Posts by APUMC (Page 20)

Read: Exodus 1-3 Focus Verse: “‘When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” (Exodus 1:16-17). Devotion: So much happens in the first 3…

Read: Genesis 48-50 Focus Verse: “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if JOseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?’ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and…

Read: Genesis 46-47 Focus Verse: “Pharaoh asked the brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ ‘Your servants are shepherds,’ they replied to Pharaoh, ‘just as our fathers were.’ They also said to him, ‘We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.’”…

Read: Genesis 43-45 Focus verse: “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (45:8a)  Devotion: Joseph finds something quite beautiful in the midst of chaos. He turns around his brothers selling him as a slave into noticing it ended up being Israels salvation during the years of famine. All the journey that Joseph has gone through, from being sold into…

Read: Genesis 41-42 Focus Verse: “‘I cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.’” (Genesis 41:16). Devotion: Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. Joseph helps two men while he’s in prison, and all he asks is that they remember him when they go back to the service of…

Read: Genesis 38-40 Focus Verse: “Judah recognized them and said, ‘She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not sleep with her again.” (Genesis 38:26). Devotion: Are the wicked and righteous paid out equally? Yes, and no. The story of Joseph is interrupted in Ch 38 with the story of Judah his brother. This story initially feels…

Read: Genesis 35-37 Focus Verse: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” (Genesis 37:3-4). Devotion: The trend is continuing. Granted Joseph…

Read: Genesis 32-34 Focus Verse: “Then Jacob prayed, ‘O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save…