Nate's Daily Devotionals (old)

Chapter 3: Discipline of Marriage I'm reminded what the true meaning of marriage is and what a marriage actually entails. Hughes goes through what it looks like to be the man in a marriage and mainly how that love is one that is modelled after how Jesus loved the Church (Eph 5). Christlike love is one that comes from the willingness and conviction to live under the authority of God's directives regarding how we, as men, are called to love our wives. We are called to a sacrificial love , and more specifically a love with a willingness to sacrifice, even unto death. I'm reminded that marital love claims everything, and involves not only giving all that you have, but also all that you are. Hughes reminds me that even within a marriage there will be many ups and downs that Jesus just die for us, but he also suffered . We are also called to consistently pray for our wives. Do I pray consistently and purposefully for Jess? Do I have a list of her needs, spoken and unspoken, w...

Chapter 2: Three Dangers to Avoid We wake up most days not trying to serve, just trying to survive We have more opportunity than ever before The major danger from busyness isn't physical - its spiritual Danger: Busyness can ruin our joy As Christians we are to be: marked by joy, taste like joy and be filled with the fulness of joy Busyness is like a sin: kill it or it will be killing you Busyness can rob our hearts Busyness can be like thorns to a seed (parable of the sower) Thorn 1: "The cares of the world" Thorn 2: Desire for other things The seed of God's Word won't grow to fruitfulness without pruning for rest, quiet and calm Busyness can cover up the rot in our souls What does it say about me if I'm always overwhelmed? What do I need to learn about myself? What biblical promises am I not believing? What's going on in my soul, so that busyness comes out as my chief challenge every year? The presence of extreme busyness in our ...

Chapter 1: Don't believe everything you read As Christians we're called to be ready to defend the gospel (1 Peter 3:15) Christianity isn't a leap of faith in terms of believing, it's a leap of faith in terms of relying on Jesus savings us from our sins Why do you trust the bible ? is it just because you 'feel like it's true' ? Historically accurate that Jesus died and rose --> ability to trust that the Bible is really the word of God As Christian's we should be equipped with the knowledge to explain to someone who doesn't  trust the Bible that our reason for believing in Christ is grounded and not merely something made-up by feeling Chapter 2: Lost in translation? Accurate translations are possible because there can be multiple ways to convey the same idea Different translations doesn't mean that it is inaccurate, they actually allow us to easily separate what is clearly has been mistranslated or deliberately misinterpretation Ea...