Daily Devotional from Romans 8--Verse 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.Another way of interpreting flesh is simply human effort. Sometimes we get immersed in effort – our efforts and the efforts of others. And when we get inundated in all that, pretty soon we can begin to detect an odor of death. Everything just becomes lifeless. But, good...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 7--Verse 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.We all do the wrong thing. We all sin. We all make mistakes. It’s our struggle between our flesh and our born-again selves. Even Paul had this struggle—and he openly admits it in his writings. He thanks Jesus in verse 25 for being the one who will deliver us f...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 6--Verse 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.Typically being a slave to anything is very negative, but being a slave to God is an honor! We are willing slaves. We actually want to obey God’s every command. When sin had us, it was horrible and we were bound and ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 5--Verse 6For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.Have you ever felt ungodly? Like, nothing you do is good enough for God? Maybe you feel as if there was no way that God could ever be pleased with you or that maybe you’ve been a disappointment one too many times?Paul is making a bold statement here. Those whom Jesus died for are...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 4--Verses 3-5For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.As Christians, our salvation is provided by God as a free gif...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Proverb 13—Verse 18Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.When someone asks us to consider that our way of thinking or acting might not be as wise or as Christlike as it could be, we have a choice.We can react: we might get defensive, explain our reasoning, stick to our guns, or just shut down.Or we can respond: we might...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 3--Verse 20By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.Have you ever felt like you needed to curry the favor of a hard-to-please boss? Or ingratiate yourself to the society of important people? You finally feel you’ve have arrived, only to discover the standard keeps getting moved ahead. Your best efforts never seem good enough. And, unfortunately...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 2--Verse 1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. It’s easy to pass judgment, but it’s hard to give grace. I think we’ve all judged somebody—it feeds into a feeling of superiority, that we somehow are the moral officers—that we someh...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Romans 1--Verses 11 and 12For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. This is what I love about the Church: every one of us has something to give, we all bring something to the table. Paul was a very devoted man but he didn’t see himself above his...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 28--Verse 24 (CSB)Some were persuaded by what [Paul] said, but others did not believe.Isn’t it encouraging that it tells us that not everyone agreed with Paul? When we think about him, we sometimes think he’s some sort of Spiritual superhero that convinced everyone about Jesus. But here it tells us that some people still didn’t believe what he was saying. Even Paul could...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Acts 27--Verse 20When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.Paul and his traveling companions had been tossed about by stormy weather and monster waves for so long they had given up hope. They were beaten down by unrelenting, hope-draining circumstances.The sailors lost faith in their sh...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Psalm 118—Verse 24This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.Have you read that kids’ book ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’? Haven’t you been tempted to classify days in that way before? I have. Some days seem Just. Plain. Bad.But if we agree with the psalmist here, then every day is a day made by the Lord, thus it is...  Read More