“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6, NKJV) The holiday season is upon us, and many of you may already be planning your menu. Perhaps you are a traditionalist and serve the same family classics each year. Or maybe you are…
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). When I opened my mailbox one afternoon, a mysterious envelope lay inside. There was no stamp, no return address, in fact no address of any sort. Across the face of the…
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3, ESV) Have you ever noticed how easily children make friends? Take one…
“Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Unfortunately, this childish chant is not true. Our words have power: power to hurt, power to heal. To understand this power,…
“Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” (Deuteronomy 7:9, NLT) Love. We talk about it, write poems and novels about it,…
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10, ESV) The apostle Paul viewed life in very straightforward terms. We have a choice…
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him . ” (Psalm 37:7, ESV) Are you a good listener? Sometimes we mistake hearing as being the same as listening. We may use the words interchangeably, but there is a difference. Hearing is the perception of sound. Listening involves understanding the…
“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:37-38, NKJV) Have you ever passed a door that read “Authorized Personnel Only” and you wanted to open it to see what’s inside?…
For which I [Paul] suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. (II Timothy 2:9, NKJV) The apostle Paul sat in a prison cell, and not for the first time. As he penned a letter to Timothy, his beloved friend…