Blog
No matter how great some leaders are, they can’t save us. They are just mortals who fail, fall, and one day will die. Our help can come only from the Lord. Only those who hope in Him experience what the Psalmist wrote about some 3,400 years ago. Despite anything...
We have a saying in our home: “We are created in love, by Love, for love.” Each one of us was formed by the hands of our Creator. He is the protector of the most vulnerable among us, and no one is more vulnerable than a baby in a mother’s womb. Recently, the...
Psalm 120 is described as a song for pilgrims. The first verse declares, “I took my troubles to the Lord.” Their cry of distress is for deliverance from deceitful, lying people full of treachery and false accusations. Though the pilgrims spoke words of peace, they...
“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then, my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:10). God’s expressions of love began at creation and span both...
Sunday, during our worship time with our church community, Living Waters, I physically felt several strong bursts of wind pass over me, like a draft from a door being opened. It was so noticeable that I turned to see the cause. No door had opened, and no one had...
The Old Covenant reveals what is authentic and real about creation and the nature of the Creator. He is honorable and admirable, noble and reputable, compelling and gracious, beautiful and awesome, pure and holy, merciful and just. The nature of humanity is...
This morning, I was reading in the Psalms that God's favor surrounds us. For the last few years, Jan and I have asked God for a heart to receive His special grace in that moment when one of us leaves this world, and the other one must stay behind for a time. It is a...
Many of us have been aware of an increasing effort to dismiss or reinterpret Scripture believed to be irrelevant in this day and age or simply out of a growing distrust for God’s truth. Some have reduced their understanding of Scripture to just the New Testament or to...
Thousands of years ago, a future forecast was made, pointing to our time. Isaiah described the coming of a righteous King in His true humanity—the Messiah—who will be the ideal governmental leader. What kind of influence and authority does an ideal leader have? The...
We make daily and future plans, but a lot of those plans are dreamed up without God’s input. This form of rebellion and stubbornness is celebrated as free choice, freedom, and independence. Listen to His word spoken to Judah through Isaiah: “You make plans...
Isaiah prophesied this word: “We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation” (Isaiah 26:1). The essence of that ancient word to Judah applies to us today, thousands of years after it was spoken and after Jesus rose from the dead to ensure our salvation. We see and...
I attended a very conservative Bible college that changed for the better over the years. I can still remember buying a laminated Scripture reference note sheet that had one section titled, “Problem Scriptures.” These problematic Scriptures were ones the author felt...
A desire of mine each day is to see world events through the lens of Heaven. I need to see the bigger picture behind the social divisions and wars. I need to see what God sees and what He is doing. To see Heaven’s perspective, I read Isaiah’s astonishing prophecy that...
Jan and I have commissioned leaders in the Church, graduating students, and those in the business world with this Scripture from Isaiah 11:2 and Revelation 1:4; 4:4-5; 5:6). Jesus Christ is the Spirit-Endowed One. May the sevenfold dimensions of His Spirit be your...
It’s God’s nature to save His people and overthrow His enemies—an action we did nothing to earn or win. His salvation has always been for Israel and the whole world. His love moves Him to make our deliverance His cause. Yesterday, I wrote about those who walked in...