Skip to content

Pastor Thomas Schuelze

The Comfort of Your Confirmation

DEVOTION – CONFIRMATION

The Comfort of  Your Confirmation

“Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

“This certifies that (fill in your name), having received a thorough instruction in the sacred teachings of the Christian religion as found in the Holy Scriptures and confessed by the Lutheran Church, and having vowed before God and this Christian congregation to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving Gospel, was received into communicant membership by the solemn rite of CONFIRMATION.”Read More »The Comfort of Your Confirmation

Praise Be to the Paraclete!

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” (John 14:16, NIV 1984)

PARACLETE—It’s a name we probably don’t use too often in our prayers. It may ring strange in our ears when we sing it in hymns at church.

What does that name mean and why is it ascribed to the Holy Spirit? “Paraclete” comes from two Greek words: para (“beside”) and kaleo (“call”). Putting these words together yields the word’s basic meaning: “Someone called to be at your side.”Read More »Praise Be to the Paraclete!

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for… Father

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of the heavenly lights.” 
(James 1:17, NIV)

This passage from the New Testament epistle of James describes our heavenly Father as the source of all the good things we enjoy during the time of grace He grants us on Earth.

If we were to draw up an itemized list of God’s good and perfect gifts, it would overflow onto many pages. For a starter, just think of the “daily bread” items which Dr. Martin Luther enumerates in Read More »Thank You, Heavenly Father, for… Father

…Lord, may Thy body and Thy blood be for my soul the highest good!

Picture the scene.
The date is approximately 1600 B.C. The Israelites are living in Egypt, suffering as slaves
at the hands of brutal taskmasters. Pharaoh had refused to let the Israelites leave his country though God has commanded him to do so, and He had sent nine plagues to try to lead him to comply.

Now the Lord resolved to send one more plague. He revealed that on that very night every firstborn in Egypt would die, “from the firstborn son of Pharaoh … Read More »…Lord, may Thy body and Thy blood be for my soul the highest good!