Praying and Praising


Psalm 23 and 24 teach us both practical ideas for praying and praising God. He is our Shepherd and He is our provider and protector. Here’s an idea you might use as you meditate on these psalms: ACTS (A = Adoration, C = Confession, T = Thanksgiving, S = Supplication) You can build your own […]

Preparing for Eternity


Luke 13: “Repent…”Jesus is asking if we are prepared for eternity. Without the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance of the heart, we are the most desperate people. In Jesus’ journey around Israel, people asked him about repentance and his message of grace and mercy. The recent calamities of that time […]

Honoring a Parent’s Legacy


2 Chron 2-3, 1 Kings 5-6  Solomon has been anointed king over Israel, and just as we might do, he began to plan how to honor his father’s wishes to build a magnificent temple. His father had planned and organized the materials and now Solomon just had to execute the plan. Solomon calls on his […]

Read, Rehearse, Remember


Malachi 1-4 The Three “R’s”Today if you speak to people about church attendance and Bible reading, they often turn up their noses and say, like the Israelites of old, it is useless, and besides that, there are hypocrites in the church. [Mal 3:14] They have a warped view and, like Asaph in Ps 73, see […]

Jesus our Redeemer


Isaiah  52-54 Redeemer! Isaiah  echoes the voice of Job: As for me, “I know that my Redeemer lives andthat as the last he will stand upon the earth].” [Job 19:25] Over andover, Isaiah reminds the children of God that they are redeemed. “Youshall be redeemed without money.” [Is 52:3 NJJV] “He has redeemedJerusalem.” [Is 52:9 […]

Why do we recall what God has forgiven?


Isaiah 43-45 Defeat Satan—Recall God Promises One of the enemy’s tactics is to recall to our mind our past sins to distract us. It is one of his “deadly d’s,” and he is proficient in this regard. Perhaps the Jerusalemites were in this state of mind, so Isaiah comes to them to say: “Don’t remember […]

The Two Paths of Life


Proverbs 1-3 God’s path leads to wisdom if we fear/revere Him. Therefore, the foundational principle is that if we want to be wise, it must start not just with our head but our heart’s knowledge of who He is. He is holy, He is in heaven, and as the author of Eccl so succinctly says: […]

What does your faith meter register?


Judges 13-15 Do you trust God to answer your prayers? If God were to measure it on a meter stick, what would it say? In these chapters, we meet a couple who are childless. We wonder if they had prayed for a child for a short time or a long time. Time matters nothing in […]