In these times, we need wisdom and knowledge to safely navigate each day. The Bible spoke of such men in 1 Chronicles 12:32. It speaks of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) He can make us as the sons of Issachar also. He didn’t leave us as sitting ducks without an instruction book. The little lad in the picture…
It’s funny how calendars run some years. This year of 2018 is no exception. On Valentine’s Day we also have Ash Wednesday. This is the beginning of Lent–a time of self-reflection and repentance. A time to re-commit our lives and living to Jesus, the one who knows us best and loves us most. Easter falls on April 1–April Fool’s Day. I’m sure unbelievers watching the events of those few days some 2,000 years ago were sure Jesus’ followers were fools,…
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable (willing to yield), full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. God’s wisdom far surpasses ours. Our wisdom is based on what we know and can see and hear. God, on the other hand, sees the end from the beginning. Ours is subject to human fault. Our intentions are not always honorable, even though we may tell ourselves they are. Taken to its end, our…
While I pulled weeds the other day, I thought how this act held a close parallel to sin in our lives. If we allow little sins to remain, they grow bigger and harder to remove, just like weeds. After about a half hour, my back told me, “I want to quit now. It’s too hot out here to keep this up.” “But I’m only half finished,” I said. “Keep at it.” After another half hour, I said, “Lord, do I…
In the Bible God tells us, “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). In case we miss it, He tells us again in Deuteronomy 12:32, “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.” In His final instructions in Revelation, He makes…
Today’s devotional is from a book I co-authored with Ardythe Kolb entitiled Daily Walk with Jesus available here in paperback and e-reader. I John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Most often when we’re in a stew about something that’s going wrong, our problem is about time. We live in a minuscule slice of eternity, but it’s all we have, so we panic over…
How many times do we pray and pray and think God hasn’t answered because I doesn’t look like how we pictured the answer? He asks us to ask, seek, and knock, (Matthew 7:7), but nowhere does He leave the scripting to us. That’s His job. We’re not in charge. He is. Many of the people who viewed Jesus, missed who He was because He didn’t look like the person they had scripted in their minds. He didn’t arrive on a…
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I wonder if God gave us seasons, especially spring to bring us hope of His renewing power. Sometimes our lives look as bleak as the landscape in winter with dead brown grass that looks like it will never be green again. Naked trees wave their arms in stiff, winter winds. We wonder if we’ll ever see them…
Psalm 112:4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. Many times we find ourselves at a crossroads. Do we go right or left, or straight ahead? We need God’s wisdom, His instruction because only He knows the end from the beginning. When we invite Him into a decision we can expect His sure guidance. His light. His instruction. There is one qualification here. We must be upright in His eyes. That word…
I Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. A man that has not received Christ cannot take in the hidden things of the Spirit of God. To him, for God to have sent His own sinless Son to take the death we deserved in order to give us life, makes no sense. It all seems…