Daily Devotionals

Hebrews 10:24–25

Go, go, go, go! The demands on our time are relentless. There’s never a lull in “must do” requirements. Get it done, drop it off, finish that task. Answer that email! Send that text! Make that phone call!

But let’s take a few minutes to ponder a word that gets overlooked in the midst of a breakneck schedule. That simple word is ... encouraging.

John 13:16–17

Once upon a time life was simpler. There were struggles and problems, but they weren’t all that complex. Right fought against wrong in the main event, and not too many folks remained neutral. There was a clear, unmistakable line between winning and losing.

James 1:2–4

The hammer is a useful and handy instrument. It is an essential and helpful tool if nails are ever to be driven into place. Each blow forces them to dig deeper as the hammer’s head pounds and pounds.

Philippians 3:12–14

Are you an innovative person? Let’s take a test. I have Earl Nightingale to thank for this list of traits generally found in innovative people.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

His mother chose “Andrew” on March 15, 1767, when she gave birth to her son who grew into the independent-minded South Carolina rebel nicknamed “Old Hickory.”Andrew answered the call for soldiers to resist the British invasion when he was only 13. Shortly thereafter, he was taken prisoner. Refusing to black an enemy officer’s boots, he was struck with a sabre—Andrew’s introduction to pain.

Psalm 18:31–33, 35

The Cave of Adullam was no Holiday Inn Express.

It was a wicked refugee camp...a dark vault on the side of a cliff that reached deeply into a hill. Huddled in this clammy cavern were sixhundred outcasts—a mob ofdesperate down-and-outers. They came from all over and wound up huddled in themakeshift shelter, naturally carved in the side of acliff.

2 Corinthians 4:8–9, 13, 15

Galatians 4:4–5

For the longest time, I didn’t understand the new-car industry.

Hebrews 4:14–16

Trauma has been defined as “an injury (as a wound) to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agent ... a disordered psychic or behavioural state resulting from mental or emotional stress.”

Like potatoes in a pressure cooker, we understand the meaning of stress. A week doesn’t pass without a few skirmishes with those “extrinsic agents” that beat upon our fragile frames. They may be as mild as making lunches for our kids before 7:30 in the morning or as severe as a violent encounter with an assailant. Makes no difference. The result is “trauma.”

1 Samuel 3:2–5, 7

As technology continues to take over more of our lives, I find it increasingly more difficult to hear the still small voice of God through the din of culture. Cell phone notifications, laptop“dings,” and pop-up Internet ads create an almost deafening blast of society’s distractions.

That’s why I’m making a commitment every day to listen for God’s voice ... especially in a day when there are so many competing messages.

I’ve always enjoyed the story of how young Samuel, as a boy, first came to know of the presence of God.