Has anxiety, anger, fear or depression ever made you feel soul-sick? We go to a doctor when our bodies are sick, but where do we go when we need help for our souls? Go to the Psalms. They are God’s medicine for the soul!
May 20, 2018
Anger is a powerful emotion, and if we let it control us, it can destroy relationships and cause harm to our souls. In Psalm 4, King David had received help from the Lord for his anger towards those who had betrayed him and he sought to advise them how they might rightly handle their anger as well. We can receive help from the Lord to rightly handle our anger.
May 13, 2018
Are you content? Happy with your life, your job, your house, your marriage, your kids…? Or do you struggle with discontentment? Does a constant restlessness plague you, so that you never feel fully satisfied and at peace? We go to a doctor when our bodies are sick, but where do we go when we need help for our souls? Go to the Psalms. They are God’s medicine for the soul!
In Psalm 131, David wrote of how he overcame his discontentment by finding contentment in the Lord. We can overcome our discontentment by finding contentment in the Lord.
We’re going verse by verse through the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel, we have a book that encourages us when we feel like we aren’t at home, when we wonder where God is in our trials and tribulations.
April 29, 2018
Do you ever worry about the future? You watch one of the 24 hour news channels and all you see is war, terrorism, school shootings, natural disasters… “What’s this world come to?” you ask. Perhaps you don’t worry about yourself, but you worry about your kids’ future? But what if you could trust God with your future and your families’ future? What if God had already appointed times for the future, so that He not only knows what the future holds, but He has ordained it? And what if God would let you in on some of the details? In Daniel 11, the Lord revealed His future appointed times for His people, so that Daniel would understand what was to come. We can understand the times the Lord has appointed and respond accordingly.
April 22, 2018
As exiles in this world, we often need strength and encouragement for the journey. Some of us are in mourning for the loss of a loved one or the loss of some other precious thing to us. Some are weak in body and need healing. Others are weak in spirit and need encouragement. Some are afraid and need someone to alleviate their fears. Some of us are lonely and have gone all week without the touch of another person.
But what if we could experience the touch of the Master’s hand? His touch to strengthen and to guide. His touch to heal and wipe away our tears. His touch to know that He is with us no matter what storms may lie ahead. We have a very basic human need for touch, especially for the touch of our Creator hands.
In chapter 10 of Daniel, the Lord responded to Daniel’s mournful prayer for understanding by touching him and strengthening him with a revelation of things from God’s heavenly perspective. We can be strengthened in our understanding of things from God’s heavenly perspective.
April 15, 2018
Why do we need a “covenant-keeping” God? Because our world is full of broken covenants and broken promises. We sign contracts and promissory notes, but we over-extend ourselves and don’t pay what we owe. We make promises to our children, but something more important comes up and we don’t keep our promises. We promise to “love and to cherish til death us do part,” but our world is filled with broken marriages and fractured families. We even make promises to God to change, to do better, maybe even to join a church, but we are a covenant-breaking people. We want to change, but only a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God can save us from our brokenness.
In the book of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel called on the covenant-keeping God of Israel to forgive and restore His people and His city, Jerusalem, and God not only answered his prayer, but also revealed to Daniel details about the coming of the Messiah and His eternal kingdom. We can be encouraged because our covenant-keeping God still answers prayers for forgiveness and restoration through the promise of His Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His eternal kingdom.
April 8, 2018
Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents took you on a trip, you always wondered, “How long before we get there?” I would drive my Dad crazy asking, “Dad, how much longer?” We’re still asking the Father, “How long?” How long must I endure suffering? How long will I hurt? How long before I am reunited with my loved ones? How long will I be lonely? How long must I pray for my marriage is healed? How long for a a prodigal child to faith? How long, Lord, before you make things right?
In the eighth chapter of Daniel, he recorded a second vision that contained greater prophetic detail about the next two world kingdoms and specifically about a ruler that would severely persecute his people for a short time before the Lord removed him and restored their worship to its rightful state. This vision was fulfilled within 385 years. Although Daniel’s vision has already been fulfilled, we can still let it give us confidence in God’s plans for our future, for it foreshadows an ultimate fulfillment of a time of tribulation that the Prince of Princes, our Lord Jesus, will return and bring to a close.
During Easter weekend, we take time to truly "behold" the empty tomb and contemplate how we can live without fear, tell others and be ready for Christ's coming.
April 1, 2018
The word “behold” is in the text three times. It means to “look upon with understanding, to see with the mind, to see with inward spiritual perception.” What do you see when you “behold the empty tomb?” In the gospel according to Matthew, he recorded the instructions that both the angel and Christ Himself gave to those who rightly beheld the empty tomb. When we rightly behold the empty tomb, we can live without fear, go and tell others about Jesus, and be ready to face Jesus.
On this day, we remember the day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the first day of Passion Week, so named because it was the week that ended with Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. Passion Week began with Christ’s triumphal entry on Sunday and ended with His terrible exit on Friday.
March 25, 2018
When Jesus made his entrance on that day, it was the first day of Passover Week. Great numbers of Jews had traveled from all over the Roman Empire to celebrate this annual Jewish festival. A great crowd greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem responding to him with chanting and waving of palm branches. They greeted him in a manner befitting a king, but before the week was out, the crowd would curse him as a criminal.
Did you know that your response to Jesus is the most important decision you’ll ever make? You can follow the crowd, or you can make a decision based on the witness of the Scriptures and of those who follow Jesus, or you can make decision based on what the crowd says. But be sure of this: There is a right way and a wrong way to respond to Jesus, and how you respond makes all the difference in the world, and in eternity.
In the gospel according to John, John wrote about how the people responded to Jesus as He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first day of passion week. We can rightly respond to Jesus as we consider how He fulfilled what was written about Him.
We’re going verse by verse through the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel, we have a book that encourages us when we feel like we aren’t at home, when we wonder where God is in our trials and tribulations.
March 18, 2018
Today, we’re in chapter 7, which begins a huge shift in the book of Daniel, moving from the narrative history of the first six chapters to what students of the Bible call “apocalyptic” or prophetic writings. Moving from chapter 6 to chapter 7, is like turning the TV from the History Channel to the SYFY Network–– we’re going to have to adjust to understanding images and concepts that are out of this world! Because in this chapter, God pulls back the veil on the future activities of this world’s kingdoms and the activities in heaven that culminate in God’s everlasting kingdom.
Most of us know the Lord’s Prayer. It’s really the Lord’s model prayer for He was teaching His disciples to pray. Remember how it begins? “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10). Ever wonder why He taught His disciples to pray that God’s kingdom would come? It’s because we tend to pray, “my kingdom come” and “my will be done” prayers. We want to be king or queen. We want to be in control. How’s that going for you? How’s your kingdom doing?
In Daniel chapter seven, God gave Daniel a vision that revealed His plan to ultimately bring all the kingdoms of this world to an end and to establish His everlasting kingdom for His saints through the divine Son of Man, Jesus Christ. We can be encouraged by God’s plan to ultimately bring the kingdoms of this world to an end and to establish His everlasting kingdom for His saints through the divine Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
March 11, 2018
Have you ever needed to be rescued? Maybe you need a rescue today. Some may be in bondage to an addiction. You need to be set free. Some have been given a life-threatening diagnosis. You need to be delivered, saved from danger or even death. Do you need to be rescued today? In the sixth chapter of Daniel, King Darius learned that God was able to rescue Daniel from death in the lion’s den. We can know that God is able to rescue us from the power of death.