Devotions

John 1-2 First two chapters of the book of John! Read them now, folks. You can read 'em with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at www.biblegateway.com . THE CALLING OF THE DISCIPLES If you've been reading my devotions daily, or even frequently, you've hopefully come to understand that WE are God's disciples and WE are the ones that God is calling to do His work, just like the 12 disciples did hundreds of years ago. In today's reading, John explained how some of the disciples became Jesus' disciples, and they all have unique stories, that are special to them. And, if we're disciples... what's our special story? Some people grew up in the Christian faith, and some have stories that lead to their faith. What's your story? What happened that led you to a faith in Jesus Christ? I was raised going to church and praying before meals... celebrating Jesus' birthday and resurrection. However, the one time where I truly felt the power of

Luke 23-24 Read the last satisfying chapters of Luke now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . We've got some good ones today, people! THE WALK TO EMMAUS In today's reading, Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and three days later, came back to life. I feel like we often just read through this passage like we don't really care-- it's just a story we're read over and over, a story that we've known by heart since we were little. But then I read about how the disciples had the walk to Emmaus, after hearing that Jesus was living again. Two disciples were just walking to a village called Emmaus, and they were talking about all that had happened. This is pretty realistic, right? Nothing too weird so far. In fact, when I was reading this... I just kind of skimmed over all the words, like "Yeah, people are walking to a town and talking. Woo hoo." But this is where the story gets interesting-- the fact that Jesus

Luke 21-22 PROTECTION FOR THE DISCIPLES. Did you all know that we as Christian's are disciples? we go out in to the world doing God's work-- just like Matthew, Judas, and Peter... It's hard sometimes, as we've realized. We get chastised for our mistakes, and sometimes for doing nothing at all! The disciples were probably going through a lot of tough stuff at the time, Luckily, before Jesus was crucified, He gave some reassurance to His disciples. I thought it'd be a good thing for us to recognize, just in case you're ever in doubt. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life. Luke 21:14-19 DON'T WORRY

Luke 19-20 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . COMFORT FOR THE NEEDY. God loves us, God listens to us, God understands us, God is JUST PLAIN AWESOME. Once we realize this, it's easier to be comforted, knowing how AWESOME He is and how much He has to let us have. We're all suffering. We all have those stories that we just want to get rid of. We all have pasts, and we all have a future that God wants to go through with us. The sooner we see how awesome God is, the sooner we can be comforted! Do you know how AWESOMEEEEE God is? If not, read this passage in today's reading: When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crow

Luke 16-18 Read these short chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. That's all our world cares about, it seems. Do we have enough money? How much money does it cost? Should I save this money for later? But it's on sale! WHO CARES? God is teaching us through today's reading that money is NOT to be put before God. Nothing is to be put before Him, especially stupid coins and paper that can be traded for STUFF. In the first story, Jesus is talking about how we have to be smart with money and be trustworthy to it's owner. Yeah, that's right, GOD is our owner, and everything we have belongs to Him. Are we giving freely? No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Luke 16:13 It makes sense, right? I know we ALL are aware of how much money takes a big chunk out of our

Luke 13-15 I think today's chapters are my absolute favorites we've read so far! I just wanted to jump up and scream "I LOVE THE BIBLE!!" after reading them. You never HAVE to read the chapters that go with my devotion, but I really really stronglyyyyyyy encourage it today. In my opinion, they're even more fantastic-er than other chapters. HUMBLE YOURSELVES, GOSH DANGIT! There were a lot of great points in today's reading, which I'll be sharing with you later. But I think if I had to sum up most of Jesus' teaching in today's chapters, I'd get out the message of being humble. The world needs to stop thinking so highly of ourselves and focusing on the people who really need saving, and who really need love. Jesus talks about the parable of the lost sheep, and the lost son. Both the sheep and the son represent nonbelievers, or people that have strayed from the path of God that He wants us to follow. I think often we look down upon people such as t

Luke 11-12 HOW ARE YOU LOOKING AT THINGS? The Bible stresses not only doing the right thing-- but THINKING the right thoughts. Sure, no one can understand your thoughts but you-- so should it matter whether or not I'm thinking "right?" Well, I guess I have to rephrase myself. We have to be thinking for God, because we're not the only ones that can hear our thoughts. God knows our dreams, our intentions, our crushes, our secrets-- which I guess can be a burden if you're having a hard time thinking clean thoughts. "...Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." Luke 11:34-36 But what about tough stuff? God knows how you feel, even when it

Luke 9-10 Read these wonderful chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . com·pas·sion [kuhm-pash-uhn] –noun 1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. Do you have compassion? I saw this great movie last night called Second Chance. It starred Michael W. Smith (who is actually a singer, in case you were wondering,) and it really opened my eyes to how fortunate we are. Even though I was laying lazily on the bed, eating popcorn and sipping warm hot-chocolate... it made me feel sorrow for the poor people in the movie. And get this: there are actually people suffering today! The people's stories were made up for the movie, but that doesn't mean there isn't suffering. There are thousands of people all over every city that are yearning for someone to show them compassion. It makes me sad that so many people go on with their live

Luke 7-8 Read these great chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.biblegateway.com , or with your own Bible, of course! POWER OF FAITH. So, Jesus healed a bunch of people today. No surprise, right? A bleeding woman, a dead boy, a sick girl, a dying servant, all of which were just ordinary people like you and me. I was thinking about the whole healing thing today, actually. To me, it's broken up into some simple questions I had after reading: 1. What types of people can be healed? 2. What did they do to deserve to be healed? 3. What healed them? And maybe the answers I've found for myself aren't 100% accurate. But I'm allowed to have certain beliefs, right? I might take it a certain way, and you can take it any way you want. All of my answers, though, are written in the Bible... so they can't be too far off. First, what types of people can be healed? According to all we've read so far, PRETTY MUCH ANYONE. We've read about sick

Luke 5-6 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegatway.com/ . In today's reading, there was the famous story where Jesus told his disciples to cast their nets into the water to try and catch fish. They were all "Are you crazy? We've been out here for a while now, and we've caught nothing. But, even though it's impossible, Jesus, we trust you." So they threw out their nets, and GUESS WHAT? They caught TONS of fish. It's a really super simple message today, everyone. Have faith, and trust in God... even when things seem impossible. Because with faith in Him, the impossible WILL happen. Mountains will fall, and you'll catch a LOT more fish than you thought. (Figurative fish, anyhow) :) I'll post the excerpt from the Bible so you can really see what it's saying: When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answere

Luke 3-4 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . DON'T TAKE ALL THE GLORY! I think we all need to step back sometimes. We take the honor and glory for stuff that truly isn't ours. In the words of my personal finance teacher: "What are you entitled to, folks? NOTHING. Unless you work for something and can call it your own, you don't have squat." Oh, encouragement. Anyway, it's true, in a sense. Unless we work for something, how can we call it ours? Unless we're the ones that deserve it, nothing is ours. Our car isn't ours unless we earned the money to buy it. But in the end of it all-- who allowed us to even be able to work that day? That's right... God. In today's reading, God was giving John the ability to baptize people, and he (John) was getting all the glory for it. Here's the passage: The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John m

Luke 1-2 Read the first two chapters of Luke now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ ! Or with your own Bible, if you wish :) WE ARE GOD'S SERVANTS. I'm not sure if this is completely true or not, but I feel like we're servants for God, put here to tell others of Him. Now, we're not literal servants that are beat and given low pay. But since God can so easily persuade others to follow Him, it wouldn't be fair, right? People should have a choice to believe in God or not, and since seeing God himself would give people no choice but to believe, God sends His disciples, (us,) to preach His word and give people all over the earth the choice to believe. In saying that, sometimes our work as God's servants can be pretty tedious. We have to follow Him even when times are tough, like when Mary was told she would be giving birth to Jesus. She wasn't married, she was a virgin, and her entire community made her an outcast b

Mark 15-16 Read these chapters (THE LAST TWO IN THIS BOOK!) now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.biblegateway.com . CAUGHT UP IN THE MOMENT. I feel like sometimes, us humans can get a little ahead of ourselves. We sometimes just get caught up in the moment and feel like what we're doing is the right thing, and then when we look back on it later, we realize that we were wrong, all along. You can think of a few instances, right? I'm not the only one. I can think of several cases TODAY where I regret what I said, or how I acted. We let our emotions take control, and get so caught up in the moment that we forget about acting how JESUS wants us to. In today's reading, Jesus was being put before Pilate on trial. Was he worthy of death? Pilate decided so, and Jesus got crucified. But what I REALLY thought was interesting was the fact that Pilate KNEW that Jesus was innocent. It's even written, in clear daylight, that Pilate knew that Jesus' Cruxif

Mark 14 There's only one chapter today, folks! And, if I do say so myself, it's pretty darn important. I usually take a passage from the chapters and talk about it, but I felt like everything in today's reading was important. It's only one chapter, so I encourage you to read it RIGHT NOW at www.biblegateway.com or with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post. It's a pretty short message today. Read and remember all Jesus had been through, for YOU and for me, and for everyone. We can't just take advantage of His love and our forgiveness, because there was obviously something that needed to happen in order for us to live freely. God was willing to send His ONLY SON to come and save us from our sins, and that's a huge deal. Make sure you acknowledge that today, and forever! Don't forget what happened, and be thankful for it everyday. Peace out. www.bartcop .com

Mark 12-13 Read these two chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS. Have you ever heard this phrase? There was an interesting story in today's reading. It's one where you THINK it will go a certain way, but God tells you otherwise, and then you're like "Well duh! Why didn't I think of that?" Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44 Jesus has very wise things to say here that we sh

Mark 10-11 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ ARE YOU A SERVANT OR JUST BEING SERVED? In today's reading, there was a passage that really opened my eyes. I know I say that like everyday, but that's because God truly does surprise me with something new every single day. Here's what I want to focus on: Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:42-44 In my opinion, it's almost telling us that in order to be great, we have to be humble. We have to be pretty poor in spirit and willing to give our lives away, not because we have to... but because that's what God wants of us. Jesus is the highest of all of us, and e

Mark 8-9 Read these two chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ I loved today's reading. I know we've read similar stories in Matthew, but there was this one passage that stuck out to me: The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. Mark 8:11-13 Why do we question Jesus? I think this passage is so important, because I know we've all searched for a "sign" from heaven in everything we do. We're unsure. We doubt God. At least I do, right? Please tell me I'm not the only one. Anyway, in today's reading, the Pharisees were looking for a sign from God. And there, RIGHT in front of them, was His only SON! I feel like we can learn a lot fro

Mark 6-7 Read these two chapters now with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . WITHOUT A SHEPHERD. Who is trustworthy for us to follow? Here, on earth. Who do we chose is worthy enough to follow? The president? The pope? Your parents? Your best friend? Sorry. Those answers are incorrect. Because, believe it or not, not one of the above people are perfect. Sure, we can look towards these people for a little guidance, but let's be reasonable. If we follow someone imperfect completely, our lives won't ever be pure. No matter how many times we try! So, who is one worth following? Sometimes, I feel like we put certain rules and laws on pedestals, and follow ONLY them. We take one verse, or one quote, and interpret it however we want. Jesus is telling people in today's reading that they shouldn't thrive on silly laws, but follow Him. "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

Matthew 4-5 There are only THREE chapters to read today, folks! Read 'em now with the handy BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . The New International Version (NIV) is best, personally. DESPERATE FOR FAITH. There were a ton of instances today where Jesus healed a bunch of people. Jesus didn't necessarily come to them, but people came from all over the land just in hope of SEEING Jesus. they were so desperate, I doubt they even had a plan for healing. All they knew was that they heard this guy named Jesus was healing people, and wanted to check it out. It sounds really crazy and weird, but they were so desperate that they had to have faith in Him. They had to believe, because He was their only choice! After thinking about this a lot, I realized that this can be SO easily applied to what most everyone is going through today! There are so many hardships, and so many times where we so DESPERATELY need Jesus, sometimes He is our only cho

Mark 1-3 These chapters sum up a lot of what we've been reading. Be sure to read them now with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE. Jesus uses a great example of how we shouldn't fight fire with fire in today's reading. The silly teachers of the law who thought they knew EVERYTHING were complaining to Jesus once again. They were all "Jesus is the Devil! That is how He can drive out evil spirits from people!" Which makes pretty good logic, if you didn't know who Jesus was. But since we know that Jesus truly is the Son of God, we're able to understand that those teachers were just trying to get Jesus in trouble. Jesus, like always, responded with an excellent comeback. It wasn't demeaning, or offensive, but it set them straight: So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Matthew 27-28 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ SLOW DOWN AND THINK ABOUT IT! To me, there are two things that get in the way of making good, clean decisions: Hate, and Love. Two passionate emotions, which BOTH can lead to rash decisions you're bound to regret later. Today is just a reminder to everyone that even though in the moment, things might seem fine and dandy, every decision done out of these emotions will come back to you somehow. Sometimes, we just need to slow down and think about it. We need to take the time to THINK, instead of getting caught up in the moment. I know this is a silly example, but take Homecoming for example. You know, the dance at the beginning of the school year? People tend to live a little too in the moment, so I've noticed. They get mad at people for STUPID things, and they dance a little to close with people they'll regret the next day. I've counted several instanc

Matthew 25-26 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.biblegateway.com , or with your own Bible, of course! They're pretty deep and intense, and definitely worth reading. "FRIEND, DO WHAT YOU CAME FOR." -Jesus God has a plan for every one's life. We can make our own decisions, but there's definitely a plan that God wants us to follow, and a plan that God knows we'll chose to follow anyway. In today's reading, Jesus was talking with His disciples about how He knew was was going to happen. It was a prophesy that prophets hundreds of years ago had prophesied. Jesus knew He was going to die, and that Judas was going to betray Him. It's starting to make more sense to me now... how calm Jesus was about everything. When He was betrayed, He simply looked at Judas and said "Friend, do what you came for." Jesus knew things would work out eventually, and was able to be calm. That just makes me want to think a li

Matthew 23-24 Read these FANTASTIC chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post, or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ FULL OF HOPE. How is your day? I don't mean to be too personal, I'm just wondering. Because, today's reading, to me, was full of this incredible sense of hope... I can't even explain it. If your day is great like mine, then this is just another miracle from God you can add to the list. But if you day lately hasn't been going so well, please read the chapters for today. The Holy Spirit is moving through them, to an extent where you just FEEL happier after reading them. Go ahead, read them. I'll be waiting... So the first part was kind of a drag, right? Jesus was talking to the "prophets" and "teachers." I put them in quotes because Jesus was explaining how these people CALLED themselves father, teacher, master, and they totally weren't. Jesus explains how HE is the only Messiah, the only Master, the only Tea

Matthew 21-22 Read these amazing chapters now with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . GREATEST COMMANDMENTS OF ALL TIME. I feel like there are a lot of aspects to Christianity. There are a lot of things we should and shouldn't do, so wouldn't it be cool if somewhere in the Bible, our top two priorities were all laid out for us? Guess what. THEY ARE. In today's reading, the Pharisees are always trying to find faults in Jesus. They keep asking him tricky questions, and it seems like one of these times, He's going to crack under pressure-- but He doesn't. He has a perfect answer for every single one of their brainteasers, and I wanted to share one with you: The Greatest Commandment Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love

Matthew 18-20 "LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME." Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . It's a famous story, the one where Jesus tells his disciples to let the children come to Him. We've all heard it, right? I think we need to concentrate on children in today's society. I know it's COMPLETELY cliche to tell people "children are our future!" but GUESS WHAT? They are. Children are what will be the adults and powerful people in ten years, so we need to pay attention to them. We need to respect people of all ages, because, just like adults, children are God's creation. We shouldn't look down on them. God doesn't look down on people just because they're young, right? We're all young and inexperienced in God's eyes. In fact, Jesus even said that we should be MORE LIKE children: He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the t

Matthew 14-17 ARE YOU CLEAN? Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ In today's reading, Jesus said: "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' " Matthew 15:17-20 I just find that interesting, I guess. This isn't one of those stories that ladies tell at Bible school to little children, like Jesus walking on water or feeding the 5,000. I think this is because it's such a hard concept to grasp. Something eternal, like what we think or feel in our hearts, is hard to teach to a child-- to anyone, for that matter. It's still

Matthew 12-13 HELPLESS. I think we've all felt helpless at one time or another. Have you ever felt like something would be SO much better if you had known the consequences? Like, things would be different if you had only known just ONE THING? Well, listen up, then. In today's reading, Jesus explains the consequences of not realizing HE IS LORD. If we chose not to listen to Him, then life might be fine and dandy for our short lives on earth. But when He comes again, what will you do then? You'll be helpless! Because now, you've officially been warned. Now, I don't want a faith in Jesus to sound evil and cruel and unjust. It's not like you don't have options, right? You don't HAVE to believe in God. You don't have to be reading this devotion. You don't have to live a particular life at all, for that matter. But just because you chose not to believe something doesn't mean it's not true, right? I might chose not to believe I got a bad grade,

Matthew 10-11 INDESCRIBABLE. I think sometimes, people refer to Jesus as our father, or His love to the love of our parents. Although it's similar, yes, today's reading showed me that the love of God is much too strong to make a comparison to. You can't just say Jesus is "like" something, because He's not like ANYTHING in the world. He's indescribable. Later in the Bible Jesus will be asked who He is, and He'll reply "The I am." He is everything good. I loved this excerpt from today's reading: So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the gro

Matthew 7-9 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . THE NARROW PATH OF LOVE. Again, there were tons of great points in today's reading. I can't just decide on one lesson Jesus is teaching us, so I fused a couple of them into one awesome devotion. I feel like society pressures us sometimes... to walk down a certain path. A path that leads to lots of fame and MONEY, no matter how ugly the path itself may be. I chose to think differently about my future, in the sense that money isn't everything. I guess we need enough money to get by, but I want my life to be based around what GOOD I do for God instead of what crappy job I do for money. I want to dedicate my life to something worthwhile, and not just so I can earn enough money to buy my kids a new Xbox. In today's reading, God was talking about paths, and how some lead to "good" and how some lead to what society views as weird or unnecessary. Believe i

Matthew 5-6 Read these two chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . They're definitely worth checking out, they just might of been my favorite chapters to read! They read easy, with few big words :) So check 'em out! SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO THINK ABOUT. Today's reading is hard to put into a clean cut devotion. There's SO much going on, and SO many good verses and lessons... I don't know what to pick. But perhaps the thing that really jumped out at me was when Jesus was talking about how we should think on certain subjects, like divorce, adultery, and how we should look at life. It was really tough to read, I think. Because every time Jesus said "Don't do this" I've done it. Jesus said that if you even THINK about being angry, you're a sinner. You're a sinner if you have ever looked at someone lustfully. Or if you divorce. Or if you tell people that you're doing community service! Y

Matthew 1-4 READ 'EM NOW! I really suggest that people read today's chapters. For starters, it's the first four chapters of the New Testament, and also, it's specifically written for people who are a bit skeptical about everything. The book of Matthew was written to Jews, in order to convince them of Jesus being the Messiah. My handy-dandy Bible told me that, and I love it to death! It makes sense, once you read the chapters. They're all about facts and previous prophesies and how everything ties together into one AWESOME event of Jesus being born. The Old Testament was a bunch of verses foretelling the future, and now we're in that "future" they were talking about, and everything is happening! It's so exciting. I guess I just wanted to take the time to encourage people to read the chapters. See how everything plays out! See how God is working through our lives as well as the many lives that lives thousands of years ago! It's totally worth it.