Daily Verse

Faith Opened the Door

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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 ESV

Worry wrapped around my hands and caught my feet
Fears chased me through the town down every street
Until I found I had no place to hide
Though I looked still alive inside I died

For I had tried my best with all I could
Yet inside me I knew there was nothing good
And I wondered if there was some other way
Till in the quiet I began to pray

“God I know You’re there, but I can barely see
And I’m grateful for the grace You’ve given me.”
Then I saw in Christ His love just as He said 
And faith opened up the door and out fear fled!

Faith Opened the Door
By Peter Caligiuri
Copyright© 2023
All rights reserved
Photo by Harrison Haines on Pexels.com

Going for a Walk

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By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 ESV

I love going for walks, whether at the park, along the beach or around our neighborhood. It is my way of not only getting fresh air, but also finding a place to think and talk things out with God. The Bible says that Enoch walked with God. Now we aren’t given the details but maybe his last day on earth went a little like this. He put on his robe and sandals, kissed his wife goodbye and said, “I’m headed out for a walk.” It was just like every other day, except that this time Enoch never came home.

Though Enoch’s disappearance certainly must have seemed strange, what is interesting to me is that no one wondered where he went. People who knew Enoch recognized that he walked so closely with God that if He were missing, then God must have taken Him. The Bible doesn’t explain exactly how this occurred, but it tells us that God was pleased with him and that he did not see death. Did you get that part? “He did not see death!” Now strange or not, the testimony Enoch left for us is both a challenge and a promise. Today Enoch’s life challenges us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and yet it also includes the promise that if we do that, God will walk with us and His promise is that He will take us on a path that goes on forever, and that for forever, He will walk with us!

A Divine Hurry

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But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV

Based on today’s reading, we might conclude that God wants us to just relax, slow down and wait. But if we read on, the verse also calls us to action. It tells us we will, “Run and not be weary!” That got me to checking out in the New Testament about how Jesus repeatedly sprang into action. Here is just one example of the many that I found.

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.”  And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:3

Jesus showed us that, though He was not in a hurry, it didn’t mean that He never moved quickly. In fact, when Jesus hurried into action, because of His great love. That kind of hurry will motivate us to rush to the side a friend in a car accident, grab our wife’s hand and pray for God to ease her pain after surgery or give without a second thought to a couple whose house has just burned down. Jesus hurried to the cross to give His life for us all. So why not hurry to Him and ask what He has for us to do for someone else today?