BUT SINNERS
Mark 2:17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” It is that time of year, filled with snotty noses, coughing fits, and headaches. Sickness...
THE LORD DELIVERS HIM
Psalm 34:19–22 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. Passages like this give us trouble. It sounds like an iron-clad promise… and if it is an iron-clad promise, then why hasn’t it been true in MY experience? I’ve had...
TASTE AND SEE
Psalm 34:8–10 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. When I...
WHEN WE LOVE GOD
1 John 5:1-4 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love...
HE ANSWERED ME
Psalm 34:4–5 I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. I know we’re all adults here, but let’s admit the truth – life is pretty scary. Sickness, financial...
HE IS RIGHTEOUS
1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. I don’t like being wrong. If you like to be wrong, then you must be wrong a lot. But most of us would agree that we like being right. ...
A CLEAN HEART
Psalm 51:10–12 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. It’s obvious from reading...
BE IMITATORS OF GOD
Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Love is a very weighty word in our world today. People use it in many different...
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
1 John 4:7-9 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. What is love? You are probably singing the song about now. You’re welcome! In...
I WILL EXTOL YOU
Psalm 145: 1-3 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145 is...
OUR SOUL WAITS
Psalm 33:20–22 Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You. Most of us humans despise waiting. Traffic lights,...
DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the...
LED BY THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:16-25 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do...
SEARCH ME, O GOD
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! If you’ve not read all of Psalm 139, I recommend you do so before you read what I’ve hacked out below....
WALK IN THE SAME WAY
1 John 2:4-6 Whoever says, “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to...
FEAR THE LORD
Psalm 33:8-9 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him! For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. You may not like the idea of “fearing” the Lord. Many people don’t. But the reason they don’t –...
GOD IS LIGHT
1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the...
BY HIS WORD
Psalm 33:6-7 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; He puts the deeps in storehouses. These two sentences are intended to make our jaws drop. Go outside on a...
THE WORD OF THE LORD
Psalm 33:4–5 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD. I love noticing both the ways God and humans are alike, and the ways we are...
I AM NOT ASHAMED
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall...
IN YOUR PRESENCE
Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Where does your joy in life come from? I mean REAL joy, that won’t fade away? Notice where David says it is found… In Your...
GOD IS OUR FORTRESS
Psalm 46:1-3 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble...
HIS DIVINE POWER
2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may...
TRUE VINE
John 15:4-5 ESV Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for...
HUMBLE YOURSELVES
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Humility. Probably a word that is taught to children and left aside for adults. But...
HOPE IN GOD
Psalm 43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. Do you ever talk to yourself? If not, you should try it. It turns out it’s not only helpful, it’s biblical to talk to...
BY HIS WOUNDS
1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” When you were a child, did you ever break something and then wait anxiously until your mother or father came...
MY ROCK AND MY SALVATION
Psalm 62:1–2 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. When David was in trouble, he knew where to turn. In fact, he knew there was only ONE place to...
BE STILL
Psalm 46:10“Be still, and know that I am God” Have you ever met someone who unknowingly interrupts others in the middle of a sentence? Someone who is already pondering what they are going to say before the person they are talking to is finished speaking? Someone who...
DO NOT BE CONFORMED
1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but...
GOD REIGNS
Psalm 47:8–9 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! We all know what it’s like to be a “fan” of a high-profile...
MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise...
ALL WHO SEEK YOU
Psalm 40:16–17 But may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation say continually, “Great is (Yahweh)!” As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! ...