All Blog Posts (1,175)

You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

MATTHEW 1:21 NLT

Jesus means Joy—He saves from despair and hopelessness.

     Alexander conquered the world by force and was called great—

          Jesus captures hearts from all nations by love and is called God.

     In contrast to fleeting happiness, Immanuel gives invulnerable joy—

          His cross brings deep peace, His Presence…

You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

MATTHEW 1:21 NLT

Jesus means Joy—He saves from despair and hopelessness.

     Alexander conquered the world by force and was called great—

          Jesus captures hearts from all nations by love and is called God.

     In contrast to fleeting happiness, Immanuel gives invulnerable joy—

          His cross brings deep peace, His Presence…

Years ago, I found myself in charge of an organization that was deeply divided. Every decision was challenged. Every vote was split. As I struggled to lead, a good friend said to me, “Just lead! We will follow!” While not everyone followed, the organization survived. If you have ever been a part of an organization that suffered from a lack of leadership, you know how painful that can be. How agonizing it is to watch a group of people flounder around with no direction, wasting their time in…

“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:7–8a NIV). Love doesn’t quit!

  As He continues speaking to us through the pe…

When I entered the Twitter world in May 2012 with @BestBibleTweets, I set a goal that seemed audacious at the time: gaining 4,000 followers within one year. However, that goal was surpassed in just six months, and now I’ve reached 45,000 Twitter followers.

Although this accomplishment is exhilarating in many ways, it’s also a time of sober reevaluation. At each new milestone, I’ve found myself facing honest questions, like “Do Twitter…

All who separated themselves from foreign neighbors to keep The Revelation of God

together with their wives, sons, daughters –…

I gave responsibility of governing Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah, the commander of the fortress,

for he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

NEHEMIAH 7:2 NLT…

My role models have all been workaholics. Many of these have also been perfectionists. This is a dangerous mixture. Trying to justify such a lifestyle, I searched the scriptures, until I discovered Jesus saying in His sermon on the mount, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Then I learned that Jesus is here setting a goal, that is certain to be impossible. The pursuit of perfection is important, even if the attainment of it is…

Several weeks ago I was feeling even more arrogant than usual. I had just published two new books – not as a ghostwriter this time, but under my own name. In a four-week period, I had also preached 10 times, more opportunities than I’ve had in any other month in recent years. In addition, I’ve been thrilled about several young Christian leaders God has given me to mentor.

Feeling rather proud of myself, I thought it might be a good time to fish for a compliment from the…

Recently several people asked why it’s been so long since I’ve written a blog about the dating life of my good friend Ron. That’s a good question, especially since my blogs about Ron usually get a far bigger response than when I try to write about profound, deeply spiritual topics.

Like most bloggers, I want to be taken seriously. My goal is to change lives, not just entertain. So it’s a bit irritating when everyone just wants to hear about Ron and his ineptitude in finding a…

How long does it take for God to do a miracle? In some ways, that’s a trick question. He made the entire universe in just six days, so He certainly has no trouble doing things quickly. The Bible also describes many of the Lord’s supernatural interventions as happening “suddenly,” and Jesus typically healed people’s long-standing medical conditions “immediately.”

However, while it’s good to know that God can give us instantaneous, sudden, supernatural breakthroughs, that’s not always…

“Love . . . does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail” (1 Corinthians 13:6 AMPC).

Throughout this series on 1 Corinthians 13, we see clearly that what matters most to God in a disciple is that person’s agape love.  

Verse six identifies another way in which that love shows. A disciple can be trusted to do what is right and say what is true. That is, this person has trustworthy integrity.…

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about John Rankin, a guy who was in the Christian fellowship group with me at Denison University over 40 years ago. John wasn’t one of my best friends—far from it. In fact, he was one of those people who constantly got under my skin and pushed my buttons.

Have you had people like that in your life?

John was a freshman, and I was a senior. I was the main leader of the group, and he was a newbie. Under those circumstances, you would…

Since grief is such a big subject, there isn’t a single definition that covers it. A commonly used definition is “Grief is the normal and natural emotional reaction to loss or change of any kind.” Let me illustrate. Last week I attended a conference that involved several hundred cross-cultural missionaries, some of whom were former Seminary students of mine. I received two invitations to teach a short-term class on prayer (my favorite subject to teach) in two different countries, far removed…

The Spirit Speaks

A few thoughts from Chuck Proudfit with the Marketplace Minute™ . . .

It’s the Holy Spirit that often knocks on our hearts and heads, helping us to understand God’s will for our lives, inside and outside of work.

What an underutilized resource is the Holy Spirit!  We Christians are often more influenced by the call of our culture than the call of our God.

First Corinthians 2:12 reminds us that .…

The work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem had stopped, and it remained at a standstill

until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.…