Blogs

Self Not at the Center

By Brother Wade Paschal “Love your Neighbor as you love Yourself” (Matthew 19:19) The commandment to love my neighbor as I love myself implies a relationship between how and why I love myself and love of neighbor.  So what is that relationship? Growing up I often heard people talk about “self-esteem” and the “problem” of […]

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Blogs

Strengths of My Decisions

By Brother Brian Shimer “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” (Matthew 22:36-40) Before this point of Matthew 22, Jesus had silenced the Sadducees. The Pharisees put forward a lawyer who asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” They thought, if Jesus named the greatest commandment, […]

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Blogs

Minimal And Essential

The minimalist life is “living with things you really need. It means removing anything that distracts us from living with intentionality and freedom” (www.becomingminimalist.com). It is a lifestyle that seems to me to be easily spoken and written, but difficult to execute. The minimalist lifestyle calls for a measure of fasting and heart change to […]

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Blogs

The Hall Closet

By Brother Matthew Henson Robert Boyd Munger wrote the booklet, My Heart, Christ’s Home, in 1954. I was immediately drawn to this booklet when I was first introduced to it when I was on staff of Campus Life and Youth for Christ in Lexington, Kentucky in the early 2000s. In the opening section of the […]

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Blogs

The Exchanged Life

By Brother Brian Shimer Have you ever had the experience of being bowled over? Not literally thrown off your feet, but spiritually, emotionally brought alive, shaken from one place to another, having your eyes opened to what was always there but never seen? Perhaps it happened in an especially moving worship setting, or under great […]

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Blogs

Now is the Time to Turn to God

By Brother Doug Ruffle Author’s note:  I was asked by staff of The Upper Room to record a short video in Spanish for their weekly broadcast, which is produced in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The following is an English language rendering of the video script. “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for […]

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Blogs

WAY

By Brian Shiner I wrote a good friend who always chooses a “word for the year”. She shared that her word for 2024 is “Seek”. She wrote me this: “I need to seek what the Lord has for me next; to seek to understand; to seek to be empathetic, etc. Hummingbirds are my reminder to […]

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Blogs

Rhythm

by Brother Matt Henson(During the month of January, the focus of the devotions will be on a Word for the Year. Different authors will provide a word they are focused on for 2024.) One of the blessings of traveling in ministry is experiencing the variety of daily schedules set forth at different camps, conferences, retreats, and […]

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Blogs

Daily

Written by Gary Wheeler January 8, 2024 Between Christmas and New Year, I stayed home and did not go to the church. I was exhausted and needed a few days to recharge. I didn’t work on my next book or write a sermon or do anything with ministry. Instead, I read a few books and […]

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Blogs

Word of the Year 2024

Written by Matthew Henson In the village of Sobier in Haiti, a person can stand at the edge of the village and look down on the greenish-blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. The beauty of the refreshing waters invites us to make the trek from the village down to the water. It is about a […]

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