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Christian Devotional – July 3, 2017
Nehemiah maintained single-minded focus. As we look at the next section in Nehemiah chapter 2, we look through verses 9 through 16 and we see that even though Nehemiah was coming with a great plan, he still was facing opposition. He has enemies and people who do not want to see him succeed. More than that, he didn’t even tell the people why he was there at first. He went out and did his surveying alone and in secret. Why? Nehemiah didn’t want anyone to distract him by telling him how impossible the task was or how hard things would be. He didn’t want anybody to get in his way.…
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Christian Devotional – July 2, 2017
Nehemiah had a plan. As we continue in Nehemiah chapter 2, we look at verses one through eight and we see that while Nehemiah had spent all of the last chapter praying, he had also be formulating a plan. He had no idea whether he would have an opportunity to do anything with his plan, but God worked things out so that the King was the one who brought up the situation and the King asked Nehemiah what he was like to have happened. When we are praying, we should expect that God is going to utilize us to be part of the answer. Now, this doesn’t always happen, but…
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Christian Devotional – July 1, 2017
As we look at the remainder of Nehemiah chapter 1, we see in Verses 4 through 11 that Nehemiah has taken the information that has been given to him and begins to pray. He is deeply moved by the situation that his brother brings to him. He’s so moved that he fasts and prays for days and these 8 versus share the core of his prayer. He pours out his heart to God, burdened by the situation that he was told about. When we find ourselves faced with difficult circumstances or when we see people in need, how do we respond? Are we deeply burdened to the place where we…
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Christian Devotional – June 30, 2017
Today, we’re going to move to a new book. We’ll head back to the Old Testament and to the book of Nehemiah. As we start out today, we’re looking at chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. These verses really set the stage for the entire book of Nehemiah. As you read through these versus, we seen Nehemiah going about his daily life. He encounters his brother and some of his brother’s friends who have just returned from Jerusalem, so Nehemiah asks them about Jerusalem and the people there and how things are going. His brother gives him a very disheartening report of the state of events for the people in…
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Christian Devotional – June 29, 2017
As we finish up Ephesians, we see Paul’s heart. In Ephesians 6:18-24, Paul makes his statements even more personal. He is praying for them and he wants to make sure his readers know the extent of his love and compassion for them. He shares his needs and he shares how he is responding to their needs. He prays that they will experience peace and love. When we are with others, are we real with them? Do we share our hopes and desires for them along with the struggles and difficulies that we are facing? Paul knew the importance of being genuine. What are we praying for others today?
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Christian Devotional – June 28, 2017
Are we prepared for evil days? Are we ready when we get attacked? As we look at Ephesians chapter 6, when we start in verse 10 and go through verse 17, we see the description of the armor of God. Paul understands that there will be attack as we walk through this Christian Life. Paul also wants us to understand where that attack comes from and how to defend ourselves. We must be ready. We cannot wait to prepare for an attack, but we must anticipate the attack that will come from Evil around us. Our enemy is not of flesh and blood but is the Devil himself seeking to…
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Christian Devotional – June 27, 2017
Now that Paul has established the importance of the marriage relationship in yesterday’s verses, he move on to other relationships. Ephesians 6:1-9 gives information on how to have Godly relationships in several other areas. The bottom line boils down to treating people the way God would treat them. Do we respect others and honor them for the position they have in our lives? God commands nothing less.
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Christian Devotional – June 26, 2017
Family is an important topic in the Bible. What a family should look like and how a family should act and behave with one another is spoken of multiple times throughout scripture. Here in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 through the end of the chapter, we see yet another description of how husbands and wives are to interact with one another. Wives are to respect their husbands. They are to give them the place of leadership within the family. However, that leadership is to be a servant leader. Husbands are to love their wives. That is the essence of servant leadership. One cannot truly lead another, without having a level…
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Christian Devotional – June 25, 2017
While reading Ephesians 5:17-21, one phrase in verse 19 really stuck out to me. Do I “make melody with my heart to the Lord?” We can sing beautiful songs and we can say wonderful things about Christ, but what is the song of our heart? Do we long for Him and desire Him above everything? Does our heart make a beautiful melody to the Lord? As we go through today, let’s focus our hearts on praising Jesus Christ. If our hearts are praising Him, then our mouths and our lives will praise Him as well.
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Christian Devotional – June 24, 2017
Paul continues discussing the light and the dark. In Ephesians 5:11-16 we see additional differences between living a life in the light and living a life in the dark. Many times people trying to hide what they do. They’re either ashamed of what they’ve done, or they know that what they’re doing is wrong and they don’t want anyone to know about it. They do their actions in the dark. Paul warns that eventually, the light of Jesus Christ will see everything that we do. Are we living our life wisely? Are we living our life in a way that we would embrace the light or are we fearful of…