I find today’s date to be spiritually significant: 7-7-14. It could be seen as 7 + 7 = 14 and then used to remember The Fourteen Words, made up of these two seven-word lines: GOD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME, A SINNER. TAKE HEART, CHILD, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN. (Luke 18:13 and Matthew 9:2) Pray the […]
“…firm in your faith” (1 Pet. 5:9). Recently I visited the home of a fellow pastor and his wife. It was like walking into the Gospel: many beautiful Christian paintings and pictures, a Nativity scene, a number of crucifixes, and the gift of hospitality on the part of the pastor and his wife. (There was […]
Exodus 2 ends in a strange way. It reads: “and God knew.” It does not say what God knew. The thought is incomplete. It is up to the reader to complete it. It is proper to understand from these verses (Exod. 2:23-25) that the children of Israel groaned because of their slavery in Egypt. But […]
It’s all over now. But last week the Cocos Fire in San Marcos, California, caused the evacuation of thousands, including me. The fire came within a few hundred feet of my home. In spiritual terms, it was a rehearsal for the day I will have to leave behind all earthly things. The following devotion is […]
Swine flu is a blessing in disguise. It can be used to remind Christians that they suffer from another condition: sheep faith. “The sheep hear His voice” (John 10:3). Amid so many other sounds and scares, Christians hear the voice of Christ, their Shepherd. His voice and words speak faith into our anxious hearts. And […]
A reader of these small devotions contacted me to share her experience of going to individual confession. And I have her permission to share with you the note she wrote to me. (Remember that individual confession is not a “must” but a “may.”) Dear Pastor Matt, Thank you for last week’s devotion, “Make a Holy […]