From the Blog
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A Psalm for the Doubtful
The question is not if, but when you experience doubts about God, what should we do? Should we bottle them up and pretend they aren’t there? Should we give in to them and turn them into unbelief? In Psalm 77, Asaph found encouragement in midst of his doubts of God’s character when he reflected on…
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A Psalm for the Hurting
If pain is unavoidable in this life and there are so many struggles that cause us pain, what can we do? Just as pain moves us to call the doctor, it can moves us to call on the Lord. That’s what the psalmist David did. Listen to how he called on the Lord concerning his hurts:
Psalm 25:18 (ESV) Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
In Psalm 25, David lifted up his hurting soul to the Lord for help. We can lift up our hurting souls to the Lord for help. -
A Psalm for the Anxious
Do you feel anxious often? Psalm 91 has been a favorite psalm for many who are anxious. In Psalm 91, the Psalmist wrote that those experiencing fearful anxiety could find relief by abiding in the Lord. We can experience relief from fearful anxiety when we abide in the Lord.
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A Psalm for the Angry
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…
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God’s Appointed Times
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…
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He Touched Me
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. -
The Covenant Keeping God
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. -
How Long?
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. -
Behold the Empty Tomb
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…
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Rightly Responding to Jesus
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.