“You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.” – Lamentations 5:19

With a population of more than 68 million people, the United Kingdom (UK) is the 21st largest country in the world. The UK is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. 

The population in the UK is getting older with 18% aged 65 and over and 2.4% aged 85 and over.

Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on 6 February 1952 following the death of her father King George VI. She is the 4th longest-reigning monarch in history. If she is still reigning by the fall of 2022, she will have surpassed two other monarchs and be the second longest-reigning ruler in history. 

For more than 80% of the United Kingdom, she is the only monarch they have ever known. 

There is a King whose reign is eternal. Jesus Christ reigns through all of the ages. Today in prayer, give thanks to the Lord that His throne endures from generation to generation.

"God, who is eternal, infinite, supremely mighty, does great and unfathomable things in heaven and in earth, and there is no understanding his wonderful works.  If the works of God could easily be grasped by human understanding they could not be called wonderful or too great for words." - Thomas à Kempis

God’s Word: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” – Psalm 90:2

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at the head of every street. How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter's hands!” – Lamentations 4:1-2

John P. Davidson was a Kentucky-raised Irishman who, after some time spent as captain of a steamer on the Mississippi River. He made his fortune in the California gold rush and settled in San Francisco. He was a devout Presbyterian who always went to church but never chipped in for the collection. He stiffed workers and business partners but was always on the lookout for another moneymaking scheme, including an extended boondoggle involving buying hogs in the South Pacific. He took only one meal a day at the dining room of his hotel but would eat enough at that sitting to make up for the other two meals. 

Davidson fled to England to evade taxes when the Civil War broke out, but returned afterward and died a rich man in San Francisco. He is remembered as one of America’s most miserly people. 

Things in life can cause our hearts to wander from our love for the Lord. Today in prayer, praise the Lord for His goodness. Seek Him as you would the most precious treasure of all. 

"The world is poor because her treasure is buried in the sky and all her treasure maps are of the earth." - Calvin Miller

God’s Word: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” – Lamentations 3:25

The color yellow is significant to Vincent van Gogh. The famous Dutch painter, sadly, rejected the truth imparted him in his Christian home and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, as he later began to embrace the truth again, his life took on hope, and he gave that hope color.

The best-kept secret of van Gogh's life is that the truth he was discovering is seen in the gradual increase of the presence of the color yellow in his paintings. Yellow evoked (for him) the hope and warmth of the truth of God's love. In one of his depressive periods, seen in his famous The Starry Night, one finds a yellow sun and yellow swirling stars, because van Gogh thought truth was present only in nature. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in this painting and should be the house of truth, is about the only item in the painting showing no traces of yellow. But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, his life was on the mend as he began to face the truth about himself. The entire picture is (blindingly) bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection.

Jesus Christ wants everyone to put their hopes in Him. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that He does not disappoint those who place their hope in Christ.

"To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us." - James I. Packer

God’s Word: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” – Micah 7:7

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

In her book, “Celebrate Joy!” author Velma Seawell Daniels gives a striking new meaning to the familiar phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”. She tells of interviewing a man who had made a trip to Alaska to visit people who live above the Arctic Circle.

“Never ask an Eskimo how old he is,” the man said. “If you do, he will say, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” And he doesn’t. One of them told me that, and I pressed him a bit further. When I asked him the second time, he said, “Almost—that’s all.” That still wasn’t good enough for me, so I asked him “Almost what?” and he said, “Almost one day.”

Velma asked him if he could figure out what the Eskimo meant. He answered that he did but only after talking to another man who had lived in the Arctic Circle for about twenty years. “He was a newspaperman who had written a book about the Eskimos and their customs and beliefs. He said the Eskimos believe that when they go to sleep at night they die—that they are dead to the world. Then, when they wake up in the morning, they have been resurrected and are living a new life. Therefore, no Eskimo is more than one day old. So, that is what the Eskimo meant when he said he was ‘almost’ a day old. The day wasn’t over yet.”

“Life above the Arctic Circle is harsh and cruel, and mere survival becomes a major accomplishment,” he explained. “But, you never see an Eskimo who seems worried or anxious. They have learned to face one day at a time.”

And every morning you get up, you have an entire day of God’s faithfulness ahead of you.

"His purpose in sending Jesus into the world was to show his love and to draw men to himself." - Merrill C. Tenney

God’s Word: “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 86:15

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.” – Jeremiah 50:6

In February 2021, a rogue overgrown sheep was found roaming through rural Australia. The merino ram, dubbed Baarack by rescuers, was discovered wandering alone with an extraordinarily overgrown wool coat, and was promptly shorn to save his life.

Kyle Behrend, from the Edgar’s Mission farm sanctuary, said that it appeared Baarack was “once an owned sheep” that had escaped. Merino sheep do not shed their fleece and need to be shorn at least annually, as their wool continues to grow. Rescuers said he had “eked out an existence” eating small shoots of grass.

“He had at one time been ear-tagged, however, these appear to have been torn out by the thick, matted fleece around his face,” Behrend said. “He was in a bit of a bad way. He was underweight and, due to all of the wool around his face, he could barely see.”

After being shorn from his excess wool, Baarack was some 70 pounds lighter. He had produced enough wool for 61 sweaters!

People are like sheep, we are prone to wander and very vulnerable. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that He is the Good Shepherd and pray for those who do not yet know Him.  

“Like sheep that get lost nibbling away at the grass because they never look up, we often focus so much on ourselves and our problems that we get lost.” – Allen Klein

God’s Word: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” – Luke 15:4-7

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS  †

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” – Jeremiah 33:3

In April 1912, Constance Gracie awoke in the middle of the night in New York. Seized with anxiety, she began to pray. Her prayer book opened “by chance” to the prayer ‘For Those at Sea.’ Constance prayed earnestly until about 5:00 A.M. when the heaviness and the burden lifted from her heart. She rested quietly until eight in the morning when her sister "came softly to the door, newspaper in hand, to gently break the tragic news that the Titanic had sunk."

Constance’s husband, Colonel Archibald Gracie, was on the Titanic. Archibald remembers: “I was in a whirlpool, swirling round and round, as I still tried to cling to the railing as the ship plunged to the depths below. Down, down, I went: it seemed a great distance... [Ascending back to the surface] I could see no Titanic. She had entirely disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean without a sign of any wave. A thin light-gray smoky vapor hung like a pall a few feet above the sea. There arose the most horrible sounds ever heard by mortal man, the agonizing cries of death from over a thousand throats.”

Colonel Archibald Gracie was pulled into a lifeboat. He later shared his testimony, basing it on Psalm 130:1, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.” Colonel Gracie wrote, “I know of no recorded instance of Providential deliverance more directly attributable to... prayer.”

Jesus desires us to develop a special dependence on Him. Today in prayer, humbly come before the Lord, call on Him, and trust in Him by faith.

"Never does he who clings to God despair, because he is never without resources." - Jacques B. Bossuet

God’s Word: “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” – Jeremiah 29:12

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.” – Jeremiah 32:19

One of the most difficult areas to see on a surveillance camera is extremely bright and extremely dark areas in the same frame. For example, this can occur in a tunnel or a parking garage. In these situations, you can be forced to optimize the settings for just one of the areas, potentially missing crucial details in the other.

When images are underexposed or overexposed it can be impossible to identify objects and people. The technology best fit for this scenario is called Forensic Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), which solves the issue by applying multiple exposure levels, contrast enhancement, and advanced algorithms that lower noise and increase the image signal. 

This technology assures that the camera doesn’t collect too many photons from the brighter areas, while at the same time reducing the noise resulting from the low concentration of photons in the darker ones. This way, you can place your cameras exactly where you need them, with no need to worry about difficult lighting. Suddenly you can see all that was previously hidden.

Nothing escapes the Lord’s eyes. The whole world is continually in His focus. Today in prayer, give thanks to Jesus that sees you and knows you like no other person can. 

"Wherever you are, the eye of God will be upon you - as much on you as if there were not another person in the whole world." - Charles H. Spurgeon 

God’s Word: “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” – Jeremiah 17:10

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” – Jeremiah 31:3

In the autumn of 2009, a few dozen people traveled to London to mark his one-hundredth birthday celebration and to thank Nicholas Winton. The group themselves were mostly all in their seventies or eighties. But this was no social trip. It was a journey of gratitude. They came to thank the man who had saved their lives: a stooped centenarian who met them on the train platform just as he had done in 1939, seventy years previously.

Nicholas Winton was a twenty-nine-year-old stockbroker at the time. Hitler’s armies were ravaging the nation of Czechoslovakia, tearing Jewish families apart and marching parents to concentration camps. No one was caring for the children. Winton got wind of their plight and resolved to help them. He used his annual leave to travel to Prague, where he met parents who, incredibly, were willing to entrust their children’s future to his care. After returning to England, he worked his regular job on the stock exchange by day and advocated for the children at night. He convinced the government to permit their entry into the country. He found foster homes and raised funds. Then he scheduled his first transport of child refugees on March 14th, 1939, and accompanied seven more over the next five months. His last trainload of children arrived on August 2, bringing the total of rescued children to 669.

After the war, Nicholas Winston didn’t tell anyone of his rescue efforts, not even his wife when they got married. [Over 40 years later] In 1988 she found a scrapbook in their attic with all the children’s photos and a complete list of names. She prodded her husband to tell the story [and afterward she secretly contacted a popular TV program called, ‘That’s Life’: The presenter, Esther Ransom, sneaked the unsuspecting Nicholas Winton into the studio and then revealed his story to the world.]

The grateful group of people he rescued includes a film director, a Canadian journalist, a news correspondent, a former minister in the British cabinet, a magazine manager, and one of the founders of the Israeli Air Force. There are some seven thousand children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren today who owe their existence to Nicholas Winton’s bravery and loving-kindness – and who remember him with joy. 

God loves you and desires His loving kindness to work through you and to bless others. Today in prayer, praise Jesus for His loving-kindness to you.

"By the cross, we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God's love towards us." - John Chrysostom

God’s Word: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11

Except for two years in the Army, Don Elliott spent the first 57 years of his life in Arkansas. He was a football coach and a high school principal for many of those years.

Then in 1986, Don spoke with some relatives. They had spent three months in Africa doing missionary work. Don and his wife Almeda started thinking that after his retirement from the school system it would be a good idea for them. The couple had full intentions of going to Africa for just three months. But after meeting a gentleman talking about missions, Don one day came home and said, “Almeda, what do you think about going to China for a year?”

The couple, sensing God’s plan, ended up teaching conversational English to Chinese students for several years in an effort to reach them for Christ. Now Don was from a rural area in Arkansas, but God decided to send him to a city of 2 million people in China.

In 2017, Don went home to be with the Lord. A Chinese student, who had been influenced by Don’s ministry, spoke at his gravesite. He said: “The first time I went to church, he brought me. The first Bible I ever had, he gave me.”

God’s plans are far greater than any plans we may have for ourselves. Today in prayer, praise the Lord and look to Him for the wonderful plans He has for your life.

"God hath a work to do, and not to help Him is to oppose Him." - John Owen

God’s Word: “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” – Psalms 40:5

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” – Jeremiah 23:29

In 1977, at the height of the Cold War, Anatoly Shcharansky, a brilliant young mathematician and chess player, was arrested by the KGB for his repeated attempts to emigrate to Israel. He spent thirteen years inside the Soviet Gulag. From morning to evening Shcharansky read and studied all 150 psalms (in Hebrew). “What does this give me?” he asked in a letter:

“Gradually, my feeling of great loss and sorrow changes to one of bright hopes.” Shcharansky so cherished his book of Psalms, in fact, that when guards took it away from him, he lay in the snow, refusing to move, until they returned it. During those thirteen years, his wife traveled around the world campaigning for his release. Accepting an honorary degree on his behalf, she told the university audience, “In a lonely cell in Chistopol prison, locked alone with the Psalms of David, Anatoly found expression for his innermost feelings in the outpourings of the King of Israel thousands of years ago.”

God’s Word can change our lives. Today in prayer, give thanks to Jesus for His Word and spend some extra time reading His Word this weekend.

“Every word of the Bible rings with Christ.” - Martin Luther

God’s Word: “Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.” – Psalm 119:91

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.” - Jeremiah 17:11

In April 2020, Kent Whitney, 38, of Newport Beach, California pled guilty to mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. He could face up to 23 years in federal prison, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.

Whitney was pastor of Church for the Healthy Self, run out of a strip mall in the Little Saigon area in Westminster until it was shut down last year after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint and a judge froze the church's assets.

The nonprofit was a “virtual church" that provided religious offerings online but mainly served as an investment operation that targeted the Vietnamese community in Orange County, according to an SEC complaint.

In his plea agreement, Whitney said that from 2014 to 2019, he scammed investors in a church trust fund out of some $33 million by falsely claiming their money was safe and guaranteeing a high, tax-deductible return from investment in the reinsurance industry.

Whitney founded the church in 2014, three months after he finished serving a 44-month prison sentence for a commodities investment fraud, authorities said.

The Lord hates gain through unjust means. Today in prayer, praise Jesus that He is the giver of all things and seek to follow His will in all that you do. 

“Temporal prosperity is very unfavorable to spiritual development.” – Charles Simeon 

God’s Word: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” – Proverbs 23:5

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

Deceitful or False advertising misleads the consumer or includes false statements. The legal definition of false advertising from the federal Lanham Act is, "Any advertising or promotion that misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities or geographic origin of goods, services or commercial activities".

ere are examples of companies that were found guilty of false advertising:

Activia yogurt - Dannon stated that its yogurt had nutritional benefits other yogurts didn't. They had to pay $45 million in a class action settlement.

Splenda - Ads say it is made from sugar; but, that is not the case. It is made of highly-processed chemical compounds.

New Balance - One of their sneakers has been sold with claims to help consumers burn calories. No studies confirmed this and the shoe turned out to be an injury hazard. And finally

Airborne - It claimed to ward off germs to prevent the flu and colds, but no studies backed it up. Airborne had to pay $23.3 million in the class-action lawsuit and $7 million settlement later.

Our hearts are deceitful and sin has made our hearts more deceitful. Today in prayer, confess any sin in your life to Jesus and give your heart to Him.

“All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.” - Scott Alexander

God’s Word: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” – Psalm 139:23

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail   

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.” – Jeremiah 15:19

In his book “A Month of Sundays” author Eugene H. Peterson writes the following about repentance: “There is an interesting history of the word repentance. The word in Hebrew means originally “to take a deep breath and sigh.” A deep feeling of sorrow, of remorse. Repentance at the root, at the very beginning, seems to have the idea that you realize that you have done something wrong and you feel badly about it. And you feel it deeply; it gets down deep inside you, and you groan or sigh or you breathe deeply.

All of us know how that works. We know that part of repentance. We know the part that has to do with our feelings. The interesting thing is that use of the word didn’t last long in the Bible. Very quickly the writers began to substitute another word for the same action, and this other word meant “return” or “turn around and go.”

Not a word of feeling at all, but a word of action. Under the influence of the prophets, repentance became not something you felt but something you did. And it’s essential you get that through your head if you are going to understand what the Bible means about repentance. You don’t repent by taking a deep breath and then feel better.

You repent only when you turn around and go back or toward God. It doesn’t make any difference how you feel. You can have the feeling, or you don’t have to have the feeling. What’s essential is that you do something. The call to repentance is not a call to feel the remorse of your sins. It’s a call to turn around so that God can do something about them.”

Sin separates from the Lord, but repentance and a return to Jesus bring life. Today in prayer, confess any sin in your life and return to following Christ.

“It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors” ― A.W. Pink

God’s Word: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” – Mark 1:14-15

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

“You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” – Jeremiah 12:1

In the book “Making Sense of Your Faith”, author William E. Brown writes: “The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for “religious” things. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed by on their way to worship. October came and the farmer had his finest crop ever–the best in the entire county.

When the harvest was complete, he placed an advertisement in the local paper which belittled the Christians for their faith in God. Near the end of his diatribe he wrote, “Faith in God must not mean much if someone like me can prosper.” The response from the Christians in the community was quiet and polite. In the next edition of the town paper, a small ad appeared. It read simply, ‘God doesn’t settle His accounts in October.’”

The Lord is patient and desires all men and women to come to a saving knowledge of Him. Today in prayer, praise the Lord for His patience toward the wicked and pray for those who have not yet come to know Jesus.

“God bears with the wicked, but not forever.” – Miguel de Cervantes

God’s Word: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” – Isaiah 55:7

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail   

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS †

"O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.” – Jeremiah 8:18

In his book “Knowing God” author J.I. Packer writes: “What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it- that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and theirs is no moment when His eye is off me, His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort… in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge o me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love is utterly realistic; based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.”

God knows us, loves us, and is the Great Comforter who is always present in our sorrows. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that He is a God of Comfort.

“Most of our comforts grow up between our crosses.” – Edward Young

God’s Word: “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” – 2 Corinthians 1:5

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS   †

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” – Jeremiah 6:10

Dana Visneskie tells the story of a Native American and his friend who were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.”

His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!”

“No, I’m sure of it,” the Native American said. “I heard a cricket.”

“That’s crazy,” said the friend.

The Native American listened carefully for a moment and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!”

“No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.”

“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear a cricket in this noise.”

“Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.

“See what I mean?” asked the Native American. “It all depends on what’s important to you.

When we listen to the Lord, our lives go so much smoother.  Today in prayer, ask Jesus to give you an attentive ear to hear His Word and to act upon it. 

“God never ceases to speak to us, but the noise of the world without and the passions within bewilder us and prevent us from listening to Him.” – Francois Fenelon

God’s Word: “You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.” – Isaiah 42:20

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS   †

“I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God." But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” – Jeremiah 5:4-5

Nothing shows the foolishness of man more than wrong predictions. Here are a few of those wrong predictions: 

“There will never be a bigger plane built.”- One of Boeing engineers said after the flight of Boeing-247, which could fit ten passengers.

“Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will be a reality within 10 years”. - The legendary American businessman and inventor Alex Lewyt predicted in the 1950s.

“There is no chance iPhone will get any significant market share”. - Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer confidently proclaimed in 2007. (He also dismissed Google in its early days: “Google’s not a real company. It’s a house of cards”.)

“Netflix isn’t even on the radar screen in terms of competition”.  - Blockbuster’s chief executive Jim Keyes boasted in 2008.  

Though the world may be foolish, as Christians we are called to be wise in our actions. Today in prayer, look to the Lord and ask Him for wisdom and guidance in all the decisions you face this day.   

“Wise men learn more from fools than fools from wise men.” – Marcus Cato 

God’s Word: “A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul.” – Proverbs 18:7

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS   †

“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” – Jeremiah 4:22

One of the most ruthless drug “queenpins” of all time was Griselda Blanco, nicknamed “La Madrina,” or “The Godmother.” Blanco was one of the key figures in the Medellín Cartel and has been credited with being a mentor to Pablo Escobar, who would eventually become her enemy.

Blanco first made her name by developing bras and girdles designed to hide smuggled cocaine. She left Colombia in the early 1970s and settled in Queens, New York, where she set up a large-scale operation. In 1975, she was indicted when the government intercepted a huge cocaine shipment. Blanco fled back to Colombia, but it wasn’t long before she returned, this time to Miami.

In the 1980s, Blanco painted Miami white and red: white with cocaine and red with the blood of drug rivals. One favorite method included drive-by shootings via motorcycle. Miami experienced a wave of Blanco-related crime, including a submachine-gun attack at a mall. Blanco instigated anywhere between 40 and 250 murders, including a few personal ones (she shot one of her husbands at point-blank range over a drug deal). Eventually, Blanco was imprisoned, but that didn't stop her; on the inside, she plotted to kidnap John F. Kennedy, Jr. in a plan that was foiled only by an insider’s betrayal.

She was gunned down in front of a butcher’s shop by an assassin on a motorcycle, murdered by the very same method she had so often used to dispatch her own enemies.

Our sinful nature makes us inclined to become skilled in doing evil. Today in prayer, give thanks to Jesus that He has overcome the world and our sinful nature.  Pray for those who are practicing evil that their eyes and heart might be opened to Jesus Christ. 

"Punishment for evil will be administered, and the final dimension of eternal life will be granted to all who have responded to God's loving offer." - Millard J. Erickson

God’s Word: “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” – Genesis 6:5

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS   †

“Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.” – Jeremiah 2:11

Demetrius of Phalerum was a statesman, orator, rhetorician, and writer, as well as a philosopher. He is best known in history for being one of the greatest rhetoricians and writers of the 4th century BC. Together with Ptolemy, he helped found the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. 

As a statesman, he rose to be the governor of Athens and ruled for 10 years with an iron hand. He had more than 300 statues erected of himself during that time. That is more than one statue every two weeks during his reign!

When Rome conquered Athens, they initiated the practice of damnatio memoriae – the expunging of statues, images, and names of disgraced rulers and enemies of the state. All the statues of Demetrius of Phalerum were unceremoniously melted down to make chamber pots.

Avoid idolatry. Today in prayer, confess any sin of idolatry and worship Jesus, the one True God. 

"You don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol." - D.L. Moody

God’s Word: “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God--or rather are known by God--how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” – Galatians 4:8-9

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS   †

“Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” – Matthew 28:7

In Charles Colson’s book “The Body” he wrote: “It was May Day, 1990. The place, Moscow's Red Square. "Is it straight, Father?" one Orthodox priest asked another, shifting the heavy, eight-foot crucifix on his shoulder. "Yes," said the other. "It is straight." Together the two priests, along with a group of parishioners holding ropes that steadied the beams of the huge cross, walked the parade route. Before them was passed the official might of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: The usual May Day procession of tanks, missiles, troops, and salutes to the Communist party elite. Behind the tanks surged a giant crowd of protesters, shouting up at Mikhail Gorbachev. "Bread!...Freedom!...Truth!”

As the throng passed directly in front of the Soviet leader standing in his place of honor, the priests hoisted their heavy burden toward the sky. The Cross emerged from the crowd. As it did, the figure of Jesus Christ obscured the giant poster faces of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin that provided the backdrop for Gorbachev's reviewing stand. "Mikhail Sergeyevich!" one of the priests shouted, his deep voice cleaving the clamor of the protesters and piercing straight toward the angry Soviet leader. "Mikhail Sergeyevich! Christ is risen!" 

Jesus Christ has Risen! He has conquered death and given us eternal life. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that He has risen from the dead and encourage others with this Good News.

“For like the seeds which are cast into the earth, we do not perish by dissolution, but sown into the earth, shall rise again, death having been brought to naught by the grace of the Savior.” - Athanasius

God’s Word: “'Don't be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.'” – Mark 16:6

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS FOR EASTER           †

“Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” – Luke 23:46-47 

The Red Cross idea was born in 1859, when Henry Dunant, a young Swiss man, came upon the scene of a bloody battle in Solferino, Italy, between the armies of imperial Austria and the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Some 40,000 men lay dead or dying on the battlefield and the wounded were lacking medical attention.

Dunant organized local people to bind the soldiers' wounds and to feed and comfort them. On his return to Switzerland, he called for the creation of national relief societies to assist those wounded in the war. They took the flag of a white flag with a red cross to signify they were helping the wounded. 

The Boer War erupted in South Africa in 1880 between Great Britain and the white colonists. During one battle an overwhelming enemy force surprised a small detachment of British troops. They fell back under heavy fire. Their wounded lay in a perilous position, facing certain death. They all realized they had to come immediately under the protection of a Red Cross flag if they wanted to survive. All they had was a piece of white cloth, but no red paint. So they used the blood from their wounds to make a large cross on that white cloth. Their attackers respected that grim flag as it was held aloft, and the British wounded were brought to safety.

In a similar way, Christ’s shed blood on the Cross has peace between God and man. 

Today in prayer, praise the Lord that through His death on the Cross He made a way for sinful man to reunite with our Holy Father in Heaven.

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’” – Billy Graham

God’s Word” “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. – 1 John 2:2

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS FOR GOOD FRIDAY                                 †

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” – Jeremiah 1:5

During the riots in Palestine in the 1930s, a village near Haifa was condemned to collective punishment by having its sheep and cattle taken by the British Government who occupied Palestine. The inhabitants however were permitted to redeem their possessions at a fixed price. Among them was an orphan shepherd boy, whose six sheep and goats were all he had in the world for life and work. Somehow he obtained the money for their redemption. He went to the big enclosure where the animals were penned, offering his money to the British sergeant in charge.

The sergeant told him he was welcome to the requisite number of animals, but ridiculed the idea that he could possibly pick out his “little flock” from among the confiscated hundreds. The little shepherd thought differently because he knew better; and giving his own “call”, for he had his nai (shepherd’s pipe) with him, “his own” separated from the rest of the animals and trotted out after him. 

The Lord has known you before you were born and desires you to follow His call for your life. Today in prayer, thank Jesus for His everlasting love for you and seek to follow His call for your life.

"If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer - His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable." - John Newton

God’s Word: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” – Psalm 139:15-16

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2021, Devotional E-Mail    

DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS