Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 Anxiety won’t relent, Augustine wrote, “until... Read more
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1: 2-4 In our suffering God is at work to give us something much better than what we want. He’s not content to dispense temporary relief, when eternal change is what we really need. In the... Read more
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 When Puritan writer, pastor, teacher, Jonathan Edwards, was a young man he wrote these resolutions. What a challenge and encouragement these have been to believers down through the ages. And each one is timeless and will effect us onto eternity. I have selected some of... Read more
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5: 13-15 Winning the war of words involves choosing our words carefully. It is not just about words we... Read more
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1: 16, 17 Colleen Chao writes in her thoughtfully and tenderly presented book, In the Hands of a Fiercely Tender God, that she has learned while battling terminal cancer that just as... Read more
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6: 14 To forgive the incessant provocations of daily life – to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son – how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand,... Read more
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37: 3-7 All of us desperately... Read more
I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me – God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Psalm 57: 2, 3, 7 Without Christ not one step, with Him anywhere. David Livingstone In my book, Joyous Faith: The Key to Aging with Resilience, I contemplate the hard issues of learning to... Read more
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20 He who has heard your prayers in the past will not refuse to supply your need in the present emergency. Arthur W. Pink in The Attributes of God Looking back, I still painfully recall specific parenting moments which bring a stab of pain and sorrow to me because of the... Read more
The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along that path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes along and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In