Then one of [the ten lepers], when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan (Luke 17:15–16, esv). Thankfulness is the attitude that perfectly displaces our sinful tendency to complain and thereby […]
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6–7, esv). Throughout the day we need little arrow prayers—quick prayers in […]
“Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David” (Isaiah 55:3, nasb). A covenant is like a turbo promise. When God declared His covenant with His people, He was reminding them of His everlasting hesed—His covenant love, His mercy and kindness. It […]
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17, esv). Don’t you love the transparency with which God’s Word describes real men and women? On almost every page of Scripture you meet people “just like us.” Take Elijah, for example. James 5:17 says that God’s prophet Elijah was “a man with a nature like […]
“For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:9–10, esv). If we’re going to change, we have […]
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20, esv). How big can you dream? Most of us have big, bold imaginations. We can hope big, wish big, and dream big. But do we pray that […]
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7–8, esv). We’ve gotten our circumstances and […]
,Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered (Proverbs 21:13, esv). God is not hard of hearing. In fact, when we don’t know what to pray—when we’re in such distress that we can’t even construct a sentence to describe it—the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us […]
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Exodus 20:4–5, esv). When we allow anything to accumulate on the […]
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15–16, esv) According to the apostle Paul, you stink. […]