And there was the baby, lying in the manger. (Luke 2:16 NLT)
Much of the famous artwork depicting Jesus is beautiful, but the artists also make it difficult to remember that Jesus was human. The incarnation is one of the...
And there was the baby, lying in the manger. (Luke 2:16 NLT)
Much of the famous artwork depicting Jesus is beautiful, but the artists also make it difficult to remember that Jesus was human. The incarnation is one of the...
Then I looked, and, oh!—a door open into Heaven. The trumpet-voice, the first voice in my vision, called out, “Ascend and enter. I’ll show you what happens next.” (Revelation 4:1 The Message)
The dreams I have about the...
“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me.” (Revelation 22:12 NLT)
Reward—it fills the pages of both Testaments. C. S. Lewis writes: “If you consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of...
“Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I’m creating.” (Isaiah 65:18 The Message)
Certainly storytelling is one of the great pleasures in the kingdom. Would you like to write? Illustrate? Act? Produce? These are not...
I saw Heaven and earth new-created. (Revelation 21:1 The Message)
What if? A large golden eagle in this world can carry a sheep. What load can a renewed eagle bear? I would love to ride a golden eagle, with...
They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)
What will it be like to be crowned with everlasting joy?...
“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NLT)
According to the Scriptures, the heart can be troubled, wounded, pierced, grieved, even broken. How well you know that. Thankfully, it can also be...
READ MOREDear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
There’s an expression that is...
The child-heart wants to know, “Will there be animals in heaven?” The calloused heart dismisses this as theologically unworthy. Friend, the whole debate ends when you realize that heaven comes to earth. How could your creative God renew...
READ MOREThis is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life! (1 John 2:25 The Message)
Jesus’ offer of eternal life has gotten “interpreted” by well-meaning people to say, “Oh, well. Yes, of course ... God intends life for...
Commit yourself in love, in justice! Wait for your God, and don’t give up on him—ever! (Hosea 12:6 The Message)
Without naming evil for what it is, and without a day of reckoning, there can be no justice. (This is...
The fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. (1 Corinthians 3:13–14)
You know your every sin is forgiven. So if you can remove all fear of exposure...
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, for I hide myself in you. (Psalm 143:8–9)
David...
READ MOREThen the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of...
READ MORE“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:10
You have been looking for the kingdom all your life. When you were a child, you searched for it in ponds and cornfields, attics and...
READ MORE“My grace is sufficient for you.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 nasb
There is only the kingdom, friend. Everything else will slip through your fingers, no matter how strong your grasp. Why do you fight this hope? You nod in...
READ MOREHeroic desires are embedded in the center of the masculine soul. Yet there is also something corrosive at work. Some drive to answer a searing question for which we have no words. Some compulsive need to push and strive that lures us so often to...
READ MOREWhat do you hope people will say at your eulogy?
"Growing up, my dad was my hero. He was strong yet playful. His courage taught me how to stand up for those in need."
"My father was always dreaming about our...
Here’s something I think most people have never seen before. This moment takes place on Easter morning. Jesus of Nazareth has been systematically tortured and then hung by his hands and feet from timbers. He died, and his body quickly laid in a...
READ MOREReading the Gospels without knowing the personalty of Jesus is like watching television with the sound turned off. The effect is a dry, two-dimensional person saying strange, undecipherable things. But when we discover his true character - this...
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