WATCHWORD:
For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13 Continue reading
Archives: Watchword
A bit of scripture, short meditations and stories, prayers, news and maybe a touch of humor.
At Jesus Feet
WATCHWORD:
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” 29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am? Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.” Mark 8:27-29 Continue reading
God’s Gifts – Our Hands
WATCHWORD:
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:7
For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you 1 Timothy 4:1 Continue reading
God’s Peace
WATCHWORD:
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God? … 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:1-2,11 Continue reading
Once the Storm Is Over
WATCHWORD:
23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. 27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” Continue reading
Moments of Surrender
WATCHWORD:
8 I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But our authority builds you up; it doesn’t tear you down. So, I will not be ashamed of using my authority. 9 I’m not trying to frighten you by my letters. 10 For some say, “Paul’s letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are worthless!”11 Those people should realize that our actions when we arrive in person will be as forceful as what we say in our letters from far away. 2 Corinthians 10:8-11
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Ephesians 2:8 Continue reading
Spiritual Balance
Watchword:
So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do,
do all for the honor and glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Continue reading
Roads
WATCHWORD:
29 the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:29-37 Continue reading
Follow Me – Part 2
WATCHWORD:
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:18-20
Meditation:
Follow Me – Part 2
The parable continues: Now, it was much later in the afternoon, the children were returned to their father, and my Master had died on the cross. In my grief watched as the two Pharisees, the ones that were so sad, stepped up, took the body of my Master away, and placed it in a tomb. I could not understand why all this happened. Just yesterday the Master told us to be at peace, then he was beaten and crucified. Now he is dead and buried and I am lost, but strangely at peace? How can that be? And His voice said, “Follow Me”.
Follow? Who? The one I followed is gone. I looked around for John, maybe he could help me, but he was nowhere to be found. He’d been sitting with Jesus’ mother and the other Mary, now all three were off somewhere, probably grieving. I still did not know where to go or what to do. And the voice said, “Follow Me”.
It was the next morning when I sought out the hidden place, a safe room, a gathering of people who had been followers of Jesus. The room was filled with sad people; some were crying, there was wailing, some simply praying. There was Mary, the mother of my Master, in the midst of grieving, angry, upset people, but she was bringing a different message; smiling, reassuring, and saying something that I will never forget. She said, “Remember who He is and what He told us, just days ago, to be at peace.” And in the remembering, I heard again the voice saying, “Follow Me”, and I knew I had found God’s Peace.
We live in a violent time, a time where ego and wealth seem to be idols of choice, and where the worship of the Heavenly Father could bring wrath down upon your head. People have been beaten, as Jesus had been. People have been killed, as Jesus was. But people have also been resurrected into a new life because of it. And the voice is still saying, “Follow Me.”
We too often grieve at length and get angry at the violence that is directed towards those who follow the Master, even unto death. And we cry for blood when we should remember Jesus’ words, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” and, in turn, celebrate the lives of those who showed the courage to step up and say without hesitation “He is Lord and Savior, He is the creator God and I will only worship Him,” and because they did, I, too, will find the courage to heed the call to follow Him. Amen.Prayer:
Written by Stan Escott soli deo gloria. September 19, 2025
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. I give my all to you Lord Jesus. Amen.
Follow Me – Part 1
WATCHWORD:
45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” […] 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” […] 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” […] 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. John 6:45-51, 58, 60, 66
Meditation:
Follow Me – Part 1
This is a two part devotional parable —
We call ourselves Christians, but what does that mean? Wearing His symbol of a cross around our necks, is that a sign that we truly are following His commands? Or are we more causal about our faith; worshiping him on an occasional Sunday morning where we recite from rote memory the prayer he has given us, where we re-dedicate ourselves by saying the Apostles Creed, again, from rote memory. Then what? When we leave the place of worship, are we His voice, His hands in the mission field? Day after day, are we going on with Him, following Him?
“Follow me,” is what He said, and we may have answered as Peter did, “Lord, I will follow you.” But that was before we discovered that the way would be lonely and dangerous and we could lose all trace of his footprint, left only with His voice saying, “Follow Me”, and in our faith, we mostly tried, but often fell short, as the disciples did.
Disciple, you’ve been with the Master from the beginning, when you first saw him being baptized by John. From the moment that God said, “This is my beloved son, follow him,” you have done just that. What a journey it has been! He has taught, He has healed, He has been the source of miracles, and, while we didn’t always understand what was happening around us, we knew that we needed to keep following. And we did.
But the way got rough. We ran into problems; people objecting to what the Master was teaching, even to the point of threatening his life. We kept our heads down and we lied, telling ourselves that we were ‘protecting’ Him.
Now we stand here on the portico overlooking the courtyard of Herod’s Palace, crowded with noisy men. There was Pilate, and, there, the convicted criminal, Barabbas, and there is my Master, although it was hard to recognize him, he had been so badly beaten. Surely the crowd down there in the Courtyard will turn him free, after all many of those gathered were ones who greeted him in triumph when he entered Jerusalem, just five days ago. Surely, they’ll stand up. But I was wrong. The cry went up, to my shock and dismay, “Kill him! Kill him!” And another voice said, “Follow Me”.
I could not believe what was happening. They took my Master, stripped him, put a thorny crown on his head, and led him out of the Palace, and Kishle Prison and onto the dirty street. Beating him as he staggered along. The crowd followed shouting insults and throwing things at him.
I looked around seeking someway to make sense of what was happening. There on the far edge of the crowd stood Joseph and his friend Nicodemus. What are they doing here, looking alarmed and sad? Sad? They are Pharisees! Why would they be sad, they caused this! There was Barabbas, the criminal freed by Pilate, standing next to me. I wonder if there is a reason for him being here or is he just curious. I wondered, should I continue? And the voice said, “Follow Me”.
We followed the Master, staggering down the dirty street toward Damascus Gate. Jesus stumbled and fell. Another man was grabbed by a soldier and told “Carry His cross!” The man had no choice but to let go of the hands of his children, who cried out to their father. Without a thought, I reached, took their hands and told them their daddy would be back soon. Just stay with me, follow me, and we climbed the hill to Calvary.
Sometimes the way of the Christian is difficult, and we are confronted with both opposition and difficulties that seem to hold us back. But the word from our Lord and Savior is simple, and we need to take it seriously. In a clear voice he tells us, Follow me.” May we have the strength of faith to do just that. Amen.
Prayer:
Precious Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts and the knowledge it is only through your graces that we are about to follow you. Sometimes it has been hard, but you have carried us through. Sometimes we have not seen the way and you have opened our eyes and showed us that you are the way, the truth, and the life. And again, we thank you Lord for the graces that not only enriched our lives but have given us direction. May we follow you and always, in Jesus name. Amen.
Learning Theory
WATCHWORD:
One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these. Then he laid hands on them… Matthew 19:13-14 Continue reading
A Personal Miracle?
WATCHWORD:
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. […] 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2:1-6,12
Meditation:
A Personal Miracle?
Miracle in your home? Think about that. A miracle right there where you live. Have you thought about what God is doing within the ebb and flow of our lives, even as we sit here in our comfortable chairs? Something is different. We can’t put our finger on it, but it just feels different. What has changed?
Sometimes change can be subtle, like a gentle breeze we hardly notice, but it feels…peaceful. At other times change is like an abrupt something that happens, and our lives are upended, redirected. Or, maybe it exposes something of which we were unaware. Perhaps expose is too strong word, maybe reveals, is better. Maybe it reveals something within us that we weren’t aware of because of all the distractions of life. Now that the distractions seem under control, was our blindness lifted?
You know, before that Day of Pentecost the Disciples had to wait for something, they weren’t sure what. What did Jesus mean? Was He talking about His spirit? They had their answers with the imparting of the Holy Spirit. Now they knew. Each one, a personal miracle.
The Holy Spirit has always been here. The Holy Spirit came into this world at creation, and has been here ever since. It is we, that must receive the revelation. We have our own time of waiting for our personal Day of Pentecost. It just doesn’t feel like that same kind of waiting time that the disciples went through, but how would we know?
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes a person, but the power of Christ coming into our lives by the Holy Spirit that changes us. I wonder if sometimes we read the Bible with blind eyes. The infilling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not an experience apart from Christ, it was the evidence of Christ. If we begin to understand what we have read in the Bible, that is the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Does any of this make sense? Our accepting Christ as Lord and Savior starts as a decision which we think we make, but I wonder. What has stirred within us? Maybe that ‘decision’ we might think we made on our own, was actually God deciding. And in the deciding, a change and a sense of peace.
Sometime ago I read a devotional where the pastor made three points: 1. God doesn’t need anything. 2. God decides to need us, and we become partners. 3. We have to decide to need God. God will not do our part. Our part, deciding, is not supernatural. And we must do our part first. God has fully equipped us to do just that. Never underestimate the power of prayer!
Maybe that is the lesson of our own Pentecost, our own personal miracle. So be it for you and for me. Amen.
— Stan
Mea Culpa:
I need to set the record straight. In the September 1, 2025, Watchword, entitled “Lost, but Found”, I wrote on the side effects of abortion and our response as compassionate people of God. I erroneously identified Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome, as a diagnosed mental condition listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5). CORRECTION: It is not a classified and diagnosed mental condition. Abortion stress (PASS) is mentioned in DSM III in the discussion of reactive anxieties, as a temporary conditions. In subsequent volumes of DSM (IV, 5 and 6), there is no mention of abortion stress or anxiety mentioned. Mea culpa, my error. Sorry. Stan
Closing Prayer:
We thank Thee, O Lord, that this land is still governed by the people’s representatives. Let democratic processes be seen at their best in this time of testing. As these chosen men (and women) discharge their duties, guide them, O God, in the decisions they must make today. Give them the grace of humility, and shed now Thy guiding light into every mind. Break down every will that is stubbornly set against Thine or that has ignored Thee. May that which is done be so clearly right that it needs no incendiary justification. Soothe our still-smoldering hearts and minds with the spirit of forgiveness. Let us be swayed not by emotion or ambition but by calm conviction. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Peter Marshall, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, offered this prayer June 23, 1947. And we offer it again in the name of Jesus.)
