Morning Devotions at the St. Andrew Parsonage, April 28, 2020

Devotional for April 21, 2020

We Are His Sanctuary " And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22 NIV) Every week, as the children of the church I serve gather together for devotions, activity, and singing, one of their favorite songs they request frequently is "Sanctuary," which goes: Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for you The words for the song are never more true than now. Even though we cannot worship together in the sanctuaries of our church buildings, God is still with us. He is not limited or confined to one building, or one particular time of day: He is everywhere, present at any time. He loves us and always wants to be with us. This means that whenever and wherever we gather together for worship, whether in our homes, outdoors, or anywhere else, He is with us. Jesus also promises that wherever ...

Devotional for April 27, 2020

Risen and Always With Us " Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!' And she told them that he had said these things to her." (John 20:18 NIV) C. Austin Miles was a pharmacist, turned Gospel songwriter, turned editor and manager of a music publishing company, turned part-time photographer. It was one day while waiting for some film to develop of pictures he had taken that he picked up his Bible, which had fallen to the floor. The passage it happened to be open to when it had fallen was John 20, which told about Mary Magdalene's visit to the garden at the tomb where Jesus had been buried, and her encountering Him fully alive. As C. Austin Miles read that passage, words started flowing easily to him: "I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, And the voice I hear falling on mine ear, the Son of God discloses And He walks with me, and He talks with me And He tells me I am His own; And the joy w...

Devotional for March 29, 2020

Still In His Good Hands "The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1 NIV) A certain insurance company frequently asks in its ads, "Are you in good hands?" And frequently we may wonder, with the pandemic seeming to worsen and not even reaching its predicted peak, whether we are in good hands, or whether events are doomed to spiral out of control. The answer to that question can simply be found in a popular gospel and camp song, which goes, "He's got the whole world in His hands." Our passage today gives us the promise that all the earth still belongs to God, and remains under His control. He created the earth - but He then did not, as some would imagine, step back and simply watch everything unfold, as a machine. Nor did He simply set natural processes in place, but remains distant and uninvolved Himself. Instead, He continues to remain actively and intimately involved. So much so that He ...

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