God’s Promise to Israel

I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:14–15 NKJV) God’s promise kept One of the greatest tangible proofs that the Bible is true is the way prophecies are made and fulfilled and the way promises are made and kept. The most […]

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Make Proper Adjustments

Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.” And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.” So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.” Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their […]

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He Is Our Shepherd

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:1–2). Virtually every educated mind in the English-speaking world has heard the words of this psalm of King David. These words to our loving Shepherd have been spoken by many a soldier under a star-filled sky during a dark night in a foxhole on some faraway battlefield. These are the words whose syllables have been formed by, and whispered through, the lips of many while dying on a bed of affliction. These are the […]

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The Promise of a Brighter Tomorrow

“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Perhaps no Scripture has brought more hope to believers, sustaining our faith as we have attempted to navigate our way through various difficult seasons of life, than these words of Paul to the Romans. This is the one verse on which I have personally climbed atop and taken my stand, finding refuge and hope in times of confusion and need.   The promise is constructive in its appeal As we dissect the elements of […]

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Never Cut What You Can Untie

During my childhood days, we had a vacant lot that became the gathering place for all the neighborhood kids. We had some great ball games on that old vacant lot. It was like Yankee Stadium to me and my pals on Crenshaw Street. Recently, I drove through that old neighborhood on the east side of Fort Worth, Texas. The houses and yards that once were so manicured and pristine are mostly unkempt and in disrepair these days. In fact, several of the houses on my block are vacant and boarded up, and the ones still inhabited have iron bars over […]

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Finding Jesus in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with […]

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The Prayer that Gets Results

“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with […]

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On a Search for Significance

There is an amazing transition taking place in a segment of the American population. The past years have seen a significant number of adults on a quest to move from success to significance. This particular generation has acquired more possessions, position and power than any in history. It set its sights on achieving success and, for the most part, hit the bull’s-eye. But that success has done little to fill the emptiness of the human heart. Sadly, this successful generation also leads all others in such things as divorce, suicide, addictions and loneliness. This unsatisfying success has brought about a […]

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The Model Prayer

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9–13). The Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer For most of us, prayer does not come naturally, nor does it come effortlessly. It is a learned behavior. This is […]

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Make an Honest Evaluation

“The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire’” (Nehemiah 1:1–3). Honest Evaluation, the […]

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