Ministry > Our Daily Bread
Being Cared For
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…
Able to Help
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 Pittsburg without a job or a place to stay. For thirteen days he lived on the streets with very little food or sleep. That’s how the Lord had prepared him for decades of ministry to needy people.
When Jesus came…
Hungry for God
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 Scripture.
Joy and delight were the emotions the prophet Jeremiah experienced when he read the God’s Word. “When your words…
Read: James 5:13–18
“Pray for each other."—James 5:16
Prayer is a conversation with God, not a formula. Yet sometimes we might need to use a “method” to freshen up our prayer time. I recently came across this “Five- Finger Prayer” to use as a guide when praying for others:
• When you fold your hands, the thumb is nearest you. So,…
Read : 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
“It has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. —2 Timothy 1:10
World War II had ended. Peace had been declared.But Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese Imperial Army, stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines, didn’t…
Read Psalm 147:1-11
“The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. —Psalm 147:11
My mom has Alzheimer’s, a disease that progressively destroys the memory, can adversely affect behavior, and eventually leads to the loss of speech—and more. I grieve because of my mom’s disease but am thankful she is still here and we can…
Read 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; 13:4–7
“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. —1 Corinthians 6:11
A young Japanese man had a problem—he was afraid of leaving his house. He was a hikikomori, a modern-day hermit. The problem began…
Read Deuteronomy 31:1–8
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” —1 Corinthians 15:57
While in a coffee shop in Uganda, I met a young man who had witnessed and survived (by hiding in a frigid meat freezer) the September 21, 2013, terrorist attack at Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which resulted in sixty-seven deaths.…
Read Psalm 51:7-17
“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. —Psalm 51:17
During my friend Myrna’s travels to another country, she visited a church for worship. She noticed that as people entered the sanctuary they immediately knelt and prayed, facing away from the front of the church. They were confessing their sin…
Read Mark 14:32–50
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” —John 16:32
A friend struggling with loneliness posted these words on her Facebook page: “It’s not that I feel alone because…
Life was completely normal a month ago. People rushing off to work braving the traffic, children pushing themselves to go to school, daily wagers working to meet their daily needs, crowded buses, trains, busy markets, restaurants filled with laughter and fun, the list goes on. However, things have changed completely because of Corona, which has brought the whole world to its…
From Pity to Praise
At a coat drive for children, excited kids searched gratefully for their favorite colors and proper sizes. They also gained self-esteem, an organizer said—with new coats boosting their acceptance by peers and school attendance on winter days.
The apostle Paul seemed to need a coat, as well, when he wrote Timothy, “Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas” (2 Timothy 4:13). Held in a cold Roman prison, Paul needed warmth but also companionship. “No one came to my support,” he lamented, “but everyone deserted me” when he faced a Roman judge (v. 16). His words pierce our hearts…
Healing Words
A recent study has shown that encouraging words from a health-care provider can help patients recuperate faster from their ailments. A simple experiment exposed volunteer study participants to a skin allergen to make them itch and then compared the reactions between those who received assurance from their physician and those who didn’t. Patients who received encouragement from their doctors had less discomfort and itching than their counterparts.
The writer of Proverbs knew how important encouraging words are. “Gracious words” bring “healing to the bones,” he wrote (Proverbs 16: 24). The positive effect of words isn’t limited to our health: when we…
Seeking God
It can be inspiring to watch people’s passion and dedication in pursuing their dreams. A young woman I know recently graduated from college in just three years—a task that took total commitment. A friend wanted a particular car, so he worked diligently baking and selling cakes until he reached his goal. Another person who’s in sales seeks to meet one hundred new people every week.
While it can be good to earnestly seek something of earthly value, there’s a more important kind of seeking that we must consider.
In desperation, struggling in a desert, King David wrote, “You, God, are my God,…
Grief Overturned
According to Jim and Jamie Dutcher, filmmakers known for their knowledge of wolves, when happy, wolves wag their tails and romp about. But after the death of a pack member, they grieve for weeks. They visit the place where the pack member died, showing grief by their drooping tails and mournful howls.
Grief is a powerful emotion that we’ve all experienced, particularly at the death of a loved one or a treasured hope. Mary Magdalene experienced it. She had belonged to Jesus’s supporters and traveled with Him and His disciples (Luke 8:1–3). But Jesus’s cruel death on a cross separated them…
