Posts Tagged ‘devotional’

Victory Is Near

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Right before Christ died, the last days of His life were so hectic and chaotic that His disciples had a difficult time keeping up. One of His most well-known miracles was the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. On the next day he made a triumphant entry to Jerusalem as the people hailed Him as their Messiah. By this time Jesus had become famous throughout the entire region, and people came from all over to catch a glimpse of Him.

During these days the disciples no doubt had to have been excited about the great and wonderful things that were happening, and they had to be filled with tremendous excitement about what would come next. Throughout this time Jesus told them on a few occasions that He would be going to His Father and leaving the disciples. Although the disciples didn’t truly understand what was about to happen, they knew Jesus was the Messiah and that He was there to save them.

Those days of promise and hope soon turned to chaos and fear as Christ went from being hailed to being hated; from treated as a king to tortured as a criminal; and from glorified to crucified.

Certainly the disciples went through a very difficult time as the watched Jesus, the man they had followed so closely, die on a cross. Their days had been filled with so much excitement and promise, but now tragedy had taken its place. Jesus had said to the disciples that they would live because He lived. But now that he was dead, how could that be?

The disciples’ sorrow wouldn’t last long though as just a few days later Christ would rise from the dead. As He did so He fulfilled prophecy and lived up to the statements that He had previously made.

Jesus still lives today and He promises that we will have victory! There are times when I don’t understand why things are happening a certain way, but I remember that He is the Christ who was sent by His Father.

When I face those times of struggles and confusion in my life, I can turn to Him and know that He has the answers and the power to get me through it. He will lead me to victory.

Glorious Savior, help me always to remember that victory is only a short distance away and find hope, peace and courage in You.

Dr. Ann Shorb is a counselor, author and speaker. Through CCES she provides many different services for couples, families and individuals including Christian marriage counseling and premarital counseling.

God Loves Each One Of Us

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

As you live your life day-by-day, there will probably be some times that you think your life really doesn’t make a difference. You may think that no one around you is being impacted by you and the things you do, and that no one would really notice if you were gone.

Surrounded by billions of people in this world, it’s easy to feel like we’re insignificant and that only the very few select people will really make a difference with their lives. Satan is happy when we feel this way. However, God loves each of us individually and has created us in His own image. He gave us unique talents and opportunities, and He loved each of us enough to send Jesus to die for our sins.

Walter Scott is credited with saying, “True love is the gift which God hath given to man alone beneath the heavens – true love.” Yes, God loves all of His creation as He showed when He looked at the things He had created each day and said “It is good, It is good;” until the sixth day when He created man, and he looked at man and He said, “It is VERY good.” You, my friend, are special in the eyes of God because you are His creation.

In the eighth chapter of Psalms we read David’s words, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, You who set Your glory above the heavens!” Later in the Psalm David continues, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man, that You are mindful of him?”

David is just overwhelmed with the fact that in light of the WHOLE creation – moon, sun, stars – and he said God, and you are still mindful of man? You still care? But David is so excited about that. He says: “Lord, you have made him a little lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands and put all things under his feet – the sheep, the oxen, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. Oh Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.”

David took a look around him and observed God’s wonderful creation. He realized how amazing and special it is that God cares enough about us that He put us over His creation.

In the 39th Psalm David writes that he has been fearfully and wonderfully made. Any time you are feeling down and like you don’t matter, remember that you are significant because you are a creation of the almighty God. He loves you and you matter to Him. We are all precious in His sight!

Dr. Ann Shorb is a counselor, writer, and speaker. Her company, CCES, offers counseling services in Hanover, Pennsylvania as well as teleChristian Christian telephone counseling for clients anywhere in the US.