Category: Genesis to Revelation

  • MORNING & EVENING

    For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. – Amos 9:9 Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask leave before he can lay a finger…

  • THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

    Connect The TestamentsEzra 7:1-8:36; 1 John 4:1-6; Psalm 107:1-22 The Bible is full of unexpected moments. Some events seem almost coincidental, where people are in the right place at the right time. This is exactly the case with Ezra. In ancient times, it was unusual for a king to honor a foreigner with a decree.…

  • HOW SHALL I GO TO GOD?

    IT is with our sins that we go to God, for we have nothing else to go with that we can call our own. This is one of the lessons that we are so slow to learn; yet without learning this we cannot take one right step in that which we call a religious life.…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Rich were the blessings of this day if all of us were filled with the Holy Ghost. The consequences of this sacred filling of the soul it would be impossible to overestimate. Life, comfort, light, purity, power, peace; and many other precious blessings are inseparable from the Spirit’s benign presence. As sacred oil, he anoints…

  • WHAT IS LOVE?

    Connect The TestamentsEzra 5:1-6:22; 1 John 3:19-24; Psalm 106:30-48 I find it easy to talk about myself. I like to get to the root of why I act the way I do. Sometimes this is helpful—it helps me nail down where I struggle. But this tendency also reminds me that I’m geared inward. The danger…

  • WAITING FOR THE MOMENT

    Reflections on Revelation I cringed as I tightened the straps that would hold the brace securely around my body for the night. Several weeks earlier, a doctor had detected the curve in my spine that identified me as a teen with scoliosis. Every night for the next year, I would wear a special brace that…

  • LEARNING FROM ENEMIES

    Connect The TestamentsEzra 3:1-4:24; 1 John 3:11-18; Psalm 106:16-29 If a new venture is really worth pursuing, it will probably be opposed. Some people will refuse to get on board, and others will intentionally get in the way. While these people may be trying protect their own interests, it’s more likely that they don’t like…

  • FROM: Anonymous

    Reflections on Jude Jude exhorts believers in Jesus to have “more and more mercy, peace, and love” (Jude 2). He ends his letter with some practical advice on what this characterization should look like (Jude 20–22). But what else should we be doing? When I cradled my first paycheck at age 16, I recognized the…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The prayer itself is remarkable, for it is short, but seasonable, sententious, and suggestive. David mourned the fewness of faithful men, and therefore lifted up his heart in supplication—when the creature failed, he flew to the Creator. He evidently felt his own weakness, or he would not have cried for help; but at the same…

  • NOT PERFECT?

    Connect The TestamentsEzra1:1-2:70; 1 John 3:5-10; Psalm 106:1-15 Sometimes sin can discourage us to the point that we loathe ourselves. At first glance, John’s letter seems to encourage this. Addressing a struggling church community, John seems to call for perfection: “And you know that that one was revealed in order that he might take away…