“We often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us than under the staff that comforts us.” Now, how is that for a devotional wake-me-up?! I hardly wish to awaken the first thing of a morning and read that God, out of His mercy, must discipline me quite severely! Nevertheless, two of our primary passages record the fact of God’s impending judgment of Judah, and subsequent exile to Babylon. T...  Read More

Jesus will not be herded in the direction that we choose, nor will He be corralled by any of our life circumstances. There! I have stated a core truth about the Lord. This means that the Savior, the one who would not utter a word to call down angels to feed him while He was being tempted with hunger, or a legion of the heavenly host to rescue Him from suffering on the cross, will not speak one wor...  Read More

A woman once told me that her prayers were bouncing off some heavenly barrier. Her petitions were not getting through. She reached out to me because she could not discern the cause of heaven’s silence. I cannot recall her exact situation, but I do know one reason why people do not have good communication with the Heavenly Father. They are not spiritually attuned to Him. James chapter 4 examines wi...  Read More

It has been said, “Trials come to prove and improve us.” They are for our ultimate benefit. God does not permit trials to be like some bottomless ocean into which Christians sink, never to surface again. Our Pathway Devotional for July 15 touched upon the relationship of faith and trials and suffering. May I ask you to consider something? I hope that I have earned your trust! Christ knows what you...  Read More

“Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed as an act of worship” (Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction). Our corporate acts of worship testify to the glory of God and provide an open invitation to the world to join us. God is worthy of the praise from all creation, and we provide an important catalyst to worship Him.The Psalmist kn...  Read More

Talk about an explosion! I am not pointing to a Fourth of July fireworks display, but I am referring to a spiritual eruption. Sometimes, God abruptly stops our current life direction with a bang. Like ancient Israel, we may be spiraling downward in a moral free-fall, so God intervenes in such a way as to call us to reach upward for His rescue! We too often use our freedom in ways that hurt us and ...  Read More

Silly me. I once sought to protect money I was saving by hiding it inside of an encyclopedia under the heading “currency.” It was my childhood attempt to make it too difficult for a “thief” (which was very unlikely!) to steal my money. The problem was that in my zeal to guard my wealth against an outside attack, I failed to prepare my memory to recall the term that I had chosen to safeguard it. So...  Read More

“Train up a child in the way he should go—but be sure you go that way yourself,” says Charles Spurgeon. May I take some liberty with his profound statement? I hope so! Paul might write, “Train up a church in the way that it should go—but be sure to lead by your example.” If I were to encapsulate the point made in Colossians 4, it would be this one. The Apostle Paul zeroes in on the prayer life and...  Read More

The secret to your success lies in the unity of the church. Now, this opening sentence may seem to be outmoded in our contemporary age where individualism is preeminently prized; however, the passage we examine today is anchored by imperative verbs that are all stated in the plural. There was no such thing then as a lone warrior in full armor, nor is there to be something similar today. I find it ...  Read More

In the words of multimedia journalist, Brooke Kato, the term “cancel culture” refers to the “phenomenon of promoting the ‘cancelling’ of people, brands and even shows and movies due to what some consider to be offensive, or problematic remarks or ideologies.” One expert believes that the roots of cancel culture have been present throughout human history. Societies punished people for behaving in a...  Read More

I took him by the hand, but he had absolutely no idea where I was leading him that day. I knew precisely where we were going. He trusted and followed me into an entirely different life. I will explain in a few moments what I mean by this mysterious opening to today’s devotional, but, for now, I want us to turn our thoughts to where God is surely leading all those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you th...  Read More

John of the Cross once said, “Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.” I know why he recommended this approach to suffering, but embodying it seems extraordinarily difficult (1 Peter 2:23). I also know from personal experience that it certainly helps to have someone walk alongside of us when we endure hardship. The Thessalonians had end...  Read More