Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” “Little Bunny Foo Foo, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and boppin’ them on the head…” If you’ve Continue Reading…
Luke 5:8, 10 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’” Without heart-rending, gut-wrenching, fall-on-our-knees conviction of sin we can’t repent. Continue Reading…
Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Ka ching; Ka ching; Ka ching. I found myself depositing a lot of coins in my sad Continue Reading…
Psalm 13:1 “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” 13:5 “But I trust in your unfailing love….” Unanswered prayer is draining. It saps my energy. It confuses me. Especially when I’m praying for things that appear to be in God’s Continue Reading…
James 1:14-15 “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” When our son Josiah was young, he and his sister Bethany got into a Continue Reading…
Matthew 15:27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Wow! This mother was desperate. The disciples urged him to send her away. Her cries annoyed them. Her audacity probably did too. But she kept pursuing Jesus even when he seemed Continue Reading…
Matthew 12:25 “…Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Divide and conquer. It’s one of the enemy’s most successful strategies against the human race. It’s intensifying. I can’t remember a time when the fissures have run so deep. Continue Reading…
1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.” Brennan Manning writes that on judgment day the Lord Jesus will ask only one question: “Did you believe that I loved you?” Kind of turns the table around, doesn’t it…. Not “Did you love me?” Not “How many souls did Continue Reading…
Acts 5:42 “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” What kept those first followers of Christ going? Scripture says they never stopped. Even as the opposition against them grew, the fire in their Continue Reading…
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Condemn. Condone. Compromise. These seem to be Continue Reading…