Verse of the Day

  • February 19, 2013

    Mark 12:27

    He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.

    Encouraging Words…

    Part of my journey to Eastern Orthodoxy has included the unloading of beliefs that I had been taught throughout my Christian life. One of these was the teaching that icons and saints were idols and that people prayed to them and worshiped them. That is not how it works in the Orthodox church. We embrace this passage and believe that those saints who have departed this earth, those who have lived their lives in Christ, are not gone but resting in the presence of Christ. They can hear our petitions and see what is going on in our lives…it is a mystery. We venerate them to show our respect for them and the lives that they have lived. We petition them and ask them to represent us to Christ since they are in His presence. Only God can answer our prayers. Only God deserves our worship. The icons that we have amongst us provide us with windows into the lives of these saints and the Church that, through the mysteries of our God and His ability to transcend time, we too can be drawn through these windows and partake in these events. It is indeed a mystery and one that the early church fathers deliberated and professed to be right and true.

  • February 18, 2013

    1 Peter 3:7

    Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

    Command with a Promise…

    What a delicate balance living a life for Christ is. It is so easy to get caught up in one’s pursuit of spirituality and righteousness and forget that we also have a responsibility to our spouse and family. I think this can be especially challenging for us guys who are asked to be leaders in our church communities. This passage is another one of God’s commands with a promise. We are commanded to live with our wives with understanding…understanding of their needs, their desires, the development of their theosis. We are also commanded to treat them as our joint heirs of the grace of life that God pours out upon us. And what is the promise for being obedient in this way…an unhindered prayers…an unhindered relationship with our Lord. And my response to this is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Sone of God, have mercy on me a sinner!” for there is so much more that I can do to love my wife the way that Christ loved the Church, His bride.

  • February 15, 16, 17, 2013

    February 15, 2013
    Psalm 92:15 (91:16 LXX)
    So as to proclaim, The Lord my God is upright,
    And there is no wrongdoing in Him.

    Encouraging Words…

    My Lord, my God, You are all truth, all righteous, and I fall down before You unworthy of Your love. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

    February 16, 2013
    Luke 17:10

    So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.

    Personal Challenge…

    No matter what I do for my Lord; give my tithes and offerings; go on a mission trip; whatever, these are expected of me. I am commanded to serve Him and give back to Him, whatever is already is His. This again is another definition of humility…giving to God that which is already His and serving Him and not expecting anything in return…especially recognition from others. I owe Him everything, He owes me nothing.

    February 17, 2013
    1 Timothy 4:12

    Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

    Personal Challenge…

    Paul’s charge to Timothy as a young leader in the church can apply to all of us. We are to live our lives in a way that truly glorifies and magnifies our Lord. We are to be beacons of light in a dark world and examples of Christ amongst our brothers and sisters.

  • February 14, 2013

    James 4:17

    Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

    Personal Challenge…

    Lord, have mercy. It is so easy to focus on the sins that we have committed and ask for forgiveness. What about those sins of omission? Not helping that person in need. Not saying something nice to someone, or about them, especially when I do not like them. Not putting others before myself. Not submitting to my Lord. If I take a serious look into my heart I can find more things that I know are good and right to do, and that I have not or do not do, than of the things that I have done wrong. This is a sobering realization.

  • February 13, 2013

    James 4:1-7

    Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

    But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

         “God resists the proud,
           But gives grace to the humble.”

    Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

    Personal Challenge…

    What can be added to these inspired words? Nothing. I must constantly be examining the state of my heart and my motives, submitting to God in humility if I want to see Him active in my life and answering my prayers. When I live my life this way I will be able to be in the world, shining His light, but not of the world, pursuing the pleasures of the world.

    I like how Maximos the Confessor puts it:

    “The rewards for the toils of virtue are dispassion and spiritual knowledge. For these are the mediators of the kingdom of heaven, just as passions and ignorance are the mediators of eternal punishment. It is because of this that he who seeks these rewards for the sake of human glory and not for their intrinsic goodness is rebuked by the words of Scripture: ‘You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly’”

  • February 12, 2013

    Psalm 84:11 (83:11 LXX)

    For one day in Your courts is better than a thousand;
    I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God,
    Rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners.

    Encouraging Words…

    Have you ever had the opportunity to feel the presence of our living God surround you? Yes, it is possible. Christ became man so that He could walk amongst us and destroy the barrier between us and God. When He returned to heaven He gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to be our Helper. It is a mystery, but we now have the privilege and the opportunity to be in the court of our Lord. Praise be to God!

  • February 11, 2013


    James 2:14-17


    What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

    Personal Challenge…

    I am continually amazed at how many people whom I know claim to be followers of Christ and have their lives wrapped up in the pursuit of godliness, or righteousness, through trying to improve their faith through the acquisition of knowledge. There is nothing wrong with the study of scriptures or of writings of those who have gone before us, but the development of our theosis comes through the living of our lives for Christ, doing His work for others. This does not mean going to retreats or conferences or monasteries, although in and of themselves these are not bad, it means going out and helping our neighbor by the application of God’s love. This does not mean writing checks or giving to a Christian cause so that someone else can go, although in and of themselves this is not bad either, but it still means that we must be active in our faith, doing God’s work in the world around us, otherwise we may be caught being told that our faith was dead because we did not apply it with works. Theosis is not something that I can pursue or acquire…it is what I become as I live out a Christ-centered life in community with others for Christ (process) through prayer, fasting and giving while constantly moving toward a likeness of Christ (goal).

  • February 10, 2013

    Psalm 61:1-4 (60:2-5 LXX)

    Hear my supplication, O God;
    Attend to my prayer.
    From the end of the earth I cried out to You
    When my heart was discouraged;
    You lifted me high on a rock.
    You guided me, for You became my hope,
    A tower of strength from the face of the enemy.
    I will dwell in Your tabernacle unto the ages;
    I will be covered with the shelter of Your wings.

    Encouraging Words…

    What is it that we put our hope and trust in? Our job? Our retirement plan, stocks, bonds, or savings accounts? Our possessions? Our own knowledge, skills, or talents? All of these are but dust. It is our Lord, our God, that we find a strong tower to hide in so that the enemy is turned away.

  • February 9, 2013


    Psalm 57:1-3 (56:2-4 LXX)


    Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,

    For my soul trusts in You;
    And in the shadow of Your wings I will hope,
    Until lawlessness shall pass away.
    I will cry out to God most High;
    My God who is my benefactor.
    He sent from heaven and saved me;
    He gave over to disgrace those who trample me down. (Pause)
    God sent out His mercy and His truth,

    Encouraging Words…

    It is important for me to walk through life remembering that there is always a picture behind the picture. I may be confined in this temporal realm due to my physical being, but that does not negate the fact that we are surrounded by the spiritual realm. It is in this realm where I can meet God and know His presence. It is a mystery, but one that I can partake in.

  • February 8, 2013

    James 1:26-27


    If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

    Personal Challenge…

    Here are three examples of the relationship between faith and works: mastery over speech…our tongue, ministry to the needy, and moral purity in thought and deed. (Taken from the notes of the Orthodox Study Bible.) Has my involvement in my church boiled down to seeking to be entertained on Sunday mornings, or putting on great religious roles of righteousness on Sunday while treating my coworkers or family like dirt the rest of the week, or… If so, then my heart has been deceived and my religion is empty and defiled. It is my duty to my Lord to live my life in a way so as to imitate Him with the pursuit of becoming like Him. Maybe it is time that all of us who profess the name of Jesus to look at our lives and get our acts together…for our Lord and for our neighbor.