Category: Spiritual Growth
What It Was Like: Geography and Culture Make a Difference
I recently returned from a trip to Israel. The purpose for the trip was to create mental images in the minds of my students of that part of the world where so much Bible history took place. As we hiked down Judean hills, traversed the barren...
Why You Don’t Read Your Bible
To go through life as a professing believer without taking in the Word of God is like trying to drive across the country without a road. You won’t make it. It’s like saying, “I’m not really interested in God at all.” People who don’t have any...
You and God’s Law: How’s the Relationship Going?
God’s true people are saved by His grace, but they are distinguished from the rest by their relationship with His moral standard of conduct as revealed in Scripture—His law. Those who are truly His people have always been known for their affectionate submission to His authority...
When God Moves Kings: The Second Exodus
As Moses climbed down the craggy face of Mt. Horeb, you might say he was awestruck. He had just been speaking to a bush engulfed in flames, to the angel of the Lord, and had reluctantly agreed to the impossible task of leading Israel out of...
Praying for the Persecuted
The deadliest attack on Christians in the history of Pakistan happened last week. The death toll has reached 85, with 120 wounded. Two suicide bombers entered the worship service in a building that has stood since 1883, and set off explosives containing ball bearings. Children, wives,...
Reading Scripture Rightly
When reading a section of Scripture, we will find that a passage almost always comes across weighted on one side of an issue or another. I mean this: a passage is written intended to drive a certain point home, aimed at a particular audience, for a...
Seven Truths About Knowing God
Much is often taught about the importance of having a “personal relationship” with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Believers frequently contrast the terms “religion” and “relationship” when explaining the difference between that which is merely outward and formal, and that which is spiritual and true....
Sanctifying Reason
Note from Jim Elliff: I have copied below a chapter from my little book entitled Led by the Spirit, published by Joshua Press of Canada, on the important subject of the use of reason in decision-making. I have a particular interest in your reading this book...
More Seed for Sowing
We need to feel the free wind of generosity in our day of careful financial planning. Let me explain. It’s the spring of the year AD 55 and the weather is warming up in Ephesus. The apostle Paul is on his third missionary trip. This time,...
Good. Then Gone: The Empty Promise of Temptation
I noticed the billboard from a distance, its message becoming clearer as I approached. It was an advertisement for a fast food chain’s newest gourmet French fries, smothered in cheese and bacon, with “bacon” forming part of its name (and as everyone knows, you can NEVER...
