Tag Archives: Bible

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – Believe!

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Mark 11:24

A young boy who lived far away from his grandmother loved video games. His grandmother knew he loved to collect the different games and told him she would send him a special new game for his birthday. When his birthday came, there was no video game in the pile of gifts and no note from his grandmother saying she had changed her mind. When his friends asked him what he got for his birthday, he listed all the gifts he had opened and then he added, “And my grandma’s going to send me a new video game.”

His mother overheard him and asked him about it later, “The game from Grandma didn’t come,” she said. “Why did you tell your friends it was going to be here?”

“If Grandma said she would get it, she will. So it’s just the same as if I had it now.”

Days later when there still was no video game, he asked his mother, “Do you think it would do any good for me to email Grandma and ask her if it’s still coming?” His mother encouraged him to give it a try.

Grandma wrote back the same day she got her grandson’s message and said, “I haven’t forgotten your game. I have been looking everywhere trying to get exactly the one you wanted, but have not been able to find it. I’m sending you some money so you can buy it in Chicago. Would that be all right?”

This boy believed in his gift when he could not see it. He knew his grandmother would not let him down. She would keep her promise. That is what faith in God is all about. We know him and we know he will not fail us. We know he will keep his promises, and we live waiting for him to give us what we need.

Dear Lord, Help me to believe that you are at work even when I can’t see anything happening. I know you hear me when I pray. Thank you for listening. Amen.

 

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Getting to Know God

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Jeremiah 9:23-24

Today’s verses reveal that God wants us to know and understand Him (John 17:3). It doesn’t happen overnight, though—it’s a lifelong pursuit. My relationship with Him is becoming more exciting and satisfying as the years go by, but I still have more to discover about my Savior.

The Lord reveals Himself in His Word, so that’s where we should start. Our understanding of who God is should match what the Bible says about Him. Descriptions of His characteristics and methods are scattered throughout the Bible. As you read, look for His attributes, desires, and ways.

Try interacting with the Lord through prayer and meditation. Discuss with Him what you’ve learned, asking about anything you don’t understand. Also ask how to apply what He’s taught you. When you do these things, you’ll learn just how faithful He is—and that He’s your dearest friend.

Amazingly, the Creator and Ruler of the universe wants to spend time with you so that you can know Him better. It’s as if He is saying, “I want you all to Myself for a little while.” Take Him up on the invitation to get away to a quiet place and learn about Him.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 13-14

 

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Being Cared For

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Bible in a Year:

The Lord Almighty is with us.

Psalm 46:11

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Psalm 46

Debbie, the owner of a housecleaning service, was always searching for more clients to build up her business. On one call she talked with a woman whose response was, “I won’t be able to afford that now; I’m undergoing cancer treatment.” Right then Debbie decided that “no woman undergoing cancer treatment would ever be turned away. They would even be offered a free housecleaning service.” So in 2005 she started a nonprofit organization where companies donated their cleaning services to women battling cancer. One such woman felt a rush of confidence when she came home to a clean house. She said, “For the first time, I actually believed I could beat cancer.”

A feeling of being cared for and supported can help sustain us when we’re facing a challenge. An awareness of God’s presence and support can especially bring hope to encourage our spirit. Psalm 46, a favorite of many people going through trials, reminds us: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” and “Be still, and know that I am God; . . . I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us” (vv. 1, 10–11).

Reminding ourselves of God’s promises and His presence with us can be a means to help renew our hearts and give us the courage and confidence to go through hard times.

By:  Anne Cetas

 

 

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – It’s Never Too Late

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Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves courageously for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight. — 1 Chronicles 19:13 (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource The Power of Being Thankful – by Joyce Meyer

Are you doing what you really believe you should be doing at this stage in your life? Or have you allowed fear to keep you from stepping out into new things—or maybe higher levels of old things? If you don’t like your answer, I have good news for you: It is never too late to begin again!

Thankfully, you don’t have to spend one more day living a narrow, closed-in life that is controlled by your fears. You can make a decision right now to begin learning to live boldly, aggressively, and confidently. Because Jesus paid for your freedom, you don’t have to let fear rule you any longer! It’s important to be intentional about overcoming fear—don’t just sit around, waiting for it to go away. There will be times when you’ll have to move forward even when you feel afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is action in the presence of fear.

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for making a way for me to live free from fear! Please fill me with Your strength and boldness to begin doing it afraid today. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Source of Joy 

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“So you became our followers and the Lord’s; for you received our message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the trials and sorrows it brought you” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

Mary was so radiant it was as though she had swallowed a light bulb. Wherever she went, there was the radiance of the Lord’s presence about her. She literally bubbled over with joy, and whenever she talked about the Lord her words came so quickly they practically tumbled over each other. She was an exciting, contagious person to be around, and many nonbelievers inquired of her, “Why are you so happy? What makes you so different?”

To which, of course, she would always respond by telling them about our wonderful Lord and how He had filled her heart with His joy.

The verse for today clearly indicates that joy comes from the Holy Spirit, who came into this world to glorify Christ. We are told in Galatians also that the fruit of the Spirit is joy, among other things.

When we are filled with the Spirit and thus growing in the fruit of the Spirit – which includes joy – then we will express that joy by singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. A happy heart inevitably will be reflected in a joyful countenance.

“I presume everybody has known someone whose life was just radiant,” R. A. Torrey said. “Joy beamed out of their eyes; joy bubbled over their lips; joy seemed to fairly run from their fingertips. The gladdest thing on earth is to have a real God.”

In the words of an unknown poet:

“If you live close to God and His infinite grace,
You don’t have to tell; it shows on your face.”

Bible Reading: Nehemiah 8:9-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  I will not expect to find joy in things, or even in other people primarily, but rather in the source of all joy – God’s Holy Spirit. With His help, I will share His supernatural joy wherever I go.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Jesus Is Alive and Active

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Hebrews 10:10-14

Have you ever wondered what Jesus is doing, now that He’s in heaven? Today’s passage tells us that He is sitting at God’s right hand. It might make us wonder what He’s doing up there. Is He simply waiting for the time when He comes back to earth? No! He’s actually quite active on our behalf.

First, the Lord Jesus is within every believer, in the person of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; Rom. 8:9-10). This means that from heaven, Christ is working to shape your character and empower your obedience.

Second, the Lord intercedes for us (Heb. 7:25). He makes requests on our behalf and brings our prayers to the Father.

Third, we see in 1 John 2:1-2 that Jesus is our Advocate when we sin. Positioned between us and the Father, He declares our righteous standing because of His sacrifice and our faith in Him.

Finally, Christ is preparing a place for us in heaven (John 14:1-3) and arranging all events necessary for His return.

Jesus is in heaven carrying out the Father’s will. And we should be doing the same thing here on earth. The Lord can save others through us when we reflect His life in our work, attitudes, words, and behavior. Let us, Christ’s body—His eyes, ears, voice, feet, and hands—point others to Him.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 10-12

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Able to Help

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Bible in a Year:

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:18

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Hebrews 2:14–18

Joe’s eight-week “break” from his job as a crisis care worker at a New York City church was not a vacation. In his words, it was “to live again among the homeless, to become one of them, to remember what hungry, tired, and forgotten feel like.” Joe’s first stint on the streets had come nine years earlier when he arrived from Pittsburgh without a job or a place to stay. For thirteen days he lived on the streets with little food or sleep. That’s how God had prepared him for decades of ministry to needy people.

When Jesus came to earth, He also chose to share the experiences of those He came to save. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). From birth to death, nothing was missing from Christ’s human experience—except sin (4:15). Because He conquered sin, He can help us when we’re tempted to sin.

And Jesus doesn’t need to reacquaint Himself with our earthly cares. The One who saves us remains connected to us and is deeply interested in us. Whatever life brings, we can be assured that the One who rescued us from our greatest foe, the devil (2:14), stands ready to help us in our times of greatest need.

By:  Arthur Jackson

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – This Bright Mystery

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The question at the time caught me off guard. As a student of theology and religion, I was used to being asked to defend and explain my theology, but this was something different. I had been talking to someone about some old fears, a battle with disordered eating and a hauntingly skewed image of body. I was explaining that what had helped me to move past some of these fears was a faith that gave me hope in a world far beyond them, where wounds would one day be healed and tears would be no more. His response pulled me down from my seemingly hopeful, ascended place. “What is your theology of the body?” he asked. “How does God speak to your physical existence right now?” I didn’t know how to respond. How had my body accompanied me in life and faith? I wasn’t quite sure that it had.

The physical isn’t a matter the spiritual always consider. But for the Christian, they are severely and mercifully united and there is a world of hope in the considering. What does it mean that Christ came in the flesh, with sinew and marrow? What does it mean that the terrible events of Holy Week just upon us were enacted in a body? What does it mean that the quickly spreading claims of resurrection did not take the easier route and claim that Jesus was simply spiritually risen from dead? They ate and drank with him. They touched his fatal wounds. They insisted that Jesus came back from the horrors of the cross in a resurrected body.

What does it meant that Christians claim that Jesus is the vicariously human, risen Son of God, a corporal being who now sits at the right hand of the Father? What does Christ’s wounded and resurrected body have to do with our own today? These are the questions the church holds physically and attentively close, though the modern divorce of the spiritual and the physical, heaven and earth, what is now and what will be, has made them difficult questions to consider. Now more than ever, nonetheless, these are ideas worth re-examining.

For among religions, it is a most unique hope: God in a body. God in a risen body. The distinctive promise of the Christian is union with none other than this human Christ himself. In faith and by the Spirit, we are united to the same body that was on the cross and was in the tomb, that ate with friends and walked with the unwanted—both before and after his own death. We are united with a body that was wounded and humiliated, dead and buried, a body that is very much a human and physical promise that we no longer need to fear death. Of its theology of the body, the New Testament is very clear: “Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”(1)

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – This Bright Mystery →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Stop the Racing Thoughts

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But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. — 1 Corinthians 2:16b (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource Battlefield of the Mind – by Joyce Meyer

I reached the curb in front of the airport, where my friend was coming to pick me up. I was calm and relaxed and thought of the great conversation we would have. To my surprise, she wasn’t there yet, which was odd because she’s the kind of person who’s never late for anything. I spotted what I thought was her car and took a step forward, but the car went past me, and there was a stranger in it.

Not more than three minutes had passed, but I realized I was now anxious and worried. What had happened to her? Had she been in an accident? Did she forget me? From peace to anxiety in less than three minutes, and nothing had changed—nothing except my mind. Worried thoughts were racing inside me.

I pulled out my cell phone and started to dial her number, then I heard a car honking and saw her pull up to the curb. My mind shifted back to calmness, and even joy as we started catching up. How quickly my emotions had swayed back and forth in those few minutes!

Sometimes I find it incredibly easy to hear God speak and to believe Him, and other times, worry and anxiety make it extremely hard to hear His voice. The Bible says we are to walk by faith and not by sight, but that day at the airport, I was definitely being led by what I saw. When we worry, we’re not walking in faith or trusting God.

For many years, I had a critical, suspicious, and judgmental mind. That may seem normal for many nonbelievers, but I was a Christian. I was operating with the same mindset that I’d had for years, because it was normal to me—I had no idea that my wrong thinking was causing any problems.

Since no one had taught me otherwise, I didn’t know I could do anything to change my thought life. No one had told me that God had provided a new way for us to do life by renewing our minds (see Romans 12:2).

One day I read 1 Corinthians 2:16, where Paul says we have the mind of Christ. What could he have meant? I pondered that verse for days. I eventually realized that having the mind of Christ doesn’t mean we’re sinless or perfect, but it means that we begin to think the way He thinks. Because we have His mind, we think on things that are good and honorable and loving. We can defeat Satan’s attacks by thinking and speaking God’s thoughts.

Prayer Starter: Father, I want to live with the mind of Christ. Please help me today to think kind, loving thoughts about myself and about others. Thank You for being faithful to remind me in each moment of what to focus on. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Listens and Answers 

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“Mark this well: The Lord has set apart the redeemed for himself. Therefore He will listen to me and answer when I call to Him” (Psalm 4:3).

My 93-year-old mother has known and walked with the Lord since she was 16. In all the years that I have known her, now more than 60, I have never known her to say an unkind or critical word or do anything that would be contrary to her commitment to Christ, made as a teenage girl.

Hers has been a life of prayer, study of God’s Word and worship of Him. The radiance and joy of her godly life has inspired not only her husband and seven children, but also scores of grandchildren and great and great-great grandchildren, and thousands of neighbors and friends.

A few days ago I invited her – for the hundredth time, at least – to come and live with us, knowing that all the rest of the children have made similar invitations. She responded, “No, I prefer to live alone. But I am not really alone, for the Lord Jesus is with me, comforting me, giving me His peace and assurance that He will take care of me.”

So she spends her days in prayer, in study of the Word and in being a blessing to all who enter her home, as the love of God flows through her. Only eternity will record the multitudes of lives that have been transformed through her godly example and her dedicated prayers of intercession.

Surely every Christian needs a daily engagement – with priority claim over everything else – to meet the Lord in the secret place if his life is to be a benediction to others.

Bible Reading: Psalm 5:1-7

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  I recognize that if I am going to live a supernatural life, I must set aside time which will take priority over every other consideration. Only a genuine emergency will take precedence over such an engagement of prayer, study of God’s Word, worship and praise of my wonderful Lord.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Let Your Gentleness Be Evident to All

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:5-6).

The Greek word translated here as “gentleness” describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature.  It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered.  This gentleness is “evident to all.”  Family members take note.  Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.

The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking.  The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others, “God is in control.”  Pursue this gentleness.  The Lord is near—you are not alone.  You may feel alone.  You may think you’re alone.  But there is never a moment in which you face life without help.  God is near—be anxious for nothing!

Read more Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

 

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Denison Forum – My favorite coronavirus humor: Finding ‘signals of transcendence’ in a pandemic

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President Trump announced yesterday the White House’s three-phase plan for easing social distancing measures, a subject I intend to discuss in this afternoon’s Special Edition. For this morning, however, let’s shift from news about the coronavirus pandemic to focus on a surprising way to respond to news about the pandemic.

I’m reading Edward Achorn’s Every Drop of Blood, which masterfully sets Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address in its historical context. I have long been a student of Civil War history, but I did not realize the depth of personal rejection and suffering our sixteenth president endured as he tried to lead the nation through her most perilous days.

And yet, Lincoln was famous during the war for his quips and down-home humor. He would often respond to criticism and anger with a story that changed the entire tone of the moment. He once explained his strategy: “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”

On another occasion Lincoln said he felt “like the boy that stumped his toe: it hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too big to cry.” He summarized his spirit in crisis this way: “I laugh because I must not cry.”

“The world has turned upside down” 

Now let’s try an experiment. A dear friend sent me some “humor while in quarantine” yesterday:

  • “Quarantine has turned us into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told ‘no’ if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides.”
  • “The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house, and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors.”
  • “2019: Stay away from negative people. 2020: Stay away from positive people.”
  • “Tomorrow is the National Homeschool Tornado Drill. Lock your kids in the basement until you give the all clear. You’re welcome!”
  • “Day seven at home and the dog is looking at me like, ‘See? This is why I chew the furniture!'”

Continue reading Denison Forum – My favorite coronavirus humor: Finding ‘signals of transcendence’ in a pandemic →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Standing on Your Convictions

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2 Timothy 3:1-17

When we watch the news, whether domestic or international, we can sometimes detect initiatives to bring down the Christian faith. The church is constantly under attack by the enemy, who influences the world to fight against our beliefs. Therefore, we must be willing to stand for our biblical convictions.

Ideological threats are a very real part of the arsenal used against Christians. As believers, we are under the guidance of Jesus Christ, and the way we fight is not with physical weapons but with the Word of God. We are His representatives, and there isn’t room for compromise with a self-indulgent culture. Instead, we should live in obedience to God and His Word. Therefore, we must be careful not to get caught up in the widely accepted values of our culture and those around us.

We need to remain strong regarding God’s truth. Then we’ll know what’s true and what’s not and be willing to take a stand for Him, regardless of the consequences. Genuine convictions are unaffected by the times, the values of the culture, or the popularity of current ideas. Christian beliefs aren’t always popular, and defending them can be uncomfortable. But remember that the Lord promises to be with us.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 8-9

 

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Hungry for God

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Bible in a Year:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.

Jeremiah 15:16

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Jeremiah 15:15–21

A new believer in Jesus was desperate to read the Bible. However, he’d lost his eyesight and both hands in an explosion. When he heard about a woman who read Braille with her lips, he tried to do the same—only to discover that the nerve endings of his lips had also been destroyed. Later, he was filled with joy when he discovered that he could feel the Braille characters with his tongue! He had found a way to read and enjoy the Scriptures.

Joy and delight were the emotions the prophet Jeremiah experienced when he received God’s words. “When your words came, I ate them,” he said, “they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16). Unlike the people of Judah who despised His words (8:9), Jeremiah had been obedient and rejoiced in them. His obedience, however, also led to the prophet being rejected by his own people and persecuted unfairly (15:17).

Some of us may have experienced something similar. We once read the Bible with joy, but obedience to God led to suffering and rejection from others. Like Jeremiah, we can bring our confusion to God. He answered Jeremiah by repeating the promise He gave him when He first called him to be a prophet (vv. 19-21; see 1:18–19). God reminded him that He never lets His people down. We can have this same confidence too. He’s faithful and will never abandon us.

By:  Poh Fang Chia

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Messianic Images

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When considering the Christian message, it is important to remember that the disciples of Jesus were totally surprised by the events that took place in Jerusalem. After the crucifixion of Jesus, the apostles rightfully believed that all was lost.

Though some have argued that the disciples merely refused to accept failure after Jesus’s death and made up the story of the resurrection, a crucified and risen Messiah simply did not fit into Jewish expectations for the one who was to come. Though there was no single understanding of what the Messiah would be like, there were common elements that every Jew would have assumed within their messianic expectations.

First, the Messiah was closely linked to Jewish beliefs regarding the place of worship. He was to institute a renewal of the temple in Jerusalem. It was also commonly understood that the Messiah would be a royal military leader who would overthrow Israel’s enemies and prove his lordship through conquest. Jesus clearly did neither of these things; rather, he came in peace and died in his youth like a criminal. Why, then, would his followers maintain that he was the Messiah? Why did they not just cut their losses after his death and move on?

New Testament scholar N.T. Wright explains:

“There were, to be sure, ways of coping with the death of a teacher, or even a leader. The picture of Socrates was available, in the wider world, as a model of unjust death nobly borne. The category of ‘martyr’ was available, within Judaism, for someone who stood up to pagans… The category of failed but still revered Messiah, however, did not exist. A Messiah who died at the hands of the pagans, instead of winning [God’s] battle against them, was a deceiver… Why then did people go on talking about Jesus of Nazareth, except as a remarkable but tragic memory? The obvious answer is that… Jesus was raised from the dead.”(1)

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Messianic Images →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Follow God, Not People

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And yet [in spite of all this] many even of the leading men (the authorities and the nobles) believed and trusted in Him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that [if they should acknowledge Him] they would be expelled from the synagogue. — John 12:42 (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource My Time with God – by Joyce Meyer

The Bible teaches us in John 12:42-43 that many leading Jewish men believed in Jesus, but they wouldn’t admit it out of fear that they would be expelled from the synagogue.

…They loved the approval and the praise and the glory that come from men [instead of and] more than the glory that comes from God… (v. 43, AMPC).

In this example, we see that several people were kept from knowing Jesus because they were addicted to approval. Although they wanted a relationship with the Lord, they loved the approval of man more. This is a heartbreaking situation, and one that’s still happening today.

The people mentioned in John 12 knew that Jesus was real—they believed in Him—but the love of approval wouldn’t allow them to have a true relationship with Him. I wonder how their lives turned out. What did they miss because they said yes to people and no to God? I wonder how many of them were never mentioned in the Bible again. Did they fade into oblivion and never fulfill their destiny?

Thank God their story doesn’t have to be ours! When we follow God, not people, we’ll be able to live at peace and carry out the amazing purpose He has for each of our lives.

Prayer Starter: Father, please give me the wisdom to recognize where people’s approval is motivating my decisions, and the strength to start living to please You first. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – A Healthy, Growing Body 

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“Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times – speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly – and so become more and more in every way like Christ who is the Head of His body, the church. Under His direction the whole body is fitted together perfectly, and each part in its own special way helps the other parts, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

I am concerned, as you no doubt are, that God’s ideal church, in which the whole body is fitted together perfectly, becomes a reality. And if that is to happen, it will mean that I must become a part of that perfect fit.

Within the body of Christ, each of us has a unique function. True, two people might have similar functions just as a body has two hands that function similarly. But those two hands are not identical. Just try to wear a lefthand glove on your right hand!

The hands have similar functions, not identical functions. You and I might have similar abilities, but we are not identical. We are unique creations of God.

Therefore, we should not look upon our abilities with pride or be boastful of them. On the other hand, we should not be envious or look with disdain on others because of their different abilities.

Spiritual gifts include (1 Corinthians 12): wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostleship, teaching, helping, and administration; (Romans 12, additional): leadership, exhortation, giving and mercy.

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:7-14

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  So that I might fit more perfectly into God’s whole body, I will prayerfully seek the leadership of the Holy Spirit to enable me to make a maximum contribution to the body of Christ.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – It Is Well

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

Sometime ago I made a special visit to the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem.  I wanted to see the handwritten lyrics that hang on the wall, framed and visible for all to see.  Horatio Spafford wrote them, never imagining they would become the words to one of the world’s best-loved hymns.

On December 2, 1873, he received a telegram from his wife that began, “Saved alone.  What shall I do?”  The ship she was on had collided with another ship and had sunk.  Their four daughters drowned and Anna survived.  While sailing on the ship to bring her home, Spafford wrote the lyrics to a song that would become an anthem to the providence of God.  “Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say. . .it is well with my soul!”

 

Read more Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

 

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Denison Forum – Dr. Fauci on how to bring back sports: The path to God’s ‘perfect peace’

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Dr. Anthony Fauci is not only America’s top infectious disease doctor, he has also become one of the most trusted people in the US. So, when he suggested a way to bring back sports during the coronavirus pandemic, his opinion made national news.

“There’s a way of doing that,” he said in an interview. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [athletes] in big hotels, wherever you want to play. Keep them very well surveilled . . . and have them tested like every week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family and just let them play the season out.”

Of course, some will complain that sports without spectators is not sports. Dr. Fauci disagrees: “I think you’ll probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game. Particularly me. I’m living in Washington—we have the world champion in the Washington Nationals. I want to see them play again.”

The latest on when we’ll have a vaccine 

As the coronavirus pandemic passed two million cases yesterday, Dr. Fauci’s comments point to one aspect of the topic on everyone’s mind these days: How do we return to “normal,” whatever that looks like?

President Trump said this week he is close to completing a plan to end the COVID-19 shutdown and reopen the battered US economy. He believes that some parts of the country may be ready to go before May 1.

According to the president, roughly twenty states have avoided the crippling outbreaks that affected others and could be opened “very quickly.” He plans to work with the various governors to implement “a very powerful reopening plan” at a specific time and date for each state.

For instance, the Texas governor announced that he will release details Friday on his plan to jumpstart his state’s economy. By contrast, California’s governor expects to ban mass gatherings of hundreds or thousands of people in his state at least through summer.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Dr. Fauci on how to bring back sports: The path to God’s ‘perfect peace’ →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Danger of a Hardening Heart

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Psalm 95:1-11

Most of us struggle with a hardened or apathetic heart from time to time, but there is an antidote: recognizing God at work and giving Him thanks.

This recipe for a tender heart was ignored in Exodus when Israel came to Rephidim and complained about the lack of water. They had just experienced the miracle of the manna and its comforting reminder that God was with them. A few days later, however, they were asking, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Ex. 17:7). Had they remembered God’s provision with the manna and expressed gratitude, they could have trusted in Him once more and held out hope for a water supply.

Another time, when God told Moses to speak before Pharaoh and display miraculous signs, the Egyptian ruler chose to ignore the obvious. Even his own magicians could see what was happening. They finally came to their senses, acknowledged God’s work and said, “This is the finger of God” (Ex. 8:19).

God speaks to us, but we won’t know that if we have a hardened heart. Are we listening? Are we giving thanks? Take a moment to reflect on the state of your heart, and trust where the Holy Spirit directs you.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 6-7

 

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