Tagged: daily bread

“All will be wiped clean for you.” –Luke 11:41 A Pharisee at whose home Jesus was dining was surprised Jesus didn’t wash His hands as part of His before-meal prayer. Jesus changed the subject from hand-washing to soul-washing, saying: “You Pharisees! You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but within you are filled with rapaciousness and evil” (Lk 11:39). Once some people talked to Jesus about the front-page news. Pilate had killed several Galileans and eighteen people were killed by a falling tower in Siloam (Lk 13:4). Jesus again changed the conversation to His favorite subject: repentance from sin....

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain!” –Joel 2:1 Imagine walking into church only to find your pastor prostrate before the altar, weeping and wailing in repentance for his sins and those of God’s people (Jl 1:13). “The wages of sin is death” (Rm 6:23). We are beginning to receive our wages. In fact, we are getting not only death but what the popes call a whole “culture of death.” We have even more reason to cry and repent than did the people of Joel’s time. We must not minimize or euphemize the deadly effects...

“How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” –Luke 11:13 I received the Holy Spirit at my Baptism as an infant and at my Confirmation as a thirteen-year-old. As a young adult, I participated in a Life in the Spirit seminar and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience transformed my life. The Spirit opened my mind to understand the Bible (Lk 24:45). After receiving the Spirit in this new way, Scripture jumped off the page for me. God’s Word became so real that it was as if I could see...

“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city?” –Jonah 4:10-11 Jonah was more interested in his comfort than in the salvation of 120,000 people. We too tend to stay in our comfort zones and out of the “evangelization zone.” Jonah had such warped priorities because he was unforgiving, bitter, angry, and hateful. This combination of toxins inspired Jonah to disobey the Lord. After spending three days in the...

“The people of Nineveh believed God.” –Jonah 3:5 Nineveh, a murderous city of 120,000 people, converted after hearing the prophetic warning of Jonah (see Jon 4:11). Do you believe that there are cities in the world today which would repent en masse if someone would only speak God’s Word to them? Saul was the worst sinner in history, a fierce persecutor of the Church (Acts 22:4; 26:10-11), and an accomplice in murdering the first Christian martyr (1 Tm 1:13; Acts 8:1). Probably no one believed he would convert, become a great Christian missionary, and write much of the Bible. But...