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Christian Devotional – January 4, 2020
The Essential 100, Day 4 Long before a rainbow meant anything else, the rainbow was a symbol of God’s covenant with the entire world. Read Genesis 8:1 – 9:17 as day 4 of The Essential 100 reading plan with YouVersion. God made a covenant with the world, not just the people in it. The rainbow was set to remind God of his covenant, not us. Whatever we may think a rainbow is, to God, it a reminder not to flood the entire world in judgment through water again. God will continue to judge because he continues to be holy. But, he will not use a planet-wide flood to do it.…
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Christian Devotional – January 3, 2021
The Essential 100, Day 3 The third essential truth about God is found in Genesis 6:5 – 7:24. Here we see the account of the flood. As a reminder, this is based on The Essential 100 reading plan from YouVersion. Noah was alone. He alone was faithful to God and served Him. Because of the sin of the rest of the world, God made the decision to judge the earth. Noah would be saved, and his family. God is just and must punish sin. God is also faithful to save those who seek Him from that judgment. Do we feel alone? We may be, like Noah. But, God is with…
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Christian Devotional – January 2, 2021
Essential 100, Day 2 As we take a look at day 2 from the Essential 100 reading plan on YouVersion, we see the focus is on our guilt. We must understand, as we read Genesis chapter 3, that we are not perfect. Adam and Eve had been created by God and placed in a garden with every need met and still, they were deceived and broke the one law that God had given them. Sin is often something that people don’t like to talk about nowadays. We don’t want to admit that we have done anything wrong or that we make mistakes. But, we all do. We are all sinful…
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Christian Devotional – January 1, 2021
Essential 100, Day 1 (From YouVersion) Starting this new year, I am going to do something different for a bit. Change can be a good thing as it can help us refocus and remind us of what is truly important. For this first 100 days of 2021, I am going to go through and write about a reading plan from YouVersion called Essential 100. This plan goes through 100 of the essential truths about God that believers should know, 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament. I will still be writing about what stands out to me from the verses and I invite you to join…
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Christian Devotional – January 1, 2021
Before the Silence, #10 Do we revere his name? Do we treat with respect and honor as with holiness? Read Malachi 4:1-6. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles…
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Christian Devotional – December 31, 2020
Before the Silence, #9 God remembers. When we think about all the times that we choose to be obedient rather than disobedient, God remembers. Read Malachi 3:13-18. “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord . “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ” Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord…
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Christian Devotional – December 29, 2020
Before the Silence, #8 Will the nations call us blessed? See the criteria in Malachi 3:5-12. “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to…
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Christian Devotional – December 28, 2020
Before the Silence, #7 Judgment is coming. There will be a point when all will be held accountable. Read Malachi 3:1-4. “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the…
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Christian Devotional – December 26, 2020
Before the Silence, #6 The people were upset. The Lord wasn’t accepting their offerings, but they weren’t willing to change anything. Read Malachi 2:10-17. Do we not all have one Father ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings an…
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Christian Devotional – December 24, 2020
Before the Silence, #5 What are we teaching? Now God starts the explain the concerns with those who are teaching. Read Malachi 2:7-9. “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”Malachi 2:7-9 NIVhttps://bible.com/bible/111/mal.2.7-9.NIV Have we…