Family Devotions and Bible Readings

S     Phillipians 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all.

O     Our walk should show the gentleness, goodness, and love of God who having paid our sin price in full, purchased us.

A     I continuously struggle with showing gentleness to people who disagree with me. I am certainly tryi...

S     Acts 20:35 ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

O     The temporary pleasure that we receive from acquiring possessions pale in comparison with the blessings of giving. By giving instead of receiving we receive the blessings of helping someone, the blessings of knowing tha...

S     Isaiah 5:20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

O     This sorrow is part of the six sorrows that Israel suffered. This sorrow was due to the people calling good evil and evil...

S     Psalm 199:99     Yes, I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of your laws.

O      Our insight is greater than the insight of the “wise” of the world since we have God’s true and unchanging knowledge as basis. We see the world as it truly is, not as we...

S     Proverbs 25:28 A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

O     A person who lacks self control is as unstable, defenseless, easily attacked, easily dominated, and easily conquered as a city with broken-down walls. In today’s terms we could see this as a hou...

S     1 Thessalonians 5:5-6     For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be sober...

S     Psalm 4:4 Don't sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.

O     As we get angry, we should maintain control of our lives, of our emotions. We should never let our emotions take control over our thinking. The Psalmist even says that we shoul...

S     Romans 14:23 If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

O     We are sinning each time we do something we believe we should not do. Even if later we find that it was not wrong to do it, we sinned because we disobeyed what we thought God wanted us to do or not do...

S     James 2:13     For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you...

S     Luke 6:36     You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

O     God wants us to imitate Him. Not to desire to be Him, but to imitate Him. He wants us to imitate Him because as a perfect, pure, and holy God, He always does what is best. If He wants us to imitate...