BY LEROY EIMS
For the past thirty years people have been telling me about God. The taxi driver in Singapore, the university student in Stockholm, the senator in Washington, the businessman in Beirut the, housewife in Auckland, the singer in San Francisco, the millionaire in Texas, and scores of other men and women around the world have shared their views about God as we have sat and talked...
BY PHIL DAVIS
One day one of my eight-year-old sons was in the living room playing while I was reading. He had a wooden yardstick, and he was holding it and jumping over it. I heard the crack but pretended that I didn't in order to see his response. Immediately after the sound of the crack, he scurried out of the room. He stopped in the hall, just out of my sight, so he could survey the extent of the damage and figure out his next move....
BY GEORGE SANCHEZ
Issues: Conflicts can take place in our relationships with one another at every level: between husband and wife, between parents and children, with friends, others at work, and even at church. Because we all experience conflict in one way or another, we must know how to deal with it in a biblical, constructive way. What does the Bible say about conflict? What causes conflict? How should we react to it? Is conflict always destructive, or can it be helpful?.....
BY KATHY E. DAHLEN
Forgiveness can pose some slippery questions.
It is the center point around which our faith revolves. But when we are the ones who need to forgive, forgiveness becomes more difficult. To believe that God forgave me millennia ago, pardoning me in a broad theological sweep with billions of others, seems, for some reason, more reasonable than my granting forgiveness to someone who has wronged me....
BY JOHN NORMAN
Henry was a "social leper" in our church — estranged and untouchable like the lepers of Israel. He came from a lifestyle that repelled most people. His opinion of himself had been devastated by his failures, so he struggled to find some sense of worth. He cried out for love with every action, every word, every little gesture. Desperate for love, he would do virtually anything for even the smallest hint that someone cared....
Dear Pastor,
You know me well. I sit toward the front of the church every Sunday — I'm always there. On the way out I always greet you with a handshake and a smile. You seem glad to see me, too. But you don't know the "real" me very well. Behind my happy smile is a life that is somehow unbalanced. Occasionally, you have asked me how I am doing and I have told you, "I'm fine, how are you ?" (I've learned the easiest way to keep to myself is to refocus the attention back on the other person.) The truth is, I'm not sure you really want an answer. I know you deal with a lot of real pain and real suffering: people losing jobs, their homes, their families, loved ones. Frankly, I'm a little embarrassed to talk to you about where I am spiritually. I'm supposed to be on top of things, after all, I’m a successful businessman.....
1. A little sin leads to more sin.
2. Sin invites the discipline of God.
3. The time spent in my sin is forever wasted.
4. My sin never pleases but always grieves the God who loves me......
BY PAULA RINEHART
When life disappoints us and nothing is turning out the way we’d planned, our faith has a chance to grow up....
BY WALT HENRICHSEN
There's a war on today. We are no longer fighting in Vietnam, but we are engaged in a war that is far greater than that war — a war in which Vietnam was only a symptom. We wrestle in this war day after day — it’s a spiritual conflict. As the apostle Paul said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). The spiritual warfare is probably intensifying rather than receding.....
BY STEVEN MOSLEY
Jesus promised we would receive what we ask for if we believe. If our prayers are not answered, does that mean we're lacking in faith?....
In Philippians 1:6 we are told that God will carry on to completion the work He began in us. This grid is a tool to help you identify areas of your character where growth is needed. Read the character trait along with its antonym and description. Evaluate your life in respect to each trait. Remember the purpose of this exercise is to help you know your areas of strength and weakness in order to utilize and develop them for God's glory.
BY TED W. ENGSTROM
With all the competing claims on our time and energy, how can we learn to care directly, personally, lovingly for the “walking wounded” around us?....
BY FRANCIS COSGROVE
Dr. V. Raymond Edman, late president of Wheaton College, once said, "Our job is not to train leaders, but to train servants." That's a tremendous objective for a school, for the world has all too few servants. Many people aspire to leadership, fame, and success. Very few aspire to servanthood....
BY JERRY BRIDGES
“Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,” said Jesus, the greatest of servants. How can you express Christ’s love through service?
BY GRANT NAUMAN
Ever think of yourself as a missionary to your own community? Here are three ways to have an impact for Christ wherever you live and work.
The first time I lived and worked in a country closed to missionaries, I experienced the joy of sharing the gospel with people who had never heard it before. I saw God use me as He drew them, step-by-step, to Himself. Yet when I returned to the United States, I fell back into an all-too-familiar pattern of wanting to witness, but seldom actually doing it....
BY MARK SEIFRID
A striking trend emerged from a survey of alumni of Navigator campus ministries last year. While the alumni considered their training in personal growth and ministry highly effective in the campus setting, many reported that it failed to prepare them for a ministry in the local church after graduation. The author, a former Navigator staff member who is now a seminary student, suggests a number of principles that can help to ease the transition.—Ed.
"A practical, biblically based tool for equipping World Christians to successfully transition from the campus culture to the graduate culture and to lay a foundation to labor for a lifetime."
BY ROBERT BOARDMAN
During the early years of the Second World War, a young American Marine named Robert Boardman was beaten up in a drunken brawl in Australia, and wound up spending several weeks in a hospital. In remorse he turned to prayer and to the pages of the Bible, and soon committed his life to Christ....