Daily Devotions On Family

Genesis 48:15 -The God Story Family Tradition

Daily Devotion Bible Verse

And he blessed Joseph and said,

“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
(Genesis 48:15 ESV)

As literacy increases in our cultures and instant access to information on the web is so readily available, the need to pass down history through verbal forms or storytelling is gradually dying if not already dead in your part of the world. This was not the case in the Old Testament. As Jacob was blessing his son Joseph, he reminded him of his family history and how God was so important in it. We also see that God introduces himself to Jacob as this in Genesis 28:13 and again to Moses in Exodus 3:6. There is obviously something important about knowing your roots in God if this is how he introduces himself and we read throughout the Old Testament the Israelites constantly refer to God this way. Does God really want us to refer to him this way? Continue Reading →

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Psalm 127:2 – Vain Life: Your Job

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:2 ESV)

We are on the last devotion for our series “The Vain Life”. You can read the other devotions here: 1, 2, 3.

Our standard work week in America is 40 hours. We work five more hours a week than the French, which totals a whopping nine more weeks a year for Americans. Most of us get two weeks off for vacation, while the average European gets six weeks of vacation. We are also getting less sleep. Two out of three Americans fail to get eight hours of sleep a night. 40 percent of them said they have a hard time staying awake on the job. We are working harder, longer, and sleeping less. This isn’t anything new as we read today’s Bible verse.

We aren’t any happier than we were 50 years ago when we worked less, made less money, and had less productivity. King Solomon had it right when he said Continue Reading →

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Psalm 127:1 – Vain Life: Your House

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ESV)

In the previous devotion, we discussed the definition of vain and an overview of our series. You can read it here.

From Ryan:

In the Bible, the building of a house can often be referred to as your life or family (Genesis 16:2, Ruth 4:11, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). The most important part when building a house, or any building for that matter, is the foundation. I have a favorite Starbucks where I live because of how big and open it is unlike the other two Starbucks in town. The reason it is so much larger and open is because it was built from scratch. They were able to lay the foundation they wanted for it while the other two Starbucks were built on foundations that were previously used for fast food joints. They were constrained by the size of the foundation they were using.

All of our lives are built on foundations which determine their direction. If our goal in life is to retire early, then we Continue Reading →

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2 Thessalonians 1:3 – Love: A Faith Barometer

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. (2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV)

Have you ever said to yourself, “I need to increase my faith”? Maybe you have read a book or listened to a sermon series that gave you steps or ideas to increase your faith. Most of the time these are great ideas and steps, but don’t necessarily focus on the outward expression of our faith, which is love. Do you look at your life and say I am not loving others enough, therefore my faith is lacking? Faith isn’t simply head knowledge of the Bible or Jesus. Think of it this way, even Satan and his demons believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead (James 2:19).

We must realize Continue Reading →

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Jonah 1:14-16 – Man Overboard

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. (Jonah 1:14-16 ESV)

Jonah was running away from God and affecting the life of these sailors. The storm was so great that they were afraid. These were experienced sailors who had gone this route many times and experienced plenty of storms. But, there was something different about this storm. They did everything they could and it came down to one person causing the storm, Jonah a man running from God. The only way to keep from capsizing and drowning was to throw him overboard.

Does this sound familiar to you? Continue Reading →

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Psalm 127:1 – The Vain Life

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
(Psalm 127:1 ESV)

From Ryan: 

I am at a point in my life right now where I am being asked to make some big decisions. These decisions will affect where I am living, what I am doing in the next few years, and maybe where I will spend the rest of my life. This is scary for my wife and I. I have a great paying job, a nice place to live in, a wonderful wife, awesome son, and a dog named Sparky. Things are going well. Obviously, it can be scary thinking of leaving the good setup I have going right now. After reading this verse in Psalm 127 there was a sense of peace that came over me. It doesn’t matter where I go, where I stay, what I do, as long as it is what God wants me to do. If I do what God wants me to do, then it won’t be in vain.

There is nothing worse then spending days, weeks, months, on a project and it not coming together. You spend your time, blood sweat, and tears on a project for nothing. Continue Reading →

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