Today’s Verse: The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?... It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. ~Psalm 118:6, 8 Everyone knows that playing on your home court gives you a superior advantage over your opponent. There are the advantages of the familiarity, the fans, and the favor. This morning, we want to see how we have the home-court advantage when we have complete trust and faith in God in all things. There are the inevita

Today’s Verse: And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. ~2 Chronicles 14:11 The term "strong confidence" refers to a firm and resolute faith in God. Our devotion this morning centers on a king who had strong confidence in the Lord.

Today’s Verse: And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. ~1 Samuel 1:11 No one is insignificant in the eyes of the Lord! It is by God’s mercies that He would consider and use any of us for His glory. Hannah is o

Today’s Verse: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, ~Jude 20 Perhaps, the one area of the Christian life that most people struggle with is in the area of prayer. Finding time to pray, knowing how to pray, being consistent in praying, and seeing answers to our prayers can be a struggle for some Christians. Maybe you have read Jude 20 many times and have asked the question, “What does it mean to pray in the Holy Ghost?” The

Today’s Verse: Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. ~Jeremiah 33:3 Prayer is the privilege that every child of God has to call upon God for his every need. Jesus taught that we should pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Proverbs 15:8 tells us that the prayer of the upright is His delight. Then in Proverbs 15:29 we are told, “He heareth the prayer of the righteous.” For many Christians, prayer is a major str

Today’s Verse: And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. ~Mark 9:17-18 Have you experienced a power outage? If you have, you realize how much you take for granted the use of electricity and gas. When there is a power outag

Today’s Verse: When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. ~Matthew 8:10 How great is your faith in the Lord? Can you recall a situation in your life where you had to exercise great faith in God? This morning, we see a man of authority who did just that. What this man did was the exception and not the rule. Let us see, this morning, the exercise of great faith. We see the appeal.

Today’s Verse: But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. ~Matthew 6:6 As a child growing up, one of my favorite games that I played with my friends was hide and seek. Whether indoors or outdoors, we would have a fun time trying to hide ourselves and keep from being found. When I was the one doing the seeking, I wanted to do my best

Today’s Verse: Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. ~Psalm 62:8 Almost all children learn to ride a bicycle with the use of training wheels. Training wheels help a child to establish his balance and gain confidence. Eventually, he will have to “let go” of the training wheels and start bicycling without them. The walk of faith for every Christian is like that: we need to let go of whatever we are holding on to and

Today’s Verse: Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. ~Joshua 1:2-3 Happy New Year! Today marks the start of a new year. We cannot go back and repeat last year. It is behind us. The achievements, failures, and records of the last year stay there.

Today’s Verse: And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ~Genesis 30:1 Have you ever been threatened by someone who said to you, “Do this, or else?” If so, you may have felt like an unreasonable demand was placed upon you. You may have felt pushed against a wall and faced incredible pressure to do something that requires more than just you to get it done. Rachel made a strong demand of

Today’s Verse: Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. ~Psalm 55:22 Weightlifting is considered an important exercise regimen to build and strengthen muscle and bone mass. It is a very good means for developing endurance and building resistance against weakness. Dead weight is a phrase that describes a heavy burden that is holding someone back or down. All of us will encounter one or more times when a burden t

Today’s Verse: And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. ~Numbers 11:1-2 Have you ever accidentally burned your toast? If you have, you know that there is a blackened, charred effect that makes the toast inedible. We

Today’s Verse: When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. ~Psalm 142:3 The inscription for Psalm 142 tells us that it is a Maschil of David; a prayer when he was in the cave. This psalm was written either when David was in the cave of Adullam or in one of the caves of Engedi. This is a teaching psalm. It is a lesson to the fact that every Christian will have a cave experience in his l

Today’s Verse: They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts. ~Psalm 119:87 How much can you take before you are ready to quit? I mean, how bad do things have to get before you feel like it is not worth it to trust in the Lord? We see the situation for the psalmist taking a turn for the worse. His foes are making an advance against him and he is suffering very badly. In spite of all this, we see a man who just keeps on trusting the Lord. We see the fa

Today’s Verse: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. ~James 3:13 Wisdom is the ability of making good decisions. It is asking the questions that are necessary to arrive at the decision that is best. Wisdom comes from experience and, sometimes, from making mistakes. It comes from the counsel of people who have gone through life experiences and have insight on what to do and not to do. I

Today’s Verse: And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: ~1 Peter 1:17 We live in a busy, commuter society. Invariably, many of us depend on public transportation for work, drive long distances in traffic, and ride airplanes to go across the country. This commuter time gives us intervals of opportunity to pass our time. In other words, we have blocks of time to use. We can

Today’s Verse: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. ~Matthew 26:41 Times of suffering and sorrow can be very difficult on anyone. It is during these settings that we can become very vulnerable to spiritual attack. They are also times in which we can become very disconnected with the reality of our situation and leave ourselves unprepared for further mishap. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. At this locati

Today’s Verse: And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. ~Mark 9:17-18 Have you experienced a power outage? If you have, you must realize how much you take the use of electricity for granted. When there is a power outage,

Today’s Verse: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight…. The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. ~Proverbs 15:8, 29 Proverbs 15 has a strong emphasis on the words of our mouth. Our words are our means of communication. Relationships are made, sustained, or broken by our words. Our words can be soft, or they can be hard. Our words can be encouraging, or they can be discouraging