Scripture: John 1:50 NKJ - “…Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” (Read John 1:43-51) Nathaniel a fisherman by trade, was a bit skeptical of the man Jesus. He did not believe that anything worthwhile could come out of Nazareth. Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He grew up in Nazareth with His mother and earthly father Jo...  Read More

Type your new text here. Scripture: Matthew 20:28 “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.” Involve your life in the lives of other people. Christ and the disciples constantly met the needs of other people. We can stabilize our own hearts during times of difficulty by serving others, and then find that our service has brought us a sense o...  Read More

Scripture: Mathew 8: 23 – 27 23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but He was asleep. 25 And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds ...  Read More

Scripture: Mathew 8: 23 – 27 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but He was asleep. 25 And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and...  Read More

SCRIPTURE: “But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.  And they awoke Him and said to Him, Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”  Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”  And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. --- Mark 4:38, 39 (TLB)      There is much, dear saints, to tempt us to fear these days.  Over the past three decades alone, we’ve ...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes…It shall not cling to me.”  Psalm 101:3 NKJV      Just before bedtime one evening, I allowed a commercial depicting a game saturated with gratuitous violence to be the last object of my focus!  (The commercial preceded the nightly news—the watching of which was another bad idea)!  Though some of us may recall some campaigns about thirty years a...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  Romans 8:18 (NASB)     “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.  Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.  One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase; so bravely run the race til we see Christ.”  The lyrics of this classic Christi...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  “…but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.”  Mark 13:13  (NKJV)      Most of us are familiar with the phrase “Been there, done that!”  No one that we know, however, can say it with greater authority than Christ our Lord, as He is familiar with all that confronts us in this sin-cursed world. He has faced it all, yet WITHOUT SIN. (Hebrews 4:15)       Have you been lied on? ...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Prov. 13:12 (NKJV)     In God’s word there’s a “league of extraordinary waiters!”  Sounds like a new restaurant reality show, doesn’t it?  Just like the “hall of faith” in Hebrews, chapter 11, peppered throughout Scriptures are people who can teach us, if we search them out, what perspective best ser...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13) NIV      Today’s scriptural focus does not read, ‘May the God of positive thinking fill you with all joy and peace….!”  Our Savior God urges us to hope in Him, because  any old “slap-happy Joe (or Jill”), can recommend mere posit...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  “The heart is the most deceitful thing there is, and desperately wicked.  No one can really know how bad it is!  Only the Lord knows!  (Jeremiah 17:9 TLB)      You and I often hear people say, ‘Well—God knows my heart.’  I often wonder if they’re using the phrase to compensate for living life on their own terms, or to justify what they suspect (in their heart) may not be a godly attitu...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "THE LORD HAS MADE ROOM FOR US"  Genesis 26:22        After Isaac and Rebecca took up residence in the valleys of Gerar, as directed by the Philistine’s King  Abimelech, the Philistine people became jealous of their growth and prosperity there.  As a result, they intentionally plugged up the relied upon wells in the region.  For the first two wells dug [restored] in the valley, they fo...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "THE LORD HAS MADE ROOM FOR US"  Genesis 26:22       Oftentimes when we consider or experience winter, there is a sense of loss attached to it, of hardship, of our being misfitted for the circumstance of it. Sometimes, if extreme enough, it can isolate us from others, disrupt relationships, and if severe enough, block the availability of needed resources.  The equivalent to winter, wit...  Read More

Type your new text here. SCRIPTURE:  "...LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT..."  Psalm 118:24 A faith which behaves is a faith which saves...and the bedrock of our believing is Jesus. Trust ye Him! His big move on our behalf awaits our agreement.  America, listen up."There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Proverbs 14:12"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call u...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "...LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT..."  Psalm 118:24         Obadiah the prophet is drawn to bringing the word of the Lord across the border, where he shepherds and manages figs.  He then enters a conflict with a message for the Edomites who’d savaged Israel, while Babylon was already crippling Israel.  It is a short read, with a lot packed into it, and while I wouldn't summarize it ...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "...LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT..."  Psalm 118:24   God has brought, is bringing, and shall perfect joy in the now-life [and beyond-life] of the believer, whose hope and faith prevail--even as the things of the temporal roar upon us. That is the good news, news we can use, although sometimes it takes work to hear it from a prophet. Theirs is not always the voice to applaud us for ...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "I AM MY BELOVED'S, AND HIS DESIRE IS FOR ME."   Song Of Solomon 7:10       Let's consider, as a meditative exercise, re-imagining The Song of Solomon as the proverbial 'golden yellow ribbon' wrapped around each and all of the remaining sixty-five other books of the Bible: How might we think them through differently? How might we receive the 'gospels' differently? Might the depth and t...  Read More

SCRIPTURE:  "I AM MY BELOVED'S, AND HIS DESIRE IS FOR ME."   Song Of Solomon 7:10      God in Genesis gave us a rainbow, with yellow being the boldest, brightest hue in the visible color spectrum. Intuitively we respond to that by allowing its use as an attention getter, a part of standard traffic signals informing us to prepare to slow down or expect the need to stop. Often yellow is used in art ...  Read More