Beatitudes: Persecution Love him or hate him, when Dean Smith coached the North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team, the one thing that he taught was the concept of “the team”. To him, everyone had a role no matter how big or small it may have seemed. When a player made an assist, all the players sitting on the bench were to stand up and point it out and applaud. When a player came off the cou...  Read More

Beatitudes: Peacemakers Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”Often misunderstood is the concept of a “peacemaker”. In our world today, there are too many who proclaim peace at any cost. There are churches who, for the sake of peace, allow heresy and false doctrine within their fellowships and even denominations. All the while proclaiming themselves to be p...  Read More

Beatitudes:  Pure in Heart Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The blessing that we are promised when we are pure in heart is that we will “see God”.  There is a deeper meaning to the word “see” than simply gazing upon God one day in eternity.  The Greek word for “see” doesn’t simply mean “to gaze upon”.  It goes much deeper than that.Walk with me through some Script...  Read More

The Beatitudes – Mercy In Matthew 5:7, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  Mercy is the ability to be touched by another person’s misery, feel what those who are in it are going through, and then responding according to God’s truth.   It is not passive pity but a genuine compassion and an unselfish motivation to render assistance.  That is what God did for us.  He...  Read More

The Beatitudes:  Hunger and Thirst In Psalm 42:1 we find these words, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”  A deer “pants for water” because it is thirsty.  It is thirsty because it is running from something and hasn’t had a moment to stop and drink.  It is desperate. The Psalmist felt the same way but not about water. He had a deeply rooted, desperate desire f...  Read More

The Beatitudes:  Strength Under Control The bite force of a German Shepherd is strong enough to break bones and require major surgery.  However, when it is properly trained, a German Shepherd can control its bite and only cause discomfort without causing harm or breaking the skin.  That is strength under control.  That is what the Bible means when by meekness. .Jesus said in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are...  Read More

The Beatitudes:  Say What? In Matthew 5:4, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn…” Wait…say what?  Did I misread that?  Those who mourn are “blessed”?  How can that be? Out of context, that phrase seems harsh but when it is read with the rest of that sentence, you understand what Jesus is saying.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Now that’s better but still, it strikes...  Read More

The Beatitudes: Poor in Spirit In Matthew 5:3-12, we find Jesus teaching the multitude who had come to hear Him teach and watch Him heal the lame and sick.  As He sat on a mountainside, He began His great sermon with the words “Blessed are…” and these first few verses are known today as The Beatitudes.I have always referred to The Beatitudes as “beautiful attitudes”.  If we can master even one of t...  Read More

A Special Bond I have an old t-shirt that I love to wear from time to time.  It is comfortable and I feel relaxed in it.  It is a little worn so I don’t wear it out of the house…much.  I usually put it on at night when I am stretching out for the evening.  But when I go on vacation, I have been known to wear it for several days in a row.  It unfortunately becomes smelly, as you can imagine, and I h...  Read More

A Better Servant When I was a little boy playing little league baseball, I played the position of catcher.  The ball fields in South Carolina were made of red clay and in the summertime, the fields were very dry and dusty.  As a catcher squatting down in that dirt trying to stop every pitched ball, I could get quite dirty.  After a game, I often looked like a red-faced raccoon as the dirt would go ...  Read More

This week we have our final guest writer, Mark Clay, who is one of our iLove Elders.  I hope that you have enjoyed our Elder Edition of Words for Wednesday over these last few weeks. I want to thank each of our Elders for contributing to Words for Wednesday. Your Poor, Silly Sheep One thing I am not is a writer, but I am most definitely a "poor, silly sheep." When I read this devotion last week, I k...  Read More

This week our guest writer is one of our iLove Elders, Perry Whitley. I hope you enjoy this week's Words for Wednesday. Happy New Year That common phrase ‘Happy New Year’ is one we have all quoted, declared, shouted, and/or proclaimed.. The New Year date, January 1, was started with the Julian calendar (i.e. Julius Caesar) and has migrated to what we know today as the Gregorian calendar (Pope Gregor...  Read More