Redeemed people are called to live in a manner that reflects God’s holy character. Nowhere is this more clearly spelled out than in Leviticus, Israel’s handbook for life: “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. . . . Thus you are to be holy to Me, for […]
Read MoreCategory Archives: Encouragement & Healing
God Doesn’t Waste Our Suffering
Suffering comes in all sorts of packages—physical, emotional, relational. No one is immune to the trials of life. With suffering come questions: How will this change my life? What happened to God’s plan for me? Can He still use me? When I was 15 months old, my body was continually covered with bruises. Doctors diagnosed […]
Read MoreEncouragement Takes the Sting Out of Life
All of us need encouragement. We need somebody to believe in us. To reassure and reinforce us. To help us pick up the pieces and go on. To fuel our flame of determination as we face the odds against us. I don’t care how influential, secure, or mature a person may appear to be, an […]
Read MoreDoes God Care about Our Suffering?
Agonizing in prayer over a difficult leader who was causing conflict in my church, I asked God to remove him and to protect my family and me. As senior pastor, I became the target for a few disgruntled people that this man had secretly poisoned against me. Eventually they demanded my resignation, threatening to disrupt […]
Read MoreDaily Tests
Mrs. Moses’s cookbook surely had a special section on “A Thousand-and-One Ways to Fix Manna.” Unless I miss my guess, she had tried them all . . . many times. What potatoes are to Ireland, apples are to Somerset, cod is to Grimsby, and porridge is to Scotland, manna was to the wandering Hebrews for […]
Read MoreThink Theologically, Not Logically
I confess to you, at times I doubt God’s purpose and promise. I say that to my own embarrassment. When things haven’t worked as I thought they would, when I received a no instead of a yes or a yes instead of a no, when I couldn’t unravel a situation and fit it with the […]
Read MoreWhy God Shakes Your Spiritual Tightrope
I can already tell the year 2014 will require me to have the skill of a tightrope walker to stay balanced. If you’re like me, sometimes it seems we barely keep steady on our spiritual tightrope . . . and then something—or someone—shakes the rope! Believe it or not, that someone shaking our rope is […]
Read MoreSanctity of Life
Just how widespread is the practice of abortion? Are we making much ado about nothing, or do we have a full-scale issue deserving of our immediate attention? To begin with, let’s understand that medical authorities determine a person to be “alive” if there is either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity. With that in mind, […]
Read MoreThe Benefits of Breakdowns
Who would’ve ever guessed it? Out of the blue came this nobody. He had spent his years away from the crowded streets of the city, working for his father in the quiet yet rugged outdoors. Had someone asked anybody in his day if they had ever heard of him, a blank stare and a quick […]
Read MoreThe Gift for the Person Who Has Everything
In our pocket of society where pampered affluence is rampant, we are often at a loss to know what kind of gifts to buy our friends and loved ones on special occasions. For some people (especially those who “have everything”), the standard gift won’t cut it. Nothing in the shopping mall catches our fancy. I […]
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