Today's Devotions

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Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Leaning on His Spirit: Francis Chan +

    Are we really listening to God, or just the words we want God to tell us? Francis Chan, former lead Read More
  • Crazy Love: a book by Francis Chan +

    This is the introduction to Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. Read More
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barren1Do we really want to be transformed by God? In the passage (below) from Isaiah, not only a person is transformed but an entire nation, a makeover of both the spiritual and ecological elements. God’s transformation not only lays low evil doers and cynics, it is God’s heart recognizing those who were willing to turn toward Him. The biblical transformation Isaiah prophecies is rooted in a rejuvenation for those people who have turned—willingly—their faces to see Him, and submit to Him alone.  He takes the things and people that are “wasted”, “deaf”, “blind”, the “castoffs”, “the down and outs”, and returns them into reflections of His glory.

15-16 Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track.
You shut God out and work behind the scenes,
Plotting the future as if you knew everything,
acting mysterious, never showing your hand.
You have everything backward!
You treat the potter as a lump of clay.
Does a book say to its author, 
"He didn't write a word of me"?
Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it,
"She had nothing to do with this"?

17-21 And then before you know it,
and without you having anything to do with it,
Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens,
and Mount Carmel reforested.
At that time the deaf will hear 
word-for-word what's been written.
After a lifetime in the dark,
the blind will see.
The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God,
the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel.

For there'll be no more gangs on the street.
Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species.
Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean 
will never be heard of again:
Gone the people who corrupted the courts,
gone the people who cheated the poor,
gone the people who victimized the innocent.
Isaiah 29:16-18 (The Message)

So the question remains, do we recognize our need to be transformed, or do we think we are not in need of the Almighty’s recreating?

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Falling in Love With God +

    “falling in love with God,” as Boa’s subtitle for the facet explains. In this approach we attempt to enter into Read More
  • An Infallible Assurance: John Donne +

    Our God is not out of breath, because he hath blown one tempest, and swallowed a Navy: Our God hath Read More
  • At the Feet of Jesus: We Fall Down +

    Chris Tomlin We fall down and lay our crowns At the feet of Jesus The greatness of Your Mercy and Read More
  • I am Not a Robot, I am a Unicorn: Learning How to Communicate in a Fallen World +

      Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • The other Lord's Prayer by Michael Reeves +

    Mike Reeves discusses  the love of Jesus for us in the way he prays  to the Father, reflecting on his Read More
  • Enjoying Christ Constantly by Mike Reeves +

    Exceptional discussion of how the Song of Songs Read More
  • The Significance of the Trinity Underpinning the Great Doctrines of the Reformation - Michael Reeves +

    Can we ever afford to be vague about the nature and identity of our God? Read More
  • Worship, The Trinity, Music by Michael Reeves +

    Michael Reeves speaking to the worship leaders Read More
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