Deeper Things

Psalm 91:4- "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." One of the consequences of broken families is broken trust. If it is a failed marriage, then trust between spouses breaks. If a child never sees a father, then the absentee father leads that child to question his trustworthiness.  Love and faithfulness go hand in hand when it comes to understanding God. In fact, the psalmist wrote, "love and faithfulness meet together..." (Psalm 85:10). Think about it. If God breaks His promises, how can you trust His love for you?  The key verse for this week's devotion comes from a psalm of promises where God's faithfulness meets His love.  We can rest in the shadow of the Almighty (1) He is our refuge and fortress (2) He will save us (3) He will cover us (4) He will protect us from harm (5-8) He will send armies of angels to watch over us (11-12) He will answer us when we call on H...

John 3:16- "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." When I was in seminary, we learned that every theological system has a central belief that drives every other belief. Back then, I believed that God's holiness was the appropriate center for everything I understood  about God. However, I have changed that viewpoint. I believe today you cannot understand how and why God does what He does without first understanding and experiencing His love.  When someone struggles with believing in God, that is not a holiness problem. It's a love problem. This key verse in John is one of the most frequently quoted verses in the Bible. It succinctly summarizes the Gospel in 25 words. It makes several points that helps us understand the nature of God through love.  First, there is a distinctive look to God's love. The verse starts by stating that "God so loved..." The ...

  Daniel 2:21- "He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings." Have you ever wondered what makes God, God? Is it the miracles He performs? Is it the power He displays? I don't think His miracles or His power proves He is the God the Bible portrays. God proves who He is every time He relates to you and me. What greater miracle is there than the God who spoke the universe into existence speaking to us? The fact that we can relate to a God who creates by mere word is proof-positive that He is the only true God.  This series of devotions is going to show how the living God of the universe relates to us by exploring: His sovereignty His love His faithfulness His grace His mercy His justice His Word  Before you can ever consider Him as the God you can know, you must encounter Him as the God who reigns beyond all your comprehension. Scripture presents Him as the Creator, the Savior, the King, the Almighty God, and the everlasting Father (...

Jeremiah 18:4- "But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make" (NASB). Most of us have regrets of some kind. Maybe we regret a decision we made. Or we regret a missed opportunity. As discouraged as regrets make us feel, we can't go back in time to fix them. We may want to fix that regret, but we can't. The Backstory of a Promise This key scripture can heal the brokenness of regret. It describes God as a master artisan who fashions a lump of clay into a brand new vessel. But the scripture presents a problem when the clay is ruined. We don't know exactly what happened to ruin the vessel, but the context of this chapter gives us a clue.  Jeremiah prophesied that Israel was like the clay in the potter's hand. They had chosen to worship other gods, spoiling their relationship with the one true God. God predicted their punishment (18:11), making it difficult to s...