My Daily Briefing
Daily Devotions

December 31 - Nº 365 Revelation 21 – 22 While he was a prisoner on an island called Patmos, John received four visions from God. In the...

December 30 - Nº 364 Revelation 17 – 20 Just before the last trumpet sounded and the bowls of God’s wrath were poured out (see #363 -...

December 29 - Nº 363 Revelation 12 – 16 Before describing the destruction that would result from the seventh trumpet blast, John shared...

December 28 - Nº 362 Revelation 8 – 11 Six of the seals on the scroll had now been opened—each bringing great devastation on the earth....

December 27 - Nº 361 Revelation 6 – 7 As John watched, the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. One of the four creatures from...

December 26 - Nº 360 Revelation 4 – 5 While he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos, the apostle John had a profound encounter with...

December 25 - Nº 359 Revelation 2 – 3 Jesus instructed John to write a letter to each of the seven churches that had been under his care...

December 24 - Nº 358 Revelation 1 John was living in Ephesus and ministering to churches in Asia when Domitian was declared the Emperor...

December 23 - Nº 357 2 John; 3 John In his first of three letters, John had warned the churches he pastored about false teachers (see...

December 22 - Nº 356 1 John 2:18 – 5:21 John was the overseer and itinerant pastor for several churches in a province called Asia....

December 21- Nº 355 1 John 1:1 – 2:17 John was one of Jesus’ first followers (see #224 - August 12 ). He and his brother James (not to be...

December 20- Nº 354 Jude 1 It had been about 35 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Gospel message had spread across the Roman...

December 19- Nº 353 Hebrews 12 – 13 The author of a letter to persecuted Jewish believers urged his readers to stay strong and grow in...

December 18- Nº 352 Hebrews 10:36 – 11:40 Jewish believers were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. To escape from suffering, some...

December 17- Nº 351 Hebrews 4:14 – 10:35 The author of the letter to the Hebrews had just explained how Jesus was greater than the...

December 16- Nº 350 Hebrews 1:1 – 4:13 An important letter was sent to a group of believers who were being persecuted for their faith. We don’t know who wrote the letter—but we do know that the author heard the Gospel story from people who had been with Jesus. We don’t know who received the letter either, but it is obvious that the readers were familiar with the Jewish faith. They had clearly studied the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament); they knew the early

December 15- Nº 349 2 Timothy 1 – 4 Nero, the Emperor of Rome, had never been kind to Christians. When half of Rome was burned to the ground in 64 A.D., he decided to blame it on Jesus’ followers. This gave him the opportunity to outlaw Christianity, and the persecution of believers rose to a whole new level.  Paul (who had recently been released from a Roman prison—see  #333 - November 29  and  #343 - December 9 ), was targeted as a ringleader. He was re-arrested in Asia Min

December 14 - Nº 348 2 Peter 1 – 3 Not long after he sent his first letter to the churches in the northern provinces of Asia Minor, Peter sat down to write a second letter. He knew that the believers there were still being persecuted. In his first letter, Peter had instructed them how they should live during these difficult times. He had urged them to pursue godliness, kindness, and self-control. But as tough as their external hardships were, Peter had heard about something

December 13 - Nº 347 1 Peter 2:13–21; 3:1-14; 4:1 – 5:14 The believers in the northern Roman provinces of Asia Minor were facing extreme persecution (see  #346 - December 12 ). So, Peter wrote a letter encouraging them not to abandon their faith. In it, he urged them to follow Jesus' example. Peter knew first-hand that no one else suffered more than Jesus did when he was on earth. Yet, through all the hard times he faced, Jesus never sinned. Peter pointed out to his readers t

December 12 - Nº 346 1 Peter 1:1 – 2:12; 2:21-25; 3:15–22 Christianity grew rapidly in the 30 years following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But opposition grew rapidly as well: Jewish religious authorities hated Christianity  because it taught that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for. It claimed that he was the Son of God and the Savior that had been promised by their prophets. But Jesus’ actions and teachings had not fit with traditional Jewish expe

December 11 - Nº 345 Titus 1 – 3 When Paul completed the ministry God had given him in Macedonia ( see   #343 - December 9 ), he and Titus visited Timothy in Ephesus. From there, Paul and Titus sailed on to Crete. There were several Christian churches on the island. A number of Jews from Crete had been in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost, and they had heard the Gospel being preached in their own language (see  Acts 2:11 ).   Some of them believ

December 10 - Nº 344 1 Timothy 3:14 – 6:21 Paul could not be in Ephesus with Timothy, so he wrote his young, son-in-the-faith a letter that was filled with encouragement and spiritual advice. The letter became a manual for Timothy to use in his new role as the pastor of a church that Paul had started in Ephesus several years before. Paul gave his young apprentice instructions on how to combat false teaching, develop strong leaders, and live a godly life. He encouraged him to

December 9 - Nº 343 1 Timothy 1:1 – 3:13 There is no record of Paul’s release from prison in Rome. However, we know from the book of Acts that he spent two years chained to a Roman guard. And in this letter that he wrote to Timothy, Paul indicates that after those two years, he was set free. It is possible that Paul’s Jewish accusers never showed up for his trial before Caesar. In that case, after waiting the mandatory time, the charges would have been dropped and Paul would

December 8 - Nº 342 James 1:13 – 5:20 James had already shared with his readers that the  trials  they were facing had a purpose. They were external tests that God allowed to come into their lives. Experiencing them should bring them closer to God and cause their faith to grow (see  #341 - December 7 ).  Then James went on to explain that  temptations  are very different from trials .  Instead of resulting from  external  causes, temptations are a product of our own  internal