MOVING TRIALS FROM THE SAD COLUMN TO THE GLAD COLUMN James described the spiritual mindset that the Christian should have when facing trials. What is this mindset? “Great joy.” Not happiness, which is based on external happenings, but “great joy,” which comes from within and is the fruit of the Spirit for the believer that
WHEN A PEOPLE ACCUSE THE LORD OF WRONG When a people lose their fear of the Lord and begin to lift their own judgments above His, that nation will not long survive. The prophet Ezekiel warned the people of Judah to repent. Yet they responded by accusing God of injustice rather than repenting themselves. Today,
DO YOU LISTEN TO THE ONE WHO IS SPEAKING? Have you ever refused to listen to the Spirit of Christ? Has He knocked at your heart’s door and been refused entrance? Consider those in the Old Testament who refused to obey God when He spoke. What became of them? And now, Jesus, the One who
CAN MY DADDY SEE ME NOW? Who is this “huge crowd of witnesses?” They are those who have already run life’s race “by faith” as Hebrews 11 has listed. They have already crossed life’s finished line and have now joined other believers, who the author of Hebrews here visualizes either metaphorically or literally, as now
THAT FAITH WHICH CHOOSES ETERNITY WITH CHRIST OVER TEMPORAL THINGS The book of Hebrews teaches that it was “by faith” that Moses chose to be identified with God’s people rather than remain as the adopted son of Pharoah’s daughter. Moses was further commended for his faith in that he considered it better to suffer for
DO YOU LOVE THE LORD MORE THAN THESE? The Lord gave the prophet Ezekiel, whom He often referred to as the “Son of man,” a prophecy concerning the coming death of his wife. He further instructed him not to mourn for his wife because he was to be a sign to those who would see
HOLDING TIGHTLY WITH UNWAVERING HOPE Christian hope is confident hope. For Christian hope is based on the promises of God. Since this hope is anchored to God’s promises we can be assured that our hope will not be disappointed. So rather than hanging on to the temporal things we can see, let us hold tightly
WILL THE LORD FIND SOMEONE TO STAND IN THE GAP? The Lord told the prophet Ezekiel that He had looked for someone to “stand in the gap” of the wall surrounding Israel, but found no one. The physical walls surrounding Jerusalem were still standing at this time, but the spiritual walls were already breached. It
WHEN GOD GIVES A PEOPLE OVER TO WORTHLESS LAWS Many have struggled with the meaning of this verse. Some have wondered whether God was saying that He had given some bad laws to His people. Yet, the Bible says that God’s law is “perfect” (Psalms 19:7). Others have suggested that God was referring to the
A NEW AND LIVING WAY IS NOW OPEN TO GOD The two rooms of the Tabernacle were symbolic of the spiritual separation existing between God and man. Only priests could enter the first room called the Holy Place. And only the High Priest could enter the second room called the Most Holy Place, and then