A Christian leader writes: ‘The Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari was a poor man. And yet his violins are now the most prized violins ever made because of the rich and resonant sound they produce. The unique sound of a Stradivarius cannot be duplicated. What may surprise you is that these precious instruments were not made from treasured pieces of wood; they were carved from discarded lumber. Because Stradivari couldn’t afford fine materials, he got most of his wood from the dirty...

Persistence and a refusal to abandon your vision kept you coming back and back and back again until you finally succeeded. Try to imagine what life would be like without the light bulb or the polio vaccine. Yet Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk lived through endless chapters of trial and failure before they succeeded. Successful people take note of their failures and learn from them. They examine them carefully, work out what went wrong, and use them to correct their errors going forwards. So...

Unexpected events can knock us off our feet. And while some of us get knocked down and out, others get back up and go on. They refuse to accept defeat as being permanent. They’re like the man who said, ‘I’m never down; I’m either up, or I’m getting up.’ They see everything that happens in life as a learning experience. Losing a loved one is heart breaking, but it can also be a wake-up call to live every day of your life to the fullest. Losing a job can be traumatic, but it can also bring to...

Just as an ECG can measure the health of our physical heart and blockages that can threaten it, it’s helpful to have an instrument that can measure the level of our zeal, commitment, and wholeheartedness when it comes to serving the Lord. The following six questions will do just that: 1) Do I talk openly and frequently about my commitment to Christ in order to create a kind of public accountability for my actions? 2) Do I accept the responsibility to grow? Do I read books and practise skills...

The Bible says, ‘Amaziah…did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly’ (vv. 1-2 NIV). Contrast that with what God said about David: ‘I have found David…a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’ (Acts 13:22 NIV). This can be a little bewildering because when you read about David’s life, you find chapters of adultery, murder, and cover-up. He’s a disaster as a husband and inferior as a dad. But his heart is devoted to God. How do we know? Because...

Small offences can be forgiven easily. But when someone hurts us badly and seems to be getting away with it, forgiveness is a real challenge. Until you forgive the offence and let it go, you will constantly feel the weight of it weighing you down. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to forgiving is thinking that if your feelings don’t immediately change towards someone, you haven’t really forgiven them. No, forgiveness is a decision. It’s an act of your will. You may...

Jesus said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner…said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” The servants said to him, “Do you want us then to go and gather them up?” But he...

Jesus told professional fishermen, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ These men knew three things about catching fish: 1) You must go where the fish are. You might say, ‘I thought we were supposed to separate ourselves from the world.’ Jesus didn’t avoid the culture; He engaged it in order to change it. And you must do the same. Jesus prayed: ‘I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world,...

Our inner self can be trained to wait on God, even though our outer self is stressed and anxious for answers. This is not easy to do in our fast-paced society, where the spiritual discipline of waiting on the Lord is often lacking. We want everything – right now. But if we are always in a hurry, we will miss out on the close fellowship with God that takes time to develop. He will speak to our hearts if only we will be patient to listen. After slaying the prophets of Baal, Elijah learned a...

If you feel you’re not talented enough to be used by God, read the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Actually, there were five thousand men. If you add women and children, the number could be more than twenty thousand. And the boy’s lunch was more meagre than you imagine. A loaf was about the size of a mini pancake. The word for fish refers to sea creatures about the size of sardines. But what made that little lunch a big feast is what the boy did when Jesus asked him for it. He gave...

When Joseph’s brothers stripped him of his coat of many colours, which represented his father’s favour, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. When he was thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. When the butler he befriended in prison failed to speak on his behalf to Pharaoh, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. ‘Joseph…was sold as a slave…He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the...

The psalmist wrote, ‘Come before His presence with singing…Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name’ (vv. 2, 4 NKJV). When you approach a king, a certain protocol is required. And David gives us the protocol for coming into the presence of the King of Kings: ‘Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.’ Question: is that your personal experience in church? Or do you stand like a spectator while...

The original King James Bible says, ‘O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.’ The New King James Bible says, ‘You are…enthroned in the praises of Israel.’ You say, ‘Which translation is accurate?’ Both are accurate. The word ‘inhabit’ pictures a dweller who feels right at home. And the word ‘enthroned’ pictures someone in a position of power and authority, someone who can give orders and make things happen. So God is at home in our praise; His power is released through our praise. When...

Even science agrees that music has healing power. Today we have music therapists who play sounds that set captives free in hospitals, special educational needs classrooms, nursing homes, and other environments. Harvard University researchers, among others, are reporting that music is a healing balm for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and the physical stress of premature birth. They have also learned that music can improve surgical outcomes, help to restore lost speech, reduce side effects of...

The psalmist wrote, ‘You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.’ When trouble comes, you can turn to God and hide in Him. How? By surrounding yourself with songs of deliverance. Ruth Ward Heflin gives us the road map into God’s presence: ‘You praise until the spirit of worship comes, you worship until the glory comes, then you stand in the glory.’ And that is where ‘all things are possible’. God told Jeremiah, ‘I am ready to...

What does it mean to love God with all your strength? A pastor defines it: ‘It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means blood, sweat, and tears. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned hard work. Energy may be the least appreciated dimension of love because it’s the least sentimental. And how we invest our energy reveals our true priorities.’ It reveals how much we love someone; in this case, God. The pastor continues: ‘Christianity was...

The patriarch Job wrote to ‘speak to the earth, and it will teach you’. George Washington Carver is considered one of history’s greatest scientific minds. Around the turn of the twentieth century, agriculture in the southern states of America was suffering. The boll weevil was destroying cotton crops. And the soil was being emptied of nutrients because farmers planted cotton year after year. It was George Washington Carver who pioneered the idea of crop rotation. He urged farmers to plant...

Guess who said, ‘You are precious to me’? God. So don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Why is this important? Because understanding who you are as a person and genuinely believing that you merit love and attention from another person is essential to your self-worth. The capability to convey that successfully and in a considerate manner is essential for any healthy, mutually satisfying relationship. A sense of self-worth is not arrogance. It helps you to set boundaries and guarantees that no...

Impalas are one of the most powerful animals in Africa. They can leap to a height of more than ten feet and cover more than thirty feet in one jump. Yet the impala can be kept in an enclosure with a fence that’s no more than three feet high. Why? Because it won’t jump unless it can see where its feet will land. In a sense, impalas walk by sight, not faith. What does it mean to ‘walk’? To put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forwards a step at a time. What does it mean to have...

A Christian leader informs us: ‘There was not a bigger social happening in Jewish life than a wedding. It usually began with a ceremony at sundown in the synagogue. Then the entire wedding party would leave the synagogue and begin this long candlelight procession through the middle of town. The couple would be escorted past as many homes as possible so everyone could come out and congratulate them…They went home to a party lasting several days! There would be gift-giving, speech-making,...

A minister writes: ‘Between the human race and God stands a barrier called sin. If we are going to be reconciled with a perfect God, that barrier has to be dealt with. We cannot go around it or over it. Sin demands a payment. Jesus came specifically to make that payment. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death to pay for everything we’ve ever done in the past, present, and future. If your home is on fire, you had better call a firefighter and not a policeman. If you break a leg,...

There is a story about a man who had his picture taken. When he saw it, he said to the photographer, ‘This picture doesn’t do me justice!’ The photographer looked at him, smiled, and said, ‘With a face like yours, you don’t need justice; you need mercy and grace!’ Seriously, that’s the situation we are all in. And the reason God extends mercy and grace to us is because Jesus fulfilled all the demands of God’s justice for us at the cross. Some people think that God’s grace (unmerited favour)...

This happened when Chuck Swindoll was speaking in California: ‘A gentleman came to him and said, “I have waited so long for this week, I am going to eat up everything you have to say.” Swindoll thanked him. Sunday night…the man started nodding [off]. Swindoll figured that he’d had a long drive and was probably tired. It happened each night until the conference ended. As a preacher…it didn’t feel good to see someone sleeping on him. On Friday morning, the lady who was sitting next to him came...

Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth US president, was known as a reserved man who spoke very little. One day when a reporter attempted to interview him, the conversation went like this: Reporter: ‘Do you wish to say anything about the war threat in Europe?’ Coolidge: ‘No.’ Reporter: ‘Do you have anything to say about the strike in the clothing factories?’ Coolidge: ‘No.’ Reporter: ‘Do you have anything to say about the League of Nations?’ Coolidge: ‘No.’ Reporter: ‘Would you care to comment on the...