Reading: John 1:43-51 'No Deceit! Please' "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" During this time, common conversations among the Jewish people were focused on the arrival of the promise, "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL", which tr...

Reading: Isaiah 25:4-9 'Lavishness for His People' 'Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,And refined, aged wine'. v.6 The nature of God is a giving nature. We see it illustrated in this passage by the descriptive word, 'lavish'. When God prepares a table, He chooses the best aged w...

Reading: Luke 10:25-37 "And Who is My Neighbor?" "Jesus replied and said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead." It appears like this man was heading toward a dangerous place called Jericho. If one was a citizen of Jerusalem, they wouldn't even go through it, let a...

Reading: Isaiah 21 'Watchman, be Alert!' For thus the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, and let him report what he sees."When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention." Then the lookout called, "O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I am stationed every night a...

Reading: Isaiah 61 'The Spirit's Work' "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted; To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn; To grant those...

Reading: Psalm 42 'My Soul Thirsts' "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.My soul thirsts for God, for the living God...." Psalms 42:1-2 We have all heard it said, "A picture is worth a thousand words". The Psalmist gives us a beautiful vignette into his life. Here he uses a deer to draw us into the deepest part of his being. The creat...

Reading: Matthew 25:31-46 'The Words of the King' "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left....

Psalm 150:1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise the Lord I chuckle ... no, I really laugh ... every time I read Psalm 150 (the last in the Psalter). Thirteen times in 6 short verses it says,"Praise the Lord, Praise God or Praise Him".Praising God must be important. To me, praising the Lord means to prize Him and rave a...

Psalm 145:4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. Memories It's Memorial Day. Day for reflection on those loved ones who passed their faith on to us. For Jo Ann and I we remember our parents .. who brought us up in the Lord. Yes, salvation is all the work of God, but there is a certain expectation in Scripture that spiri...

Psalm 119:105 Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. Moving Forward Reminds me of camp in the Wisconsin woods. A night walk with a lantern in hand and a narrow path ahead. Just enough light to see a few steps ahead. Important to keep my eyes focused on the pathway just ahead of me to avoid the holes, rocks and roots. Reading God's Word daily is like th...