Kerusso Daily Devotional

Jenna stopped in her tracks, sighing in frustration as she bent down to pick yet another rock out of her shoe.  “Why on earth am I suddenly picking up rocks every time I walk the dog?” she wondered. They finished their usual route, and at home, Jenna slipped off her shoes and discovered the problem: she’d worn those old slip-ons for so long that she wore a hole right through the soles of both shoe...

Truett burst through the front door with exciting news one afternoon, anxious to share his latest find. “Mom! I found a praying mantis. Can you believe it! They’re pretty rare around here.” It was certainly one of the biggest bugs they’d seen in the fields around their home. The beautiful emerald green insect crawled from hand to hand, curious about its new environment. Considered a symbol of peac...

Humans were built for language and communication. It's one of the bits of creative genius God used when He formed His highest creation. And apart from regular communication, whether it's the written word or verbal, we have a great gift from a loving God: prayer. And that's what we're talking about this week in a series we're calling, Prayer 101. Prayer is an intensely pers...

1 Peter 5:6–7 says, “Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time. Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you.” These two short verses tell us several things: One - if we submit to God’s power by acknowledging we can’t solve our problems, He is strong enough to intervene and bring about the outcome we really want. Second, He does...

Welcome to Prayer 101, the big question for today is: how do you develop a prayer life?   The answer to how we develop a healthy prayer life is really not that complicated. It's all about choice. We can learn to pray first by reading Scripture and taking notice of the hundreds of prayers offered by believers just like us. We can also talk with veterans of prayer in our own life, those who are...

Trust issues. Lots and lots of people have trust issues. Someone has hurt you in the past. Maybe it’s been multiple times. This world can be a painful place. But stop and think about how much your damaged trust affects your relationships now. Is there a way out of this long, dark tunnel? John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except th...

When the last artillery rounds were heard on the Western Front and World War I ended, good men of conscience tried to create a global body that would bring lasting peace to the earth. Their hearts were in the right place. History teaches us, though, that real peace is elusive and rare.  John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do no...

There are several stories in the Bible that tell us when God’s people obey Him, they are in better physical and emotional shape. Remember, Daniel and his friends refuse to eat the rich food sent by the king. After several weeks of their own diet, they emerged healthier than other young men in the Babylonian kingdom. So, too, do we learn that an attitude of forgiveness leads to peace.  In Matthew 1...

Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest of American poets, attended seminary for a while, and then she went back home to Amherst. And for the rest of her life, she lived mostly in seclusion. That’s kind of weird, right? Maybe not.  You see, God made each of us with a distinct personality. Sometimes it’s actually unhealthy to try and fit a square peg into a round hole. It hurts. We get more stressed o...

Dr. James Dobson has decades of experience coaching people to overcome fear and doubt and put their trust in Christ. He relates a fascinating experience he once had when he learned that sometimes our fear is all in our head. It seems that he was preparing to graduate from Southern Cal with a PhD in psychology, and as he got ready at home that day, anticipating the happy drive with his family, a co...

You’ve probably heard of the Ingalls family, or even met some of the clan through the Little House on the Prairie television series, or the beloved children’s books about pioneer life in the 1860s by author Laura Ingalls Wilder. The story of the Ingalls family is inspiring, whether you watch it or read it. The fun and camaraderie shared by Charles, Caroline, Mary, Laura, and little Carrie is heart...

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three young men from Judah who found themselves in a heated situation. They were brought into the court of King Nebuchadnezzar II and ordered to bow before the king’s golden image. The alternative was a one-way ticket to the fiery furnace. The king’s command would have been easy for these guys to follow, but their own King of Kings had already commanded them to...

Are you a person that has walked away from your faith? Maybe you believed once, very much, but it faded over time. Maybe you accepted the promises of God for a little while, but then something else caught your eye. That’s not uncommon. Starting out on fire for God and then becoming weary is something many of us have dealt with. To use a flying analogy for our talk today, sometimes your flight of f...

Did you know God’s Word is indestructible? Many ancient books have been lost to history. Others sit still buried under the sands of the Middle East. But after thousands of years, the Bible is more widely read than ever. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the t...

Have you ever had the pleasure of waking up in a cozy cabin…after you’ve let the fire go out from the night before? If you don’t get out of bed and put more wood in that furnace, the squirrels or raccoons aren’t going to do it for you! Much more serious is the tendency to get lazy about the fire inside us to share the love of Christ. After so many years of being a Christian—especially living in a...

If you’re working your way toward belief and away from doubt, by now you must assume that God exists. Second Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what he promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but he is long suffering or extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”  A corne...

A political science major at a major university was having coffee with a campus pastor. The pastor knew that the student was wrestling with doubt about the existence of God, and said to him, “John, you know, all of us wonder at some point if it’s all real or not. For example, there are quite a few stories in the Bible that are just hard to believe. Jonah and the whale and all that.” John smiled an...

Because there’s so much easy access to information and ideas today, we can take in a huge amount of stuff. The downside is that much of it is just noise, and a lot of it simply isn’t true. What we hear, even if it sounds good, is not always good for us, especially when we’re talking about spiritual doubt.  There are many opinions floating around out there on the subject. For instance, some will sa...

Have you ever wondered about how convinced well-known Christians are of their faith? We all know they never doubt, right? Wrong. A well-known preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once said of doubt, “I think when a man says, ‘I never doubt,’ it is quite time for us to doubt him.” That is a fact of life for many of us, although most don’t like to admit it. In fact, doubt is mentioned often in the Bible. The...

Some of the most important conversations we have can be the most uncomfortable. And when it comes to faith, doubt is near the top of that list.  Today, we’re launching a five-part series on the topic of doubt. Many Christians wrestle with doubt, but who wants to admit that their foundational beliefs are not so firm? Not long ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, openly admitted that he’...

One of the richest gifts God has given us is healthy relationships. A marriage in balance, friends who mutually respect each other, and most of all, a strong “God connection” can be the ticket to a healthy, whole life. The full life Jesus spoke about! Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “And let us consider how to spur one another to love and to good works. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves togeth...

Geraldine Mock became the first woman to fly around the world in 1964. Landing for a short stop in Saudi Arabia, she watched as a man approached her plane. When he saw her, he shouted to his friends that this was no man. They applauded! Jerrie Mock’s steadiness at the wheel and in her encounters on the ground were the very picture of self-control. Her journey was wildly successful. Titus 2:11–12 s...

Fighting one day in the tough Iraqi city of Fallujah, a Marine sergeant decided to put himself at risk in order to get a frightened family to safety. He stepped into a courtyard and spoke quietly for a few minutes with the father. He took time to make sure the kids had water, and the toys his men gave them. Then it was back to the war. Gentleness can be misunderstood. Too often we think, for examp...

Emma used her hand to brush her husband’s white hair from his forehead…Edgar was near death. Their marriage had been happy, and now she was saying goodbye. The nursing staff talked about the love between the two. Only three days after Edgar went into eternity, Emma joined him. The Bible often uses marriage as a backdrop for what God has done for us. We know that in earthly marriages, it’s importan...

It has been said that in the Fruit of the Spirit list, all of them collectively practically define the nature of Christ. Even David the shepherd knew his Messiah was coming. Remember what he said about following his loving God? “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life!” We instinctively know what goodness is. It is a kind touch, a gentle word, a gift that was unexpected. M...