Delightsome Land

That Difficult Person Dear Jesus, I need Your help. Someone is making my life difficult. I have tried to be kind and patient — You know I have, Lord. But there have been times when I’ve lost my temper — You know that too. I’ve said unkind things and thought even worse things. Our relationship needs healing; it needs You. Jesus, show me what to do. I pray for You to step in and make this right. Teach me, Lord. How would You handle this person? Please take away these feelings of anger and hurt and replace them with grace and love. “Seventy times seven”: That’s what You said to Peter when he asked how many times he should forgive the one who sinned against him. Am I capable of forgiving that many times? Oh, but how many times have You forgiven me? Soften my heart, Lord, and help me forgive as You have forgiven me. If anyone can mend this relationship, Jesus, it is You. Guide my every word and every action with Your perfect love. I need You, Jesus. We need You. If it is possible, as ...

There Will Be Blood Pain is a microphone. And the more it hurts, the louder you get. Suffering isn’t an obstacle to being used by God. It is an opportunity to be used like never before. This truth leaps off the pages of Scripture again and again and again. Joseph suffered for years as a prisoner for crimes he didn’t commit, but it only made him louder. In the end he was raised to the right hand of Pharaoh and put in a position to save the lives of his brothers, who had tried to kill him (Genesis 45:5). Esther went through the unspeakably difficult trial of becoming an orphan when both her parents died (Esther 2:7). Yet her adoption by Mordecai set into motion the events by which she would become queen of Persia and prevent a holocaust. David was forced to go on the run, like Harrison Ford in The Fugitive, while he was hunted by his lunatic of a father-in-law, Saul. David was homeless, living in and out of caves in the wilderness of Israel, and yet it was in those caves he po...

 "The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I hope in Him!” — Lamentations 3:24, NKJV Ada Blackjack, 1898 – 1983 Ada Blackjack was born in Alaska in 1898, the same year as the Alaskan Gold Rush. At age sixteen, Ada married Jack Blackjack, a hunter and dogsled driver. He was a cruel husband and Ada’s was a brutal life. After losing two children in infancy and suffering further heartbreak when it was discovered the surviving son, Bennett, had tuberculosis, Jack abandoned his family. Ada desperately needed money to pay for Bennett’s treatment, so she joined four men on an Arctic expedition as the seamstress and cook for a staggering sum of fifty dollars per month. The expedition, tasked with claiming Wrangel Island for Britain and bringing back a cache of furs, departed to the far north of the Arctic Sea in September of 1921. The group landed, set up camp, and began preparations to survive the frigid winter. Ada was desperately afraid of the many polar bears and the l...

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15 KJV The Bible is not an end in itself, but is a means to the end of knowing God and doing His will. The apostle Paul said, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” ( 2 Tim. 2:15 ). God has given us the Bible in order that we might know Him and that we might do His will here on earth. Therefore, devotional Bible study is the most important kind of Bible study. Devotional Bible study means reading and studying the Word of God in order that we may hear God’s voice and that we may know how to do His will and to live a better Christian life. For your devotional reading and study of the Bible, here are several important, practical suggestions: 1. Begin your Bible reading with prayer ( Ps. 119:18 ;  John 16:13-15 ). 2. Take brief notes on what you read. Keep a...

There is one question that all children of God have wondered about at one time or another. It’s an important and personal question. For some of us, it’s the biggest question we have about life after this one. The question is simply this: Who is going to be in heaven? This is a big question. After all, our lives are filled with people whom we love and cherish. We want to know if we will be able to spend eternity with our families and friends. We want to know who will be beside us in the glory and light of God. The Lord God and All His Angels The answer to who is going to be in Heaven is in the Bible. First of all, it tells us that God is in Heaven. Scripture mentions several times that God is in His throne or on His throne, and the Bible says that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.  — Revelation 22:3 So, you and I know that God the Father is going to be there, God the Son is going to be there, and God the Holy Spirit i...

The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. — Mark 2:27 NLT When I was around nine years old, my mother decided I should take piano lessons. It made sense because I loved music and had been singing solos in church since the age of four. But singing was something I did for fun, and tiresome lessons and hours of practice did not sound like fun. Nonetheless, I dutifully attended my piano lessons. Much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. I really liked my teacher and I loved being able to play and sing at the same time. One of the things I did not like, however, was the metronome — the little device that marked time with military precision to make sure I played to the right rhythm. Each time I sat down to play a piece I had been practicing, my teacher started the metronome. I tried to play according to its measured timing, but I almost never did it right. Sticking to the prescribed rhythm was hard! My teacher would gently...

Jesus went to Zacchaeus’s house and became the guest of a notorious sinner. He went to Matthew’s house and ate dinner with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. In full view of everyone, He hung out with today’s equivalent to pimps, prostitutes, and crackheads. In that culture, to eat with someone was to identify with them. Jesus associated Himself with people who were shunned by every upstanding Jew. They were the butts of jokes and the targets of smirks. No self-respecting person would risk befriending them for fear of being found guilty by association. By everyone’s standards, Jesus was a good man. So making friends with bad people didn’t make sense. Preaching at them, rebuking them, criticizing them, mocking them — that was expected. Even applauded. But sitting around a table telling jokes and enjoying life together? That was shocking. That was tabloid material. But Jesus didn’t care about the scandal. He cared about the scandalous.  He liked spending time...