THE STRANGE PROXIMITY OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF
My wife’s and my faith are being tested like never before. What separates us from our calling to Kenya and the Eagles’ Wings ministry center is a $500,000 Jordan River. April is make-or-break or “cross-the-river-or-stay” month because the owners have given us till May 1st to let them know whether we have the money to […]
THE HEALING POWER OF PRAYER
Does prayer contribute to healing our bodies and minds? Many people grapple with this question when confronted with acute pain or serious disease that seems above our human coping abilities. The Bible and scientific research have a lot to say in response to this question. Isaiah 53:5, for instance, tells us: But he was pierced […]
PRAYING TO GET UNSTUCK
Have you ever felt stuck? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Of course, there are many different ways of getting stuck. Our daily lives can get stuck, and we find ourselves doing the same routine over and over again without being able to invent a new one. Our careers can get stuck, and there seems to be […]
SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
My morning devotions led me to the opening verses of Matthew 9, where Jesus heals a paralytic. These verses jumped out at me: But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose […]
THE POWER OF PRODUCTIVE WAITING
During my years at a Bible College in Great Britain, now 40 years ago (gulp!), I took part in a performance group named “Portrait,” with which we went to churches and evangelistic outreach campaigns. The very first sketch we learned was entitled “The Call.” The lights would come up on a person sitting in a […]
NEWSFLASH!
Most of the time, you receive devotional insights on this blog – primarily what jumps out at me during devotions or reading. Occasionally, I will share updates on our faith journey toward living and ministering in Kenya, which forms the backdrop to some of the insights and thoughts that are going through my head right […]
THE COUNSEL OF PEACE
And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and […]
IN ANTICIPATION OF SPRING
It’s mid-morning on a February Saturday, and I’m sitting in the sunroom of our house looking at a dreary scene outside. The sky is grey and a raw and a cold wind is blowing. The trees and shrubs in the backyard are mostly bare, and the grass is brown and limp. The world looks like […]
FEAR IN THE FREE WORLD
Richard Wurmbrand was a pastor who suffered lengthy imprisonment and unimaginable torture at the hands of the Romanian communist regime before he was ransomed by a Norwegian organization in 1964. He and his wife Sabrina eventually moved to the U.S. where he became one of the most influential mouthpieces of the persecuted Church and founded […]
HE REVEALS HIS THOUGHTS
One of the things that fascinates and warms me the most about a relationship with our God – Almighty Creator, Father of mankind, Lord, King of the universe – is that He reveals His thoughts to us. Amos says so: He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to […]