Langdon's Devotional

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 (ESV) Reflecting on this passage, I want to share some more recent personal experiences, and how I've felt growth lately. I've been traveling a lot lately, to visit friends in Atlanta, friends in Athens, family in North Carolina, and for work in Florida. And normally when I'm busier, it's easier for me to stay in touch with and faithful to the Lord. But I'm realizing that when I get out of a routine, it makes it a lot more difficult to stay disciplined in general. That doesn't just apply to my walk with Christ, but in a more real sense, everything has to do with my walk with Christ. I like having plans (which is probably why I'm so impatient with God's timing), so I struggle to stay as firm with my values when I need to make up my plans as I go – i.e. traveling. When I was visiting family though, I had an exper...

 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭(ESV‬‬) Temptation is always looming, waiting for an opportune time to strike. God is always present to take us away from it. A misconception that I've seen about temptation is that it shows up for some time and goes away, like a cold. I think it's more accurate to think of it as someone that follows us around at all times. Temptation doesn't really go away, it just kind of... waits. We can take its power away by ignoring it, but ultimately, when we become vulnerable, it will gla...

 "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV) Patience may not be gritting our teeth through seasons when they're unwanted, but rather finding the value in them while we’re in them. Time to get personal - I have issues with being patient with God’s timing. And I think that’s only natural - we’re surrounded by reminders of how short life is, we get more connected each day with other people that are each in a different season of their lives, and we’re conditioned to be able to get virtually anything we could want in the least time possible. Delivery services, the internet, and even dating apps are all evidence that if we can find a way to get something faster, even at the expense of it being less rewarding, we will. That’s not at all to say that any of those things are inherently bad, and there are a lot of ways that they can be used to make lives better. But the existence of them shows you just how impatient we can be ...

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2 (ESV) Prayer should be constant, and keeping our eyes open to how the Lord answers them should be too. Prayer is incredibly important, partly because it's a way for us to communicate with the Lord. But more than a letter that we mail to an address that may or may not get it, it's like one long conversation with God. When we pray, we're speaking to Him, and I think that it's easy to take for granted that He always responds. When we pray, it can lose a lot of its power if we choose to keep a tunnel vision and ignore how He answers us. We don't watch and listen to God's answers to our prayers. Over time, I've personally gone through enough seasons in my life where I can recognize that no matter what I pray for, and no matter how much I pray for it, if I get it, I'll always want something else afterward. And that in itself is normal - our sin makes us hungry ALL the time. ...