Nourish Your Heart

(My grandmother, Anna Daisy Siemens, wrote poetry and prose. This devotion was written and published for Devotions for the Deaf in 1994)

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:11-24

Babies have no control over their cradle’s movements. When a loving hand gently rocks them, they go to sleep. However a violent push tosses them to and fro. Cradles have no safety belts.

How many adults lie in spiritual cradles, jolted from false doctrines to cults. They are afraid. They are not anchored in faith. They need to step out of the cradle and grow up. (Hebrews 5:11ff) But how?

In family life, children are taught how to walk, to feed and clothe themselves, and to help with chores as they grow. The same is true in God’s family, the church.

Maturity comes as we learn to do things. We must study God’s Word so we know the truth. We must be joined together with other Christians, all of us working together to be like Jesus. When we live in unity with Christ, we will stop rocking in uncertainty. We will find peace and security in this unstable world.

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Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:14, 15

Prayer: Dear Father remove me from the cradle and anchor me in Your truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(My grandmother, Anna Daisy Siemens, wrote poetry and prose. This devotion was written and published for Devotions for the Deaf in 1994)

Bible Reading: Acts 2:36-47

Although God revealed to Peter that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), he often spoke without thinking. Peter scolded Jesus about any thought of His death. He promised to stand by Him during His trial and crucifixion. But Peter made promises he could not keep in his own strength. Peter denied Jesus three times.

But the Holy Spirit changed his life. This outspoken disciple remained the speaker for the Twelve Apostles, but now he stood in God’s strength, not his own.

The eleven apostles stood beside Peter as he preached his first message about the Good News of a risen Christ. They stood firm, prepared to stand and stay in God’s power as leaders of Christ’s spiritual kingdom on earth. They won their victories in trials and persecutions through the Holy Spirit.

We have that same strength through the power of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. We stand in His power.

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Acts 2:14 - Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

Prayer: Dear Father, teach me to stand in your power through any trials that ma come to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God will make me ready God is preparing me every day. God is making me strong. He makes me immovable. He makes me solid.

Jeremiah 1:18 “Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work. I’m making you as impregnable as a castle, Immovable as a steel post, solid as a concrete block wall.”

God is preparing me for my mission. I am starting today. He is making me strong. He gives me strength every day. Each day he shows me how to go on. He shows me my path, one step at a time. I lean on him for peace in my heart. My soul reaches for his joy. I bask in the love he showers on me. And I live each day for him.

Help me this day to reach out to you for every breath, every decision, every word I speak, each word I type. Help me to glorify you. Give me peace this day. Be the strength of my life.