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Stephen De La Vega

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Journey to Resolve
Resolution 7: Follow God through Highs and Lows

By Stephen De La Vega - June 20, 2025

A mountaintop high. Indescribable. The view. The air. The freedom. Above it all. Breathe in… Exhale… Now step back down for a moment. Let’s consider the mountain top high of a despicable king who somehow decided to obey God. In our walk through every 20:24 and 20:25 verse in the Bible, we find ourselves in the middle of a 3-part look at our responsibility to God as we consider kings and kingdoms in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Part 1 was the prior post: I Will Stand for God’s Government . Next time, we will Let God Win Our Battles . Today, we resolve to Follow God through Highs and Lows . Our story is found in 1 Kings 20 . At this point in history, Israel had been a divided nation consisting of a northern kingdom called Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah. Jerusalem was the capitol city of Judah, and Samara was the capitol city of Israel where King Ahab reigned as its seventh king. He was ungodly – not a role model in any way for the king...

Journey to Resolve
Resolution 6: Stand for God's Government

By Stephen De La Vega - April 28, 2025

This intro is a disclaimer: I recognize there is significant dissatisfaction with governments across the globe. It is not uncommon for citizens to distrust and even despise certain government officials and government organizations. I don’t intend to discredit our varied opinions, positions, beliefs, value systems, or ideologies. I also am not writing to promote one political position over another, or even to promote a political position at all. However, I do intend to share, at least in part, a biblical perspective on God’s involvement in government and how we should respond in light of it. Resolution #6: I Will Stand for God’s Government Our 20:25 verse in this resolution brings us to 2 Samuel . (Remember, I am walking through every 20:25 verse in the Bible, and a few 20:24 verses since I started this last year.) 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were originally written as one book. The same is true for 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books were so long, early scribes coul...

Journey to Resolve
Resolution 8: Let God Win My Battles

By Stephen De La Vega - July 27, 2025

Leave your rifles in the rack. You won’t need them when the battle is insurmountable. Has anybody ever told you that? Sometimes we can go to battle without breaking a sweat or calling upon those heroes who are somehow larger than life. But, of course, we should call on the Almighty Hero. God will be our Hero when we let Him. This is the 3rd post about kings and kingdoms within our larger series of New Years Resolutions based on every 20:24 and 20:25 verse in the Bible. Regarding kings and kingdoms, we first resolve to stand for God’s government . When we do so, we support His choices for who sits in office, and we ultimately trust and obey His commands. Then we are prepared to step forward, and follow Him through the highs and lows of life, including battles we can't win. We can remain committed to His plan despite any difficulty or hardship because our battles are God’s battles when we lean into Him. He will go before us and do the heavy lifting if we let Him, which is...

Stone Cold Truth about the Grave, Grace, and Honor

By Stephen De La Vega - January 27, 2018

We may not think of Jesus’ tomb as a tomb of honor, but it was. It was prepared with honor, it was sacrificed with honor, and Jesus was buried in it with honor. But it was not honor that led Him there. The death of Jesus was a death of mockery, deceit, divisiveness, lies, misunderstanding, and, especially, hatred, retaliation, and pain. But this was all part of God’s gracious plan to restore us into His fellowship. Amazing grace led Jesus to the cross. It’s a story known across the globe and through the ages. We can be saved because of God’s amazing grace. Grace ushered Jesus to the cross and to His earthly grave. By grace we are saved through faith, by grace we enjoy a personal relationship with Christ, and by grace we serve a resurrected Lord. How could someone spread His arms so open with love, and leave them extended to take the blows of torture, of humiliation, of rejection ...even rejection from His Father? How can someone’s love be so perfect? ...

Journey to Resolve
Resolution 5: Nurture Quality Friendships

By Stephen De La Vega - March 01, 2025

In February we celebrated Valentine’s Day in nearly every country of the world. It’s the month of love and romance. Relationships are on the mind and heart. In this post I share 3 characteristics of friendship between two people who shared something deeper than a romantic love. They shared an inspiring friendship that possibly rivals the best of relationships. Join me in the retelling of a story of brotherly love set in the drama of triumph, fear, dysfunction, jealousy, murderous rants and scheming, loyalty, and courageous faith in a God who wins battles for His favored nation and for His own namesake. Resolution #5: I Will Nurture Quality Friendships A king’s son and his father’s future successor were the best of friends. Their friendship was probably as good as it gets. It was a deep, brotherly love built on common ground, mutual trust, and enduring commitment. This is how King Saul’s son Jonathan characterized his friendship with David, who was the future king of Israel: Jon...

A Gift for Jesus (A Short Poem)

By Stephen De La Vega - December 09, 2019

Hi friends. Enjoy this short poem. Jesus deserves the best gifts. Share your thoughts in the comments below. A Gift for Jesus What gift will we bring For Jesus the King? What gift will we lay ‘neath the tree? Our gifts are in spots A few, maybe lots But none are for Christ, can we see? We care for those near For those we hold dear But He is most dear, let’s agree He’s done much for us Gave life, love, and thus We’re dear to Him, though without plea We owe Him our all Oh, hear the King’s call Ourselves in return, let it be So, what will we give? How then will we live? What gift will we lay ‘neath the tree? Find all of my Christmas posts here . If you want to know more about Jesus and His gift that He offers freely to all, please email me at authordlv@att.net. Read more blog posts here .

A Whole New World Awaits

By Stephen De La Vega - May 27, 2019

Disney has done it again. Perfect casting and memorable songs brought to life in the newest of live-action reboots, Aladdin . I wasn’t much into the animated version, but with real people on-screen, I felt the emotion. During the magic carpet ride, the central theme of the movie hit me. It’s a tale of identity – truly discovering who you are and becoming that person. [There are no movie spoilers in this post and this is not a movie review, but I do give Aladdin a thumbs up.] Each of the main characters struggled in their unique ways to live out their truest of identities. I think it's the same for us. We sometimes feel out of place or we feel the urge to go against the flow. The person we are deep inside points us to a place that is often different enough from the norm that becoming that person is an uphill climb. But I’m writing to say be brave. Be that person. I’m not saying to be that doctor, or be that philanthropist. I’m not talking abou...

Getting Off on the Wrong Two Feet

By Stephen De La Vega - February 14, 2019

Two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes. Perfect! All is good in the maternity ward. Or so it seemed… When will the crying end? Why do the ‘terrible twos’ last more than a year? Why won’t they listen to me? How did they become friends with ________? Teenagers! Sometimes they grow up, but too many of them just get older. (Sigh) We’re not really cute, little bundles of joy underneath those chubby cheeks. That’s what the Apostle Paul would tell us: As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way o...

Journey to Resolve
Resolution 4: Trust in God’s Strength

By Stephen De La Vega - January 30, 2025

Last year I started this Journey to Resolve series and began working through every 20:24 verse in the Bible. I knew I wouldn’t finish all 15 posts in 2024, but it’s okay. The 20:25 verses carry the same message because we are digging into the context, the stories, the lessons – and they are great lessons for everyone young and old. Maybe older folks like me will find these resolutions a bit more difficult to put into practice because it truly is hard to teach “old dogs new tricks.” However, it is the same Holy Spirit who indwells each of us, so all of us are capable of following God’s lead and resolving to serve Him better, that is, if we rely on His strength. So, let’s do this. Let’s dig in. One resolution per month, and please pray that I can keep up with posting something meaty to chew on every month of 2025. (If you want to catch up on the first 3 posts in this series, start here .) Resolution #4: I Will Trust in God’s Strength Just like in Resolution 3 ( I...

Journey to Resolve
Resolution 12: Serve Others without the Glory

By Stephen De La Vega - January 09, 2026

The Stanley Cup . One of the most revered trophies in professional sports. The cup itself has never changed, and it is the only professional trophy to display the names of every player of the championship team each year. As a hockey fan, I’ve seen this trophy in person. Not as my home team skated around the ice with it after winning the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That hasn’t happened yet. I’ve seen it in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto where it stands protected and honored most of the year. One thing I appreciate about the great sport of hockey: There isn’t a lot of glory outside of teamwork. Don’t get me wrong, the sport has its share of superstars, but, in its typically low-scoring gameplay, even the superstars thrive only within well-managed, cooperative team play. Teammates continually support and assist each other with humility as they work in unison to get the puck past the opposing goaltender. I imagine most hockey players are not in the game for individual glory. Maybe t...