Blogs in this category are designed to present something to think about. They may present a different angle on a familiar passage. Or they may simply present a challenge for the reader to relate to the passage in a way they may not have before.
Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram …
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them …
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the …
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6 NIV Who governs your mind, the Spirit or the flesh? Well, I suppose that depends on who you’ve elected. I mean, governors are given authority by gaining the …
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply …
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” Matthew 14:28 NIV We all face challenges in life, times of uncertainty when we’re not really sure how things are going to turn out and we wrestle with fear. This was one of those nights …
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing …
“Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” Mark 8:18a NIV Who would you guess Jesus was speaking to when He asked this question? If you’re like me, the Pharisees were your first guess. Why? Because they were highly religious, but they never seemed …
“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would …
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 NIV We’ve all seen the …
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land. Isaiah 1:19 NIV In the first chapter of Isaiah, God confronts Israel as a rebellious nation. Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but …
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses …
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! Psalm 139:17-18 NLT Do you ever wonder how often God thinks about you? He thinks about you all the time! Next time you are on the …
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15 NIV One can make a comparison between sin, and the earth’s gravitational pull; just like gravity pulls us toward the earth, sin pulls us toward the world. As …
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 NIV Faith is the understanding that everything God’s word says is true and that all we hope for in Christ Jesus is more than just hope, it’s a fixed certainty that …
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV Paul calls attention to an amazing paradox present in Christianity: When we are weak, we are the strongest. How …