40 is drawn once again to being watchful and prepared for the return of Jesus. Since several parables focus in this area it underlines the importance of the message. Here Jesus speaks about a man going abroad who committed his business affairs into the hands of his servants during his […]

Be prepared (Parables of Jesus part ...

Be prepared  (Parables of Jesus part thirty-two)

In Matthew 25:1-13 we have recorded one of Jesus well known parables. Keep in mind that a parable is a story of earthly activity with a spiritual meaning, and all the details which are part of the earthly side of the story need not necessarily apply to the central theme, which in this parable is […]

Never give up (Parables of Jesus par...

Never give up  (Parables of Jesus part twenty six)

In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus “spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” In Luke’s account this is recorded on the heels of Jesus teaching about His return and the conditions on earth leading up to it, thus we can take encouragement to remain steadfast and not become disheartened […]

Lost and found (Parables of Jesus pa...

Lost and found  (Parables of Jesus part twenty one)

In Luke 15:8-10 Jesus uses the scenario of a woman that has lost a valuable silver coin. The message in this parable is exactly the same as that of the preceding one about the lost sheep, but using a different picture, the “or” in verse 8 clearly indicating this. Such coins were “often worn in […]

A lesson from the trees (Parables of...

A lesson from the trees  (Parables of Jesus part seventeen)

Matthew 24 (along with the parallel chapters of Mark 13 and Luke 21) is one of the very important portions of Scripture dealing with the “last days” where Jesus tells us conditions and things that would be happening on earth just before and leading up to His return. He begins by predicting the destruction of […]