Weekly Devotion

“For me, it started as a way to see what my body was capable of, and I needed to make changes to survive,” (T) told me. “The moment I realized that it was healing me and helping me get through things was when I realized I could use it for more.

(M) should have leadership emeritus status for her service at her church. “I get pleasure out of serving,” she mentioned. With sincere humility, she added, “Thirty years in the choir, twenty years doing hospitality for fellowship, and twenty years for Dutch Picnic.”

At the heart of this passage is a powerful message about humility. Paul reminded his readers that Christ, though fully God, could have, but did not cling to His divine privileges. Instead, He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant and even submitting to death on the cross.

The word group joy/rejoice is found 16 times in this short letter, and the keyword ‘gospel’ and phrase ‘in Christ’ are found more proportionately in this letter than any other Pauline letter.

It’s reasonable to conclude that no one else can take our place when it comes to the struggles in life, but is it accurate? With the best of friends, there are always ups and downs. At some time, we all let each other down. All relationships are prone to temporary failures.

I heard the news of our friend’s daughter the morning before I heard Joby Martin’s sermon. I thought about them all day, especially while listening to the message.

You might find this hard to read but we are all saved by works. There, I said it. For much of my life, I believed that if I was good enough, followed the rules of my parents and society well enough, I could go to Heaven.

We are more distracted when life goes our way than when it does not. A cloudy perspective of the truth usually appears when we’re not staring at trouble or adversity. Pastor Andrew Taylor once told me that he has always grown closer to God in the valleys than on the mountaintops.

She has always been the voice, smile, and nudge behind the cheering and instrument of faith that changed our son’s life. When I think of everything our son gained from his walk with Jesus, (T) and her husband were there.

Seeing all that water rushing past me, it looked like it was trying to find an escape. There was too much for this one place, so it had to flee. I thought that it was like our prayers. Everyone on this planet who is praying doesn’t pray for their prayers to stay put.