Remember when you were a child and could easily identify your best friend—or perhaps even your “bestest best friend” or “second best friend.” As we age and mature, we learn to accept and interact with a wide range of people. We have in-laws and colleagues and neighbors and acquaintances. But we still need friends. Proverbs 27:9 speaks of the “pleasantness of a friend.” In fact, I often think the older we get, the more important friends become to us. It takes a long time to make an old friend. And while you can’t usually pick your coworkers or fellow parishioners, you CAN pick your friends.

It is no small thing to call someone your friend. Jesus, speaking to his disciples, said “I have called you friends” (John 15:15). He knew it was the ultimate compliment. Exodus 33:11 tells us that, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Friendship is a big deal.

One of the most famous friendships in the Bible is that between Jonathan and David. Even though Jonathan’s father, King Saul, sought to kill David, Jonathan maintained his close friendship with David. 1 Samuel, chapter 20 tells the story of how Jonathan came to warn David that he must flee for his life—a fact that brought both of these strong men to tears (verse 41). Jonathan’s parting words to David were, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord” (verse 42).

This God-based friendship would survive war and even death, with David showing kindness to Jonathan’s crippled son after his father is killed in battle. “’Don’t be afraid,’ David said to him, ‘for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table’” (2 Samuel 9:7).

Friendship is a God-ordained and blessed relationship. Proverbs 12:26 tells us that, “The righteous choose their friends carefully.” God will use these carefully-chosen friends to help you grow in your faith while at the same time providing you with opportunities to help them grow, too. You will be following the Apostle Paul’s advice to “encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

In Isaiah 43:19, God says, “See, I am doing a new thing!” God wants us to be open to new experiences, in our spiritual life and in our daily life, too. Friends can help you do that. So take time to cultivate those friendships God has blessed you with. And pledge to make a few new friends! “A man who has friends must himself be friendly” (Proverbs 18:24).

When I was a boy, Christmas at our home was a beautiful thing, yet there weren’t many presents. My father was a preacher and received a yearly salary of $1,000. One year my brother and I wanted a bicycle. We told our parents about it for months on end and wrote letters to Santa Claus. We got the bicycle, all right–a secondhand one. But I can remember still the thrill of riding it up and down Gilman Avenue that day.

The gifts you receive–modest or elaborate–are important only to the degree they help you experience something of what Christmas really is. Which is what? It is a spiritual observance of the birth of Jesus Christ into the stream of history and into the soul of man. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). That, in a nutshell, is Christmas.

The first thing Christmas means, of course, is that God is with us. Isaiah prophesied of Jesus that He would be called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” In Jesus, God incarnate in human form walked the earth as a man.

Strange are the ways of God! Born in a little out-of-the-way country into a family of poor people, Jesus was first seen as an infant lying in a manger. And when He curled his fingers around the rough old hands of the shepherds, He began to win His way into the human heart. The Wise Men, looking for wisdom greater than their own, were led to Him and bowed before Him, a little baby.

When they looked into the eyes of this baby, they knew that here was wisdom incarnate. How did they know it? How do you know the deeper truths? By argument? By reasoning? By philosophy? No, by perception, insight, intuition, understanding. After a while Jesus came to the end of His human life; He ascended into heaven, but He left the Holy Spirit with us. He said, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

God is in this world. God wants to be in your heart. Until we have a conscious experience of God we never really live. And until you know He is here you are a long way from the true Christmas.

How can we have a conscious experience of God? I can give you a suggestion: Go out in a spirit of love and do something for somebody who is in need. Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me” (Matthew 25:40). Where human need is you have the best chance of finding Him. So long as you are thinking only about yourself you won’t find Him. But if you love other people and engage in sacrificial service you will find Him… and you will have a very merry Christmas indeed.

Looking for a new way to celebrate Easter? Between busy schedules of egg hunts and baskets filled with candy, it can be hard to find the time to sit with God and feel gratitude for this holy season. Here are five Easter devotions to help you reflect on what this day is all about. Read them on your own before you say your Easter prayers, or gather the whole family to read them together before your Easter celebrations.

READ MORE: The Easter Story in 14 Bible Passages

1. An Easter Devotion: The Joy That Invades Our Hearts

by Elizabeth Sherrill

He is not here; for he has risen…—Matthew 28:6

Only a week had passed since that triumphant Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem—but what a difference in the little procession that set out now! No cheering crowds, no waving branches. Just a few silent women setting out in the gray dawn to perform the last sad rites at the tomb.

The day that changed human history was not a public occasion but a private one. The day when everlasting life broke into earthly time began not with celebration but with tears.

This is still the way Easter breaks into our lives—when we least expect it, when all seems lost. That’s when the stone rolls away and the angel speaks and “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54)

If it seems too good to be true, this joy that invades our hearts, it seemed so on the first Easter morning too. Mary Magdalene could not believe what her eyes were telling her; she took Jesus to be a gardener at work early among the graves. Preoccupied with her loss, she barely glanced at the figure standing before her on the path. She had a mournful task to fulfill and—

“Mary.”

There in the first light of dawn, Mary stood still. That voice…that tone of loving involvement. This was the moment, the moment when Jesus called her by name, that Easter broke like the sunrise into her heart. It is how we recognize Him still. The risen Jesus calls us so personally, comes into our lives to individually, that with Mary Magdalene, we cry out in glad recognition.

READ MORE: 10 Easter Eggs from Around the World

And then we do what the women did on that first Easter Sunday. Dropping their spices and ointments, the burdens of their sad errand, they rushed to tell the others. They set the pattern, these women who were first at the empty tomb, the two-fold pattern of the Christian faith newborn that Easter morning. They met the living Jesus. And they brought the good news to those who grieved.

That’s always our role, when it’s Easter in our lives; to tell someone else that He is risen.

2. An Inspiring Easter Surprise

by Penney Schwab

For the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given. —2 Corinthians 1:11

It was a wonderful Easter. Morning worship at our son Patrick’s church in Texas featured an excellent choir and inspiring sermon. Our daughter-in-law Patricia prepared a veritable feast for dinner. After our traditional family egg hunt, my husband Don said, “We need to head home, so we can stop in Amarillo and get Penney’s Easter surprise.”

Read this inspirational family devotion for Easter and see what Penney’s husband had in store for their surprise. 

3. Easter Always Comes

by Marci Alborghetti

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him. —Psalm 62:8

“I saw a robin!” My mother’s voice on the phone had the singsong quality of smug victory. She might as well have added, “Na-na-na-na-na!” She likes to win this game.

Mom and I have an annual competition to see who can spot the year’s first robin. It means that the winter will, indeed, end, even when we’re convinced it’s going to go on forever. For both of us, it’s always been a long, gray crawl from Christmas to Easter. So the first robin is an important signpost, and even more so this year.

Read this heartwarming Easter devotion and learn how the sighting of a robin taught Marci an important Easter lesson. 

4. A Devotion About the Easter Miracle Deep Within

by Elizabeth Sherill

He is not here; he has risen! —Luke 24:6

“He is not here,” the angels told the little group of grieving women who came to the tomb that first Easter morning. “He has risen!” This is what angels, in their myriad shapes, tell us still, not only on this Easter, but every day.

For me, one of those angels is a handsome conifer, the only large tree in our yard. My husband John and I were new homeowners, not sure of how to care for the lawn and shrubs. But whatever our failures, the tree towered above them, drawing the eye away from weeds and bare spots. That’s why we were distressed when that fall some brown patches appeared among the dark green needles.

Read the rest of this beautiful devotion during your Easter celebrations and see how a conifer tree became an important Easter symbol. 

5. A Devotion for Easter Monday

by John Sherrill

I am with you always… —Matthew 28:20

It’s Monday, the day after Easter.  Yesterday, when the children and grandchildren left, my wife, Tib, and I went through the usual post-holiday letdown. We coped with it as we always do—cleaning up. I collected left-behind jelly beans before they could be trod into the rug, picked up a ball of colored foil where someone had missed a wastebasket, found a half-eaten chocolate rabbit under one of the kids’ beds.

Tib gathered the wicker baskets and carried them up to the attic, then got out the vacuum cleaner and attacked the escaped Easter grass.  How did the shiny green strands get so far from the bedrooms where we had unpacked the baskets?

Read this unique Easter devotion and learn how a post-Easter clean-up became a sign of Hope for this couple. 

READ MORE ABOUT EASTER:

• Bible Verses to Live By: Celebrate Easter Joy
• 40 Beautiful Easter Quotes to Share
• 10 Acts of Kindness to do for Easter
• The Message of Easter

Since childhood, the Bible has held a significant and impactful role in my life. I still have the Bible my parents gave me when in elementary school. Each night I would read Psalm 27. It begins with “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” These words soothed my spirit and reassured me that God is always with me. I had nothing to be afraid of, not even when the lights were off in my bedroom—God was there to protect me.

When older, it was the words to Joshua when tasked with leading the people into the promised land, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” I was empowered by these words of encouragement and support. The words jumped off the print and into my heart as if they were meant written for me. Whenever I find myself up against a difficult task or when conflicts arise, I hold on to this verse.

When unsure of what decision to make or what path to take, the counsel is found in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” This reminds me to lean on the source of all wisdom, not on my own experiences, knowledge and insights.  This is not to say that I don’t take responsibility in making decisions, but it means to seek guidance from the one who sees and knows all things from all perspectives. Why not lean on God? It would be foolish not to.

Although at times the Bible can feel overwhelming, but it can help us and empower us in so many ways. One thing is for sure, the more we read and pay attention to the words of the Bible, the more we discover messages of hope and words fitting where we stand at the time. Do you have a favorite verse? If so, please share with us.

Lord, thank you for the power of Your Word that guides, empowers and transforms us.

Failure and frustration are in the unwritten pages of everyone’s record. I have had my share of them. But if my mother’s gentle hands were not there to guide me, perhaps my life in music would have ended long ago.

The faith my mother taught me is my foundation. It is the only ground on which I stand. With it I have a freedom in life I could not have in any other way. Whatever is in my voice, my faith has put it there.

Her presence runs through everything I ever wanted to be. The particular religion a child echoes is an accident of birth. But I was converted to my mother’s faith and patient understanding long before I could define either.

We were poor folk. But there was a wealth in our poverty, a wealth of music, and love and faith. My two sisters, Alice and Ethel, and I were all in the church choir—the junior, not the senior one. There is still a vivid memory of our mother and father, their faces shining with pride, watching us from the front pews. And when I was six I was once fortunate enough to be selected to step out in front of the choir and sing “The Lord Is My Shepherd.”

It was a Baptist Church we attended in Philadelphia. But my mother taught us early that the form of one’s faith is less important than what’s in one’s heart.

“When you come to Him,” she said, “He never asks what you are.”

We children never heard her complain about her lot; or criticize those who offended her. One of her guiding precepts has always been: “Never abuse those who abuse you. Bear them no malice, and theirs will disappear.”

My sisters still attend the Baptist Church in Philadelphia. It is a church and a congregation I hold most fondly in my heart for many reasons. These were the people who, years ago, pooled their pennies into what they grandly called “The Fund for Marian Anderson’s Future,” a gesture of love and confidence impossible to forget in a lifetime. When I come to Philadelphia, I always try to see some of these people who have been so important to me, and though it seldom is possible these days, I love to sing in their choir.

My father died when I was twelve, and my mother’s burden became heavier. Before she became a housewife, and the mother of three daughters, she was a schoolteacher. Now she became a father to us as well as a mother and earned our whole livelihood by taking in washing. It was terribly difficult for her, I know, but she would not even hear of any of us children leaving school for work.

During these years I began to have my first opportunity to earn a little money by singing. Almost entirely they were Sunday evening concerts for the church, or for the YWCA and the YMCA. At these affairs I could sing, perhaps, two or three songs, and my fee was a very grand 50 cents, or once in a great while, $1.00. Sometimes I would dash to four or five of these concerts in one evening.

Many people were kind to me: teachers who took no fees, those who urged me forward when I was discouraged. Gradually I began to sing with glee clubs and churches in other cities. After one minor effort in Harlem, a group of well-meaning people hastily sponsored me for a concert in Town Hall in New York.

It seemed at once incredible and wonderful. But I wasn’t ready: indeed, I was far from it either in experience or maturity. On the exciting night of my first real concert I was told Town Hall was sold out. While waiting in dazed delight to go on, my sponsor said there would be a slight delay. I waited five, ten, fifteen minutes. Then peeked through the curtain.

The house was half empty! I died inside. But when the curtain went up I sang my heart out. And when the concert was over, I knew I had failed. The critics next day agreed with me, but what they said was really not so important. I was shattered because within me I felt I had let down all those people who had had faith and confidence in me. It seemed irrevocable.

“I’d better forget all about singing, and do something else,” I told my mother.

“Why don’t you think about it a little, and pray a lot, first?” she cautioned.

She had taught me to make my own decisions when I could, and pray for the right ones when I could not. But I did not heed her now. I refused a few offers to sing at other concerts. I avoided my music teacher. For a whole year I brooded in silence. My mother suffered because I was not expressing myself in the only way I knew happiness. But she knew I had to find my own way back alone. From time to time she just prodded me, gently:

“Have you prayed, Marian? Have you prayed?”

No, I hadn’t. Nothing would help. I embraced my grief. It was sufficient. But in those tearful hours there slowly came the thought that there is a time when even the most self-sufficient cannot find enough strength to stand alone. Then, one prays with a fervor one never had before. From my torment I prayed with the sure knowledge there was Someone to Whom I could pour out the greatest need of my heart and soul. It did not matter if He answered. It was enough to pray.

Slowly I came out of my despair. My mind began to clear. No one was to blame for my failure. Self-pity left me. In a burst of exuberance I told my mother:

“I want to study again. I want to be the best, and be loved by everyone, and be perfect in everything.”

“That’s a wonderful goal,” she chided. “But our dear Lord walked this earth as the most perfect of all beings, yet not everybody loved Him.”

Subdued, I decided to return to my music to seek humbleness before perfection.

One day I came home from my teacher unaware that I was humming. It was the first music I had uttered at home in a whole year. My mother heard it, and she rushed to meet me, and put her arms around me and kissed me. It was her way of saying:

“Your prayers have been answered, and mine have too.”

For a brief moment we stood there silently. Then my mother defined the sweet spell of our gratitude:

“Prayer begins where human capacity ends,” she said.

The golden echo of that moment has always been with me through the years of struggle that followed. Today I am blessed with an active career, and the worldly goods that come with it. If sometimes I do not hear the echo and listen only to the applause, my mother reminds me quickly of what should come first:

“Grace must always come before greatness,” she says.

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You wouldn’t play tennis in your bare feet. You wouldn’t mountain climb in your pajamas. You wouldn’t swim in your winter coat. So why go into battle without the proper attire?

Ephesians, chapter 6, has a lot to say about the battle every Christian is fighting. This Scripture passage uses the symbolic language of the ancient warrior in armor who goes out to fight the good fight. And that fight we are to wage is against evil in one’s own heart and in the world. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (verse 12).

The struggle of the believing Christian is against vast and entrenched forces of evil and he must be very strong. And he will be strong, if he follows the Apostle Paul’s advice on what to wear. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (verse 11).

This armor is put on first by buckling on the belt of truth. When encircled with truth, nothing can ever get through your spiritual defenses to defeat you. Then put on the breastplate of righteousness. This refers to the protection given by goodness and by right-mindedness (verse 14). Put on your feet the gospel of peace, so that wherever you go, goodness goes also and evil flees away (verse 15). Take the shield of faith (verse 16). The shield was designed to protect the heart, the vital center. If always you have faith in your heart, your life center is shielded and protected.

Then put on the helmet of salvation (verse 17). The helmet was designed to protect the head against thoughts of evil, against negative thoughts. The mind must be kept strong in the Lord, for the mind is ever subject to the attack of wrong thoughts. And wrong thoughts destroy.

And finally, take the sword of the spirit (verse 17), the bright and shining sword of God’s Word, and with it strike out against every evil thing in life.

Yes, life is a war of good against evil. But—good news!—you’re on the winning side. Just don’t forget to “suit up” for battle.

Download your FREE ebook, Let These Bible Verses Help You: 12 Psalms and Bible Passages to Deepen Your Joy, Happiness, Hope and Faith.

How do you handle adversity?

There’s an old Russians proverb that I like: “The hammer shatters the glass, but forges steel.” If you’re glass, if you’re superficial, if there’s no faith in you, adversity will crack and shatter you. But if you “seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually” (1 Chronicles 16:11) you will have in you the victory that overcomes the world. Then the hammer of circumstance hitting you forges you into a strong person.  God knew what he was doing when he constructed this world so that there was difficulty in it.

Facing difficulty is what makes it possible for us to grow, to learn where our strength really lies. “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).  Sometimes we get so caught up in our troubles that we forget an important fact: Within every difficulty is possibility. Always. Every problem has the seeds of its own solution, and sometimes those solutions lead up to new and exciting things. God says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19).

Generally, when people are disheartened, they can’t see the possibilities. They see only the difficulties that are involved, not the solution. They magnify the difficulties, to blow them up, to make them bigger than they actually are. Don’t let yourself go down that path! The thing to do when you are disheartened is the very opposite: Go hunting around in your situation for the bright possibilities that are surely there. God’s kindness and compassion “are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Seek them out! He wants to place before you “an open door that no one can shut” (Revelation 3:8). There are no dead-ends with God.

Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, receive him as your Divine Redeemer, let your life be changed. Then you will be able to handle anything life brings. I don’t mean to say it’s going to be easy. It never will be easy. You’ll have trouble to the end, but you can be master of it in the name of Jesus.