From a sermon by Dwight L. Moody: Â Â Â I thank God my salvation don’t rest upon my feelings. Â I thank God my hope is not centered on my feelings. Â If it was, it would be a very treacherous thing. Â I would be very hopeful one day and cast down the next day. Â I would […]
479) Trust in God’s Word, Not in Your Feelings Read More »
By Johann Gerhard (1582-1637), a German Lutheran pastor and professor of theology.  He wrote dozens of books, including Sacred Meditations, a collection of 51 meditations published in 1606.  This piece was taken from the chapter 29 of that book.    An angel fell even in the presence of God.  Adam and Eve fell into sin
439) False Security Read More »
   Sarah Weinstein was 11 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Sarah, an American, was living in the Philippines where her father was working.  Japan was on a mission to conquer and rule all of Southeast Asia, and now, since America’s Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor, an invasion of the Philippines
335) Mere Words on a Page? Read More »
The primary part of today’s meditation is from Randy Alcorn’s blog on January 20, 2014, entitled Three Things We Can Do to Deal with Worry (see:  www.epm.org )    The Greek word for worry means literally “to divide the mind.”  The worried mind is a torn, and therefore worn, mind…  Ironically, much of our worry is
286) Don’t Worry, Be Happy Read More »
   (continued…)  Bill had lived a blessed life.  In high school he was a good student and star athlete, and he then did well in college.  He enlisted and went to Vietnam where he served with distinction.  He returned to his small town a hero.  He took over his dad’s farm, the biggest in
240) What’s the Good Word? (part two) Read More »
   My first church was in a small town in northwest North Dakota.  Folks there prided themselves on being loyal, fair, and honest.  One of the farmers told me about how large business dealings would often be agreed on and guaranteed with nothing more than a handshake.  He then added, “If a person in
239) What’s the Good Word? (part one) Read More »
By Mark D. Roberts, Daily Reflections from http://www.thehighcalling.org (2-6-11 meditation; adapted)    Self-reliance is quintessentially American.  Our heroes are those who found strength in themselves to accomplish greatness.  They didn’t depend on others…  In 1841, the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson published his seminal essay on “Self-Reliance.”  He wrote:  “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates
194) Avoiding the Trap of Self-Reliance Read More »
   (…continued) This is powerfully seen in the story of the three men in the fiery furnace in the Old Testament book of Daniel.  Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had created a huge statue of himself and commanded that everyone in the kingdom bow down and worship it.  Three of the king’s most trusted servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and
160) Testing/Trusting (part two) Read More »
   Life is filled with tests. If you want to drive a car, you have to take a test.  If you want to get a job, you often have to take a test to see if you qualify.  And of course the school years are full of tests.  And these tests usually measure either
159) Testing/Trusting (part one) Read More »
 “Judith Showing the Head of Holofernes”, illustration of the Apocryphal Book of Judith, Chapter 14, from Gustave Doré’s (1832-1888) illustrated edition of the Bible. ************************************* In the book of Judith from the Apocrypha, the heroine saves the besieged Jewish city of Bethuliah.  She does so by deceiving, and then killing the invading general Holofernes,
139) The Wisdom and Courage of Judith Read More »
