Upward: Increasing in Love of God

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Upward: Increasing in Love of God

Increasing in Love of God. This strand is an invitation to look up from the noise and behold the Triune God of Grace. Within these writings, we sit with what is revealed in the Word—perhaps a passage illumines the mercy of Christ or the wisdom of the Spirit. The goal is always the same: to be illumined by the Spirit so that our love for God might grow from a concept into a lived reality.

When Your Worst Act Becomes Grace — Acts 2 Devotional

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When Your Worst Act Becomes Grace — Acts 2 Devotional

Peter's audience had been part of destroying something sacred. But in that moment of piercing recognition, when their hearts split open, they discovered something scandalous: the very act that should have disqualified them became the doorway where mercy met them.

When Truth Pierces Through — Acts 2 Devotional

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When Truth Pierces Through — Acts 2 Devotional

The crowd at Pentecost had blood on their hands. They knew it. And in that crushing moment of awareness, they didn't run or defend. They asked the simplest, most honest question: What shall we do? That question became their doorway to grace.

God Hears in the Silence — Psalm 116 Devotional

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God Hears in the Silence — Psalm 116 Devotional

Why Your Unseen Faith Matters — 1 Peter 1:8-12

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Why Your Unseen Faith Matters — 1 Peter 1:8-12

That gap between what you believe and what you can prove? It's not a weakness. Prophets searched for what you've found. Angels wonder at what you carry. Your unexplainable joy testifies to realities that transcend explanation.

When Power Crumbles — Isaiah 25:1-5 Devotional

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When Power Crumbles — Isaiah 25:1-5 Devotional

How God Convinces Resistant Hearts — Acts 2 Devotional

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How God Convinces Resistant Hearts — Acts 2 Devotional

Peter didn't ask Jerusalem for blind faith. He asked for honest memory. The miracles were God's official seal. The prophecies were mathematical proof. The resurrection wasn't Plan B—it was the inevitable outcome of who God is.

When Demanding Proof Reveals Our Hearts — Matthew 12

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When Demanding Proof Reveals Our Hearts — Matthew 12

The scribes demanded a sign. Jesus pointed out they were standing before the greatest one. A devotional on how entitlement masquerades as faith, and how the proof we're desperately seeking may already be present, waiting not for our demands but for our recognition.

Christ's Resurrection Changes Everything — 1 Corinthians 15

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Christ's Resurrection Changes Everything — 1 Corinthians 15

At 3 AM, when darkness whispers that death wins and faith is fiction, Paul leans in with brutal honesty—then pivots to something that changes everything. Christ's empty tomb isn't an isolated miracle. It's the first domino in a cosmic chain reaction that ends with death itself unemployed.

When Running From God Makes Everything Worse — Jonah 1

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When Running From God Makes Everything Worse — Jonah 1

When Mountains Learn to Dance — Psalm 114

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When Mountains Learn to Dance — Psalm 114

The diagnosis won't budge. The debt won't move. The silence sits heavy. But Psalm 114 whispers something startling: what looks immovable to you is already trembling at God's approach. The sea saw Him coming and fled. What did it see that we don't?

When Faith Feels Fragile — Gideon's Fleece and Ours

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When Faith Feels Fragile — Gideon's Fleece and Ours

Recognizing God's Work in Plain Sight — Acts 2 Devotional

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Recognizing God's Work in Plain Sight — Acts 2 Devotional

Peter stood before the very people who had rejected Jesus. Yet he didn't condemn them. He invited them. The resurrection became not a rebuke for being wrong, but proof that God's love reaches beyond our worst mistakes.

Faith Refined by Fire — 1 Peter 1:3-9 Devotional

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Faith Refined by Fire — 1 Peter 1:3-9 Devotional

Peter doesn't pretend faith exempts us from flames. Instead, he reframes what fire accomplishes. Gold refined by fire emerges unchanged in value but undeniable in purity. Your faith, he says, is worth more than gold—and the trials that refine it prove it.

Thomas's Doubt Becomes Worship — John 20 Devotional

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Thomas's Doubt Becomes Worship — John 20 Devotional

When Grief Blinds Us — Jesus Calls Our Name

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When Grief Blinds Us — Jesus Calls Our Name

Mary wept so hard she couldn't see straight. Grief had created a fog so thick that the very person she was desperately seeking stood before her unrecognized. Until Jesus spoke one word: her name. And everything changed.

Love Stronger Than Death — Song of Solomon 8:6-7

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Love Stronger Than Death — Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Resurrection Witnesses: Why Your Faith Rests on Real People

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Resurrection Witnesses: Why Your Faith Rests on Real People

Your Portion and Your Cup — Psalm 16 Devotional

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Your Portion and Your Cup — Psalm 16 Devotional

The dating apps stay active. The backup plans stay in place. We hedge our bets with life. But David made a different choice. He picked one God. Only one. And in that narrow commitment, he discovered something expansive: the kind of joy that circumstances can't touch.

Resurrection Waits at the Tomb — Matthew 28 Devotional

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Resurrection Waits at the Tomb — Matthew 28 Devotional

The women came expecting to tend death. They brought burial spices and a breaking heart. Instead, the ground shook, the stone rolled away, and they discovered that love is stronger than death, that promises outlast tombs, and that the last word belongs to the God who makes dead things live.

God Shows No Favoritism — Acts 10:34-43 Devotional

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God Shows No Favoritism — Acts 10:34-43 Devotional

Peter reached for a rare Greek word—prosōpolemptēs—one that appears nowhere else in Scripture. It means 'one who receives faces.' But God, he announces, receives no faces. God's acceptance isn't determined by your status, your ethnicity, your inherited place.

God's Love in the Siege — Psalm 118 Devotional

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God's Love in the Siege — Psalm 118 Devotional

Life can feel like a siege—the bills, the draining relationship, the diagnosis. The psalmist knew this intimately. Yet from his place of desperation, he anchored himself in one unshakeable truth: God's hesed, His covenant love, endures forever, without interruption or exception.

Standing at the Red Sea: When God Fights Your Impossible...

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Standing at the Red Sea: When God Fights Your Impossible...

Trapped between Egypt and the sea, Israel faced the ultimate impossible. But God's response revealed something stunning: He doesn't just open a way. He builds an impossible road that showcases His power, transforming terror into triumph.

Your Hidden Life With Christ — Colossians 3:1-4

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Your Hidden Life With Christ — Colossians 3:1-4

You sit down to pray and the words feel like dust. Your faith feels so invisible, so ineffective. But Paul speaks a startling truth into that uncertainty: your spiritual life isn't hidden because it's weak.

The Empty Tomb and God's Call — John 20 Devotional

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The Empty Tomb and God's Call — John 20 Devotional

Mary came to the cemetery in darkness, expecting to mourn. Instead she found emptiness, confusion, a stranger she mistook for a gardener. But when he spoke her name—Mariam, the way he always had—everything changed.

God Shows No Favoritism — Acts 10:34-43 Devotional

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God Shows No Favoritism — Acts 10:34-43 Devotional

Peter's presence in Cornelius's home wasn't about his comfort. It was about God's expansion of grace into spaces tradition said to avoid. This week, consider the rooms—and relationships—you've sidestepped. Where is grace inviting you to show up?

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