Today's Bible Reading: LUKE 5:1-39; MARK 1:40-2:22; MATTHEW 8:1-9:17 Luke 5:5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took...

Today's Bible Reading: MARK 1:14-39; MATTHEW 4:12-25; LUKE 3:23- 4:44; JOHN 4:46-54 Luke 4:41 And demons also came out of many,...

Today's Bible Reading: JOHN 3:1-4:45; LUKE 3:19-20 John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease This is the essence of our...

Day 270 Today's Bible Reading: MARK 1:12-13; MATTHEW 4:1-11; LUKE 4:1-15; JOHN 1:19-2:25 Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” We all struggle with temptation. We experience daily encounters that divert our devotion. Self, society and Satan collaborate to defeat us. They are a cohort of compromise that challenges our commitment. We are tugged and pulled in every area of life.

Day 269 Today's Bible Reading: MATTHEW 2:1-3:17; LUKE 2:41-3:22; MARK 1:9-11 Matthew 2:2 . . . saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” We worship in a myriad of ways and forms. We worship with and without music. We worship inside and out. We stand and we sit in worship. We worship alone and together. Worship can be both internally and externally expressed. It can be liturgical and formal or

Day 268 Today's Bible Reading: LUKE 1:39-2:11; MATTHEW 1:18-25 Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. In a world of bad news, good news is exhilarating. News that changes lives like a patient recovering or a healthy birth excites us. News of a price marked down or a lost item that is found gives

Day 267 Today's Bible Reading: MARK 1:1; LUKE 1:1-38, 3:23-38; JOHN 1:1-18;MATTHEW 1:1-17 Luke 1:37 For nothing will be impossible with God. Too often we discount God’s power. We disable the impossible, we discard the improbable, and we delete the unattainable. But God doesn’t. His possibles supersede our impossibilities. He can when we can’t. He is not limited by our limitations. In our text a barren grandmother and a unwed virgin teen experience the impossible. The barr

Day 266 Today's Bible Reading: MALACHI 2:10-4:6; JOEL 1:1-3:21 Malachi 3:6 For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Change is inevitable. It will come. The young will get old. Winter will turn to spring. We can’t eradicate change. It relentlessly marches forward. It overtakes all in its path. It can’t be discarded or dismissed. We are in a constant state of flux. We change. Yet there is something that doesn’t change. There is o

Day 265 Today's Bible Reading: NEHEMIAH 5:14-19, 12:27-13:31; MALACHI 1:1-2:9 Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob. In a world full of hate, what a great truth. I have loved you. No sweeter words have ever been expressed. Consider the times you have been loved by the Lord. In trials, He has loved you. In tribulations, He has loved you. In trouble, He h

Day 264 Today's Bible Reading: NEHEMIAH 11:1-12:26, 1 CHRONICLES 9:1-34 Nehemiah 12:24 And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers who stood opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch by watch. We at times are intrigued by what others might say about us after our passing. We might wonder what eulogy they will offer or what opinions about us they might ex

Day 263 Today's Bible Reading: NEHEMIAH 8:13-10:39 Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Sometimes we sense we have so violated the principles of God, that we have done something so heinous

Day 262 Today's Bible Reading: NEHEMIAH 7:4-8:12 Nehemiah 8:8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. One of the spiritual difficulties we face is deciphering God’s word. It seems hard for many of us to understanding what scripture is saying. We read it or we listen to it, but nothing. We can’t make sense of what it is saying. We struggle to get something from what we read. It’s all Greek t

Day 261 Today's Bible Reading: NEHEMIAH 3:1-7:3 Nehemiah 4:9, 18 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. . . 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. Nehemiah was assigned the divine task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. It wasn’t easy. He had no labor force assigned to aid him. He had to rally the people to perform the work. He did. The wo

Day 260 Today's Bible Reading: EZRA 9:1-10:44; NEHEMIAH 1:1-2:20 Nehemiah 1:11 For I was the king’s cupbearer We often wonder how God could use us. Most of us are nobodies from nowhere. We don’t have any great skills or talents that would distinguish us from others or designate us as great leaders. There is nothing special or significant about our life. We are regular people living out our routine life. We are just normal. But throughout scripture we find God using the n

Day 259 Today's Bible Reading: EZRA 4:7-23, 7:1-9:10 Ezra 9:10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, The realization of our rebellion is overwhelming. When by the power of the Spirit through scripture we see our sin we are stricken. We become speechless before our sovereign. We have no defense to declare before Him. We are grieved by our iniquity. We stand silent in sin. Broken and bewildered we beg for mercy. We hope fo

Day 258 Today's Bible Reading: ESTHER 5:1-10:3 Esther 8:16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. The story of Mordecai and the Jews at the time of Esther is one of humiliation to honor. It is a story of enmity to exaltation, from disdain to delight, and from sackcloth and ashes to robes and rings. Their potential ruin turned into rejoicing. Darkness, heartache, sorrow and spite engulfed every Jew. Drowning in despair, hope seemed lost. Yet, there was a great

Day 257 Today's Bible Reading: EZRA 4:6, 6:14-22; ESTHER 1:1-4:17 Esther 4:14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” We are not where we are by mistake. We are not here by chance. We are placed here by God. Regardless of your status or position in life, you are an instrument in the ha

Day 256 Today’s Bible Reading: ZECHARIAH 9:1-14:21 Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The coming king gives reason to rejoice. The Israelites had lived under oppression for many years. They were ruled by many kings not of their choosing. Mostly of them were tyrants who mistreated and

Day 255 Today's Bible Reading: ZECHARIAH 6:1-8:23, EZRA 5:3-6:14 Zechariah 8:23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” As believers we have a calling and a commission to make disciples. So, when we encounter unbelievers, we seek to show them Christ. We share Christ with them. We consistently invite them to join us in enc

Day 254 Today's Bible Reading: HAGGAI 2:1-23; EZRA 5:2; ZECHARIAH 1:1-5:11 Zechariah 3:2 And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” If you know Christ, you have been rescued. You have been saved from perishing. The redemption that you now enjoy is the result of the Lord “plucking you from the fire”. He is the one who saw your plight and pulled you to safety. It is by Hi