Church Blog (Page 4)

Read: Nehemiah 7 Focus Verse: “After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do.” (Nehemiah 7:1-2).  Devotion: Of…

Read: Nehemiah 4-6 Focus Verse: “But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there…

Read: Nehemiah 1-3 Focus Verse: “The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’ Then I prayed to the God of Heaven, and I answered the king, ‘If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:4-5).  Devotion: Nehemiah was afraid to approach…

Read: Ezra 8-10 Focus Verse: “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on…

Read: Ezra 4-7 Focus Verse: “Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if king Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 5:17a).  Devotion: What a reversal! After returning the Israelites begin rebuilding the temple. There are naysayers who request the king check the records, and…

Read: Ezra 1-3 Focus Verse: “Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.” (Ezra 3:3).  Devotion: After a generation of exile the Israelites return home for the express purpose of worshiping God. Since they were gone there were other…

Read: 2 Chronicles 35-36 Focus Verse: “He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rest; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by…

Read: 2 Chronicles 32-34 Focus Verse: “He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes, and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the word of the covenant…