Posts from 2021 (Page 12)

  DISCUSSION: In his book, Celebration of Discipline, minster Richard Foster tells the story of the first church that he worked with. He describes how for the first three months he was there, he worked and worked pouring out his soul into his ministry and at the end of the three months – there was barely any change. He attributed this to the fact that he and the church were spiritually bankrupt. There was a lack of deep spiritual growth…

  2 Corinthians 12:9,10 “……….Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distress for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Struggles are an essential part of our wellbeing. A young man decided that a struggling emperor moth needed help to get out of the cocoon.  He snipped off the end, making it easy for the moth to crawl out. He didn’t realize that the added struggle was necessary for the…

                                      Spend time alone with God’s Word.  Besides the spiritual growth we will gain from study, we will also come to know Him better.  Reading His word brings us in touch with Him.  Jesus tells us in John 14:7 – “If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also.”   Just studying the life of Jesus will help us…

                                                 Spend time communing with God through nature.  Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Observe the beauty in the world that God has made for us.  To see a glimpse of His power in the expanse of the ocean and its relentless waves that pound the seashore; to breath in the sweetness of the majestic mountains with…

                                                     Besides prayer, another way we can spend time alone with God is in meditation.  “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.”  (Psalms 4:4)  Meditation gives us opportunity to look into our lives and profit from our mistakes.  We can also reflect and meditate on all the things God has done for us.  Meditate on the…

                        In seeking God’s help, we need to spend time alone with God.  James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…”             Knowing God and being able to talk to Him will give meaning and purpose to our existence.  God truly loves us. (Romans 8:38-39)   He is always there, his hand outstretched, waiting for us to seek Him.  He has so much…

                                                          Self-acceptance and being accepted by others is vital to maintain our self-worth and a positive attitude.  While we know this is true, at times we still have feelings of little or no self-worth.  Studies have brought out that one step in developing one’s self-worth is the need to excel in something; to feel successful; to experience growth.  If a person stops growing, he begins to decline.  Often times, especially as we get older, we may feel that…

  While Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, you know He could hear them coming. In Matthew’s account he says that when they came, they brought with them a legion of soldiers, which could have amounted to six thousand men (Matthew 26.52-53). When they seize Jesus and I think we can use that word loosely, they “bound him” according to John 18.12, and they bound Him” as they sent Him to Caiaphas. Funny isn’t it? They are trying…

  At first it might seem that if God created all things, then evil must have been created by God. However, evil is not a “thing” like a rock or electricity. You cannot have a jar of evil. Evil has no existence of its own; it is really the absence of good. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole, but it cannot be separated from the dirt.…

  The Bible speaks a number of times regarding rejoicing. David once stated, “This is the day which the Lord has made ,” and then he added, “We will rejoice and be glad in it ” ( Psalm 118:24 ). Why isn’t that just as true today as the day David wrote it? A celebrated writer once wrote, “Every new day is a miracle.” The point: “the Lord did not owe us another day, but He gave it to us.”…

  Award winning, Western author and novelist, Stephen Bly, writes that in the days of America’s Old West, there were two types of friends — “runners” and “standers.” At the first sign of trouble, the runners would bolt, abandoning their so-called “friends” to whatever peril they were facing. The stander would stand beside their friend no matter what the circumstances. While awaiting death , some “friends” who had ministered with the apostle Paul , turned into runners and abandoned him…

  These verses and many others in the Bible teach us that Christians are to be loving, merciful, and self-sacrificing. As we see the needs of people all around us, our hearts should be full of compassion just as our Heavenly Father has compassion towards all people. “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” ( Psalm 145:9 ). It is right to have a heart that would continually give to others, and it…