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Would you like to get even with your enemies? Or perhaps a little more than even. Maybe give them twice what he they have dished out to you? Your can. And you can do it with Christ's approval. The very worst thing you can do to you enemy, regardless of what they have done to you, is to pray for them! Someone has said, do good to your enemies; it will drive them crazy! Maybe. Maybe not. But praying for them makes it easier to love them - in exact proportion. It is important how you do good to them who are your enemies, and especially how you pray for them. Make sure that you…  ( Click for more )

Sometime in eternity past, God desired to expand His love to someone in addition to millions of angels who already loved Him, as He loved them.

He had angelic companionship, which was enjoyable and satisfying as His messengers and servants. However, being God, He desired something and someone like Himself - someone to love and from whom He could receive love and fellowship. He desired children.

Children as we know, are very much like their parents. Together they constitute what we call "family". God originated the original concept of family. But many eons ago, before…  ( Click for more )

The world in which we live has never been before. At least, like it is today. One can almost sense the increased pressures of invisible threats, It seems a day does not go by without a shocking event occurring somewhere. Whether it occurs on the other side of the world, or next door. The world as we have known it, shocks us almost daily. It seems our world is somehow unraveling. We can sense it. We can feel it. As foreboding and upsetting as it is, we should not really be surprised. God's word said it would always be this way. Only worse as the times go by. God has set up events,…  ( Click for more )

The Hard Way "There is a way that seems right..." (Proverbs 16:25) How many times have we heard this truth referred to, spoken about, and preached on. And the second phrase of the quote includes the consequences of the first phrase, "...but the end thereof (result) is death". To many, the way that seems right is the way that seems to be the easier way. When events and expectations seem to just fall into place, we are inclined to assume that it must be the right way. We take the easier way as prima fascia proof that it must be the best way. We seldom cast…  ( Click for more )

The entire life of a prominent person in the New Testament was devoted to establish this element in that society in which he lived.

No, it wasn't Jesus...it was John the Baptist. Without his ministry, Jesus' preaching would not have born much, if any, fruit. John the Baptist preached the requirement that would make Jesus' ministry successful and fulfilled. That message can be spoken in one word: repentance. Without repentance, belief in Jesus is vain and fruitless in the lives of those who heard and listened to Him. This is one reason Jesus said that "many are called,…  ( Click for more )

Typically, when we think of what the book of Job teaches of us, we usually think about the seeming conflict of suffering and righteousness. The answer to this is effectively answered by the New Testament.

There is an additional and more important message God is teaching us from this amazing book.

God makes it clear in the first chapter that Job's condition is His doing, and at the same time affirms that he was "righteous". And God affirms that there was no one as righteous as Job.

"There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was…  ( Click for more )

Casting Your Cares

"Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully." - 1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)

Are you "casting" your cares, worries, concerns, problems, circumstances, upon Christ? This is perhaps one of the most encouraging and inspiring verses in the Bible. It is certainly one to cling to when it seems that no one is caring for us. Many times when it seems that Christ is not caring for us - when our lives and circumstances…  ( Click for more )

Several weeks ago I wrote an article for this column entitled "A Legacy of Eden" (see the Archives), in which there was a discussion of Adam and Eve, and the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". It addressed some of the consequences this had for men and women down through history until now, with the main focal point on marriage, together with being single, and men and women in general.

This week we will look at the scope of the consequences for humanity and our world today, as it has and IS impacting all of us - every moment.

We are looking at the…  ( Click for more )

"Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever." (Psalm 131 KJV)

What a beautiful and wonderful submission - and ADMISSION!

Psalm 131 is called "a song of ascents". It may have been sung by the people of Israel as they approached Jerusalem for the annual holy days. The trek was an incline UP…  ( Click for more )

"Friend, how would you feel, if your heart were made with a window on each side? - So that all could see, not just outward charm, but detect if in were harm? - People always see you as you are outside - Jesus really knows you, for He sees inside. How about your heart? - Is it right with God? - Is it black by sin? - Is it pure within? - Could you ask Me in to stay? - How about your heart? - Is it right with God? - That’s the thing that counts today!" - (Gospel Song: Author Unknown)

It seems sometimes that the distance between the head and the heart is about the…  ( Click for more )

There are some words used in the Bible that seem to defy analysis and human comprehension because of the breadth and scope of their meaning. They convey concepts that describe spiritual activity in the lives of every true Christian. That is because these are words the Holy Spirit has chosen to reveal to us how God is working in our lives, and to help us cooperate with Him in changing us into the image of Jesus Christ. These words are compacted, but God would have us "unpack" them. In doing so, we see more clearly what He is doing, and what is occuring in us, so as to encourage…  ( Click for more )

"To the woman he (God) said, I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband but he will dominate you" But to Adam He said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded ‘you must not eat from it‘, cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground…  ( Click for more )

"When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish." Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this’ and he does it." When Jesus heard…  ( Click for more )

On a television segment a number of years ago, there appeared a man who had suffered a terrible disfigurement. I do not recall what caused it, but I believe I shall never forget him.- He had NO FACE. I had heard of soldiers having their faces blown away in battle. It was difficult to believe at the time I saw him, and even more difficult to describe now after several years have passed.

I will not attempt too much detail, but I do remember this much: from just above his upper lip up to the bottom of his forehead, there was nothing. There was no nose. There were no eyes. There…  ( Click for more )

There is a much different world coming - one developing out of this present world that we all know - a world like no one has ever seen before, or will ever be seen again. One that is not expected, except perhaps by those who are striving to bring it about. However they may see what they do not expect to see or envision. It will be ruled by a one world government; one religion; one world economy. Government, Economics, and Religion. These three aspects of the "new world order", are even now slowly becoming a reality, and beginning to position themselves, eventually to fall…  ( Click for more )

"For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation…  ( Click for more )

What would you consider to be the shortest sermon ever preached?

Some of us have it preached to us several times each day as we travel down the roads of our lives. Actually we have had it preached to us our entire lives over and over again, no matter where we had been or where we were going. That sermon consists, and has consisted of, only one word - "YIELD"! There is another next-to-the-shortest sermon. It is totally compatible and functions with the shortest. It is "KEEP RIGHT"! I think you can readily see that the two go together. Perhaps…  ( Click for more )

"Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage". So goes a lyric of a melody from long ago. It remains true today. Sadly, it is not always so...

Some years ago a statement was made about love which sounded very unusual, even odd, to most. This seems rather bizarre in view of what most of us feel when the word "love" is mentioned. How could (or why should?) love ever be controversial? Perhaps that was what many asked at that time, too.

Most would agree that the word LOVE has been and is one of the most used, misused, and abused, ill-defined, twisted,…  ( Click for more )

"And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that I have" (1 Kings 20:1-4 KJV) .

Here we see an incident in the long…  ( Click for more )

"It's hard to be humble when you as great as I am...I'm humble and proud of it!"

Most of us have heard these humorous statements, or something similiar at one time or another. They usually elicit a laugh or chuckle because they portray the antithesis of humility as we feel we understand it. I have often wondered why they strike us as being funny - could it be that down deep inside us we realize we really ARE NOT humble. Or, that it is absurd to consider that we or anyone else COULD be. This would imply a belief that we somehow DO understand what it is -at least for us.…  ( Click for more )

We have all heard the expression "four letter words". There was a time when "four letter words" were held to be shameful, or at the very least in poor taste. Whether communicating in private conversation or public discourse, they were generally shunned. We all know the ones I’m referring to. The ones once considered vulgar and demeaning to the one speaking them, notwithstanding those to whom these words were spoken TO.

There is another four letter word that has caused much more shame, discouragement, recrimination, and mental anguish perhaps than…  ( Click for more )

"For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God." (Acts 20:27 Amplified Bible)

We live in a society of "sound bites", video clips, instant messaging, and a pot pori of various and sundry "lnstants". TV commercials get shorter, with increasing glitz and lightening speed images - all compacted together within a very short time frame, and yet designed to have the greatest emotional impact. Truly, as someone has said, reality is what is perceived. The idea is to provoke us to ACT…  ( Click for more )

During the 1800’s an event occurred that has been called one of the all-time tragedies of American history. It is referred to in this way, not necessarily because it was the largest, but primarily because of the depth of the sorrow and suffering of those involved. Also, it was so tragic because of the seeming cruelty and insensitivity of those who were directly or indirectly responsible. The suffering was so intense that it is simply called "The Trail of Tears". The event concerns the trek of a tribe of American Indians from their normal habitations toward the north…  ( Click for more )

Why should there have ever been sacrifice - of any kind, of anything, ever? Why was there ever a need for such? The word "sacrifice" can strike uneasiness and even fear in many of us depending upon our nature, our circumstances, our experiences. It is a very good question. The simple answer is, God planned it that way. If that seems an over simplification, it is, and it isn't. Most of us do not want to hear that we will need to sacrifice something or for something, or someone, or for a principal, etc. However, many are willing…  ( Click for more )