• Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 25, 2017

    For our final day looking at purpose, we turn to the New Testament and a story that Jesus gave to the people. Read Matthew 25:14-30. This parable, often called the Parable of the Talents has several applications to our lives, but one of the main ones relates to what are we doing with the gifts that God has given us. Each and every one of us have been given talents and abilities that God Himself has shaped and developed. Additionally, when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we also received the Holy Spirit and the gifts that He bestows. When it comes to our purpose and making…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 14, 2017

    Have you been afraid? What about a situation where you really wanted to know the answer to something, but you were afraid to ask? Maybe others didn’t want you to know. Maybe you weren’t sure you could handle the answer. Either way, it presents a difficult situation. That’s how Nicodemus must have felt. Read his story in John 3:1-21. He was a high ranking religious official and he had spent years studying the law and living by the rules that were set forth in that. Now there is this person, Jesus, who is teaching something similar, but different. He didn’t understand it and he had questions, but the other religious…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 11, 2017

    Over the past several days we’ve learned several things about purpose and God’s purpose in our lives. So why do we not just jump up and do the purpose that God has for us? Why aren’t we busy fulfilling all of God’s purpose in our lives? Read Romans chapter 7. There are so many things that push and pull for our attention and often, we don’t even realize the war that is going on inside of us. We say we want to please God and do the things that He asks of us, but then we end up doing the exact opposite. We want to do good, but we fail.…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 10, 2017

    Several of the people in the Bible had great purpose, but few were more clearly spelled out than John the Baptist. His coming and the work that he would be doing was prophesied about in the old testament. His birth was foretold by angels and was a miraculous birth. He had a following of people who would hang on every word that he said. You can read about him in many places of the New Testament, but we’re going to look at him from Joihn 3:22-36. As you read through this, you see John giving an overview of his purpose to other people. Interestingly, even though he had all those…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 6, 2017

    Yesterday we looked at what can happen when we lose our purpose. Today, we’ll continue by looking at what happens when we have to wait on our purpose. Read Luke 2:21-40. As we read this, we see that there are two people who have been busy working to fulfill their purpose. Simeon knew that he was going to see the Christ, but he didn’t know when. He continues to wait and to serve and to do the things that he knew he was supposed to be doing. We often get angry when we feel like we know what we are supposed to be doing, but it’s not happening fast enough.…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 5, 2017

    Understanding purpose is such an interesting thing because it can sometimes feel like we’ve lost our purpose. Read the book of Ruth in the Bible. It is only 4 short chapters, but it tells the story of 2 women who had lost their purpose. Naomi had been married. She had 2 sons. By all accounts she had done well and was busy fulfilling the purpose for women in that day and time. Then her husband was killed and her sons were killed and she found herself drifting  with no purpose. She got depressed and even changed her own name to Mara, which mean bitter. Ruth had also lost her husband,…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 4, 2017

    What good are plans?  As we continue to look at purpose, read Jeremiah chapter 29. God is giving the people of Israel some idea of what is going to happen to them in the future. They have been taken away into captivity and they dont see how any of this could possibly be God’s will for them. Jeremiah receives a word from God that is to help them and encourage them. We are going to focus on verses 10 – 14. God tells Jeremiah that He has plans for the people. God wants the people to know that there is a plan in everything that is going on. God has…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 3, 3017

    Today as we start on our journey to look at purpose, I decided to start back at the beginning. Take a few minutes and read Genesis chapters 1 and 2. We see God, the One who has always existed and always been, and then we see that He gets busy creating. God is our Creator and He had purpose as He went through the steps to speak into existance everything that we see and don’t see around us. The Spirit of God hovered around and we see the Spirit of God moving directly with all that God has and is doing. In Genesis 1:26, God talks about the discussion that…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – January 2, 2017

    Welcome to 2017!! Today I wanted to take a couple of minutes and talk about this coming year. This past year has been a difficult one for me for a number of reasons. I have seen God do great and amazing things, but not all of those have been easy or pleasant to go through. I am more convinced than ever that God has great plans and that He is going to receive the glory for anything and everything that He does, but I have struggled with knowing exactly what I am supposed to be doing through all this. I’ve seen a lot of internal change in this last year…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – November 29, 2016

    Read Job chapter 16 VERSE: Job 16:12–All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target. TRUTH: Job is speaking here and he is giving his perspective on what happened and how he feels God has responded to him. Job feels like everything was going well in his life, but then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, God took him and broke him. Everything that he had was shattered and crushed. Job doesn’t understand why these things happened to him. Anyone who has been in a position to lose the things they hold most dear…