Featured Devotionals

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ODJ: Are You Proud of Me?

Recently, while I was out jogging, I listened to a recorded conversation between a 9-year-old son and his father. Rain poured down on me, but my eyes were even wetter from tears. The father told his son of the immense joy he felt on the day of the boy’s birth when the doctor had handed him his son for the first time. He also shared the concern he harbored that day: “You know, [I felt]

ODJ: hard questions

One Saturday afternoon, a group of teenagers gathered in a cafeteria to ask one another some hard questions based on Philippians 2:3-4. Some of the difficult queries included: On a scale of 1 to 10, how selfish are you? How often do you take an interest in others too? Would someone describe you as humble or proud? Why? As I sat and listened intently, it was encouraging to hear group memb

ODJ: just sleeping?

Aeuphemism of words or phrases that otherwise might be considered harsh or unpleasant to hear.” Instead is “a polite expression used in place of saying, “We ended our dog’s life,” we say, “We put our dog to sleep.” In the Bible, sleep is a euphemism for physical death (Mark 5:39). When His friend died, Jesus said, “Lazarus has fall

ODJ: full-circle compassion

Following a tumultuous season in her life, Bethany Haley Williams battled with shame and brokenness. The journey was difficult, but through Jesus she experienced healing that transformed her life. Prompted by the grace and mercy she received, Bethany formed Exile International, a nonprofit that implements art/expressive therapy and long-term, rehabilitative care to restore and empower war-affecte

ODJ: power in His name

After dropping my kids off at school, I drove onto a busy road and turned on some Christian music. Worrying my way through a long to-do list, I started to feel overwhelmed. Just then, I saw a sign in the back window of a car that read JESUS. At the same moment, the name Jesus was sung by someone on the radio. Hearing and seeing “Jesus” in the same instant snapped me out of my

ODJ: the line between

Two government agents were assigned the case of “Dread Pirate Roberts.” This “pirate” was the anonymous operator of “the Silk Road,” a website that sold illegal drugs by using the virtual currency Bitcoin. The agents caught their man, but not before becoming criminals themselves. They allegedly sold the information about their investigation and blackmailed the &

ODJ: fly to Jesus

George Whitfield, the Anglican preacher who was part of the Great Awakening in the American colonies, once said, “Come away, my dear brethren—fly, fly, fly for your lives to Jesus Christ, fly to a bleeding God, fly to a throne of grace . . . beg of God to give you faith, and to enable you to be close with Jesus Christ.” Long before Whitfield encouraged believers to fly to Jesus,

ODJ: stewards unaware

Recently I met the captain of one of the boats featured on Channel’s reality television show. The show Wicked Tuna, National Geographic Channel’s reality television show. The show follows the lives of bluefin tuna fishermen living in the US. Bluefin tuna are some of the largest marine creatures. They can grow to 10 feet long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. Sadly, illegal practices and over-fishing have seriously threatened

ODJ: knowing the deeper things

As scientists have continued to search the Mariana Trench, which lies 26,000 feet under the Pacific Ocean’s surface, they’ve discovered a new species of fish never seen before—one which researchers describe as a mix between a puppy, an angel, and an eel. It’s mind-boggling and humbling to think that even after so much time and effort has been spent trying to understand this