Sep 14 2018
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Verse of the Day Illustration: Philippians 2:1-2

By Sodwana Bay

Philippians 2:1-2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse…. Our call to sacrificially submit ourselves to others does not begin with our sacrifice, but with God’s blessings. The actual grammatical construction of this statement is more accurately translated when all the “if”s changed to “since”s! We are called to unity in spirit and purpose after having received all these blessings from being in Jesus! We are encouraged by being united with Christ. We are comforted by his love. We do share in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We have received tenderness and compassion. So how can we not share those with our Christian family and find a way to live together in his Kingdom in harmony? My Prayer… Holy and righteous Father, you have blessed me so richly in Jesus. Open my eyes to see how those around me in my spiritual family need to receive those same blessings from me. In the name of Jesus, and because of the grace he has lavished upon me, I pray with thanksgiving in my heart. Amen.

Sep 14 2018
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Verse of the Day Image – Psalms 73:26

By Sodwana Bay

Psalm 73:26 MSG You’re all I want in heaven! You’re all I want on earth! When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, GOD is rock-firm and faithful. Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again. But I’m in the very presence of God— oh, how refreshing it is! I’ve made Lord GOD my home. God, I’m telling the world what you do! Psalm 73:26 MSG

Sep 13 2018
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Verse of the Day: 1 Peter 3:8

By Sodwana Bay

1 Peter 3:8 Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8 Thoughts on Today’s Verse…. Unity and harmony are no accident! They happen because of intention and submission. But more than just states of being, they are commanded by God. How do we have unity and harmony? Peter reminds we must have three commitments in our “church” lifestyle — 1) actively share the sorrows and concerns of those who grieve; 2) love each other just like a healthy family loves and values each member; and 3) show compassion rather than arrogance as we deal with the failures of others that hurt us, recognizing that we are vulnerable to sinning and hurting those we love, too. My Prayer… Father, I confess that I have let my own over-sensitive self be wounded and have reacted with pettiness when my brothers and sisters in Christ have not treated me as I felt I deserved. I know Jesus was treated so rudely and shamefully by those he created and so I shouldn’t be surprised when things don’t always go well for me. But Father, please help me to know when to challenge those who wound me with a loving confrontation and when to just ignore the barb and find a way to minister to them because of some deeper wound has crippled them in their life. Father, let me be an instrument of your peace, harmony, grace, and unity. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Sep 13 2018
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Verse of the Day – Colossians 3:2 MSG

By Sodwana Bay

Colossians 3:2 MSG So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Colossians 3:2 MSG

Sep 13 2018
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Daily Devotional – I Need to Be by Myself

By Sodwana Bay

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense. Proverbs 18:1 “A man who isolates Himself seeks his own desire.” Proverbs 18:1 My loving wife told me: “Honey, you are cutting yourself off from the Holy Spirit’s comfort and healing hands. Our friends at church miss you and want to hug you and share their love with you.” I thought, “Look at me, I should be by myself.” Tears came to my eyes because I was different. But, my gentle, tender wife still looked at me through the eyes of love. I had been home from the hospital for a few weeks after a two-month sequence that included: blood spitting pneumonia, a massive stroke and then extensive pulmonary embolisms in both lungs. Two of my attending physicians told me that I had been given: “a Divine reprieve to a death sentence, enjoy it”; “a miracle”. I wasn’t doing much enjoying. I felt more like a damaged vegetable and looked like something you wouldn’t take home from the market. My wife felt I was isolating myself too much as I felt better being alone and just passively watching T.V. Without knowing it, I was falling into one of the devil’s schemes, but my angel wouldn’t give up. She came to me and laid my head on her lap. Then, I felt Jesus’ warm presence as I had in the Valley of Death. I felt Him say: “It is alright my son, I cried too.” As my wife kissed my face, His love filled my broken heart with peace and gratitude. The story behind this tender moment between my wife, myself and my Lord happened after she had watched me for several weeks after coming home from the hospital. It is a surprisingly new experience when your heart, lungs, and hearing stop and you discover how quiet things really are without your heart and lung sounds anymore. I discovered a beauty, silence, and peace that I didn’t want to leave. I’m glad my Shepherd brought me back from the Valley of Death where I went blank. He brought me back so that my dear wife and my children didn’t have to grieve yet. I feel another reason He brought me back is so I can tell His children what it is like to die. In death we are blank and can’t think, pray, quote verses, or move a muscle. We only feel the presence of our Shepherd and that’s enough. I began to lose my blankness after a few days in the hospital. Miraculously, I’m back to my writing ministry, which is a miracle in itself, as after my stroke I couldn’t put two sentences together. I learned that death is nothing to fear as He has conquered death. “Oh, death where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55) God’s injured children need different degrees of isolation as a part of recovering from trauma. Whether it be divorce, death, or disease — time to heal is necessary. However, I learned that isolation that cuts a person off from our Lord’s healing hands is a scheme of the devil. Jesus told His sheep to “Come unto Me you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28. We need the Holy Spirit’s healing love that flows through the touch and prayers of God’s children and the words found in the bread of life. Bring your broken and lonely heart to Jesus and His children and allow them to touch you, as I did. You will find the love and confidence you have lost. Thankfully, pro-active Love imparts the cure to desiring “isolation” and “seeking our own desire.” Copyright © 2018 Bob Segress, Ph.D., used with permission.

Mar 22 2016
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By Sodwana Bay

Date published: 21-03-2016 Lee Strobel, bestselling author of “The Case for Christ”, is now celebrating his 34th Easter as a Christian. This, after spending his life prior to the book and his investigation into the reliability of Gospels as an atheist. After finding faith many years ago, he remains as convinced as ever in the truth of Jesus’s death and resurrection. While still an atheist, it was his background as a journalist that prompted Strobel to investigate and conduct extensive research into Christ with the help of religious and historical expert.  He originally embarked on the project to discredit the veracity of Christ’s resurrection and dissuade his recently converted wife from life as a Christian, but in the end he was the one who was powerfully converted. “For nearly two years, I explored the minutia of the historical data on whether Easter was myth or reality. I didn’t merely accept the New Testament at face value; I was determined only to consider facts that were well-supported historically. As my investigation unfolded, my atheism began to buckle,” he recounted in an article for Stream. One of the first pieces of evidence he gathered was actually from atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann who declared Jesus’ death by crucifixion “indisputable.” This was supported by a thorough study by A. N. Sherwin-White of Oxford, who himself cited ancient eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ death. As more evidence piled up that built the timeline for the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, Strobel recounted scholar Willian Lane Craig’s position that it would be unlikely for the story of the empty tomb to explode with no basis since its location was known to all and could have been verified by supporters of the idea and naysayers alike. But even Jesus’ opponents said that the tomb was empty, saying that the body was taken, although there was none who had a clear motive for doing so. “We have nine ancient sources, inside and outside the New Testament, that confirm the apostles’ conviction that they encountered the resurrected Christ. Repeatedly, these sources stood strong when I tried to discredit them. Could these encounters have been hallucinations? No way, experts told me. Hallucinations occur in individual brains, like dreams, yet Jesus appeared to groups of people on three different occasions – including 500 at once!, ” Strobel said. In the end, Strobel, a man armed with logic,education and skepticism, was finally convinced by the overwhelming evidence laid out in front of him and he completely embraced the truth not because he was afraid of death or needed a psychological crutch but because of the facts. “I read books by skeptics, but their counter-arguments crumbled under the weight of the historical data. No wonder atheists so often come up short in scholarly debates over the resurrection. In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the matter, I reached an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus,” he said.