Matthew 14:28 - 31   “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “ Come ,”  he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.   But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “ You of little faith ,”  he said,  “ why did you doubt ?” You of little faith; why did you doubt? Notice Jesus didn't ask, "why did you doubt me?" Jesus was asking about doubt, but not necessarily doubt in Jesus. He could ask us the same question. How often do we have doubt in ourselves or our circumstances? Oftentimes, I find that I have loads of faith in Jesus but doubt that I can do whatever. I don't know if I will succeed or complete the task or do it as well as someone else. I sink.  Instead of trusting in the call - Jesus beckoned Peter "Come", - we trust in ourselves. On a good day, we answer ...

Ezekiel 45: 18-20 ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.' This passage is about coming back to God through the temple sacrifices - through the law. I don't remember the specific circumstances.  That isn't even important for what I want to talk about. Part of the instruction given here is " for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance ". There are no examples given or further explanation. None are really needed for us to understand. The more we learn, the more we understand how far...

I have certain beliefs. Many have developed over many years. Some I've developed without even necessarily THINKING about them. I just believe them.  That is NOT the way to have a belief though. Just believing for the sake of believing is like building on sand. (Matthew 7:26,27 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash . )  So sometimes, I need to examine a belief to make it concrete. One example of that was when I wrote the post about the Trinity and someone made a comment that suggested that the Trinity isn't Biblical. Since that time, I've watched for Biblical evidence to support it. While I don't have the evidence documented to confirm it to a reader, I feel confident in my belief. Lately, I've read a few things that call to question my belief that Jesus is th...

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, have been called according to his purpose. Late last week, I had an interesting job interview. I knew by the time I left that I was not chosen for the position. The interview was a joint interview with several applicants.  As a result I understood why I wasn't chosen. The problem was that I had thought it was perhaps THE job I was going to get. So I left with the knowledge that I was not the best person and the feeling that perhaps I won't be the best person for another job.  Yes, I know that is pessimistic. I'm working on that. The thing is, I was behind on my readings and devotions. On Saturday, I went to a formation - which is a planning/work session for an upcoming Walk to Emmaus three day event.  I am part of the team. During the session, someone talked about Romans 8:28.  I've heard it before, many times. As I caught up with my readings, I read that passage 2 more time...

Romans 14:11 ....'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,    'every knee will bow before me;       every tongue will confess to God. I'm still thinking about the Trinity. ( See previous posts if you are interested: Jesus, Son of God - Trinity and Jesus and the Holy Spirit) I think the "problem" if Jesus is NOT God is whether we worship and praise Him or not.  If Jesus is not God, we'd be worshiping more than one God, something that God strongly disapproves. I had this verse...at least part of it... in my head to get rid of this dilemma. I was thinking that Jesus said, "every knee will bow before me", but he didn't.  God did in the Old Testament. Jesus himself said he was the Messiah or the Christ, or rather confirmed it when others said it.  (See John 4:24-26 , Matthew 16:15 , Mark 8:29 , and Luke 9:20 )  But those terms Christ and Messiah mean anointed one. Jesus said in John 14:6 " I am the way and the truth and th...

Romans 12:12 (ESV) Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. We need t-shirts imprinted with this verse! I need a plaque on my wall with this verse!  It sums everything up!  Well, there are shirts and posters that I won't be getting but I do need to commit this to memory and put into practice. I can rejoice in hope, and be patient in times of trouble if I am in constant prayer. I think constant prayer isn't repeating the Lord's Prayer, or any of the other prayers that we may memorize, or even repeating praise and prayer requests frequently. I think being in constant in prayer means living a life that is worthy, trying to be what Christ modeled for us, focusing on God and listening intently for His whispers and His commands. I found this website today that I want to share. It's called Whispering Wall .  Now to be really honest it is a little bit of a sales pitch for a new book but that doesn't make God's whispers any less needed or ...

Check yourself against this list to see how your fair: Romans 12:9-21 (NIV): Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the...

Psalm 4:3:  Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;        the LORD will hear when I call to him. There are at least two perspectives for this verse.  One is that I know that you are godly - so we both can take comfort in that.  The other is: I know you are NOT godly so I can take comfort (revenge) in that.  There are several places in the Bible where I am uncomfortable with the implications.  There are a lot of verses where the sentiment expressed is joy that someone else will "get his", or somehow suffer for the consequences of his actions.  Most of these as far as I can remember are in the Old Testament; so it occurs before Jesus comes to turn the world on its ear.  Jesus came to remove the idea of "an eye for an eye" ideology of the OT. When we read this in the Old Testament, we need to remember that it is in the OT and that Jesus came to say turn the other cheek when struck ( Matt 5 :39),...

Romans 14:19 (ESV) "So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding (1 Cor 12:25) that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another." When we were in school, learning to read and comprehend, we were taught to read complete paragraphs or whole stories to get the meaning of particular words, sentences, the paragraph or story.  Sometimes when reading the Bible, we read one sentence or phrase and God uses that to speak to us.  It is also important to read the complete story, paragraph, book to get the rest of the story but sometimes one or two phrases speak to us. The above passages together, in separate epistles, form a very cohesive command - for lack of a better word.  We should pursue what makes for peace AND mutual upbuilding. We should work to create or keep the peace amongst other believers, especially those in our local congregations and communities. We should do this so that the body of...

  The Upper Room devotional for May 21, 2010 Thought for the Day is this: "If people judged God by my actions, what would they know of grace?" This question makes me drop my head in shame.  I am afraid I do not reflect God's grace very well. Actually I have a pretty dismal track record on the subject. I know some scripture. I know what grace is. I know that God loves me and everyone around me and away from me, even my enemies. I know. I know. I know. But I don't act like I know. I don't talk like I know. I don't reflect God's grace very well at all.  I was part of a skit once where the premise was to see if there was enough evidence to "convict" me of being Christian.  Of course, I had all the right answers.  It was a skit, you know. I knew ahead of time what I was supposed to say when the "prosecution" presented its case. I knew the responses (lines) to the accusatory questions.  Yep, I was convicted in the skit. I was convicted ...

Romans 4:15 (NIV) " because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression." (NLT)   " For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)" (ESV) "For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression." Three ways to say the same thing: Without law, there would be no sin.  Everything would be acceptable because nothing would be unacceptable. The word "anarchy" comes to my mind when reading this verse.  I looked it up on dictionary.com .  It says (among other things): "confusion; chaos; disorder".  The origin is "lawlessness, lit., lack of a leader, equiv. to ánarch ( os ) leaderless".  Yet another says: "Absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose." When God created the universe, He also enacted the laws of the universe.  Like....gravity - we stay on eart...

Romans 9:15-18(NIV) For he says to Moses , "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden . Some of scripture bothers me.  Of course it isn't for me to question, at least not morally, or what's "fair".  But nevertheless, some of scripture bothers me. This is one passage that helps to clear some bothersome passages, sort of. According to scripture, there are times when God hardens people's hearts, i.e. Pharaoh's heart was hardened repeatedly after the plagues. The Lord also hardened the hearts of those living in the promised land. (Joshua 20 .... Fo...

I've been without the Internet for several days so I haven't been able to post.  The other day, the same day I lost my Internet connection, I wrote down eight different verses that spoke to me.  I wondered if looking at the passages after several days would make me forget why I wrote them down.  It is interesting that today, some of them seem more intertwined than when I wrote them down.  Here are the passages I wrote down 3 days ago. Leviticus 19:32 "Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:14 " Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:16b "Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.   James 4:14b  "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins....