Oh, how the cunning serpent slithered his way into the hearts of Adam and Eve! He made a promise of life, to “be like God,” but he could not deliver on his promise (See Genesis 3:2-8). The life the devil promised lead only to death . . . it always has and it always will. Adam and Eve were made in the image of God; they were his image-bearers. But evidently they were not satisfied with being made in the image of God; they wanted to be God. They traded the worship of the Creator for the worship of the […]

We all understand the concept of weather forecasting, which is a prediction meteorologists make about what the weather will be on the basis of correlated atmospheric observations. They study and analyze all available pertinent data and make an educated guess about what is most likely to occur. This month, I would like to share a word of encouragement—not about weather forecasting, but rather “faith forecasting” and two different types of faith. Fair weather faith This faith is strong when the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and the sun is brightly shining. Under these balmy conditions, there is barely […]

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5a). When we read the second commandment in the year 2013, we may have a tendency to think this word was for a primitive people who made graven images of wood, stone and gold. But if we think this is the limit of idolatry, we will miss our portion in it! Graven Images […]

  You’ll quickly recognize the three words I am referring to in this month’s title when you reflect for a moment on the wilderness experience of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look. ‘Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the […]

(Scroll down to leave a comment on this awesome change from mid-day to midnight) “When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will […]

We stand at the threshold of yet another year and, if God gives us the next 12 months, the question we need to ask and answer is this: “How does God want us to live them out?” It is far too easy to head off into another new year focusing in on ourselves and what we want rather than on our Savior and what He wants for us. It is in our DNA to ask questions like these… “What are the goals I want to accomplish?” “What are the plans I need to make?” “How far do I want to […]

(What does ’Twas the Night Before Christmas mean to you? Leave a comment down below.) Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) wrote the poem “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in 1822. It is a tradition in many American families to read the poem every Christmas Eve. Here is the familiar beginning portion of it… “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions […]