“For the LORD comforts Zion; He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.” Isaiah 51:3 If I will allow the Lord to comfort me, this is what He will […]
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that […]
“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours… For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.” Psalm 86:8, 10 In our church service yesterday, we sang “God of This City.” It’s a song I’m very familiar with, but hadn’t sung in awhile…perhaps […]
“For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:5 I have a classmate who always greets us as “children of the light.” That statement of our identity stirred in my heart as I read this verse in 1 Thessalonians. Establishing […]
“And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.’” Matthew 11:4-5 Reading through this list of Jesus’ actions in ministry, […]
“And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.” Hosea 2:15a It can be difficult to form thoughts into words in the face of tragedy…this is where I find myself this morning, in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. I have prayed for God’s presence […]
“What is my strength, that I should wait?… Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?” Job 6:11-12 “I love you, O LORD, my strength.” Psalm 18:1 Hearing Job’s despair, reflecting on all he had lost – his property, his servants, his health, his children – I was drawn to this […]
“Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, ‘Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, […]
“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who […]
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Isaiah 9:2, 6a So much darkness surrounds us. So much darkness lies within us. But this Child […]
In Pleasant Places 