Joshua Kennedy's Weekly Devotion

Main Thought Before people ever take flight in obedience, they must decide whether they will trust God beyond their excuses. Fear keeps us grounded, but faith gives us runway. Introduction God does not call people because they already feel ready. He calls them because He is ready to be with them. Before Moses became the deliverer of Israel, he had to walk through his own process of deliverance. The man God sent to bring Israel out of bondage first had to be brought out of fear, insecurity, reluctance, and unbelief. This is often how God works. Before He uses us publicly, He deals with us privately. Before He sends us to help others walk in freedom, He exposes the places where we still need freedom ourselves. Moses was not eager, confident, or self-assured when God called him. He was hesitant. He was afraid. He was deeply aware of his own limitations. His story reminds us that the issue is not whether we feel capable of doing what God has placed before us. The issue is whether we will t...

  Have you ever felt stuck in a season that seems ordinary, repetitive, or forgotten? Perhaps you have wondered if your best days are behind you, if past mistakes have disqualified you, or if God has overlooked you. Moses knew those feelings well. Once raised in Pharaoh's palace, Moses now spent his days tending sheep in the wilderness of Midian. The palace was behind him. Egypt was behind him. His failure was behind him. After forty years in obscurity, it would have been easy for Moses to assume that his opportunity to make a difference had passed. Yet God had not forgotten him. What appeared to be a season of hiding was actually a season of preparation. God's delay was not God's denial. God Can Find You in the Field "One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro..." (Exodus 3:1) Moses was not praying for a ministry position, seeking recognition, or pursuing a calling. He was faithfully performing ordinary responsibilities. Yet it was in the mi...

“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31 Before God calls His people to soar, He teaches them how to wait. Many believers want the experience of spiritual flight without the discipline of dependence. We want God’s strength, God’s blessing, and God’s breakthrough, but often resist giving ourselves fully to Him. Yet man was created for fellowship with God, and real relationship requires trust. Trust takes time. It is developed in the waiting. Isaiah 40 speaks to a weary people. They felt forgotten, exhausted, and unable to continue. Their cry was, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God.” They believed God had stopped seeing them, stopped hearing them, and stopped caring about their condition. But God’s answer was not, “Try harder.” His answer was, “Look higher.” Isaiah reminds them, “The LORD is the everlasting God, the...

Scripture: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” — Acts 1:8, NASB Before Jesus ascended to the Father, His disciples had a question on their minds: “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” — Acts 1:6 They were still thinking in terms of national restoration, political expectation, and visible earthly power. But Jesus redirected them. The kingdom would not advance first through military strength, political influence, or human strategy. It would advance through Spirit-empowered witnesses. Acts 1:8 gives us more than a promise. It gives us the pattern for the mission of the church. The gospel would begin in Jerusalem, move outward into Judea and Samaria, and eventually reach the ends of the earth. This is exactly what unfolds throughout the book of Acts. But before the disciples could go, they had to receive. Jesus said, “You will ...

The Mission That Defines Us There is something significant about mountains in Matthew's Gospel. The Sermon on the Mount. The Transfiguration. The Temptation. And now, on a mountain, the risen Christ gathers His disciples one final time — not to say goodbye, but to give them a mission. "And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'" —   Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) These are not the words of a teacher wrapping up a lecture. These are the words of a King issuing a mandate. Jesus has conquered sin and death. He now stands with all authority over heaven and earth — and out of that authority, He commissions His people with a purpose that defines the entire life of the Church. A Command, Not ...

  We Were Never Meant to Stay in the Room The disciples were behind locked doors. The resurrection had happened, but fear had not yet given way to faith. They were uncertain, scattered in their hearts even while gathered in the same room. Then Jesus walked in. He didn't rebuke them for their cowardice. He didn't rehearse their failures — Peter's denial, their abandonment at the cross. He spoke one word first: Peace. And then He sent them. That sequence is not accidental. It is the pattern of the missional life — grounded people, sent out. You cannot be sent well from a place of fear or guilt. But you can be sent powerfully from a place of peace. The church has sometimes gotten this backwards. We gather to find peace and then stay gathered to protect it. But Jesus gives peace precisely so that we will go . The room was never the destination — it was the launching pad. The Mission Flows From the Father Before Jesus sends the disciples, He anchors their mission in so...

The world has always had a clear definition of greatness — status, authority, the ability to call the shots and have others follow. It's a definition written into boardrooms, political campaigns, and social media feeds. Get to the top. Stay there. Be seen. But then Jesus opens His mouth, and the definition changes entirely. In Mark 10, the disciples were jockeying for position — James and John had just asked to sit at Jesus' right and left hand in glory. The other ten were indignant, probably because they wished they'd asked first. Jesus gathers them and says, in effect: You're thinking like the world thinks. That's not how My Kingdom works. "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be s...