For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow. (Jeremiah 31:13 AMP) Joseph of Arimathea I had watched this rabbi from a distance for some time. I saw how he gathered people around him, how he taught them, how heContinue Reading
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” (Luke 18:19 NIV) Today is “Good Friday,” a day my children used to mix up with “Black Friday.” Although our society knows what the modern “Black Friday” means, I think the original “Good Friday” was also a “Black Friday.” IfContinue Reading
“You have drunk the cup of His fury;You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,And drained it out.” (Isaiah 51:17 NKJV) “Fear is horrid, but there’s no reason to be ashamed of it. Our Lord was afraid (dreadfully so) in Gethsemane. I always cling to that as a very comfortingContinue Reading
A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life,But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:4 AMP) This week, I was at a local store when I heard a baby crying. The baby was sitting up inContinue Reading
A woman came into the house, holding an alabaster flask filled with expensive, fragrant oil. She came right to Jesus, and in a lavish gesture of devotion, she poured out the costly oil, and it cascaded over his head as he was at the table. (Matthew 26:6-7 TPT) As he was recliningContinue Reading
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him,Continue Reading
For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, like a two-mouthed sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts. (HebrewsContinue Reading
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13 NIV) This week I am stage managing the student production of a play written by several of the high school students. The play tells the parallel stories of the Choctaw Trail of TearsContinue Reading
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words. (Proverbs 18:21 AMP) The next day, as he left Bethany, Jesus was feeling hungry. He noticed a leafy fig tree in the distance, so he walkedContinue Reading
I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. (Philemon 1:6 NIV) On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus had to pass through Jericho. There lived a very wealthy man named Zacchaeus, who supervised allContinue Reading