As you know, part of seeing God’s grace through the year 2023 is the my intense purpose of reading the Bible from beginning to end once again. This is not a chronological study, as I did several years ago. It’s very enlightening and I highly recommend it. This month I’ve been reading Genesis, Matthew, Proverbs, and Psalms each day, and in another…..
Have you noticed that sometimes people are grumpy, short-tempered, wearing a deadpan or even sour expression on their faces so that they self-isolate? No one really wants to interact with such people. Others, whether they really feel well or not, whether they’re facing difficulties or pain in their lives, or living in the same circumstances as the dour one I just described, care more about the other person they’re…..
In our former life, Ev sang solos and I accompanied him on the piano. One of our favorites was “The Lord Is My Light” based on Psalm 27:1. Whenever I face difficulties, I think of this soaring piece of music. I long ago gave away the music, but in my mind’s ear, I sing it…..
When we begin our day with praise and thanksgiving, the day just gets better and better. That’s my experience. Yesterday I met with two groups of precious ladies who prayed together, shared their testimonies to God’s provision, and encouraged us as we walk this life’s journey. It was a great experience for me, and now I share it with you. Psalm 118:28 is a good place to begin. It says, in the NIV: “You are my God, and I will…..
The Bible has a lot to say about water. I actually wrote a whole devotional guide called “Life-Changing Water: Chaos to Glory: A Metaphor Study.” The Bible has 742 references to water in it, from snow to floods to springs, to cisterns, to floods and droughts. In the Christian life there can be times of chaos when everything is off balance, to times of abundance and freshness when the living water is very present, to times of desert and deprivation…..
The Bible doesn’t say much about Jabez, one of the descendants of Judah, but his prayer in Chronicles chapter 10 would be a good one for us, and that’s perhaps why Susie Larson included this verse in her “Blessings for Every Day” choices. There is a prayer included in the genealogy chapter 4. Most of the others are merely…..
I guess it’s inevitable, since every year in January the ads on TV (now that the enrollment period for health plans has passed) turn to dieting. All of a sudden, manufacturers and make-you-feel-guilty-so-we-can-get money-from-you groups tell us we gained too much weight over the holidays, or we need to supplement our nourishment with vitamins or ground-up vegetables and fruits, or we need to sign up for gym memberships. Yes, it’s inevitable.
I for one am not buying…..
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According to www.whychristmas.com and other sites, January 6 is called Epiphany. This is their historical reason:
“Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on 6th January (or January 19th for some Orthodox Church who have Christmas on 7th January) and is the time when Christians remember the Wise Men (also sometimes called the Three Kings) who visited Jesus.
Epiphany is also when some Churches remember when Jesus was…..
I’m read in Matthew 5 today that following God’s laws is beneficial. It was true in Exodus 15 as well. Here’s what it says: “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, obeying His commands and laws, then I will not make you suffer the diseases I sent on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.”
I am not a fan of preaching…..
In my seeking and seeing God’s grace in ’23, I’ve been thinking about the times God gives me confidence when I trust in Him. I sometimes fall into the relentless “worry-wart mode” when I think about how I’m to accomplish my goals as my eighty-two and a half body complains. Tasks that used to be routine now take planning, a long time to execute, and result in pain or exhaustion afterwards. But God says, we can be confident that…..