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Christian Devotional – February 6, 2025
Avoiding the Rollercoaster, Day 6 Divided allegiance. Read Judges chapter 6. Sometimes, when it comes to that spiritual rollercoaster up-and-down, we are our own worst enemy. The people of Israel had been experiencing peace, but then they started worship other gods along with the one true God. You see, if we are going to avoid the rollercoaster, we can’t have a divided allegiance. We must be following God, and God alone. When Gideon obeyed the command to destroy the temple of Baal, people were angry with him and upset. Do we defend the “extra” things in our lives? Do we try to keep them instead of allowing God to destroy…
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Christian Devotional – February 4, 2025
Avoiding the Rollercoaster, Day 4 Be obedient. Read Judges chapter 4. Ultimately, we must remember that God is the one that acts. Israel was in trouble. They had been disobedient and they had been taken over. Deborah was the judge at that time, and she told Barak that God would give them victory through him. He was nervous about leading the people and requested that she come with him. But as soon as he advanced on the enemy, God brought the victory. It does not say in the verse that Barak won the victory. It says that God brought the victory. When we are obedient to God, God moves. God…
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Christian Devotional – February 3, 2025
Avoiding the Rollercoaster, Day 3 Obstacles. Read Judges chapter 3. When we think about the rollercoaster of ups and downs in our Christian life, we often see plenty of obstacles that are littering our path. I often tell God that it would be so much easier if He just removed the obstacles. I wouldn’t be up-and-down nearly as much if I didn’t have these things standing in my way. Here we see something similar with the people of Israel. We learn that God leaves the obstacles intentionally. There was purpose behind God’s decision to do not allow the people to completely wipe out those that were left from other nations.…
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Christian Devotional – February 2, 2025
Avoiding the Rollercoaster, Day 2 Pass it on. Read Judges chapter 2. Interestingly, as we read through Judges chapter 2, we see that one of the biggest misses for the people of Israel is that they did not do a good job teaching the next generation to follow the Lord. They may have passed down the rules and the regulations, but they did not pass down the passion or the heart. People obeyed God only because they thought he would do things for them. They did not obey God because they loved him.That change in focus led multiple generations to rebel and decide not to obey God. When we follow…
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Christian Devotional – June 5, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 21 As we finish out the book of Judges, read Judges 21. We see the terrible ending to a horrific tragedy. The people of Israel find themselves in a difficult situation where the sins of one tribe is affecting the entire nation. Even through all of this, they found a way to have mercy. They found a way to offer grace and redemption. God continues to seek that out for us. He desires that we experience the redemption that he has for us. He makes a way to continue, even when there didn’t seem to be a way. Are we accepting God’s provisions for us…
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Christian Devotional – June 4, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 20 Judgment. Such a horrible thing happened in Judges 19 that we read yesterday, that today, in Judges 20, we see the response. All the people came together to stand against the atrocities that had occurred. God led them to enact judgment on the people of Benjamin. When God calls us to move against something, do we? Are we willing to stand up for what God showed us is right? The people here made the decision to follow through and stand.
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Christian Devotional – June 3, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 19 Evil. This story in Judges 19 sounds so much like the story of Lot in Genesis, but this time there is a much more tragic ending. The Levite actually wanted to stay in a town if Israelites, presumably because it would be safer. Apparently not. They had become so consumed with sin that their actions sound like the evils from Sodom. As believers, do we look different than the world? Do we act differently or are we seemingly the same? As followers of Christ, that should mean we are different. We don’t act like the world, talk like the world, think like the world.…
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Christian Devotional – June 2, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 18 Do you want to sin a little, or do you want to sin big? That essentially the question he is being asked here in Judges 18. The priest was already disobeying God in so many ways just by doing what he was doing from the last chaptet. But now, we see him being asked if he wants to do even more that is in disobedience to God. When we start down the path of disobedience and not following God, it quickly snowballs into so much more than what we originally expected. Now, we may think things are getting better. This priest probably looked at…
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Christian Devotional – June 1, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 17 “Oh Lord, bless me.” But, are we really doing something that the Lord will bless? Read Judges 17. They may talk about the Lord a lot in this chapter and use his name throughout, but there is not much actual obedience to God in this chapter. These people are doing whatever they want to do, in whatever way they want to do it, and they are hoping God will bless it. How often do we do the exact same thing? We are busy doing whatever we want, in whatever way we want, and then we pray to God and ask that God will bless…
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Christian Devotional – May 31, 2022
Days of the Judges, Day 16 The nagging continues. Read Judges 16. As we continue through the story of Samson, we see his tragic ending. Unfortunately, because of his is lack of focus on God, he finds himself in a situation with a woman who does not really love him. She uses him and because of her constant nagging, he tells her the secret of his strength. We are constantly being tempted by Satan. And Satan knows exactly how to tempt us. If we do not maintain our focus on God and keep him first in every area, we will find ourselves in situations we shouldn’t be in with people…