Love is patient; love is kind.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 We know those words. We hear them at weddings. We print them on cards. We hang them on walls. But Paul is not giving us a poem for special days. He is showing us what the life of Jesus looks like when the Holy Spirit is free to work in us. Real love cannot be manufactured. We cannot wake up and say, “Today I will force myself to be patient. Today I will make myself kind. Today I will believe all things and hope all things.” W

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. - Psalm 27:8 There are seasons in life when the crowd gets quiet. The people you looked up to are not as strong as they once seemed. A friend moves away. A leader lets you down. Someone you thought would always be there is suddenly gone. It can leave your heart feeling shaky. You may wonder, Now what? Who do I lean on? That is when this verse becomes so precious: “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” God never

Ephesians 5:8 “ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light…” There are moments in life when everything feels clear. A sermon grips your heart. A song in worship opens your eyes. A quiet prayer time leaves you full of courage. In those moments, faith feels strong and bright. You feel ready to obey God, ready to forgive, ready to change, and ready to trust. Paul says, “ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

“Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me” (Ps. 63:7–8). There are days when faith feels strong and steady. Then there are days when it feels like you are hanging on by your fingernails. Psalm 63 gives words for both kinds of days. It is not the voice of a man sitting in comfort. This is the voice of someone who knows what fear feels like, what danger feels like, what need feels like. And still he sings. Th

He must increase, but I must decrease.” John the Baptist John the Baptist knew who he was and who he was not. He was not the Christ. He was not the Savior. He was not the center. He was the voice pointing to the Voice. He was a lamp pointing to the Light. He did not cling to his place. He said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That is not the cry of a sad man. That is the joy of a faithful one. That word is hard for us, because we like to matter. We like t

Day 40 (April 4 th ) Matthew 27:62-66 62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, his disciples may go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception wou

Day 39 (April 3 rd ) Luke 22:54-56 5 4 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. 55 When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 Then a female servant, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” Two days before God raised Jesus from the dead, two fires blazed in the night. One is inside the h

Day 38 (April 2 nd ) Mark 14:41 41 " He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners" Three days before God raised Jesus from the dead, after the celebration of the Passover the disciples are asleep at the wheel. Not once. Not twice. Three times. Jesus steps back into the circle of drooping heads and heavy eyes and says words that feel like a bell in the night

Day 37 ( April 1 st ) Matthew 26:14-16 14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment, he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. Four days before God raised Jesus from the dead, Judas betrayed. Judas didn’t fall all at once. He didn’t wake up one morning and say, “Today I will betray the Son of God.” No, he w

Day 36 (March 3 1 st ) Matthew 21:23-23:39 23 " When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Five days before God raised Jesus from the dead, He spent the day at the temple teaching. That detail should make you stop and listen. When most of us feel pressure, we rush. When we feel threatened, we hide. When we know hard days ar

Day 35 (March 29 th ) Luke 19:45-48 45 "Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there, and he said, “It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” Six days before God raised Jesus from the dead, He walked into the temple and saw a mess. Not spilled coffee. Not kids wiggling in the pew. Not a loud greeting time. A deeper mess. The temple was meant to be a place where people could meet with

Day 34 (Mar 28 th ) Matthew 21:1-11 " When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” Seven days before Jesus rose from the dead, He rode into Jerusalem.

Day 33 (Mar 27 th ) John 12:3-11 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them [ a ] with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot,…said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”… 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it [ b ] so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but y