The Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! Ezekiel 14:6 “Do you see it, brother Tim?” My friend, a Ghanaian pastor, flashed his torchlight on a carved object leaning against a mud hut. Quietly he said, “That is the village idol.” Each Tuesday evening, Pastor Sam traveled into the…

Your brother will rise again. John 11:23 As a visitor to a small West African town, my American pastor made sure to arrive on time for a 10 a.m. Sunday service. Inside the humble sanctuary, however, he found the room empty. So he waited. One hour. Two hours. Finally, about 12:30 p.m., when the local…

In addition to the crippling back problems I deal with daily, something recent is causing me concern,  I have been having more and more situations of experiencing the near loss of consciousness.  I feel like I am going to pass out and then it goes away.  As many of you know, I am looking forward…

I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:18 Monica prayed feverishly for her son to return to God. She wept over his wayward ways and even tracked him down in the various cities where he chose to live. The situation seemed hopeless. Then one day it happened:…

Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. Psalm 120:2 “Christian consciousness begins in the painful realization that what we had assumed was the truth is in fact a lie,” Eugene Peterson wrote in his powerful reflections on Psalm 120. Psalm 120 is the first of the Psalms of Ascents (Psalms 120–134) sung…

I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for [my people’s] sake. Romans 9:3 “Men have been found to resist the most powerful monarchs and to refuse to bow down before them,” observed philosopher and author Hannah Arendt (1906–75). She added, “[B]ut few indeed have been found to resist the…

Elisabeth Elliot ~ “Jesus slept on a pillow in the midst of a raging storm. How could He? Because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control. His was a quiet heart.” Keep a Quiet Heart, p 17 Mark 4:37-39 H/T Lucy

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Lord God, Be the center of our hope and may your love for us be the wellspring of all…

Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, . . . has triumphed. Revelation 5:5 For more than six decades, news journalist Paul Harvey was a familiar voice on American radio. He would say with a colorful flair, “You know what the news is, in a minute you’re going…

JIM DENISON, PHD According to a new report (PDF) by the nonprofit child advocacy group Common Sense Media, 73 percent of US teenagers seventeen years of age or younger have viewed online pornography. Fifty-four percent of those age thirteen or younger have seen online porn. On average, they first consumed pornography when they were twelve years old….

JIM DENISON, PHD “The eyes of the Lᴏʀᴅ range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV). The Georgia Bulldogs repeated as national champions last night with their 65–7 win over the TCU Horned Frogs. Only eight schools have won repeat national championships since the start of the modern era in…

 JIM DENISON, PHD “When you put real love out into the world it comes back to you 3x’s as much. The Love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out. We brung the world back together behind this. If you know me you know this only…

If someone . . . preaches a [false] Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, . . . you [wrongly] put up with it. 2 Corinthians 11:4 The buzz in the room faded to a comfortable silence as the book club leader summarized the novel the group would discuss. My friend Joan listened closely but didn’t…

Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Genesis 1:28 I recently made a wonderful discovery. Following a dirt path into a cluster of trees near my home, I found a hidden homemade playground. A ladder made of sticks led up to a lookout, swings made from old cable spools hung…

Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. Psalm 38:15 Volunteers at a farm animal rescue organization in Australia found a wandering sheep weighed down by more than seventy-five pounds of filthy, matted wool. Rescuers suspected the sheep had been forgotten and lost in the bush for at least five years. Volunteers…

JIM DENISON, PHD Lebanon, Pennsylvania, dropped a giant package of bologna to mark the new year. Tallapoosa, Georgia, dropped a possum. Boise, Idaho, unsurprisingly dropped a giant potato. And, as everyone knows, New York City staged its iconic “ball drop” once again as around a million people packed the Times Square area and millions more watched on television. When…

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 At the age of 103, a woman named Man Kaur competed as India’s oldest female athlete during the 2019 World Masters Athletic Championship in Poland. Remarkably, Kaur won gold in four events (javelin throw, shot put,…

Contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant, left, reacts as she is recognized by President Joe Biden during the Kennedy Center honorees reception at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. The 2022 Kennedy Center Honorees are from left, Amy Grant, Bono, Gladys Knight, and The Edge. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) JIM DENISON, PHD In…

They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. Psalm 107:30 I was drifting off into an impromptu nap when it hit me. From the basement, my son ripped a chord on his electric guitar. The walls reverberated. No peace. No quiet. No nap. Moments later, competing music greeted…