• Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 17, 2022

    Teaching and Training, Day 5 Who do we pray for? As we continue through the teachings that Paul gave to Timothy, we see his urging to pray for others. Read 1 Timothy 2:1-8. Interestingly, Paul does not command Timothy to do this. It is a strong urging. However, the question remains, who do we pray for? Are we focused on those around us and their spiritual needs? Do we concern ourselves with their relationship with God? Are we so broken over their need that we that we focus on continuing to lift them up in prayer? As we see throughout the rest of scripture, everyone is our neighbor. We need…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 16, 2022

    Teaching and Training, Day 4 Remember. One of the most important parts of teaching and training is actually remembering what you have learned. Read 1 Timothy 1:18-20. Paul know all that Timothy has gone through. He desires to see Timothy remember all that he has learned. How often do we see God work and move and we learn from Him, but then something happens and we forget all God has done and how he has moved? Don’t allow all that God is doing to get lost in forgetting. We must continue to remember how God moves and the lessons that we learned from the struggles we have gone through. God…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 15, 2022

    Teaching and Training, Day 3 God grace is sufficient. As we read the next section in this training manual that Paul wrote for Timothy, we see that no matter what we have been through in our lives, God’s grace is sufficient for us. Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Paul wants Timothy to understand the magnitude and the depth of the grace and mercy of God. Paul explains just exactly what his own past looked like and how much of a sinner he was, and yet God still had mercy and grace for him. We can understand the same thing. As we seek to be trained by God we can realize that…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 14, 2022

    Teaching and Training, Day 2 Why did God give us the law? What was the point of the 10 Commandments? Read 1 Timothy 1:6-11. As Paul is teaching Timothy, he wants to help him understand why God gave the law in the first place. God gave the law so that we would understand that we were lawbreakers. Without the law come out we would never know that we were sinful. Timothy needed to understand this as he was teaching those around him. He needed to help the people understand that the laws that they had been following for the whole of their life were something they were never meant to…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 13, 2022

    Teaching and Training, Day 1 Paul is training his disciple, Timothy. We get a chance to study through and understand how to live the Christian life directly from Paul himself. Read 1 Timothy 1:1-5. As we read these verses, we see Paul’s encouraging and uplifting introduction to the young Timothy. We see verse 5 that explains Paul’s goal for him which is love, a pure conscience, and a sincere faith. But I never noticed verse 4 before. As we see in verse 5, Paul mentions that the goal of his command is to create these things in Timothy’s life. But what was the command? To see Paul’s command to Timothy,…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 12, 2022

    The Prophet of Redemption, Day 14 God is God over all. As we read the last day of our study through the book of Zechariah, we see that in the end, the Lord is worshipped and praised above all. Read Zechariah chapter 14. The people have gone through difficulty and challenges. They have been ransacked and destroyed. They have been through judgment. Now, the emphasis and focus is upon the Lord and all that he is. He is over all. He will restore his people and make them right with him. When we think about all we go through and the difficulties and challenges that we face every day, are…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 11, 2022

    The Prophet of Redemption, Day 13 What is the reward for standing strong in Christ? Refining. Read Zechariah 13. As God explains here, he takes people and he weeds out those that aren’t following him. He moves them out. Then, those that are left, he takes those and refines them. It’s not an easy process, but a necessary one. Are we willing to obey him no matter what? When he starts to refine us, do we allow him, or do we fight against it? The result is that we are made more like Christ, but the process isn’t easy. Will we stay focused and endure?

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 10, 2022

    A Prophet of Redemption, Day 12 Eventually, we will realize what we are doing. God knows that at some point we will come to an understanding of exactly how we have treated him. He explains this in Zechariah chapter 12. God knew that eventually the people would come to understand how they had treated him. This was true for the people of that time, but was also a foreshadowing of Jesus. There will come a day when the whole world will understand who Christ is and what his sacrifice is for. Do we understand that now and are we living that out today?

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 9, 2022

    The Prophet of Redemption, Day 11 You get the leader you ask for. The people of Istael learn this difficult rule. Read Zechariah chapter 11. During this time the people have forsaken God. They have turned to false idols and to many other places to find their safety and sanctuary. As a result, God takes away their Godly leadership. He gets them a leader that is in line with what they’re been asking for. Unfortunately, that leader treats them terribly and allows evil things to happen to them. Sometimes, when we reject God, he allows us to go through difficult and challenging times so that we remember just how much…

  • Devotional

    Christian Devotional – July 8, 2022

    The Prophet of Redemption, Day 10 God brings us through our troubles. No matter what difficulties we face, God brings us through. Read Zechariah chapter 10. Just like the people that Zachariah was talking to, we go through difficult times and struggles and hardships. These people understood what it meant to walk through trials and through the sea and to see their enemies defeated. God is letting us know that he is going to be with us no matter what struggles and challenges we face. We can always trust in him to be with us and stay with us no matter what we are going through. Are we willing to…