Posts from 2022 (Page 2)

Giving Is Living In everything I showed you [by example] that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed [and brings greater joy] to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 Christ’s message turned everything upside down when He lived on the earth. To become great, He told His followers, become a servant of all. To rise up, stoop low. The last…

Moved By The Spirit But understand this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of or comes from one’s own [personal or special] interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20-21 Far too often, people read the Bible with all the enthusiasm they’d have if they were reading last week’s news or another city’s phone book. They think…

he World’s Best Guidance Counselor But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [full and complete truth]. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future]. John 16:13 If you had immediate and continuous access to the brightest mind in your field, would you use…

He Searches Hearts And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of God’s people in accordance with God’s will. Romans 8:27 Earlier in the chapter, Paul had explained that the Holy Spirit prays for us, even when we don’t know what to pray. Now he amplifies the encouragement by telling us that the Spirit’s prayers are directed by the Father’s complete knowledge of every detail of…

When You Don’t Know How To Pray In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26 A man remembered wistfully, “I always knew my grandmother was praying for me- when I was…

God’s Formula For Stress Relief “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character],Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation]. Isaiah 26:3 “Perfect peace?” You’ve got to be kidding! Most of us wonder what that looks like, but we might not recognize it if we saw it. Our lives are full of stress, and for some reason, we…

Solitude In The Evening After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was there alone. Matthew 14:23 It had been a really bad couple of days. Jesus learned that Herod had beheaded His cousin John the Baptist. He tried to get away to grieve, but an enormous crowd of five thousand men- probably a total of twenty thousand, including women and children- followed Him and found Him.…

Solitude In The Morning Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left [the house], and went out to a secluded place, and was praying there. and they found Him and said, “Everybody is looking for You!” Simon [Peter] and his companions searched [everywhere, looking anxiously] for Him, Mark 1:35-37 It’s easy to think of Jesus life as very different from ours. We see Him in stained glass serenely holding a lamb, or we think of…

Forgiven to Forgive Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him [drop the issue, let it go], so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions wrongdoings [against Him and others]. [But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions.”] Mark 11:25-26 Forgiveness must be a really big deal to God. It lies at the heart of the gospel message: The Good News is that…

The Five P’s of Prayer But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6 Prayer has always been a mystery to those who pursue God. It is our way of connecting with the One who created us, but in some ways, prayer is nothing like any other type of communication in our…