Hope's Harbor Podcast - Gritty Bible Devotions

The way you make decisions in your life is through the permissive will of God. He gives us choices, but only those which are good for our soul and not harmful or damaging to others. This episode goes over simple questions and answers about how we can take part in this adventure and take some of the mystery out.  And by the way, GOD wants us to enjoy this process called the Christian life! For full...

I must apologize. The titles of E20 and E21 got mixed up in my covid brain. It may be I should have waited before resuming the podcast. It's just that I missed sharing GOD's encouragement through these devotions. Regardless, I made corrections as much as I could and ask for your patience and understanding. When taken together E20 and E21 present a look at obeying GOD's sovereign wil...

Love is such a powerful force, and Paul believed that the Holy Spirit was responsible for giving this love to Christians. The first of nine virtues listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 are "charity," or better known as agape Love. This kind of true selfless unconditional love stands out when you think about how different it can be from your relationship with others while not being filled with...

In the Bible, we know that GOD loves people and hates sin. He proved His love when He sent His son to rescue us from the bondage of sin - if we so choose it. To save us, He did not ignore all the sin in one's life but rather paid a very high price to set us free. We'll look into the following verse in Proverbs to better understand GOD's hatred for sin compared to His love for us.  P...

Many people wonder if God is biased and doesn't care about other people besides Christians. And then, Jesus once told a woman from Canaan that He wasn't sent to help her daughter because she was not of Israelite descent. And I wonder what does GOD have to say about it? For full show notes go to hopesharbor.net Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions Episode #17 Title: GOD’s Goodness - Is Go...

So, is GOD angry? Does He have a right to be angry with the evil being perpetrated throughout the world, against vulnerable people? This episode examines GOD's anger. It may not be what you expect. In this devotion on GOD’s Goodness, you will learn about how Jesus was not only sinless but also perfectly GOOD. He lived an exemplary life and died for us so that we could become children of GOD. ...

Suffering is an inevitable part of life. And it can be used for many purposes, including bringing glory to God and teaching us about His love through faithfulness. Yet it may also enable us to serve others who are in similar pain with more compassion than we could have otherwise. My challenge is that you take a moment today to really think about all the ways your life has been touched by other peo...

God uses suffering as a tool to bring about His glory, and also for our own benefit. For example, He may use the pain that we experience in order to teach us more of who He is or what can be expected from Him when faced with similar situations; this way if you come across someone else going through something difficult like yourself - you'll know how best to help them out. My challenge today w...

Many people wonder why God would allow some of his children to suffer. Philippians 1:29 is clear on this and states Christians are granted the permission "to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Today I want to look at different aspects of suffering and draw from lessons imparted when we face certain types of suffering. By doing so - drawing out these lessons- will show us n...

The Bible is full of promises about how God wants to deliver us from our brokenness. But many times we feel stuck and don’t know what to do next. We are captive, but to what? We pray, read the Bible, but it doesn’t seem like things are changing in our lives.  It can be discouraging and make you wonder if God really cares or if you should give up on Him altogether. The truth is that God does care a...

Jesus proclaims that He came to recover sight for the captives, but what does it mean to be a captive? There are actually a lot of us captive. We don’t see ourselves as captives because we have not been beaten or chained up somewhere.  We may only think about physical captivity when thinking of being captured, but in reality, there can be many things holding you back from seeing and experiencing f...

Jesus proclaims that He came to recover sight for the captives, but what does it mean to be a captive? There are actually a lot of us captive. We don’t see ourselves as captives because we have not been beaten or chained up somewhere.  We may only think about physical captivity when thinking of being captured, but in reality, there can be many things holding you back from seeing and experiencing f...

The Bible is full of promises about how God wants to deliver us from our brokenness. But many times we feel stuck and don’t know what to do next. We are captive, but to what? We pray, read the Bible, but it doesn’t seem like things are changing in our lives.  It can be discouraging and make you wonder if God really cares or if you should give up on Him altogether. The truth is that God does care a...

Are you or someone you know brokenhearted? Did you know when Jesus promised to ‘heal the broken hearted ’ He meant the mind?  Mark 5:15 – ‘Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind . And they were afraid.’ Jesus came to heal mental distresses. Just as He healed the brokenhearted ones He encountered, especiall...

Are you or someone you know brokenhearted? Did you know when Jesus promised to heal the broken hearted He meant the mind?   Mark 5:15 – ‘Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion (of demons), sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.’ Jesus came to heal mental distresses. Just as He healed the brokenhearted ones He encountered,...

If we believe in something, it’s likely because there is an element of that belief which benefits us. But when GOD first lay this term of Beyond Belief on my heart I wondered what could possibly be beyond having belief?  Let me give some insight: The answer is within reach for each one of us! Belief is powerful when placed in God's truth found in Scripture. Belief, or trust, helps us grow clo...

Are you struggling to increase your faith? The sin of unbelief is commonly overlooked by most of us and will hinder our growth as faithful Christians.  One reason for this is that unbelief is subtle; it's not a surface issue, but part and parcel to the normal veil covering our minds. Unbelief has far-reaching consequences. One of them is an inevitable outcome: Jesus thrown off a cliff of reje...

Did you hear that?  Jesus is speaking through the Bible and He wants us to listen and respond, to become on fire for Him. We all know that Jesus came to light a fire among the men and women of His time. The choice for us becomes whether we will lay down, cold as stone, contributing nothing at all to our brothers and sisters in the faith. Or catch this fire with what He taught? Jesus confronted a v...

How often do we hear the voice of our Creator in this world so full of noise?  What would it take for us to experience His Word as if hearing it for the first time again? To have a visual for this devotion, when you get a chance do an online search for Harold Whittles – 1974. A picture should come up of a young boy with a startled look.  That look is from hearing sound for the first time after a p...

Jesus declared in Luke 4:18 He came to fill five promises from God. The people rejected His message. This is a warning for all of us to believe Scripture. Belief in God's word results in salvation and only then in good works, as summarized by the greatest commandment "to Love the LORD you God with all your heart, mind and soul.” and the 2nd like it:  “to love your neighbor as yourself&qu...

I want to encourage you today. Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions is a podcast that deals with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other topics from a Biblical perspective. The goal of this podcast is to bring about positive change in our lives through the practical application of Scripture. This episode gives a little background into the creation of this Bible-based devotional show. The lessons are...