Monday Jeremiah 29:8-9 While Israel was in exile, the prophet Jeremiah had to contend with false prophets who were misleading the people with wrong teachings. The LORD told Jeremiah that the people must not listen to these false teachers because they were not sent by Him. Jeremiah’s warning is a message to Christians today as...
Monday Jeremiah 29:7; Esther 4:6-17; Philippians 2:3-4 This week we consider Esther, who lived in Medo-Persia and became queen during the time of Judah’s post-exile resettlement. Esther bravely revealed her Jewishness, risking her own life to intercede for her fellow Jews. She subordinated self-interest to community welfare, a timely example for us in light of...
Monday Jeremiah 29:4-6 Gone but Not Forgotten For forty years Jeremiah had been warning the people of Judah and Jerusalem to submit to the LORD by submitting to their captors in Babylon. In 598 B.C., King Jehoiachin had surrendered Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and the first group of captives had been taken into exile (Jeremiah...
Monday Jeremiah 1 “I the Lord am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:8) This is a great chapter. In this chapter not only do we see the call of Jeremiah, but we see the Lord God who is in complete control. Nothing catches Him off guard; He is even using...
Monday John 18:33-36 ARE YOU THE KING OF THE JEWS? It must have been with a touch of irony that Pilate asked Jesus: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pontius Pilate was the Roman Empire’s military governor over the province of Judaea from 26/27 to 36/37 AD, its fifth governor since the area became...
Monday John 13:1-17; Luke 22:24-30; Matthew 20:16 This week’s devo features Peter’s question to Jesus on the eve before His crucifixion: “Are you going to wash my feet?” Let’s open with some context. “As the Lord enters the Upper Room with His disciples, it is a somber and crucial hour in His ministry. The shadow...
Monday Please begin today by reading: John 4:4-26 The story of the “Woman at the Well” gives us a beautiful picture of the way Jesus pursues us. There are exciting spiritual truths we will unpack each day this week. First, let’s start with the fact that Jesus “needed to go through Samaria” (v. 4). According...
Monday John 8:31-38 – Freedom! “… and the truth will make you free.” —Jesus Christ (John 8:32) FREEDOM—a most valued, highly charged word, inspiring revolutions and wars, mass movements in literature, art, and music. It’s almost the very definition of what is good, and the lack of it is defined as bad. People struggling for...
Monday John 6:35, 48, 51, 68 Jesus’ teaching of the Bread of Life Discourse (6:35-70) is given the day after Jesus fed 5,000+ hungry people in Galilee, using a small boy’s two fish and five loaves of barley bread. This sign points to Jesus as the Messiah, and made Jesus’ identity clear to any who...
