In the classic book “Pilgrim’s Progress” the author John Bunyan wrote, “And Patience was willing to wait.”1 One of the most important aspects of divine guidance is the principle of waiting upon the Lord. In the Psalms, Proverbs, and many other books of the Bible, we...
In 2018, the US National Spelling Bee was won by Karthik Nemmani, an eighth grader from McKinney, Texas, who correctly spelled “koinonia.” Koinonia is a word that has been transliterated into our English language from the original Greek. It means...
Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers…we therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth. 3 John 1:5-8 In the New Testament, we often admire apostles like Peter for his preaching, Paul for his...
In ancient times the narrow Gaza Strip, measuring 140 square miles, was given the name Philistia by the Greeks. The Philistines were an aggressive, warlike “Sea People” who arrived on the southern shores of the Mediterranean from Crete in about 1208 B.C. After an...
In bringing Israel across the Jordan, the Lord taught them that He was with them as He was in previous generations. They could with confidence know He was the living God and could confidently go forward with Him in faith (Josh. 3:10; 4:21-24). Have you gone forward...
The stadium was packed, everyone was on their feet, the shouting in the stands drowning out the sound of an airline jet passing overhead. The fans were going crazy as the two teams battled in the last few minutes of the game. It was the Super Bowl and both teams were...
A suitable outline for Psalm 73 is:An outward look (vv.4-11)An inward look (vv.2-3,14-16)An upward look (vv.17-20)A forward look (vv.21-28) Doctrinally Asaph had sound theology as seen in his statement “truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.” This...
Daniel was a remarkable man who possessed enormous ability and rose to a position of great importance. He had arrived in Babylon as a captive from his home city of Jerusalem and never returned. From that destitute position he became the administrator of the greatest...
A Glance at Current Events As we look at the world around us, many believers feel that the return of the Lord Jesus is near at hand. Only the Father knows the day of Christ’s return and we have no way of predicting when it may occur. We refer to the “imminent return”...
God’s People in the Age of Entitlement Just as history has termed the 17th century “The Age of Enlightenment,” the times of Malachi may accurately be called “The Age of Entitlement.” As if casting a shadow into the distant future, the attitudes rampant in Malachi’s...
I recently suffered a sports injury that acutely drove home a spiritual truth to me. After tearing the anterior ligament on my right ankle, I learned, very painfully, the truth that we are all members of one body, and that each member has a vital role to play. In the...
If we want our assemblies to be alive, our worship must be alive, and in turn, so must our music. Many will agree that music reaches and expresses our deepest feelings more powerfully than words alone. Our worship is redeemed man’s loving and living response to God,...
Having a close friend is priceless. It is even better when there is a friendly family where you can rest, relax, and enjoy times of laughter, or counsel together about the problems and difficulties that always seem to come into our lives. The Lord Jesus had such a...
There is a well-known Christian poem called “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” also sometimes called “The Old Violin,” written by Myra Brooks Welch in 1921. This poem describes the story of an old, unwanted violin that was about to be sold for a pittance as the...
Life!... Life is hard. Living life with the attitudes and ideologies of society is hard. And then there are the day-to-day events that seem to weigh us down and make us wonder if God is truly present in our daily struggles. You know what these weights can be:...
Our Father, we recognize before You that we need You to teach us to pray. We would like to excel as people who pray. Thank You for Your Scriptures that give us such rich motivating truths about prayer. Please grant that these divine realities would reach our hearts by...
If Paul the apostle was on a construction site today, we would easily recognize him because he would be wearing the white hard hat. As the wise master builder (1 Cor. 3:10) he took great delight in recruiting others to the project, as those who could be laborers...
The time had come for leadership transition. As death neared, Moses made a plea that God would give His people a godly, qualified leader who would lead them with courage. Obviously, Moses could not be with the children of Israel forever. Moses longed for the right...
Suffering is God’s scholarship grant endowed to the believer for the school of life. Philippians 1:29 says, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”1 The word “granted” (G5483) means to show...
The word translated “overcome” (nikao, G3528) derives from the word “victory” (nike, G3529). It means “to conquer, to get the victory, to prevail.”1 Therefore, overcomers are victorious. But how and over what? Prior to the cross, knowing He would ultimately...