Occasionally, Christians go through the “wilderness experience.”   It happens even to spiritual giants like the late renowned evangelist, Billy Graham, the late Mother Teresa, Joyce Meyer and many others that you know.  If you listen to their stories and their life testimonies you will discover the theme of loneliness.  At one point or another in their ministries, they too felt like they were alone in the wilderness.  The wilderness experience seems to be part and parcel of what we refer to as, “God’s call” on someone’s life.

A few days ago, I woke up to find numerous herbs and all kinds of vegetables blooming in my box gardens.  I was excited to see tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatillos at different stages of growth.  The excitement was not dampened when I noticed weeds growing underneath the vegetables.  I chose to focus on the juicy tomato plants, the green peppers and the tomatillo plants that I was growing for the first time.  I was elated at what I experienced as God’s bountiful provision; the weeds, were no biggie.  They were gone by noon.  I dealt with them quickly and efficiently.

Every builder understands that the foundation of any building is the most important part of the building.  It must be able to support the structure that will be built upon it.  The foundation must be strong enough to support however many floors are constructed upon it, and at the same time, must withstand any floods or winds that may buffet the building.  There are few things stronger than rock, which is why in the parable of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus says wise is the builder who builds his house upon rock, and foolish is the builder who builds upon sand.

Biblical faith is a firm conviction or firm persuasion in God and in his holy word.  Elsewhere someone has defined it as, “…the act whereby a person lays hold of God's resources, becomes obedient to what He has prescribed and putting aside all self-interest and self-reliance (emphasis mine), trusts Him completely. It is an unqualified surrender of the whole of one's being in dependence upon Him. It is wholly trusting and relying upon Him for all things.

Father’s Day is a special day for many families.  It gives us the opportunity to celebrate those individuals who have been fathers to us.  Some families will get together for a special meal, others will give their fathers a gift, still others will take the time to visit a father they haven’t seen in a while and the rest will take time to remember those fathers who have gone home to be with the Lord.  Yet, amid the excitement of this special day…

Joan of Arc is reported to have once said, “All battles are first won or lost in the mind.”  She was correct.  “Daniel resolved not to defile himself….”  Daniel won his battle, from the moment he heard the King’s order.  As soon as the order left the King’s mouth, Daniel resolved in his heart, to do the right thing.  He did not negotiate his battle.  He did not explain, rationalize or reason his way through it.  He did not try to find the loopholes or make up excuses.   He did not even try to find out what the others were going to do following the order, Daniel chose to do the right thing, because it was the right thing to do.

God has a tender spot in his heart for children.  He says in Matthew 19:14 "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  Jesus came into the world as a baby by God’s divine plan.  God needed someone innocent and pure to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and nothing speaks purity and innocence as clearly as a baby born of a virgin.   But Jesus also came as a baby threatened by Herod…

Beloved:
The end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be serious and sober-minded
so that you will be able to pray.
Above all, let your love for one another be intense,
because love covers a multitude of sins….

Have you noticed how discouraging the news headlines are lately?  If you’ve stopped reading and listening to the news because of all the fake news, then maybe you’ve run into friends and acquaintances who are just plain tired of the constant hustle of daily living.  They are tired of all of life’s stressors, financial issues, relationship issues, family dysfunctions and on and on.  Some appear to have hit a brick wall, and nothing excites them anymore.  Perhaps you yourself have run into that brick wall.  It appears a dark volcano has erupted …

Of all the roles a woman might have on this earth, there is no greater role than that of a mother.  Elizabeth recognized this when she gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”  Indeed, Mary was not just any ordinary mother, she was the mother of the Savior of the world.  That is the highest role any mother could ever have….

Recently, I was jolted awake by a horrible nightmare, I couldn’t breathe.  I sat straight up in my bed, heart pounding, face clammy and the hint of an awful smoky smell.  Petrified, I ran downstairs to check my oven.  It was off and definitely not the source of the smell, and then I turned to see a frightening sight, dark smoke wafting in from my garage into the main house.  Just then, a kind passerby began desperately pounding at my front door, …

As a little child, I loved to play hide and seek.  My friends and I would spend hours counting, hiding (sometimes in plain sight) and seeking; and whenever any of us was found, we would squeal with great delight.  I cannot remember which side would scream the loudest; the ones hiding or the one seeking, but I can remember as clearly as if it were yesterday, the electric feeling that would course through my veins whenever I was found. 

I was listening to the radio this morning when one of the stories captured my attention.  A prominent preacher was being interviewed, and in the conversation, he was explaining why he was now offering his congregation (whatever was left of it) an alternative gospel.  After years of preaching a widely accepted understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ; (a gospel which millions receive through faith in Jesus Christ); he was now preaching a gospel based on human logic, emotion and reasoning.

It seems so obvious that God sees everyone, doesn’t it?  After all, he is El Roi, the one who sees.  It is easy to bear assent to this truth with one’s mind, but when life gets tough many of us feel abandoned by God.  When the bottom drops out of our best laid plans and confusion sets in, we often wonder, “Where is God in all this?”  This is probably how Hagar felt when she fled from her mistress, Sarai.  For one brief moment, Hagar’s status as a servant changed …

Father, when I consider the vast universe you have created, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the earth, the majestic blue ocean, the earth with its rich vegetation, the deep mysterious forests, the birds, the vast array of animals, what indeed is humanity that you care for us? …

As the women came up the hill to the tomb, they pondered over the obstacle that awaited them at the mouth of the tomb.  They asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"  But the Bible records, that when they looked up, they saw the stone which was very large, had been rolled away from the tomb.  While they were still on their way, God had already taken care of the problem.  He had paved their way; …

Have you noticed how the level of noise on the airwaves is increasing at a deafening pace?  Have you observed how public personalities hog the TV screens and dominate the radio stations every day?  Have you seen how lying and misinformation no longer leave us appalled or broken?  Instead, in many cases such conduct only elicits knowing chuckles, eye winks and Saturday Night Live skits.  We laugh, as though the joke is on them, when in reality, the joke is on us. …

In Matthew 9:28, Jesus had already gone indoors, he was done for the day, but Matthew says, “the blind men….”  The men were blind.  They had a need; a situation that only God could fix.  They acknowledged their condition, and that acknowledgement caused them to “come to Jesus and ask for help.”  Never mind the fact that Jesus had already gone indoors, there was an urgency to their situation and they were determined to reach him….

12 years ago, I flew to Kenya to help care for my mother who was dying from breast cancer.  One night, after my sister and I changed shifts, I made my way to my bedroom, yawning with fatigue and ready to snatch a few hours of rest, before getting back to caring for mom again the next morning.  I opened the door sleepily, too tired to turn on the lights, and began to walk across the floor to my bed, suddenly I felt an unexplainable chill run down my spine.  …

It is common to hear people say, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  Those who believe this proverb promote the idea that to get noticed, one must be loud or pushy.  While this may certainly be true in the natural world, the Bible offers a different paradigm on more than one occasion, and Esther’s story provides such a paradigm….