Category: DEVOTIONALS

  • GIVING UP CONTROL

    Connect The TestamentsGenesis 30; Matthew 22:23-23:36; Ecclesiastes 7:6-12 We are born bent on our own ambitions. It’s in our nature to control and compete. And pride—often the source of this behavior—keenly notices the pride of others. Often, we want to point out the failing of the equally prideful and impose our own wills on them,…

  • THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE HUMBLY SUBJECT TO THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST

    The Imitation of Christ THE VOICE OF CHRIST MY CHILD, he who attempts to escape obeying withdraws himself from grace. Likewise he who seeks private benefits for himself loses those which are common to all. He who does not submit himself freely and willingly to his superior, shows that his flesh is not yet perfectly…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, “Help me…

  • CHEER UP, PREACHER

    Connect The TestamentsGenesis 28-29; Matthew 21:23-22:22; Ecclesiastes 7:1-5 Things are getting serious for the writer of Ecclesiastes (“the Preacher”), and sometimes confusing for us, as we follow him through the labyrinth of his discourse on the meaning of life. Death is better than birth, mourning is better than feasting, and sorrow is better than laughter?…

  • AQUIRING PATIENCE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CONCUPISCENCE

    The Imitation of Christ THE DISCIPLE PATIENCE, O Lord God, is very necessary for me, I see, because there are many adversities in this life. No matter what plans I make for my own peace, my life cannot be free from struggle and sorrow. THE VOICE OF CHRIST My child, you are right, yet My…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The apostle John was privileged to look within the gates of heaven, and in describing what he saw, he begins by saying, “I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!” This teaches us that the chief object of contemplation in the heavenly state is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” Nothing…

  • SAVE US!

    Connect The TestamentsGenesis 27; Matthew 20:17-21:22; Ecclesiastes 6:5-12 “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matt 21:9). Idiomatically, this means: “Save [me], I pray, the Son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh!…

  • THE LONGINGS OF OUR HEARTS MUST BE EXAMINED AND MODERATED

    The Imitation of Christ THE VOICE OF CHRIST MY CHILD, it is necessary for you to learn many things which you have not yet learned well. THE DISCIPLE What are they, Lord? THE VOICE OF CHRIST That you conform your desires entirely according to My good pleasure, and be not a lover of self but…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: “I will help thee.” “It is but a small thing for me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with my blood. What! not help thee? I have died…

  • I UNDERSTAND HOW THEY FELT

    Connect The TestamentsGenesis 26; Matthew 19:1-20:16; Ecclesiastes 6:1-4 “Allow the children, and do not forbid them to come to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 19:14). This is the type of Jesus I want to know. It’s easy for me to think of Jesus as a man I see in film…