Devotionals

Devotionals Out Of God’s Word!!

Refuse to seek revenge! In Matthew 5:38, Jesus tells us, “You have heard that itw as said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”

As believers and followers of Jesus, revenge should never be our response when we are wronged or hurt.

To read the full chapter of Matthew 5, click here!

Do you feel stuck in a mistake you made in the past, and maybe you even knew it was wrong in the moment? Whether it was 2 minutes ago, or 2 decades ago there is still redemption!

If you know the story of King David, you’ll remember a scandal he had with a woman named Bathsheba. King David took Bathsheba, committed adultery with her, and eventually murdered her husband by putting him in the front lines of a battle.

After all this took place, a prophet named Nathan came to David and made David realize the sins he committed. Once David realized his mistakes, he repented, apologized to God, and also wrote Psalm 51.

The beginning of this psalm says:

¹Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
²Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
³For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
⁷Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

Read the full psalm here!

We learn from this psalm that God is a God of compassion and grace, with arms forgiveness waiting for us to repent from our sins– no matter what we have done! When we confess and repent from our sins, there is grace waiting there for us every time.

Whatever you have, bring it to God and leave it as His feet!

Today we played a 20-second clip of a Christmas song on The Afternoon Drive!

This week’s Name That Tune was Frank Sinatra’s rendition of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Congratulations to Brenda from Mount Vernon for calling in and correctly guessing the song title and artist, taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in on Friday for a special Afternoon Drive show where we go over all the new Christmas songs we added this year on WNZR!

Thank you for listening!
– Gabriella and Ethan

December 4, 2025 0

It Takes TWO!!

For this Praise Thursday, we shared inspiring worship music, gave devotions, shared updates, and played a fun game of NTT! Check out our website wnzr.fm!

James 4:8 (NIV): “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” It takes two people to have a relationship with God. You have to put in effort in that relationship to get an income. The best thing you can do is talk to God.

Psalm 46:10 (NIV): Be still, and know that I am God.” One of the most basic laws of physics tells us that “objects in motion tend to stay in motion.” So shifting from constant motion, activity, and obligation isn’t easy because it involves letting the momentum of our activity come to rest. Our activities and overall pace are like that “object in motion.” So give yourself plenty of space and grace as you sit before God and rest in Him. It may take some time for the waves of your spiritual “wake” to wash past you, to settle into being quiet before Him. Click HERE to read more!

Don’t miss our Contest – Ring for Rend Collective. Listen to The last chance to win this GIVEAWAY is TOMORROW!! Listen for the short clip of the song Hallelujah Anyway and be Caller #3. You can win a pair of General Admission Tickets to The Rend Collective Folk! Fall Tour at MVNU on 11/14! Tickets are valued at $26 each! Congratulations to Arlesa of Mount Vernon for being caller #3!!

Our Name That Tune was For King & Country “Love Me Like I am”! Congratulations to Bob of Howard for guessing our Name That Tune correctly and taking home TWO $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in tomorrow for the NZ top 10 with Joe!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Gabriella 🙂

November 6, 2025 0

Live with Full Faith!?!

On this beautiful Praise Thursday, we shared inspiring worship music, gave devotions, shared updates, and played a fun game of NTT! Check out our website wnzr.fm!

It’s important for your relationship with Christ to understand yourself. You can’t have any type of long lasting relationship when you don’t put effort in to make it work. It’s important to know that go one can be Christ but we can do our best to be Christ-like. Some people may hold a Christ-like character than others, but that’s why we are Christians, to help and accept others as Christ did for us. Put your full faith in God in his ability to help.

You never know what someone is going through and even the little things matter. Complimenting someone on the sidewalk or in the hallways go a long way. Joel Smallbone, a member of For King & Country, gave a lady a bus ticket and he found out that she only had $30 to her name. Do what you can for people. We all are creations in Christ no matter our separate opinions we are not called to judge. We are called to serve.

This week’s Name That Tune was a stumper, BUT come back next week for a chance to win TWO $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in tomorrow for the NZ top 10 with Ethan and Joe!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Ethan and Gabriella 🙂

October 30, 2025 0

Truly Trust in God’s Path!!

On this beautiful Praise Thursday, we shared inspiring worship music, gave devotions, shared updates, and played a fun game of NTT! Check out our website wnzr.fm!

Many people have been in a difficult position. You can’t control what people say or do, but you can control how you react. As followers of Christ, it’s our duty to not fight fire with fire. Kindness triumphs when those who’ve received it from God share it generously with others as the Spirit helps them. 1 Peter 3:8-12 (NIV): “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.”

Most of us have heard “don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” the same is true in your relationship with God. God has a plan for us, but most of us try to go on our own path. God’s path’s are trustworthy, for He loves us and has our best interests at heart. Psalm 32:6-11 (NIV): “I will instruct… you in the way you should go… with my loving eye on you.”

To read more click HERE!

This month is a time to honor our local pastors and their commitment to families in our community. Tell us why you love your pastor. Go online to wnzr.fm and click on the “Clergy Appreciation Month” banner. Nominate your pastor at www.wnzr.fm TODAY!

This week’s Name That Tune was “The Love I Have For You” by Colton Dixon. Congratulations to Jennifer of Centerburg for taking home TWO $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Tune in tomorrow for The NZ Top 10 with Joe and Ethan!

Thanks so much for listening!

– Ethan and Gabriella 🙂

October 23, 2025 0

Your Heart Belongs to God!!

On this beautiful Praise Thursday, we shared inspiring worship music, gave devotions, shared updates, and played a fun game of NTT! Check out our website wnzr.fm!

Gabriella’s devotion: A God-fearing woman is a good thing to be called especially by your children. On Rosie’s birthday her family wanted to go around and talk about the life she has lived. Her children said something that will never leave her soul. They called her “a God-fearing woman” and she felt a sense of accomplishment after. It should be everyone’s goal to be a God-fearing follower of Christ. Parents are a role model to their kids and it’s their responsibility to show them who God is. Proverbs 31:24-31 (NIV).

Ethan’s devotion: Tom was fighting a chronic illness and wanted to spend time with God, but he couldn’t find a way to position his body where it wasn’t painful for him. He fell to his knees in pain and that prayerful posture proved to lessen the agonizing ache. He felt comfort in the next mornings on his knees praying out to God. In painful and challenging times He helps us submit to His will and live out a prayer posture in our hearts, we can find comfort and peace in Him. 2 Chronicles 20:5-12 (NIV).

Just Pray!

On this beautiful Praise Thursday, we shared inspiring worship music, gave devotions, shared updates, and played a fun game of NTT! Check out our website wnzr.fm!

In the animated movie Toy Story, one character, a space ranger named Buzz Lightyear, shouts his signature catchphrase while flying about the bedroom: “To infinity and beyond! It’s a phrase that has confused many. Isn’t infinity as far as you can go? How can there be anything “beyond” infinity? Jesus seems to employ such exponential effort in the realm of forgiveness. When Peter asked Jesus about forgiving another person, “How many times must I forgive him . . . seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22 ncv). Jesus goes on to tell a parable comparing a merciful king and an unmerciful servant, making the point that when someone truly regrets their error, there is no limit to the number of times we’re to forgive. That’s why we constantly need to ask God for His help. Only in His strength can we do this. Forgiven people forgive people. To infinity and beyond!

If you want to read more click HERE!

I realized I neglected to ask god for help in this stressful time of working on a work project with an impossible deadline. So i prayed… and immediately felt better. nothing changed- the project was still challenging, but peace washed over me. Perhaps David felt the same way submitting his fears and worries to God. In Psalm 6, he starts off describing his anguish at being hounded by his enemies. He continued to turning to God for help, he felt reassured: “The Lord has heard my cry… the Lord accepts my prayer.” Prayer isn’t a feel-good technique, but it’s a direct connection with the all-seeing, all-powerful One who will help is in His time and way. Feeling discouraged or down? Just pray- God hears.

If you want to read more click HERE!

Congratulations to Dwight of Mount Vernon for guessing our Name That Tune correctly and taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica. This week’s Name That Tune was Seph Schlueter’s Running Back To You. Come back next week to win a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!

Cast your predictions for the Dove Awards and get registered to win a special Dove Award Nominee Prize Package featuring special gifts from 2025 Dove Award nominees!! Tell us who you think will win “Song of the year” and “Artist of the year” at the 56^th annual Dove Awards. Go online to www.wnzr.fm and click on the Dove Awards Prediction Prize Giveaway banner. Tonight at 11:59 is the deadline!!

Tune in tomorrow for The NZ Top 10!

– Ethan and Gabriella 🙂

October 9, 2025 0

Walk in the Light!!

Today on Praise Thursday, we gave wonderful devotions, had fun contests, and shared upcoming events at WNZR! Go to our website wnzr.fm!

Many of us as kids loved playing in the dark and Karen’s nieces were no different. They loved turning off the lights and makin scary faces when they turned the lights off. In his letter to the early believers in Jesus, the apostle John talked about choosing to walk in a different kind of darkness. First John 1:6 refers to sin as “darkness.” Walking in darkness isn’t a momentary lapse but a choice to keep engaging in wrong doing. John reminds us that our holy God “is light” and “in him there is no darkness” (V.5). If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. Only when we live in full obedience to God can we enjoy the full blessing of relationship with Him and to with other believers.

If you want to read more of our devotionals click HERE!

We did another Mark Schultz giveaway! Win tickets for “an evening with Mark Schultz”, this Saturday October 4th! Be caller #3 when you hear the Mark Shultz music montage. Tomorrow during Congratulations to Ebony of Mount Vernon, Kari of Newark, and Nina of Mount Vernon for winning tickets to “an evening with Mark Schultz” this Saturday in the chapel!

Tune in next Thursday for a chance to win a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Guess the song title and the artist correctly for Name That Tune and you will win!

Tune in tomorrow for The NZ Top 10!

– Ethan and Gabriella 🙂

October 2, 2025 0

Lamenting To God!

On this stressful and heartbreaking anniversary, we took a step back to read devotions from Our Daily Bread Ministries!

Here’s our devotional we talked about for Praise Thursday!

“See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed.” Lamentations 1:20

“I viewed the opening displays of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City with curiosity but kept my emotions in check. That changed when we entered the inner exhibit, which the curators have wisely closed off from children and those wanting to shield themselves from the more heartrending images. As I encountered story after story of heartbreak and loss, waves of lament rose within me. This kind of honest crying out to God can help us to grapple with painful atrocities such as what happened on September 11, 2001, or other current-day evil deeds. We look to God for help, hope, comfort, and justice.”– Our Daily Bread.

Reflect: When you witness wickedness, how do you keep your heart tender before God? How might He lead you to pray for those who are hurting today?

You can read more about what we talked about HERE!

Today we played a 15 second clip of a song that we listened to on The Afternoon Drive for Name That Tune!

Come back next week for Name That Tune for a chance to win two $5 gift cards to Watts restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow as we introduce a new song and this week’s count down for The NZ Top 10.

Thank you so much for listening!!

-Gabriella and Ethan 🙂

September 11, 2025 0

An Eternal Hope And Joy!

We took some moments to take a step back and breathe for Praise Thursday on The Afternoon Drive. We read devotionals from Our Daily Bread Ministries!

Here is the devotional we read and talked about today!

The author of the devo we read today talked about how she and her friends tried to go to a restaurant, but had to go back because it was full. Disappointments like that will happen in this life, but even in situations when we feel upset or down, we can take heart knowing that in the end, it is just temporary. As believers and followers of Jesus and our sights set on Heaven, we can sit on the edge of our seat every day, awaiting what God has for us in His plan, and not worry if Heaven will be too full for us. There is room for everyone who says yes to Jesus!

In Revelation 21:2, John saw “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” which shone of God’s glory. As believers and followers of Jesus, we know that in “the new Jerusalem”, there will be no more fear, sorrow, pain, or sin! Our hope is sealed in the fact that Jesus paid our debts and sins on the cross once and for all, and that His resurrection from death shows that we are not in our sins and that are hope is not empty! In the end, Jesus has already won!

You can read more about the devo we read today by clicking HERE!

Today we played a 20 second clip of a song we listened to on The Afternoon Drive for Name That Tune!

This Week’s Name That Tune song was “If I Got Jesus” from Ben Fuller!

Congratulations to Chris from Gambier for calling in and correctly guessing the song title and artist, taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow on Friday as we check out a new song being introduced to WNZR and this week’s countdown for The NZ Top 10!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Ethan Hershberger

August 28, 2025 0

Driving Notes

The Official Blog of WNZR's Afternoon Drive

Category

Devotionals Out Of God’s Word!!

It Takes TWO!!

Live with Full Faith!?!

Truly Trust in God’s Path!!

Your Heart Belongs to God!!

Just Pray!

Walk in the Light!!

Lamenting To God!

An Eternal Hope And Joy!