Tears and Laughter
Last year at a retreat I reconnected with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I laughed with them as we enjoyed the reunion, but I also cried because I knew how much I had missed them.
On the last day of our time together we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. More smiles and tears! I rejoiced over the grace of God, who had given me eternal life and these beautiful days with my friends. But again I cried as I was sobered by what it had cost Jesus to deliver me from my sin.
I thought about Ezra and that…
Safety Net
For years I thought of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) as a blueprint for human behavior, a standard no one could possibly meet. How could I have missed the true meaning? Jesus spoke these words not to encumber us, but to tell us what God is like.
Why should we love our enemies? Because our merciful Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. Why store up treasures in heaven? Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us. Why live without fear and worry? Because the same God who clothes the lilies and…
Is your life characterized by gratitude?
No one likes a whiner, we’d much rather hang around someone who is grateful! Today on Discover the Word, the group meets us where we all live, asking the question that convicts us all: “Is your life characterized more by gratitude or complaining?” Be listening on Discover the Word!
Our New Name
She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the crucible of unwanted heartache.
In Jesus’ letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord…
The need to be rooted as we walk out our faith
“Let’s burn that bridge when we come to it.” That’s what’s known as a mixed metaphor. It doesn’t make sense! Today on Discover the Word, we will talk about a mixed metaphor in the Bible. Like the need to be rooted, as we walk out our faith while standing on a firm foundation. Join the group […]
What Really Matters
Two men sat down to review their business trip and its results. One said he thought the trip had been worthwhile because some meaningful new relationships had begun through their business contacts. The other said, “Relationships are fine, but selling is what matters most.” Obviously they had very different agendas.
It is all too easy—whether in business, family, or church—to view others from the perspective of how they can benefit us. We value them for what we can get from them, rather than focusing on how we can serve them in Jesus’ name. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote,…
I was a teen. My parents had split recently. My father drank a lot and would come home after the bars closed and make me get up just so he had someone to push around. I had an older brother that took his frustrations out on me also. Mom was in a far away state, unreachable. My room was in the basement. When the lights went out, it was so dark you could not see your hand in front of your face. It was not only dark in my room, but in my heart. I felt hopeless and considered suicide. I had been to church in the past with my family when i was small and again in Jr. High with friends, but did not know Christ at all. All i understood was that God was everything. One night as i lay in bed, drifting off, i was aware that i was walking down a path in the dark. I could not see a thing but somehow i knew exactly where to put my feet. I walked only a short distance and then a blinding light shone and i heard two words only. "I'm here". I woke up crying because i knew, without a doubt, i was not alone and never would be. God came to me when i wasn't even looking, and told me He was there and always has been and always will be. My heart was filled and remains that way today, 35 years later. I have not one doubt that my Father in heaven has seen me through every second of every day of my life.
Grace: Accepting God’s Gift to You
Ephesians 2 uses the phrase “dead in your sins.” But what does that really mean? Dead means lifeless, powerless, inanimate. It means we were incapable of doing anything to change our situation. But God is loving and merciful, and He chose to give us new life. That’s the beauty of His grace—we’ve done nothing to […]
Keep walking
The Bible is filled with analogies that use “walking” as a word picture. Whether it’s walking in wisdom, walking in the spirit, or walking in the light, it seems like that kind of movement is key. Because faith is never static! Today on Discover the Word, we reveal how a spiritually healthy Christian keeps walking! That’s […]
I don't know when or how it happened, but somewhere along life's journey, I stopped believing in myself. I stopped believing in myself, and almost gave up on myself. I stopped believing that my skills and abilities were enough. I stopped believing that I'm capable of, worthy, and destined for greatness. I'm almost too ashamed and embarassed to write this, but if someone would've told me last week that I didn't believe in myself, I would've been puzzled. I have confidence, ambitions, and a moderate level of self-esteem. I guess I thought that was enough.
Yet, recently a friend of mine pointed out to me that it wasn't, and never would be. I was stunned that she could see through my smile to my hidden pain. I was surprised that she could hear me crying out for help underneath my positive voice and cheery disposition. I've felt abandoned, ignored, and invisible for years to certain people. However, she made me realize something: Many people in your life may give up on you, but you musn't EVER give up on yourself, even if they do.
Lord, I'm having a hard time believing in myself with all these negative people and circumstances surrounding me. Lord, I want to give up on myself and wallow in self-pity because of the negative environment I live in. Lord, help me to never stop believing in myself.
Better By Far
A siren wailed outside a little boy’s house. Unfamiliar with the sound, he asked his mother what it was. She explained that it was meant to alert people of a dangerous storm. She said that if people did not take cover, they might die as a result of the tornado. The boy replied, “Mommy, why is that a bad thing? If we die, don’t we meet Jesus?”
Little children don’t always understand what it means to die. But Paul, who had a lifetime of experience, wrote something similar: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by…
I was raised Catholic but I thought of God only as angry about how I was living. I never thought of Jesus. At 24 I had already attempted suicide and believed that I had irrevocably damaged my brain with drugs. I had hit bottom.
I visited my brother John in Albuquerque in August of 1975 and heard the Gospel at many places he took me. One night he asked me several questions and said “Frank, praise the Lord, I think you’ve just been saved.” He had been very kind and I didn’t want to offend him, so I decided to check this out for myself and began reading the bible. Shortly after that I felt a thought welling up from deep inside me that I just had to express “John, I think I’m gonna get better.” That was the first positive thought I had had in a long time.
Today I am disabled but also blessed. I am able to see God’s help in my life every day. He isn’t finished with me yet.
11 years ago my husband left me (now my ex-husband) I did not know what to do, I was in a city that I was not familiar with, I was born in raise in Chicago, IL and he was raised in Detroit, MI and we had moved to Detroit two years before he left me. I had a job but I could not get to it without a car, I had some girls I worked with that would pick me up. I needed to move back to Chicago but, I did not know what I was going to do because I needed a job. Two days after he left me, I talked to a lady who was my supervisor at my last job, (in Chicago) she told me that they had just hired three people and if I had of called her a week earlier she could give me a job, the next day she called me and told me that her manager told her that she could hire one more person and that if I wanted the job I could have it. I moved back to Chicago and I was working two weeks after I got back home. God was there for me and He also helped me to get over losing my husband. I could go on because there is so much more that He has done for me. I am so grateful for God.
Relationship is central to being rooted in Christ
Most of us have heard the statement that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship.” Well, today on Discover the Word, we will continue the series of conversations this week by talking about why we place such a high value in life on our relationships, and why relationship is at the center of this discussion of […]
“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar …” (Psalm 139:1-14).
On a recent visit to a friend’s workplace, I met a Security Officer who knew a lot about me. He knew my father and other relatives; he also knew where I was from and where I was presently living. How does it feel to be known by someone whom you do not know? Depending on the person, if it’s a stranger you may feel a bit exposed or uncomfortable. While if it by a certain caliber of people, such as the president of the United States or the Queen, you may feel real important.
Whoever it is, you may want to find out something about the person who knows you, to sort of level the ‘playing field’.
The One who is of the highest caliber knows everything about us, even before we were born (Jer. 1:5). O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar (Psalm 139:1-2).He knows our name, He knows us so well that even the very hairs upon our heads are numbered (Matt. 10:30).
Wouldn’t it be good to know something about Him? I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. (John 10:14). May we purpose in our hearts and start today by reading His words, talking to Him and developing a personal relationship with Him.
Prayer: Lord, thank you that even though You know everything about me, You still love me, help me to take the time to know You and to love you even more.
