Topic > Christian Living
Praying With Confidence: Overcoming Disappointment In Prayer
Having a conversation with God can sometimes be a struggle, especially when you feel that He has let you down. Find out how you can get past the disappointment and regain your confidence in God, as author David Egner shares five basic principles of prayer. Discover how you can renew your sense of joy and trust in God when you use His Word as the basis for your prayer.
The Power of Words
Nelson Mandela, who opposed the South African apartheid regime and was imprisoned for almost 3 decades, knew the power of words. He is often quoted today, but while in prison his words could not be quoted for fear of repercussion. A decade after his release he said: “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are, and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.”
King Solomon, author of…
Expressing God’s love to a lost world
“For God so loved the world” is a phrase we’re used to hearing. Throughout the pages of the Bible, God speaks of His love and compassion for everyone. Don’t miss this important discussion.
Speak the Truth, or Keep Silent?
If you’ve ever wondered what it means to be candid, talk to my mother. If she didn’t like something, she’d say so without mincing her words. If she felt we were making the wrong decision, she’d harp on how the cons outweighed the pros.
Jesus’ Blueprint For Prayer
Communicating with God is as important to your spiritual well-being as breathing is to your physical life. Discover how you can develop and maintain a meaningful prayer life with Haddon Robinson’s practical and insightful study of “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6. Get a better understanding and a new perspective of one of the most beloved passages of the New Testament.
Friends Through Thick and Thin
Without my dear college friends and sisters, my wedding would not have been possible. A photo of my bridesmaids shows them in their pretty dresses and bearing bright smiles, but these belie the many hours and days of frantic efforts to put a wedding together in spite of a famously indecisive bride.
Coming Alongside
When my sister Carole was diagnosed with breast cancer, our family worried. That diagnosis, with its surgeries and treatments, caused us to fear for her well-being, which drove our family to prayer on her behalf. Over the ensuing months, Carole’s updates were honest about the challenges. But we all celebrated when the report came back that the surgery and treatments had been successful. Carole was on the road to recovery!
Then, less than a year later, my sister Linda faced the same battle. Immediately, Carole came alongside Linda, helping her understand what to expect and how to prepare for what she…
Turn It Off
When our kids were young, we took a trip to northern Wisconsin to visit my grandparents. They didn’t get very good reception on their television, but TV wasn’t much of a priority with them. After I had seen our son Scott fiddling with the TV set for a while, he asked with frustration, “What do you do if you can get only one channel and you don’t like what’s on that one?”
“Try turning it off, ” I said with a smile. Not exactly the advice he was hoping for. It’s even more difficult to do now, especially when there are…
A powerful exchange between Jesus and a religious lawyer
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the greatest short stories Jesus ever told. Today we take a look at the stirring conclusion to a powerful exchange.
A narrow-minded heart exposed
Teachers cringe at this question from their students: “Is this going to be on the test?” This question reveals to teachers that the students have focused their interest on getting a good grade, rather than learning. Join us on “Discover the Word” as we discuss why Jesus told the classic story of the Good Samaritan.
Why Live with Purpose?
It is not uncommon to hear people asking these questions: What is my purpose in life? What can I do to improve my life? These are important questions. Before I found my true purpose, I felt that something was missing in my life.
Who Is My Neighbor?
Mary enjoyed her midweek church group meeting when she and several friends gathered to pray, worship, and discuss questions from the previous week’s sermon. This week they were going to talk about the difference between “going” to church and “being” the church in a hurting world. She was looking forward to seeing her friends and having a lively discussion.
As she picked up her car keys, the doorbell rang. “I’m so sorry to bother you,” said her neighbor Sue, “but are you free this morning?” Mary was about to say that she was going out when Sue continued, “I have to…
Me and My Alter Ego
Have you ever watched Disney shows as a kid? Well, I have. One of the shows I remember watching was Lizzie McGuire, an American teen sitcom about the alter ego of the title character.
Reflecting God’s Glory
The 12th-century Chinese artist Li Tang painted landscapes animated with people, birds, and water buffalo. Because of his genius with fine line sketches on silk, Li Tang is considered a master of Chinese landscape art. For centuries, artists from around the world have depicted what they see in God’s art gallery of creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). The Bible tells us that our creativity as human beings comes from being made in the image of the Master Creator (Gen. 1:27).
God chose artists who worked with wood, gold, silver, bronze,…
Under Siege
During the Bosnian War (1992–1996), more than 10,000 people—civilians and soldiers—were killed in the city of Sarajevo as gunfire and mortar rounds rained down from the surrounding hills. Steven Galloway’s gripping novel The Cellist of Sarajevo unfolds there, during the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare. The book follows three fictional characters who must decide if they will become completely self-absorbed in their struggle to survive, or will somehow rise above their numbing circumstances to consider others during a time of great adversity.
From a prison in Rome, Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi, saying: “Let each of…
