And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating […]
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those […]
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6–7, esv). When the Apostle Paul set out to develop a case […]
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think […]
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always […]
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit (James 5:17–18, esv). The greatest complaint I hear about […]
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17, ESV). Before a horse can be useful to its owner, it has to be broken. An unbroken stallion is proud and strong. It will paw and snort and let no one ride it. But then a […]
But the Lord said to David my father, “Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name” (1 Kings […]
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23, esv). One of the driving forces behind Western prosperity was the Protestant work ethic, which attributed value and virtue to hard work and self-discipline. Our society, though, continues to slip more toward entitlement—the belief that people deserve something for nothing. […]
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13, esv)! What have you finally given up on? What are you thinking you’ll never see, never do, never have? Maybe you’ve been trying to salvage a particular relationship for so long now—and with so little […]