Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Aug 24, 2025, 6:52 AM
Passage Read: Mark 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:7-10
Thought
These women, including Jesus' mother, saw the angel, heard his words and fled the tomb in fear. The angel told them to tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus had risen from the dead, but instead they said nothing to anyone because they were so afraid. They couldn't think straight and they didn't know what to believe. But then the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene and she understood that Jesus was truly alive, then she knew what she needed to do.
Aug 23, 2025, 9:54 AM
Passage Read: Mark 13-14
Meditation Verse: 14:38
Thought
I often thing how much easier it would be to die for Jesus than to live for Him. But even dying for Jesus is no easy thing. Peter and the rest of the Apostles knew Him well. They'd seen His miraculous powers; they were convinced that He was the Messiah. But when He was arrested, though every one agreed they would die with Jesus, yet they all fled. One of them was even the betrayer! Peter went on to deny knowing Him three times, exactly as Jesus said he would.
Aug 22, 2025, 8:29 AM
Passage Read: Mark 11-12
Meditation Verses: 11:21-25
Thought
Jesus curses a fig tree because it has no fruit outside its normal fruit season. How is that fair to the tree, to expect fruit when it doesn't normally have fruit? Was the tree somehow to know on this day Jesus would be looking for something to eat and produce some fruit just for Him? Is this only meant to illustrate the power of faith, or is it also showing that God expects fruit from His people in season and out of season?
Aug 21, 2025, 8:03 AM
Passage Read: Mark 9-10
Meditation Verse: 10:15
Thought
What is it about a little child that encapsulates saving faith? Is it that they are so innocent and guileless that they don't doubt any word spoken to them? They believe without doubt because they haven't learned that people can't be trusted or believed? People break their word or make claims about themselves that often aren't true or are exaggerated, so after some growing up and experiencing the unreliability of people, we know not to take people too literally or seriously.
Aug 20, 2025, 8:34 AM
Passage Read: Mark 7-8
Meditation Verses: 8:31-33
Thought
How natural it is to want to keep people we care for from suffering. Peter's heart was in the right place, from a human point of view, but the fact is that living for God in this world requires suffering and even death. Jesus rebuking Peter wasn't just for Peter, but for all of us, as Jesus goes on to apply it to everyone who follows Him. We need our own priorities adjusted. Living this life isn't about enjoying as much as we can get from it.
Aug 19, 2025, 8:16 AM
Passage Read: Mark 5-6
Meditation Verses: 6:51-52
Thought
How and why were the disciples' hearts hardened? What lesson were they to have understood from the loaves? They had just returned from their own preaching trips and we're reporting the things they had taught and the miracles they had performed. But there were so many people coming and going that they didn't even have a chance to eat! So Jesus called them to go to a quiet place with Him. But the only solitude they had was in the boat as they sailed across the sea.
Aug 18, 2025, 8:21 AM
Passage Read: Mark 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:24
Thought
"Consider carefully what you hear." This is the command. Because how I respond to God's word will be the same way God responds to me--and even more! If I consider carefully what God is saying and am eager to obey it, then the Lord will be eager to teach me more. But if I don't think much about it and what I should be doing in response to it, the Lord will not simply give me little, He'll take away even what little I already have!
Aug 17, 2025, 6:40 AM
Passage Read: Mark 1-2
Meditation Verse: 2:15
Thought
Mark points out that the "sinners" and tax collectors who are with Jesus at Matthew's house were followers! While many of Matthew's friends would likely be tax collectors, and when Matthew invited Jesus for dinner, many of those friends may have come out of curiosity, to find out more about Jesus, Mark says that there were already many who followed Jesus. Secretly? At a distance? No one liked them, but they heard of Jesus and likely came to hear Him, and had the financial means to take off work and follow Jesus to hear Him.
Aug 14, 2024, 2:07 AM
Passage Read: Mark 15-16
Meditation Verse: 15:10
Thought
Not everyone who serves God actually knows or cares about what God desires. The chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the scribes, all of these should have known God best and understood all He was doing. But instead, when Jesus came teaching and performing miracles, they became jealous of Him and plotted to kill Him. They should have rejoiced! But they were part of the problem.
Aug 13, 2024, 2:08 AM
Passage Read: Mark 13-14
Meditation Verses: 14:37-38
Thought
Peter had spent more than three years with Jesus. He was convinced that Jesus was indeed the Christ, God's appointed king of Israel, and the Son of God. He was ready to die for Jesus, willing to fight to protect Him from arrest, willing to fight to gain the throne of Israel for Him. But Jesus hadn't come from heaven to lead a rebellion and wage war to gain the throne of Israel. He came this first time to offer His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men, that all who believe in Him would be forgiven and made righteous.