Hope: The Anchor for Your Soul

It was a phone call I’ll never forget. It was from a young woman whose life lay shipwrecked on the California beach from where she was calling. She had a terminal disease, leukaemia. Her husband had left her. Her child had recently died at only two and a half months old. Her friend had just […]

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The Other Side of Letting Go

It was the ultimate test of faith. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much . . . and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” (Genesis 22:1–2) God’s words pound against our ears like […]

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Be a Part of Something Phenomenal!

When God is doing something phenomenal—something extraordinary—you have to be part of it! When the Magi saw the star, they had to follow it. When Peter and John heard that the tomb was empty, they ran to see. When the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples at Pentecost, they turned the world upside down. Is God […]

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Wisdom and the Unsent Letter

Rash reactions are never best. In the moment, when we’re swimming in emotions and anger threatens to pull us under, a sudden outburst feels best. But if we give in, we say and do things we wish we’d never said or done. I remember, years ago, a certain man would write railing letters to me. […]

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Does God Hate?

Hate is a powerful word. We are taught from childhood to avoid hatred at all costs and to obey the command of Christ to love everyone, including our enemies. So it’s shocking to read the words that Paul quoted from Malachi, who declared that God loved Jacob but hated Esau (Malachi 1:2–3). How can a […]

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Suffering

Of all the letters Paul wrote, Second Corinthians is the most autobiographical. In it the great apostle lifts the veil on his private life and allows us to catch a glimpse of his human frailties and needs. You need to read that entire letter in one sitting to capture the moving emotion that surged through […]

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How God Gives You Wisdom

I’ll never forget a lunch I had with a Christian businessman. As we discussed many of the responsibilities connected with his vocation, the subject of wisdom kept sliding into our conversation. He and I were agreeing on the value of certain qualities that cannot be learned in school—things like intuition, diligence, integrity, perception, consistency, loyalty […]

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