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Joy to the World
“Joy to the World” remains one of the favourite Christmas carols sung in church services during the Christmas season. It was written by Englishman Isaac Watts in the eighteenth century; many consider him the greatest hymn writer of all time.
Watts wrote…
Hope Is Our Strategy
My favorite football team has lost eight consecutive games as I write this. With each loss, it’s harder to hope this season can be redeemed for them. The coach has made changes weekly, but they haven’t resulted in wins. Talking with my coworkers, I’ve joked that merely wanting a different outcome can’t guarantee it. “Hope is not a strategy,” I’ve quipped.
That’s true in football. But in our spiritual lives, it’s just the opposite. Not only is cultivating hope in God a strategy, but clinging to Him in faith and trust is the only strategy. This world often disappoints us, but…
Hope in the Darkness
According to legend, Qu Yuan was a wise and patriotic Chinese government official who lived during the time known as the Warring States period (475–246 bc). It has been said that he tried repeatedly to warn his king about an impending threat that would destroy the country, but the king rejected his advice. Eventually, Qu Yuan was exiled. When he learned about the fall of his beloved country to the foe he had warned about, he ended his life.
Qu Yuan’s life resembles some aspects of the life of the prophet Jeremiah. He too served kings who scorned his warnings, and…
Discover How To Fight Worry, Fear, and Doubt
What do you say to a person in the midst of deep, personal pain? How do you comfort someone going through a difficult trial? Today on Discover the Word, the team, and special guest, author, and cancer survivor Margaret Feinberg challenge us to avoid staying silent, and instead, offer the gift of joy to those who are hurting. […]
Healing For Wounded Hearts And Broken Churches
Joy is a powerful weapon for fighting back times of trouble. We can even use it to help others fight their battles. Today on Discover the Word, the team, and special guest, author and cancer survivor Margaret Feinberg explain how the gift of our presence can help others “Fight Back with Joy.” An uplifting conversation, today on Discover the Word!
We Can Always Respond With Joy
How are you? Usually, our circumstances dictate how we answer that question. But today on Discover the Word, the team, and special guest, author, and cancer survivor Margaret Feinberg tell us why, whether we’re in pain or feeling good, we can always respond with joy. Find out why on Discover the Word!
Helping Fight Another’s Battle
God, the Great Physician, has a prescription for wounded hearts and broken churches: laughter! Today on Discover the Word, the team, and special guest, author and cancer survivor Margaret Feinberg explain why joy is good medicine. Chuckle alongside us as we learn to “Fight Back with Joy” on Discover the Word!
Comforting Others With Joy
When troubles start to close in around us and worry, fear, and doubt invade our hearts, God has given us a powerful tool to fight back. Today on Discover the Word, the team, and special guest Margaret Feinberg discover an unlikely weapon in our daily struggles. Hear about Margaret’s decision during her battle with cancer to “Fight […]
Where to Find Hope
Elizabeth struggled for a long time with drug addiction, and when she recovered wanted to help others in return. So she started writing notes and anonymously placing them throughout her city. Elizabeth tucks these notes under car windshield wipers and tacks them on poles in parks. She used to look for signs of hope; now she leaves them for others to find. One of her notes concluded with these words: “Much love. Hope sent.”
Hope with love—that’s what Jesus gives. He brings us His love with each new day and strengthens us with that hope. His love is not rationed out…
"My Joy . . . Your Joy"
What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father— the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do— “. . . who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . .” (Hebrews 12:2). “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . .” (Psalm 40:8). Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?
Hope in Grief
When I was nineteen, one of my close friends was killed in a car accident. In the following weeks and months, I walked each day in a tunnel of grief. The pain of losing someone so young and wonderful clouded my vision, and at times I even felt unaware of what was going on around me. I felt so blinded by pain and grief that I simply could not see God.
In Luke 24, two disciples, confused and broken-hearted after Jesus’s death, didn’t realize they were walking with their resurrected teacher Himself, even as He explained from Scripture why the promised…
Hope Anyway
Among the hundreds of articles I’ve written for Our Daily Bread since 1988, a few stick in my mind. One such article is from the mid 1990s when I told of a time that our three girls were away at camp or on mission trips, so six-year-old Steve and I had some guy time.
As we were enjoying an excursion to the airport, Steve turned to me and said, “It’s not as much fun without Melissa,” his eight-year-old sister and sidekick. Neither of us knew then how poignant those words would turn out to be. Life indeed has not been “as much…
Spontaneous Love
Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it.
Decreasing for His Purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your…
Become The Beacon Of Hope To Those Who Have No Hope
Today on Discover the Word, the group concludes a week of conversations with author and psychologist Karen Mason. Karen explains how you can become a beacon of hope to those who have lost the will to live. It’s a conversation about what to do, and what not to do, when someone is contemplating suicide. Don’t miss […]
