Author: Wendy Reaume (Wendy Reaume)

Congratulations!  You are plugging into God’s Word by being a part of these devotionals through LSA and hopefully they are affirming how deeply you are loved and challenging you to walk deeper and confidently on your journey to know God.  The challenge before us this week is to firstly trust the Bible.  Anything that is...

Just a few weeks ago in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was involved in a tackle that took a hit to his chest causing him to suffer cardiac arrest on the field.  Reports say that for 9 minutes the coach and medical staff on hand did CPR on this young man prior...

Reading the Bible is how we hear God speaking to us.  Prayer is for the most part how we speak to God.  The outline of the Lord’s Prayer is rich with many guidelines, but how can one remember all of those when praying?  I’d like to share with you a simple acronym, not original with...

Last month we looked at the names of God, one of which was ‘Abba, father.’  Abba is the most intimate form of God’s name.  It shows God not just as ‘God’ and holy, supreme and all powerful, but as ‘our loving daddy.’  It is akin to a little child looking up in love and respect...

I often run across people who feel that God has left them because they are facing hardships in their lives.  Maybe they hear the prosperity gospel and believe that if you are walking with God and doing His will, He will bless you with health, wealth and a good life.  Perhaps they are feeling unloved...

I have 6 grandchildren and another on the way.  Each of them refers to us as grandma and grandpa, but for the ‘in-laws’ there are many names; Grandma Bear, Mimi, Oma, Nanna, Granny and the list could be as long as the variety of languages and traditions found in the extended families.  Each is unique...

Another powerful name of God found in the Bible is Jehovah Jirah or Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide.  The most interesting thing about this name is the context in which it is first given.  Read with me the story of Abraham and Isaac found in Genesis 22. Genesis 22:1- 14 Some time later God tested Abraham....

We anticipate the coming of Christmas with the final week of advent, a focus on joy.  There is a lot of confusion in our culture over the term joy, and it is almost always confused with ‘happiness.’  Is it possible to be joyful and unhappy at the same time?  We are commanded in 1 Thessalonians...

Our third narrative of God being agape love is the story of grief.  Jesus had three very good friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  He often ate at their home and shared with them in fellowship.  This is the same Martha who was busy and caught up in the anxiousness of the moment, and Mary who...

Our second narrative on God being the God of agape love is the story of a man who deeply loved Jesus and professed to follow Him even to the point of death.  This man took a while to come to faith, but when he did, he put aside his profession as a fisherman and chose...

The third week of Advent focuses on love.  You have already seen this month that there are 4 words for love in the Greek:  storge, philia, agape and eros.  The greatest of these, the one that means ‘unconditional love’ is agape.  It is never dependant on the recipient but on the giver and for this...

Every year during Advent churches around the world read the prophecy of Isaiah found in Isaiah 9:6.  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The second week...

We cannot think of the Christmas season and not the name of God in the Bible as ‘Messiah.’ Most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and in Hebrew Messiah means  literally ‘the anointed King.’  This is another name for God.  He is the anointed King.   When Samuel anointed David the shepherd boy...

Christmas is in the air!  As I drive around town I see houses decked out with pine boughs and Christmas lights, trees decorated in windows of living rooms and yes, black Friday shopping for the season.  In many ways, we have an Advent looking forward to the celebration of Christmas Day. Advent season is upon...

It is easy to read the book of Acts and see the players as perfect or super-spiritual beings.  The first half of the book is mostly about Peter, and the second half about Paul.  I would guess that most of us would feel that at least Paul was super-spiritual.  After all, he did write about...

This past month Audrey has walked you through Paul’s missionary journeys.  You’ve seen how he planted churches and then revisited to encourage, correct and be encouraged.  I’d like to camp for a few minutes on the idea that in some ways, Paul had another missionary journey—and this one was a State sponsored trip!  No need...

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And...

It was custom that all Jewish males travel to Jerusalem to observe the three main feasts: The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), the Passover, and Pentecost  (Jesus died on Friday before sundown and rose Sunday morning (3 days).  He appeared to the disciples and many others, and over a period of 40 days, spoke about...

We finished reading through the Book of Acts over the past month. Thsi week, Wendy Reaume is going to highlight important points that Acts makes about how Christian communities operate. Enjoy this excellent summary of Acts this week. By Wendy Reaume The book of ACTS has been called ‘the actions [acts] of the apostles.’  It...

Judges 6:11-8:35 tells the story of a Judge of Israel named Gideon.  Now Judges of the day were not judicial judges fulfilling judicial functions but rather their main task was to deliver God’s people from oppression under their enemies, and then to rule the people during the era of peace. We would think that God...