In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone decides to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” There are three words here that I want to call special attention to; they are “deny”, “cross”, and “daily”. In the language Jesus spoke, to deny is to utterly deny, […]
Heaven; a place many people talk about, but relatively few are preparing to go to! It is a place of indescribable beauty, splendor, abundance, and tranquility from the description of its capitol city given in Revelation 21:1-22. In John 1, Jesus tells His disciples (who were probably troubled because of His impending departure from them) […]
Throughout the Scriptures we find numerous calls to bring praise to the Lord with thanksgiving, or examples of people doing so. The book of Psalms contains a great collection of praise and worship “songs”, and encourages us to follow the pattern it sets. “Oh, sing to the Lord a new song” Psalm 98:1; “I will […]
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians of that future day when Jesus will be revealed from heaven, giving rest to those who have fought “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), and to render the vengeance of judgment “on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the […]
Elijah had just witnessed a great victory in a contest where he, the prophet of God, versed the 450 prophets of Baal; he then eradicated the prophets of Baal, enraging Jezebel, who threatened his life. Despondent, discouraged, and probably depressed, Elijah flees fearing for his life, sits down under a tree, and asks God to […]
Have you ever wondered how we are to wait on God? What does He mean when He says we should wait on Him? Let’s look at a couple of scripture verses to help us understand this: first, and I believe foremost, is Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they […]
Diligence is a key and primary ingredient in both seeking and serving God. To be diligent and function in diligence is to put forth constant careful effort, preserving in hard work with steady effort, painstakingly. Half-heartedness is not acceptable with God. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that we will find God when we search for Him with […]
The word great is so great that it takes at least eight adjectives to describe it, adjectives such as noble, wonderful, absolute, and five others. We catch a glimpse of the greatness of God in Psalm 8:3-4, as the Psalmist speaks to Him saying, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The […]
The basis for this meditation comes from 1 Corinthians 15:53-58. Living in a broken world, we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that “it is appointed for men to die once…” (Hebrews 9:27). Death is so cruel, so cold, and appears to be so permanent; even having been redeemed from the curse of sin and death our […]
In what is probably the most well-known “faith” chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11, we are given a glimpse into the life of Abraham when God called him to leave his homeland to go to another country. By faith he began his journey even though he did not know where he was going, simply following […]