Resources

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you” (Isaiah 41:10). Scientists and psychologists alike have researched different ways to overcome fear. Some believe they can develop drugs to combat phobias, while others believe we should just fake it until we make it. But there is a secret to courage that God reveals over and over again in Scripture. It is the same thing He told Moses after asking him to lead the Israelites out of slavery, and it is the same thing Jesus told us after giving the disciples the Great Commission (see Exodus 3:12; Matthew 28:19-20). In Haggai 1:13, God reveals the secret to courage once again. Once the Israelites recommitted themselves to the Lord, He responded, “I am with you.” The Lord knew they would need courage to continue His work and rebuild their faith. He knew they would need His […]

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). James 5:17 tells us that “Elijah was a human being, even as we are,” yet he played a role in some of the most amazing demonstrations of God’s power in Biblical history (see James 5:16-18; 1 Kings 17:17-24, 18:16-46). What made Elijah so effective in dealing with unbelievers, enemies, and political leaders? What kind of man can God use as He did Elijah? Six principles allowed Elijah to experience tremendous personal power and intimacy with God. Today, we will look at three. First, Elijah’s response to the Phoenician widow can serve as a study in setting self aside and letting God take over. When the widow verbally assaults him, Elijah does not defend himself or give her a Bible lesson. He simply takes her son in his arms and tries to help her. He knows she is speaking from the pain of her son’s death and the guilt she […]

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). In 1 Kings 18, we see that Israel was at a crossroads. They had lost their awe of God. To them, He was a million miles away. They still claimed to follow Jehovah, but He was no longer a part of their daily lives. God knew that only a vivid reminder of His power would awaken these people from their spiritual sleep. So God used Elijah to bring about a turning point in their lives. With the odds stacked against him—one man standing against hundreds of pagan leaders—Elijah showed the strength of God. In 1 Kings 18:22-39, the people watched a strange competition. Two bull sacrifices […]

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7). There is one thing you must understand about grace. Grace equals power. There is nothing like this power in the entire world. This power is so unique that it can raise a dead soul to life. It is a supernatural power. It’s a unique power. And it is that same power that sustains us through the difficulties of life. No matter what your hurt may be, whatever your suffering is, whatever grief is crushing you, God’s promise for the apostle Paul is yours today: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). No matter what you are facing, God’s grace is sufficient. How could we experience and explain the sufficiency of the grace of God if there were no thorns in our lives? How could we testify about […]

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7). The apostle Paul understood the daily power of God’s grace as he experienced his great thorn: Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10) Seeking the power of God is not only pleasing to God, but it enables us to do His work and live abundantly. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and […]

“For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Do you find yourself constantly troubled by your sin? Have you created lines in the sand, rules that you feel you must follow to be “good enough”? When we strive to earn God’s acceptance, we are depriving ourselves of the freedom and contentment that Christ has won for us. We are depriving ourselves of the true Gospel of grace, shackling ourselves with legalism and elevating our rules to the same importance as God’s commandments—whether our rules involve moralistic guidelines, worship etiquette, or additional conditions to salvation. No matter how well-intentioned our man-made rules may be, they are inferior to God’s commandments. When we follow our faulty human thinking instead of God’s perfect ways, we will find ourselves headed for discontentment. We can never live up to our own harsh standards. We fail every time, and when we do, we lose […]

“. . . just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). When Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), it was not Jesus’ imagination that the Father forsook Him, as some people teach. No, at that moment of separation, the sin of humanity rained on Jesus like a funnel cloud, so much so that Jesus experienced hell itself. This moment of desertion was the moment when our sin was heaped upon His holy, sinless body, and for the first time since before eternity, Jesus looked up into heaven and saw His Father as a judge. That is why He did not call Him Abba, He called Him Eloi—my God. He saw God the sovereign, God the judge, God the awesome one. From cover to cover, the Bible tells us that on the cross Jesus took upon Himself […]

“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12). Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” This is an invitation for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ to experience the awesome power of God’s grace that flows from His very throne. Hebrews 4:16 is an invitation to come to the throne that was converted from a throne of judgment to a throne of grace. There, you will experience unbelievable and untold blessings from the hand of God. God the Son, who sits at the right hand of God, is our great High Priest. Our Great High Priest understands us. Our Great High Priest sympathizes with us. Our Great High Priest knows our weaknesses. As our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ waits for us every single […]

“[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). All people yearn to belong and to be known. In the quest for relationship and acceptance, people often seek to please, but who we are pleasing has eternal consequences. Let’s look at some different kinds of “pleasers.” The People-Pleaser: Some people spend their whole lives trying to please other people. Consider the adult child of a very successful businessman who feels obligated to take over the family business. He may not have the temperament or the natural skills to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he trudges on in an unfulfilled life out of a sense of duty and obligation. Likewise, many Christians continually look at what others are doing to make sure that they personally measure up to others’ expectations. When the apostle Paul was accused of people-pleasing, he […]

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. . . . we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Our fears, anxieties, and hurts are very real. But if we focus only on these earthly problems, then very soon the spiritual realm becomes foggy and unreal. We lose sight of God and slide into pessimism and even depression. Life loses its joy and excitement. If we limit our thinking to this world alone, it will grind us down into the dust from which we were created. No matter how difficult or unjust our circumstances become, we can exercise our free will and choose to praise God rather than ignore Him. As we see in the Psalms, praise has a strong emotional dimension—but it is […]

“Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:2). Our culture places great emphasis on clothing. Magazines and television shows are dedicated to describing the latest fashions. Consumers spend countless dollars on designer labels. Our closets are overflowing, yet we claim to have nothing to wear. We follow every clothing trend in the hopes of finding self-worth in our appearance. Instead of viewing clothing as a covering, we view it as a status symbol. Yet there is a garment that is more valuable than a high fashion suit and more precious than a wedding gown. This garment is a gift from God: the garment of praise. The Scriptures refer to praise as a garment. God gives us “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). Yet a garment is something that we must choose to wear. Even a garment that is freely given to us must be put on […]

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). In 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, Paul laments: “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” When Paul says he fears the Corinthians will be seduced away from a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ,” the word “sincere” is not the best translation. The […]