VICTORY OVER THESE GATES March 27, 2020 | Matthew 16:13–20 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Open Doors USA compiles an annual World Watch List of “the 50 countries where it’s most dangerous to follow Jesus.” In 2019, the top five nations on the list were North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan. One of every nine […]
REBUILDING THE GATES March 14, 2020 | Nehemiah 2 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Scaffolding now surrounds Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was set ablaze on April 15, 2019. Although there are many opinions on how to restore the 900-year-old iconic structure to its former grandeur, everyone agrees it will not be an easy task. […]
LAMENTING AT THE GATES March 13, 2020 | Lamentations 2:1–11 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Do you know what it means to lament? A central subject in the book of Lamentations, lament is an outpouring of grief before the Lord. In a recent article in Themelios, Robert S. Smith observed that the contemporary church is out […]
IDOLATRY BEHIND THE GATES March 11, 2020 | Ezekiel 8 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue On October 31, 1517, now celebrated as Reformation Day, Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In them, he attacked then- common practices and beliefs of the Catholic church, including requiring payment […]
GATES OF THANKSGIVING March 10, 2020 | Psalm 100 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue At one time in church history, ordinary Christians didn’t sing. Instead, they listened while sacred music was performed by professionals. But thanks to the Reformation and the invention of the printing press, congregational singing made a comeback. The first hymnal was printed […]
GATES OF DEATH March 6, 2020 | Psalm 9:1–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The Bible’s gates of hell or “gates of death” (v. 13) may remind Lord of the Rings fans of the Black Gate of Mordor. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and the movie adaptations, the Black Gate is a fearsome structure—dark, huge, seemingly invulnerable, […]
GATES AND THE SABBATH March 3, 2020 | Jeremiah 17:19–27 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue If you’re familiar with the story of Ruth, you might remember how Boaz “asked permission” to marry her (Ruth 4:1–12). Boaz was legally required to negotiate with a relative who had a prior claim on the widow and her land. When […]
GATES AND DOORS March 1, 2020 | Psalm 24 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue If you close your eyes, can you picture the door of your childhood home? Maybe you remember unlatching the gate that led to your backyard? If you returned to these same places today, you might pause—before you walked through—to remember the past. […]