“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” You might be surprised at the location of these very words in the Scriptures and at the situation in which they were spoken. The phrase is found in Nehemiah 8. It is expressed as an exhortation and command to a saddened group...

Without the manifestation of the Son of God the works of the devil are not destroyed (I John 3:8); and without His followers continually revealing His Love among themselves, He is not manifested to the world. This Love cannot be manifested in and through us without choosing to let death...

Darkness held us hostage until love broke through. We were shadowed from the radiance of God’s glory. This is Hell’s way. It operates in subtlety. It turns on its fog machine. It surrounds us with haze, a real type of spiritual pollution that hangs in the air around us. Confusion...

“… Walk in manner worthy of the calling to which to you been called …” (Ephesians 4:1). One is the only-iest number according to the Word of God, especially in Chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Sorry for the ancient Three Dog Night pop culture reference there at...

The sick and the poor – Jesus said they would be with us, always. And they remain with us to show us the heart of God. And sometimes we are sure to find ourselves among the sick and the poor and in need of help from a “priest,” from someone...

“She is not afraid of snow for her household for all her household is clothed in scarlet” (Proverbs 31:21) Proverbs 31 concludes with a series of descriptions of the virtuous woman. Each of these definitions is tied to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This alphabetic connection was a common...

In Ephesus, there developed a model city church in a part of the world then known as Asia Minor, in what’s now part of Turkey. This was a seemingly solid group of Jesus followers, according to Revelation, Chapter 2. The people there reflected patience and strength. They were vibrant; there...

Face it; we’ve been put into time out. Like the disobedient child that it is, the world system is under something of a forced shutdown. The COVID-19 virus outbreak has altered things for people everywhere. All of us have been challenged to stop and recognize that things really are beyond...

Will I sink or will I swim? In troubled times this can be our constant question. Self-preservation seems to dictate our options. When crossing a creek, a stepping stone shows us a way across. It holds our weight so that we can cross over. The weight is distributed so that...

The church of Ephesus got off to a strong start and functioned as a faithful assembly for some years. Paul’s letter to this group of believers, written around the year AD 60, contains none of the corrective passages that we find his other church epistles. This city in Asia Minor,...