Featured Devotionals

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ODJ: secure

His soft hair brushing against my chin, the tiny bundle snuggled on my shoulder. Though I’m well past the baby stage with our own children, I so enjoy these tender times with friends’ babies. Even when they’re fussy, I enjoy the opportunity to nestle them close—especially when I can feel the tension leave their little bodies as they relax in sleep. At the same time, these precious moment

ODJ: roots that drink from heaven

A man knocked on my office door and asked me if I would officiate his marriage. I asked him to sit down so we could chat about his plans, timing and spiritual life. “Oh, I’m not sure you understand,” he said, “I’d like you to marry me today, like in the next hour.” The story is complicated, but his fiancée was from a different country and was living in our country with a short-term

ODJ: finish well

After my grandmother died, my husband and I were quizzed about death by our 5 year old twins. All I could think of to say was that she’d finished her work and then passed away. It’s a simple idea, but Scripture reveals that we have a certain number of days to finish our work on earth (Psalm 39:4, 90:10,12).


Moses had things to complete in his life. And he was 120 years

ODJ: heart decisions

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A young woman wrote: “I’ve fallen in love with an unbeliever, but I know it’s wrong. What should I do?” One of our authors posted her question and his answer on the ODJ website.


Three months later, the young woman made a comment in the same post. She said that even though unbelieving family and friends condemned her for not marrying the young man, she chose t

ODJ: be patient

If you had the opportunity to handpick the members of your local church or small group, would you choose people who always . . .


• fail to do what they’re supposed to do?

• give you 10 reasons why your ideas won’t work?

• find it hard to consistently do God’s will?

I’m guessing you answered no to each one of those quest

ODJ: one morning

There aren’t many days that noticeably change the world. In my lifetime I would count 9/11, the fall of the Berlin Wall and perhaps a few more. Even so, today we conduct our business much as we did before those events.


One morning did change everything—forever. The disciples were young and perhaps naïve enough to believe that the itinerant teacher from Nazareth was the long-

ODJ: carrying your cross

My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2012. I shared with a friend about the challenges this situation had posed for me. As we talked, he gently told me that this is the cross I have to carry. “Carrying your cross” means living with sickness or a child with a disability, or financial problems or any difficult circumstance of life. But when Jesus tells us to carry our own cro

ODJ: an innocent man

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On 15 April 1865, family, doctors and government officials crowded around the bedside of American President Abraham Lincoln. He was unconscious and close to death from an assassin’s fatal bullet.


After Lincoln took his last breath, those keeping vigil stood in silence. Shock and sadness left them speechless. After several minutes, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton reportedly

ODJ: smartly, not seductively

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently. “Much preaching about women dressing modestly has been destructive,” she said, “because it subtly places the blame for men’s lust on women. Men should take responsibility for their lust and women should be free to wear what they want.” My friend’s words got me thinking.


There is some validity to my friend’s c