Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: Jonah 2:1-2 (ESV) Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2  saying,         “I called out to the Lord , out of my distress, and he answered me;        out of the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you heard my voice.   Devotion:             In this scripture, we find the prophet Jonah inside a great fish. Jonah had disobeyed God and wound up being tossed off a ship that was carrying him into the sea. God, however, was not content to let Jonah die for his foolishness and dramatically rescued him. Jonah’s rescue proved to him that God indeed hears prayer and sometimes chooses to act in ways that seem impossible to our modern understanding of the world. We all disobey what we know to be God’s will for us from time to time, sometimes purposefully, as Jonah did.         ...

Scripture: Proverbs 21:30 (ESV)          No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel  can avail against the Lord. Devotion:             This proverb speaks loudly to the spirit of this age in America. Our cultural moment is full of the plans of mere mortals that directly contradict God's will as revealed in His inerrant, infallible Word. The Lord decreed in Genesis that humankind was to be fruitful and multiply. The culture promotes death from womb to tomb. People of goodwill seeking only to honor God by obeying the clear commands written for us in scripture are ignored, silenced, or worse in today’s culture. Here are some of the ways the culture promotes death.             Let us begin in the womb. Our culture promotes abortion as a positive good. Since Roe v Wade was overturned and the matter has returned to the states to decide if and when ...

  Scripture: Luke 21:34-36 (ESV) 34  “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35  For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36  But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.” Devotion:             In this brief scripture passage, Jesus warns all His followers for all time. Jesus knows how easily humans can get off track and engage in sinful behaviors. Jesus warns us here and elsewhere in the gospels that His return will come without warning or any advance notice. (A word here for all who try to set dates for His return: You are wrong!) The date and time are unknown to any human, which calls for special vigilance and urgent repentance.   ...