“Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” -Luke 12:56
Easter weekend is hardly the time to write commentaries on Obama’s relationship with his pastor, or progress in Iraq, or the financial meltdown in America’s economy - there will be plenty of time for that sort of thing later. This is the special time in the Christian calendar year when we Christians need to focus on the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and hear what God is saying to us about those world-changing events.
For the last 35 or 40 years I have read Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest every morning before I get out of bed. This year Good Friday happened to fall on the day when the book offers some of Chambers’ thoughts on the Apostle Paul’s inspired statement of union with the Savior: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). It struck me that this was as appropriate a reading for Good Friday as one could hope to find, and the more I pondered it and prayed over it the more it seemed that I should write this week’s commentary on it, for in this one Bible verse the Holy Spirit gives us the essence of how we Christians should view our relationships with Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »
Just when you think you’ve hit rock bottom, with no future in sight, God enters the scene and fills you with new hope.
This is what He did for Abram—whom we know today as Abraham, the Father of faith.
On the strength of a promise, seventy-five-year-old Abram and his wife, Sarai, left their home for a spiritual adventure—without a road map, not knowing where God was leading them.
Abram journeyed to Egypt and returned a wealthy man—and a tither. Then the Lord, through a dynamic revelation, told Abram his seed would be numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:5).
This meant he would have children. But how could this be, since he was old and his wife, Sarai, was well past her childbearing years?
Anxious and tired of waiting, the barren couple thought they would help God’s promise along by having Abram father a son by Hagar, the Egyptian handmaiden of Sarai. They named the boy Ishmael. Read the rest of this entry »
Toufik Benedictus “Benny” Hinn (born December 3, 1952) is a televangelist, best known for his regular “Miracle Crusades” – revival meeting/faith healing summits that are usually held in large stadiums in major cities.
Benny Hinn was born in Jaffa, Israel to a Palestinian father and an Armenian mother. He was raised within the Greek Orthodox Church, and attended Georges Vanier Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he was known as Toufik Hinn. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the greatest movements of the Holy Spirit in the world today is the rebirth and revival of worship. In true worship, people meet the Lord with their intellect, will, and emotion. That’s the difference between a cold, dead service and one that is vibrant and alive with God’s presence.
If you’ve ever been in one of our crusades, you know how wonderful the sense of worship is. Occasionally people think it has something to do with me. They compliment me for leading in worship. But you know what? I don’t lead in worship - the Holy Spirit does. I Read the rest of this entry »
There is a vast difference between brining the tithe and being a tither. Let me say that another way: Just because you tithe ever Sunday does not mean you’re a tither! In their book Wealth, Riches & Money, God’s Biblical Principles of Finance, Craig Hill and Earl Pitts put it in a nutshell: “Many people are tithing but never become tithers.”
That’s true, because the issue is one of intensity of heart. “The difference has to do with the attitude and active involvement,” write Hill and Pitts. For example, you might love to play football at the park no and then, but that doesn’t make you and Emmit Smith or a David Beckham. Read the rest of this entry »
Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve Him. They are very powerful beings who function as God’s messengers. Many times in the Bible they appeared to people and said, I have come as a messenger from the Lord.
The New Testament tells us they are also ministering spirits sent to look after human beings who are the heirs of salvation (see Hebrews 1:14). Jesus seemed to indicate that little children have angels assigned to them, for He said their angels always behold the face of God (see Matthew 18:10). So the concept of guardian angels has its basis in the Bible. Read the rest of this entry »
Nothing in the world glorifies God as much as simple rest of faith in what God’s Word 
says. “This is the work of God, that you believe.” Jesus said, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17). He saw the way the Father did the works; it was on the groundwork of knowledge, faith based upon knowledge. When I know Him, there are so many promises I can lay hold of, and then there is no struggle, “for [he] who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:8). Read the rest of this entry »
