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Seven Lessons I’ve Learned Through Testing
One day almost ten years ago, as I was busy working around the house, I heard a television personality announce that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Having come from a family with an extensive history of cancer and having had my own experience with the disease, my heart immediately went out to her because I knew something of the treatment and recovery ordeal that she was facing. Of course, I prayed for her right away but, as I continued with my housework, I became increasingly convicted that the Lord wanted me to do something more—that He wanted me to write her a letter of encouragement. Never…
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New Life
The Monday night before Easter, I casually asked my pastor husband what he would be preaching on the following Sunday. Although he usually has it all planned out by then, he said that he didn’t have anything special in mind at that point and asked me if I had any ideas. I thought for a moment, and then told him that the only thing that had come to mind was the expression new life. And, since I was busy watching my favorite television program at the time, I didn’t give it another thought for the remainder of the evening. But the next day, when I began wondering what new…
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The No-Named Nobility
Yesterday, while reading the first chapter of Daniel, I became intrigued at the thought of what happened to the other exiles who, like Daniel, had been carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. In this chapter, we are told that these exiles were members of… …the royal family and the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace (vv. 3-4)… …in short, they were the very best young men that could be found in all of Judah. And, because in the Hebrew language, the term “royal family” means “of the seed of the kingdom,”…
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Walking Lightly
I don’t know about you but the older I get, the darker the world seems to grow. This may be because the farther along I walk with God, the more discerning of the world and its ways I am becoming. Or it could be just another indication that the long-awaited day of Jesus’ return is rapidly approaching. Certainly, the conditions prevailing in our world today greatly resemble those described by Jesus in Matthew 24:4-8, when He answered His disciples’ request for a sign of His coming by saying… See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will…
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Fiery Trials…
One morning recently, I picked up my Bible and turned quite unintentionally to Psalm 34. Since so much of the news that week had been about the be-headings of twenty-one Coptic Christians by some Muslim thugs, I was approaching this passage with a very heavy heart, trying to make some sense of the seemingly wanton brutality that has become so commonplace today. Upon first reading, the words of this Psalm seemed to fly in the face of the horrors of that week—with verses such as… – I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth (v.1). – I sought the Lord, and…
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The Principles of Sowing and Reaping Apply to Nations as Well as Individuals
Lately, in my personal Bible study, I have been working my way through Ezekiel where the principles of sowing and reaping, which we spent some time going over in our reflection Sowing, Reaping, and the Nature of the Two Trees, have been leaping off the page at me. I have found this to be especially true in chapters 25-35, where Ezekiel was called upon to pronounce judgment upon the nations surrounding Israel: • When Ammon rejoiced because God’s temple was profaned, the land was made desolate, and Judah was carried away into exile, God gave them over to the people from the East, to be carried away as…
