"Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to His faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts." (Psalm 85:8 NRSV) Sometimes, we get so busy at this time of year that we forget to listen to what God is saying to us. We get...
"If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach" (Romans 12:7) The faith that I have in my heart was planted by three teachers. One was a young man called Billy, who wanted to be a missionary in Africa, but he couldn’t go because his eyesight was...
"But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God." (1 Peter 2:20) I frequently marvel at the faith which the first Christians displayed. They were...
Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." I want to make a banner of this verse and super-impose it on a photograph of a hungry child in Appalachia. I want to be reminded that the least in our community, for...
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Psalm 51:12) Years ago, I went to a conference in Los Angeles. One of the speakers was H.B. London, who is known nationally as being a pastor to pastors in crisis. He spent over...
"As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning." (Exodus 17:11) This is one of my favorite Old Testament stories. I can just picture Moses, as old as he was, straining to keep his arms...
"Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees." (Job 4: 4) I can remember visiting a young woman in hospital many years ago, who had a foot blown off by a terrorist bomb. She had been holidaying in Tunisia, North Africa and,...
"The LORD had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.'" (Genesis 12:1) I love the old Western movies, especially the ones that have wagons heading over the Oregon Trail. Those early pioneers of...
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:21) It never ceases to amaze me how preaching affects different folk. There are...
"And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22:44) I can remember taking an anxiety attack about 4-5 years ago. I woke up one night with shortness of breath and my heart was racing. I didn’t know...