Mark 11:20-21 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” My first response after reading the eleventh chapter of Mark was Lord don’t let us become withered fig trees! Continue Reading…
Judges 1:20-21 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty….” Ever feel like circumstances you face are irreversible? Think there’s no way the breakthrough you long for is going to happen? You realize Continue Reading…
Mark 2:4-5 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are Continue Reading…
Psalm 124:1-3 “if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive….” Do you know the right man is on your side? Sometimes I think all of life is purposed to teach us that one unassailable truth. Maybe you’re encountering new territory. Until now, Continue Reading…
Job 11:7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” This past summer, our 4-year old grandson came to our house for a visit. When we went to the grocery store, I told Tobin he could pick out one item for himself. He chose Continue Reading…
Psalm 31:24 “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” A lady called our church office the other day asking if she could meet with me. We set up a time and as she related all the difficulties she was going through, my heat broke. It seemed Continue Reading…
Numbers 13:31-32 “… ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored….” Do you recognize these names: Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel? Probably not. These are the ten Continue Reading…
Luke 3:23 “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph” I love the little caveat Luke inserts into the genealogy of Jesus. Everyone thought Jesus to be the son of Joseph. Why wouldn’t they? As Mary’s Continue Reading…
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” “Friends are friends forever if the Lord’s the Lord of them…” A lot of truth in those Michael W. Smith lyrics. It’s hard to overestimate the value of spiritual friendship. When I think Continue Reading…
James 4:2-3 “…You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.…” During the presidency of George W. Bush, he challenged educators to avoid the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” He wanted schools to stop subtle discrimination by expecting Continue Reading…