These are some daily devotionals. I would encourage you to clip this article — or print it — and place it somewhere you can readily see it. Then read one each day, allowing God to speak to your heart.

●"When we continue to hate, we continue to lose. When we amplify mutual respect and love, we have a lot to gain. Quite simply, there is more for us to gain through love than hate." — Suzy Kassem

The old saying is, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." If you wish to make friends, if you wish to make a difference in someone's life, if you wish to receive respect as a person, learn to love others as children of God.

Loving others can open your heart in ways you never expected — and open avenues to new ways of life that will fill you with delight.

●"I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain." — Job 16:5

●"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." — Albert Schweitzer

How often is the focus of your attention completely on yourself? Does that attention bring you happiness, or does it cause you to focus on what you don't have? A happier attitude toward life comes when you focus on others’ needs. Their joy will bring you joy.

●"I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will lead them and repay them with comfort, creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them." — Isaiah 57:18

●"Remember the banana — when it left the bunch, it got skinned."

●"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near." — Hebrews 10:25

Being part of a church family is important. It helps keep you in touch with others who wrestle with some of the same issues. And, in so doing, they help you keep in touch with God.

It is when people stop participating in the life of the church that they start to give in to temptations, and thus wind up farther away from God.

People often long for a care-free and pain-free life. They long for the "good things," whatever those may be. But hear these words of Billy Graham. They speak volumes.

"Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as adversity has done. Out of pain and problems have come the sweetest songs, the most poignant poems, the most gripping stories. Out of suffering and tears have come the greatest spirits and the most blessed lives."

How true!

When things are going well in life, people tend to turn away from God. When there is struggle, they turn to God and gain valuable lessons and insights which can be shared with others who suffer.

Which lessons are you learning?

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BROADHEAD: Why being part of a church family is important

For a couple of days before the Resurrection Day celebration, I had the privilege of having one of my granddaughters spend the night with us. 

I thoroughly enjoyed her being here; if I had known grandchildren were that great, I would have probably skipped having children and went straight to grands! 

Thankfully, that’s impossible. You see, children come along and, while we are still young, we often shelter them too much, thus putting enormous pressure on ourselves. As my children were growing up, I would take them to a store, make them behave and be quiet, and I would not tolerate any type of outbreak. 

Along comes a grand. She is in the grocery store; I am in sporting goods. She yells at the top of her voice for Papaw. I yell back across the store, happy to hear her calling for me. 

What a change!

I wonder sometimes how God reacts to us as He raises His children. He is definitely more mature and experienced than we were, and yet He still wants us to follow His guidelines for behavior. 

He allows us to go along, obediently or disobediently, and then rewards us or punishes us to keep the right behavior in tact. 

As all good parents know, to correct a child is to show that you love them, and God is the same. He keeps touching our lives in the hopes that we will one day wake up and realize just how deep His love is, and then we can assist Him in leading others to become His children.

If you were in the store, in the grocery aisle, and He was in the garden center, and you yelled out for Him, do you think He would respond?

If I, a simple man, loved to hear that small voice calling for me, how much greater shall be the Father’s love when one of His children call out to Him.

The Rev. Richard Helms serves at Miracle Acres Ministries, 3187 E. James Lee Blvd., in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HELMS: Reflections from a grandparent

Easter is Christianity’s holiest day of the year. It’s the day we remember the ultimate demonstration of God’s loving power: when Jesus Christ, God’s son, destroyed the power of sin and death.

God created human beings to be in a loving relationship with him. But from the time Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, humanity has rebelled by pursuing its own pleasures and desires.

The Bible is an eons-long account of God’s never-ending pursuit of restoring that loving relationship with humanity, and humanity’s continuous rebellion.  God tried wind, fire, flood, men and women with special messages — you name it.

But humanity remained hard-hearted.

God finally chose to come here himself in the person of Jesus to teach and demonstrate what he has to offer.

His teachings called into question religious leaders’ practices — to which they took great exception. His teachings called into question the harsh ways people treated each other. Such admonishments cut so deeply to the heart of the wrongness of an ingrained way of life that it angered people.

So angry were they, so afraid of losing power and authority, they killed Jesus, whose body was placed in a tomb, and a stone was rolled across the entrance. The troublemaker was dead, and life, as usual, could go on.

The religious establishment and the people did not realize what they had done or who they were dealing with. And their act of killing him put into action the final phase of God’s plan.

Three days after being placed in that tomb, Jesus burst through death’s gates. He came back to life to demonstrate God’s life-giving, unequivocal and undeniable power.

The sin of rebelling against God in the Garden of Eden now has a cure. The sin of refusing to obey God now has a cure. Humanity’s sins can be forgiven.

God’s pursuit of humanity and restoration of that desired loving relationship now has an advocate and an avenue through which to love God completely. It is by acknowledging Jesus is the Son of God, and that he overcame the power of sin and death for all who believe in him.

This is the Gospel’s good news. This is Easter’s great news.

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BROADHEAD: Humanity remains hard-hearted, but God prevails

Resurrection Day, when we celebrate that Jesus has risen from the grave and sits at the right side of the Father, is quickly coming.

On this day, we reflect on how much God the Father loves us — enough that He was willing to allow His Son to go through the torment leading to His demise on the cross, as well as the pain and humiliation upon that same dreaded tree.

And on the third day, it was revealed that He is the Son of God and indeed the king of all kings! Every prophecy about Him was fulfilled, and all that we await now is His imminent return.

I know I have some special folks already in His presence, and one day will be reunited with them. My Papaw taught me about Jesus, not only with his words, but also through the dignity and patience with which he lived his life. He no longer hurts from cancer.

In my eyes, there is a giant playground in heaven — where little ones who went on without their mom and dad, through sickness, disaster, even abortion — are now. In the middle of this playground is a giant slide and a huge swing set. You see that man laughing and playing with the children? That is Papaw. That young lady scolding him for pushing them too high? That's Mamaw.

Others I know — too numerous to name here — are enjoying life there, a life that because of that first Resurrection Day I have the hope of enjoying, and not only me, but all who will call upon His name.

He arose on the first day of the week, the day we now call the Lord's Day, a Sunday morning. Because He followed His Father's will, we can have the hopes and dreams of healing, deliverance, peace, and most important, salvation brought about due to His blood being shed.

Find a good church on this Lord's Day, smile and be with God’s family, and thank God that He loves us so much.

The Rev. Richard Helms serves at Miracle Acres Ministries, 3187 E. James Lee Blvd., in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HELMS: Waiting for that foretold, giant playground in the sky