Archive for February 2019

February 8, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 138This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:1-6 FIELD NOTESSomeone once asked, “If you woke up tomorrow and only had that which you gave thanks for today, what would you have?” I read a study a few years ago that demonstrated the changes gratitude produces in the human brain. When persons in the…

February 7, 2019 DAILY READING Acts 9:19-25This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:1-6 FIELD NOTESThe lie of the prosperity gospel is that through following Christ, our lives become richly blessed by worldly standards. We are indeed richly blessed in and through our faith, but this doesn’t always look like wealth, power, or prestige. Sometimes it’s quite the…

 DAILY READING Psalm 56This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:1-6 FIELD NOTESPsalm 56 is a psalm calling for trust in God under persecution. The psalmist proclaims, “in God I trust; I am not afraid.” “By assurance, John Wesley meant a state of mind and heart, not so much dreamy as durable. A sense of absolute trust in God does not…

February 5, 2019 DAILY READING 2 Kings 5:1-14This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:1-6 FIELD NOTESI was complaining about something that had been weighing on me to a colleague. They looked at me and asked lovingly, “Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it?” Such simple advice I hadn’t yet tried. But sure enough,…

February 4, 2019 DAILY READING 1 Kings 17:8-16This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:1-6 FIELD NOTESIn this story, Elijah has been commanded by God to seek safety outside of Israel, for all of Israel’s resources have dried up in a drought. Elijah crosses the border into Sidon, in a town called Zarephath, in search of food. He…

February 2, 2019 DAILY READING John 1:43-51This weekend’s reading: Revelation 2:18-29 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.) Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One…

DAILY READING Psalm 71:1-7This weekend’s reading: Revelation 2:18-29 FIELD NOTESWhat is your safe space?  For me, I don’t feel any safer than I do when I’m at home with my wife and son.  That is my safe space.  What about your spiritual safe space?  Is it Sunday worship?  Is it your small group?  Is it a…