Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

ASSISTANCE PLEASE

“Mary called the Magdalene, from whom seven devils had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others…were assisting them out of their means.” –Luke 8:2-3 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others assisted Jesus and the apostles out of their means. Many of you have assisted the Church out of your means. Many have assisted Presentation Ministries and One Bread, One Body out of your means. Although the Church greatly needs assistance, and assistance can be a supernatural gift of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:28), the charism and ministry of assisting others out of our...

Redeeming the time…

Colossians 4:5-6 5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (WEB) Seventy years may seem like a long time to live on this earth. And in some ways, it is quite a race that we are all running, but in the light of eternity, it is but a blink of an eye. In James 4:14, our life is called but a ‘vapor’…. Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For...

LOVE-MAKINGS

“Little is forgiven the one whose love is small.” –Luke 7:47 Even what we call the slightest sin is an abomination before the all-holy God. Therefore, because we all have sinned, we deserve to receive God’s wrath (Eph 2:3) and to be punished forever in hell. However, the Lord took our sins and their punishment on Himself. He died on the cross to save us from sin and its consequences. If we repent and thereby accept Jesus’ death and forgiveness, we have accepted salvation. When we realize what Jesus has done for us, we live lives of thanksgiving (Lk 7:42)...

Father’s family model (part two)…

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 11 As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory. (WEB) In yesterday’s blog, I talked about how the Apostle Paul related to the Thessalonian church ‘like a nursing mother cherishes her own children’. Just a few verses after Paul uses the feminine illustration of intimacy, he describes a masculine version when he talks about his father-heart for them as well. Good fathers and mothers are not...

PLANS FOR THE SELF-MADE MAN

“Wonderful, indeed, is the mystery of our faith.” –1 Timothy 3:16 God has plans for us – plans for our welfare, not for woe, plans to give us “a future full of hope” (Jer 29:11). The Lord plans to lead us “to springs of life-giving water” (Rv 7:17), that is, to heaven. There He “will wipe every tear” from our eyes (Rv 7:17). However, we can ruin God’s plans for us by refusing to repent (Lk 7:30) and by being selfish (Lk 7:32ff). Therefore, let us die to self before we die from self. We all are born “self-aholic.” Only...