- sound of a soft breath -

No Beginning and No End

2009-11-10T08:56:00.001-05:00

Not too far back in history when one would stand looking out across the ocean they would easily conclude that it had no end. The sea just went on forever, water and sky, on and on, with no end. Land has bounds but the sea was limitless. We know today that it does have bounds. The ocean has a beginning and an end. What Is Permanent, I Mean Really Permanent?So what around us, in our lives, is permanent? What goes on forever? What has no end? With age and a little life experience and maybe a little science most of us come to the conclusion that nothing on this earth is permanent. At best there are things that appear permanent, but given enough time all things change, everything has limits, nothing is without an end. | Read Psalm 110:1-7 | Listen |The LORD has sworn and will not...

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038 | Kingdom Without Borders

2009-10-13T09:35:00.003-04:00

The things Jesus taught brought very strong responses during his life on earth. His teaching still does. Jesus challenges people. He challenges me. | Read Luke 4:14-30 | Listen | Check out this account of Jesus in his hometown teaching in the synagogue. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (Luke 4:16-19)The custom of...

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037 | Life is More than Flesh & Blood

2009-09-22T09:56:00.003-04:00

"I've also seen the effect of the devil's work in the lives of broken and destroyed people, and as we see in Luke 4:1-13, the devil was attempting to destroy Jesus..." Whitney T. Kuniholm wrote this in his reflection titled "Deliver Us from Evil" in his book The Essential Jesus: 100 Readings Through the Bible's Greatest Story. As you may know I am blogging through this book. I am on passage reading number 37 of the 100 passages. | Read Luke 4:1-13 | Listen | I want to focus on the first four verses of this passage. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God,...

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Bible Devotions on Facebook

2009-08-26T16:21:00.007-04:00

Get to Know GodGod is so much larger than our human thoughts. Reading scripture expands our thoughts about God. Knowledge from the Bible pushes and pulls at who we understand God to be. Scripture explodes misconceptions and myths we have about our Creator. Get to know God by reading the Bible. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness... (2 Timothy 3:16) Bible Devotional on FacebookDo you use Facebook? Did you know you can find the Word of God on Facebook? Yes, get daily and weekly Bible devotions right on Facebook. You know that "Home" page that opens when you first login to Facebook, also known as the "News feed"? Yes right there in your news feed along with your friends status updates you will find a quick look at...

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God Gave us Holes

2009-08-08T10:26:00.000-04:00

Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. (Psalm 93:2 | Psalm 92) As humans we are limited by the world we live in. We are limited by time and space. We are limited by our own failings. We are limited by the blindfold of sin. As a result we often put our own human limitations on God. Perhaps not deliberately or consciously, but because we live in a box with limited views, we tend to pull God down into that box and relate to him like he is trapped in our box. Yes we have a few holes here and there that we can look through to get glimpses of eternity, but God is not in our box. God is not confined by time and space and can see the past, present, and future all at once. God is not limited by this world. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set...

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A Fence Around God

2009-07-23T21:32:00.010-04:00

God had a high-powered electric fence built around him at Mount Sinai. Well, hard to tell if it really was a fence, it was not electric, but it was some kind of boundary that if you crossed it or even touched it YOU WOULD DIE. We read about this in the Old Testament. Three months after leading the Israelites out of Egypt Moses is told, by the Lord, to prepare for his arrival at Mount Sinai. Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries....

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The Battles Against Darkness

2009-07-07T21:51:00.001-04:00

Do you believe in evil spirits? Do you believe there is a devil? Do you believe there is a battle going on behind the scenes, in the spiritual world? Have you witnessed the results of a specific battle between good and evil? Are you in the battle? How can you defend yourself? What is your defense? How can you go on the offense against the powers of the dark world? Listen to Ephesians Chapter 6 or read Ephesians 6:10-20 Here is an excerpt from chapter 6.Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the...

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036 | Jesus Identified with Us

2009-06-25T09:42:00.002-04:00

Humans tend to identify themselves with others. People have a need to say I am with her, or I am with him. I agree with that person. I belong to this group or that group. Yes, there are those who say "I am my own man" or "I don't follow anyone," but I think this is usually not very accurate and only a facade. People need to identify with others and have others identify with themselves, whether they admit it or not. Christianity is all about identification. Calling oneself a Christian is saying to all that you have identified yourself with Christ Jesus, the very Son of God. I follow Christ. I worship Christ. Baptism is as an outward sign to our friends, our family, the world, that we believe Jesus is the Son of the living God, the Messiah, and we desire to identify ourselves as a...

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I Don't Want to Focus on My Fear

2009-06-05T08:20:00.000-04:00

I have fears. I worry about things. Most people do. Some of us perhaps conceal our fear better, but if we are human it's there. It may be of extreme weather or natural disasters. It may be a fear of sickness or disease. We may worry about our families safety or our children when they are way at school. We may be afraid of car accidents or flying on airplanes. Some can't be in tight closed in spaces with out being overcome with fear. Some are afraid of water and drowning. Fear can overwhelm us. Many fears seem to be connected with those things we feel like we can't control. Sometimes just a little control eases our fear even if it doesn't really change the fact that we don't have control over what will happen. The bottom line is we really don't have control over what will...

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I Believe Help Me Jesus with My Unbelief

2009-05-27T08:35:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you hear something that just clicks. Something that is exactly how you feel. This happened to me on Sunday during the message given at Valley View Community Church. Bruce Carter has been leading us over the past 5 months through a series titled "The Good News of Jesus: As Told By Mark." We are in Chapter 9 just after the Transfiguration. Jesus along with the disciples Peter, James, & John have just hiked down off the mountain after an incredible experience and walk into the middle of an argument. Apparently some of the disciples had tried to drive an evil spirit out of a boy, but failed. Now the disciples and some teachers of the law were arguing. The father of the boy was desperate and now very discouraged. Check out the account as recorded by Mark. Read Mark 9:14-29. You...

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Keep it Simple Keep it Jesus

2009-05-20T10:01:00.001-04:00

Faith in God seems complicated today. Religion even more complicated. So complicated we often avoid the conversation or discussion. In the following passage we read about a council meeting in Jerusalem where a complicated discussion was taking place about religious customs, rules, and laws. Listen to Acts Chapter 15 or read "Acts 15:1-41" After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on...

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035 | Intersection of Belief & Life

2009-05-07T08:22:00.006-04:00

His parents found him after searching three days. Jesus was 12 years old. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them. (Luke 2:49-50)Why didn't Jesus' parents understand? Of all those who knew Jesus they should have seen it pretty clearly. How could they not understand that he was the son of God and when he was speaking of the Father he was speaking of his father - God Almighty. Not only had Joseph and Mary, at this point, spent 12 years raising Jesus as their son, but they were visited by angels before his birth informing them of the greatest news ever given: the Son of God was coming to earth to save his people. Their son would be the promised Messiah, the Savior of the...

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034 | In Reverse It All Makes Sense

2009-04-29T20:22:00.002-04:00

In Old Testament times before Jesus was born when someone heard a prophet speak or read from a scroll of scripture they may have found some of the information about the coming Messiah confusing. The small nuggets of information reveled about where the Messiah would come from and live probably seemed random and just a little conflicting. One prophet would say the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, then they would hear He would be a Nazarene, and then that He would come from Egypt. As you may be aware I am journaling through the book titled The Essential Jesus: 100 Readings Through the Bible's Greatest Story written by Whitney T. Kuniholm. I am on number 34 of the 100 passages. In the last sentence of his reflection on this passage Kuniholm writes "God always knows what he is doing in our...

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033 | Unremarkable & Authentic Growth

2009-04-22T21:10:00.007-04:00

Real authentic growth in the Kingdom of God is mostly the result of small unremarkable everyday words and actions coming out of our response to Jesus. In the previous Essential Jesus passage number 32 I wrote a post titled Seemingly Unremarkable Kingdom which was about just how low key the event was that brought God down from Heaven. A truly historic event that to me would call for an earth shattering mind blowing experience. But that was not how it happened. A defenseless baby born to a seemingly unimportant poor Jewish father and mother living in a small town of little apparent importance. It was a seemingly unremarkable event for most of the people living in the world at the time, even for many in the same town. In that article I pointed out a few other occasions recorded in the...

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Why do I Freak Out?

2009-04-16T20:53:00.000-04:00

The lyrics to a Jon Foreman song written with Matthew Chapter 6 in mind have really struck a cord with me lately. I am not a person who freaks out much. At least on the outside. But lately, given the lack of financial security in my life right now, I have been freaking out on the inside. Perhaps more than I have been letting on, I don't know. It comes in waves, sometimes I am at peace with the insecurity, but other times it just seems scary when I look into the near future.Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them....

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Celebrate

2009-04-12T00:00:00.033-04:00

Sick of the status quo Looking for change Tired of lies Want gloom to turn to joy Need a new direction Tired of death Wishing for joy Desiring a switch Striving for celebration Seeking more from life Looking for answers Wanting something new Need move from empty to full Want a new life Want hope Need truth I want a brand new start ... Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth and a hope that is alive. It is alive because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He has given us new birth so that we might share in what belongs to him. It is a gift that can never be destroyed. It can never spoil or even fade away. It is kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4, NIRV)Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has...

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A Guilty Murderer Set Free

2009-04-07T21:48:00.002-04:00

Take a few minutes to check out this video. It takes a look at the events leading up to the death of Jesus through the eyes of Barabbas who was waiting in prison for his own execution for the crimes he committed. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. (Mark 15:7, ESV) "A guilty man set free on account of another ...is that Justice?" Something to think about as we approach the day many refer to as Good Friday. A day that has been set aside to remember the execution and death of Jesus. Devotions on Facebook

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032 | Seemingly Unremarkable Kingdom

2009-03-31T22:21:00.002-04:00

The full glory of God would completely blow us over! God is simply awesome, but God's interaction with us humans in this world, is not primarily remarkable or outwardly overwhelming. Maybe to put it another way: God does not work in an awesome, immediate, universal, visual sort of way, but in a faithful, long term, inward, growing sort of way. Perhaps so as not to overwhelm us. I hope I am making some sense here. To me this becomes apparent when I read certain accounts in Scripture. Just consider the account and circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus. | Read Matthew 1:18-25 | Listen |This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit....

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About my Bible Devotional Blog

2009-03-25T12:20:00.008-04:00

Image by almoko via Flickr Very simply this blog is a place for me to write down the thoughts that develop out of the time I spend before God reading the words he has given us in the Bible. Welcome and thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to read a few articles. As of this updated post there are more than 150 posts. Jump to my blog index and check out a few. If you are a regular reader you may have noticed that I have recently registered a new domain address for this blog. If you have this blog bookmarked or included on a blogroll at your own blog please update the link to http://myBibleDevotional.com. The name of the blog is still "sound of a soft breath". Free Subscription:While you're here please go ahead and subscribe to my RSS feed. If you have no idea what...

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031 | Undeserved Favor

2009-03-10T21:49:00.002-04:00

I am journaling through the book titled The Essential Jesus: 100 Readings Through the Bible's Greatest Story written by Whitney T. Kuniholm. I am on the 31st passage reading. | Read Luke 1:26-56 | Listen |the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God..." (Luke 1:30)The second definition in The American Heritage Dictionary for the word favor states "Friendly or favorable regard; approval or support: won the favor of the monarch; looked with favor on the plan." This announcement made to Mary was the beginning of a new era. The era of favor. A time period marked by the mercy and grace of God. This new era would begin with a pregnant unwed teenager in Galilee. Just as God found favor with Mary, God would find favor with us through the baby Mary would give...

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Extreme Living

2009-03-05T21:32:00.003-05:00

I was challenged and encouraged by both the boldness and honesty of the apostle Paul in the letter he wrote to the Philippian Church. In this letter Paul raises the bar on how to live as a follower of Christ. Really, when you think about it and are completely honest, it is an extreme way to live. I rewrote some of what I found challenging from the letter into personal statements. I created this list. Whatever happens I will live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. (Philippians 1:27) I will do Nothing out of selfish ambition. (Philippians 2:3) I will not be jealous or proud, but humble and consider others More important than myself. (Philippians 2:3-4) I will care about others as Much as I care about myself. (Philippians 2:3-4) I will do Everything without...

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Don't Be Afraid It's Me Jesus

2009-02-25T11:35:00.002-05:00

On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet... I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do...

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Just Give Up on Jesus

2009-02-09T21:00:00.005-05:00

Before Paul was an Apostle he was Saul a Pharisee and persecutor of Christ followers. Later in his ministry Paul tells us about his violent opposition to the name of Jesus and his encounters with believers. I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. (Acts 26:9-11)This is part of what Paul said standing in court before the Roman authorities. He tells...

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A Process and A Moment

2009-01-15T03:39:00.000-05:00

Listen to John Chapter 9 or read "John 9:1-41" "... But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!"There is much one can come away with from this passage. Reading it this time I noticed a process and a moment. A process of going from not knowing much about Jesus to acknowledging that he was a prophet. A process that continued to a moment in time of belief. A belief that the man Jesus is the Son of God. That moment of belief leads to worship. I can relate, in my life, to this process and the moment. Put yourself in his place a blind beggar on the side of a road when some guys come up to you discussing whether your blindness, which you were born with, was as a result of sin you or your parents had committed. You hear one of the men say authoritatively that no person's sin made you...

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030 | Time is Now

2009-01-06T08:19:00.002-05:00

| Read Isaiah 61:1-11 | Listen |The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called mighty oaks, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1-3)Luke recorded in his account of Jesus' life that on a Sabbath Day in Nazareth Jesus stood before everyone in the Synagogue and read...

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