Blair Parke
If you have spent any amount of time in your life praying, you likely know that not all prayers get instantly, or ever, fulfilled. But in Scripture, James tells us that we have not because we ask not....
Heather Adams
In God’s view, gaining self-control is part of our progression toward Christ-likeness. In fact, the Apostle Paul included it in a list of basic qualities that believers should cultivate. “But the frui...
Dr. Sandra Hamer Smith
You must have faith in God for yourself. Do not let man limit what God can do for you. ...
Lisa Loraine Baker
In the New Testament, events at the Feast of Pentecost mark a new era in the church. However, to fully understand what happened to the disciples that day in the upper room, we need to consider what th...
Lisa Loraine Baker
When we learn another language, it brings the words to life. Paraclete has a particularly powerful meaning in the Bible, which we won't fully understand until we look at the original language....
Dr. Michael A. Milton
What does God look like? Perhaps, following the psalmist, we turn to poetry and hymnody to answer. When you know your sins are forgiven, and the God of all Creation is your own Father, God looks like ...
Lisa Loraine Baker
Concupiscence is one of those words which derives its meaning from the context—specifically the object toward which it is directed. At its core, concupiscence is desire or coveting (epithymia)....
Bethany Verrett
“Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’” (Joel 3:10) In context, God is speaking to those who defy Him, both the enemies of Israel in Joe...
Ruth Clemence
Grace is described as a gift which justifies us before God through the redemption that is in Jesus (Romans 3:24). However, like any gift we may open this holiday season, will we receive it with joy an...
Debbie W. Wilson
The thought of God entering the world as an infant is staggering. But that was only the beginning. Jesus’s mission always included the cross (1 Peter 1:18-20). The baby in the manger was the lamb of G...
Hope Bolinger
Found 187 times in the Bible, the number 12 makes a special appearance in Revelation, showing the authority and perfection of God’s kingdom at last. Here are 12 things to know about 12 in the Bible....
Lisa Loraine Baker
Jesus added weight to our understanding of what a true friend is when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Isn’t that the ultimate...
Dr. Michael A. Milton
To walk in the Spirit is to walk in new life in Jesus Christ. It is to walk away from the old life of bondage to any idea, person, system, or idea of salvation by religious ritual. As we will see, G...
Lisa Loraine Baker
As Christians—first and foremost in relation to what the world sees—we are to be ambassadors for Christ. We are people called by God to represent Him to a lost and dying (secular) world, and as w...
Sometimes when we come to passages like Matthew’s condensed Christmas story, we don’t come with that childlike curiosity and wonder—looking at the everyday with awe, perceiving the familiar as fascina...
Dr. Michael A. Milton
To be clear, the Bible never says that the Lord God is Mother God. The Bible declares that the Lord is like the universally admired maternal instincts. The Lord uses similitudes to help us unders...
Annette Griffin
The Church at Sardis, along with the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, may have been selected to receive John’s letters because of their geographical locatio...
Micah Maddox
Things like death, or circumstances that bring grief in strong waves, or pain that feels unbearable, causes us to either lean into faith or push away from it. The book of James in the New Testament gi...
Sheila Alewine
God always loves to hear from us. Even a short prayer can be a wonderful way for us to reconnect with him and focus our hearts. But sometimes, even when we ask God for things, His answer may be "no." ...