Posted December 7, 2019 at: http://www.opendoors/usa.org “Open Doors colleague, Ron Boyd-MacMillan, shares the following insight from his teaching, “Why I Need to Encounter the Persecuted Church.” ————————————–    There is a famous book called The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. It is Becker’s contention that the whole of the Western world is really […]
2206) At Peace With Death Read More »
  (…continued)  The song “Sounds Like Life to Me” by Darryl Worley is a good song, and a true song, and it says some of the very same things as those Bible verses in yesterday’s meditation.  And it can be a helpful song for someone like Johnny Ray who is just going through some tough
2197) That’s Just Life (part two of two) Read More »
Psalm 40:1-4a  —  I waited patiently upon the Lord, who stooped to me and heard my cry.  The Lord lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a high cliff, making my footing sure.  The Lord has put a new song in my mouth, a song
2196) That’s Life (part one of two) Read More »
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org     (…continued) Second, Paul told me, as I waited for the doctor, the positive side of “This is not wrath.” He said, “God has not destined [you] for wrath, but to obtain salvation.”    This cancer is not wrath. It is the path to salvation. Salvation
2113) Hope During Cancer (part two of two) Read More »
Above: John Piper (1946- ) By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org    Two hours before writing this sentence, I received a phone call from a friend whose adult son was just told by the doctor that the medical professionals have done all they can do, and that barring a miracle, his cancer
2112) Hope During Cancer (part one of two) Read More »
By Greg Morse, posted March 26, 2019 at: http://www.desiringGod.org    “I have nothing to show for my life,” he said.    “No career. Few friends. No spouse. No financial future. Nothing. I’m enslaved to debt, struggle with childhood sins, and have little left to hope for. Don’t hear me say something I’m not,
2104) Not the Life You Had in Mind? Read More »
By Lee Strobel, posted September 14, 2019 in Investigating the Faith with Lee Strobel, a weekly devotional at: http://www.biblegateway.com ————————- I Peter 1:3 — In his great mercy [God] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.    “Where is the hope?” asked Christian
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” –The Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 4:16    Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids).Â
1948) Look at What You Can’t See Read More »
    (…continued) Even C.S. Lewis—so brilliant and so wise in the faith—could be devastated to the point where he felt he had lost God.  Even Jeremiah—who at times spoke to God and heard God’s voice—could at times in this world feel lost and without God. Certainly we too will have those times when God seems
1921) House of Cards (3/3) Read More »
   (…continued) In another passage from A Grief Observed (the book C.S. Lewis wrote after his wife died), Lewis describes how God seemed so far away, even absent, after his “house of cards” faith collapsed: Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that
1920) House of Cards (2/3) Read More »
