Devotionals | Angela Saunders

Devotions

Devotional: Holy Week

Holy Week - Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday: Remembering the King Who Came in Humility As we enter into Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday, tradition brings us to the remembrance of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem in the final days before His crucifixion. This moment in history is what we know as Palm Sunday. As we remember and prepare our hearts for worship on Palm Sunday, we experience a unique emotional tension. It is both a day of sorrow, as we recognize that Christ’s suffering an

Holy Week – A Week of Decision

After the celebration of Palm Sunday, the mood in Jerusalem began to shift. The same city that welcomed Jesus with palm branches and shouts of praise would soon become the place of confrontation, warning, and ultimately rejection. Between the triumphal entry and the Last Supper, Scripture records several pivotal events that deepen the significance of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. These moments were not random; they revealed the condition of the people’s hearts and pointed clea

Holy Week - The Rising Tension: When Opposition Turned Into Action

After the celebration of Palm Sunday, Jerusalem did not grow quieter; it grew more restless. The city was crowded with pilgrims preparing for Passover, and conversations about Jesus were everywhere. Some spoke of Him with excitement. Others whispered with suspicion. Religious leaders watched Him closely. Tensions escalated as Jesus taught publicly in the temple courts. Each encounter with His truth exposed hearts, and each exposure increased resistance. The more clearly Jesus

Holy Week - When Love Paid the Cost

Good Friday is the day Christians pause to remember the suffering, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ. It is a solemn day, marked not by celebration but by reflection. On this day, we confront the reality of the cross, including its brutality, its injustice, and its purpose. The events of Good Friday force us to face both the depth of human sin and the immeasurable love of God. The Gospels record the details with careful reverence. Jesus was scourged, beaten, mocked, and

From Silence to Victory: Hope Found in an Empty Tomb

The silence of Saturday gave way to the victory of Sunday, a new dawn rising over a world that believed the story had ended. After the suffering and sorrow of Good Friday, the next day arrived quietly. The crowds were gone. The shouting had stopped. The cross stood empty, and the tomb was sealed. To those who loved Jesus, hope felt buried and the future uncertain. From a human perspective, death had won. Scripture tells us very little about that day, and perhaps that quietnes

1. Humbly Submit to God's Will

Mary lived in the hope that God’s promise of a Messiah would soon come to pass. What she never expected, however, is that she would be the one God chose to help bring this miracle to pass. Throughout history, God has chosen people who, by outward appearances, did not seem to have much to offer but were open to following His will. Mary knew this truth. She was self-aware and understood her place compared to others with more money, position, or power. She had learned to become

2. Trust in the Lord

In the Scriptures, we are given just a little glimpse of Mary and Joseph before Jesus was born. We know that they lived a simple life in the hill country of Galilee. Joseph was a religious and just man, which means he obeyed the will of God. Imagine, though, his thoughts and his suspicions about the girl to whom he was engaged. Imagine what he was thinking when the same angel who appeared to Mary appeared to him. What faith it must have taken on Joseph’s part to believe that

3. Joyfully Proclaim the Good News

The stars must have shone like diamonds in that cold crisp sky. On the hills outside of Bethlehem, the flocks had been gathered, and watch was being kept. The shepherds outside Bethlehem, like most of the people of Palestine, were poor and insignificant men. They had no reason to expect that this night would be different from any other. But God had other plans. As proclaimed by the angels, this was the night when God Himself would come to earth. The Christmas story takes us

4. All-Encompassing Faith

Christ is born! But He wasn’t born into a perfect world and into the perfect situation. Christ came into a world with problems much like the ones we grapple with today. We often imagine that the world to which Jesus came was not complicated and that its issues were not complex. But history tells us a different story. It tells us that the problems of that day were similar to the problems of today. What does Christ’s birth mean to you, personally? This is what Scripture tells u

5. Praise the Lord!

The message of Christmas that resounded 2000 years ago is still relevant to us today. First, it is a message of love and peace. Second, it is a message of joy and hope. The message of Christmas reminds us that God not only exists, but that He is a living heavenly Father who seeks to restore us to what we were created to be – His children, and He wants to restore us so that we can properly do what we were created to do, which is worship Him. When we, like Mary, humble ourselve