Author: Nathaniel Colt

Read about It

Read: Acts 10:1–8

Cornelius was following God. The Bible says that he was a “devout, God-fearing” person and so was everyone in his household.

One day Cornelius saw an angel who gave him a message from God. Can you imagine being Cornelius that day? The angel told Cornelius to send men to Joppa to find a man named Simon Peter.

Cornelius listened to God’s messenger and followed the instructions. There are many times in our own life when God will speak to us. When God speaks, we must listen and obey.

Read about It

Read: John 3:17–21

Have you ever done something and had to sit in a time-out? Choices and actions have consequences. Everyone has experienced this. The Bible says “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23).

We all make mistakes, it’s part of the consequences from when Adam and Eve sinned and ate the fruit in the Garden. However, we can be forgiven of our sin because of what Jesus did on the Cross.

Those who reject Jesus and choose not to accept God’s goodness and who He is can’t receive His forgiveness because they are choosing to turn away from God. They don’t accept what Jesus did on the Cross, so they have no way to be forgiven for their sins. To receive forgiveness for your sins, you must accept Jesus paying the price for your sins and ask Him to come into your life. Then you’ll receive the gift of salvation.

It is okay to have questions and to ask the Holy Spirit to help you when you are struggling with doubt. When you have questions, it is important to ask those around you to help you find answers in the Bible. The Holy Spirit lives in you and He is there to help you discover the truth about the goodness of God.

Read about It

Read: Ephesians 4:30

What is the most valuable thing you own? Did you know that God sees you as far more valuable than the item you just thought of and even more valuable than the most valuable object in the world?

Ephesians 4:30 talks about how God has called all Christians “his own.” You are a child of God, and He loves You! He has forgiven you of your sins and you have been given freedom and salvation through Him. The gift of salvation is the most amazing and valuable gift you will ever receive.

As you choose to live for God and daily grow in Him, there may be some things in your life that need to change. Your life should reflect God’s love for you and for all people. As you live for God, you turn away from the things that produce bad fruit in your life and you turn toward things that produce the things listed in the Faith Verse.

Read about It

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

Do you remember when you asked Jesus to come into your life to be your Best Friend? That moment is super special. It is when you are no longer separated from God by things you’ve done wrong. That happens when God forgives your mistakes because you asked Him to.

In the Scripture verses today, you learned that, after you choose to follow Jesus, your body becomes the “temple of the Holy Spirit,” and He lives in you. He is with you always and helps you every single moment of every single day. Do you know how amazing that is?

It is incredible to think about that and how special that is. It is also important. We should honor God in all we say and do. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins. He paid the highest price because of His love for each one of us. We should show our love of God through our actions.

Read about It

Read: Acts 5:1–11

Have you ever told a lie? After you told the lie, how did you feel? Normally there can be a few different feelings we have after we lie. One feeling is a sigh of relief for a moment because you got away with something. But then you start feeling guilty and thinking that everyone is going to find out. Eventually you admit the truth. Another thing that could happen is that you immediately feel guilty and admit the truth. Or, you could get caught in the lie.

In the Bible reading, we read about two people who thought that they could lie, and God would never find out. The thing they forgot is that God is omniscient. Omniscient is a really big word that means that God is all-knowing. He knows everything.

Ananias and Sapphira did something that seemed to be good. The reason for their actions was wrong, but they thought it would be okay. Their hearts were not right, and they were sinning.

It is important to be honest and to make sure our heart is right. God loves us. When we struggle with having the wrong reasons for doing something or with wanting to lie, we can ask God for help. The Holy Spirit helps us to know we need to ask God for help.

Read: Philippians 2:5-11

When you pray, how do you picture the God who listens?

What does God look like? It’s a question as old as time. Throughout Scripture, God is represented in many ways. A father and a fire. A whirlwind and a whisper. Like a mighty warrior, He attacks evil. Like a mother hen, He shelters His chicks under His wings. He is feared, adored and worshiped.

On a night long ago, Mary may have studied the face of her newborn boy.

She was exhausted, likely still in pain from childbirth. She was perhaps the first to glimpse a profound truth: God had emptied himself of His divine qualities, choosing to take on weak, flawed human flesh and to dwell among us.

What a journey! He would endure heat, hunger and thirst. He would experience the range of emotions, encounters and experiences that define the human condition.

Why did God choose this way to redeem us? He wants us to know that He understands how we feel. He has experienced what we experience, yet He serves us with the full heart and character of the Creator. He would say it to His followers: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

What does God look like? Look to Jesus, and you will know.

Read: Esther 4:12-17; Hebrews 4:15-16

What’s the most nervous you’ve ever been? The night of your big trumpet solo? The morning of the regional track meet? It takes guts to face those big moments.

Joseph and Mary were probably nervous, too. They had to travel far from their home, with Mary ready to deliver her child. Then when they arrived in Bethlehem, they were unable to find a decent place to stay. They must have been nervous when Mary went into labor—giving birth to a child, their first, who was the Savior of the world.

Another woman, many centuries before, also faced a big moment. The young queen Esther had a much bigger moment than what most of us will ever face. Visiting the king without being summoned was an offense punishable by death in the days of King Ahasuerus—even for the queen. But the lives of many were at stake. So she put on her royal robes and walked bravely into the king’s court to begin a desperate plan to save her people. It began with her asking the king to attend a special banquet (Esther 5:4).

This was not a social dinner. She wanted to have the king’s ear, to inform him of an evil plot that threatened the existence of her family and her people. Her plan succeeded. Esther helped the king recognize that his right-hand man was working in secret to exterminate the Jews.

Esther risked her life to save the people of Israel from physical death, showing us, long before the time of Jesus, that one person’s courage and sacrifice can save millions..

Read: Joshua 1:1-9

Has anyone ever told you how you got your name? Does it have a special meaning or relevance in your family?

When an angel informed Joseph that Mary’s baby already had a name, he was likely surprised.

“You shall call his name Jesus,” the angel instructed him. “For he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Jesus? As in . . . Joshua? Yahweh is Savior? To Jews of the day, it was a well-known name. And it told Joseph something about why the baby would be important. The name linked Jesus to a major figure in the long story of God’s work to redeem His people.

Joseph would have undoubtedly remembered all the old accounts of Joshua, one of Israel’s great heroes. Joshua was a gifted leader, a commander of Israel’s army.

He served as Moses’ assistant governing Israel, and Moses later anointed him to take over the job. Joshua never lost faith in the Lord’s promise to give the Promised Land to the Israelites, and so God used Joshua to save His people and bring them into that land.

A good name for a savior! Joshua, though flawed, led God’s people into the land He’d promised. The greater Joshua, the perfect Jesus Christ, leads us to a land where there is no suffering or pain, a place where we will dwell forever in God’s presence.