Time with God

The Scriptures are replete with references to the value of waiting for the Lord and spending time with Him. When we do, the debris we have gathered during the hurried, busy hours of our day gets filtered out. With the debris out of the way, we are able to see things more clearly and feel God’s nudgings more sensitively.

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Glory Beyond the Grind

Even though the song was composed before I was born (which makes it a real oldie), I often find myself humming it in the shower at the beginning of a busy day, between appointments and assignments in the middle of a hectic day, and on the road home at the end of a tiring day. Somehow it adds a soothing touch of oil to the grind: “Without a song the day would never end . . . without a song . . . .”

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Admitting Need

Asking for help is smart. So why don’t we? You want to know why? Pride. Which is nothing more than stubborn unwillingness to admit need. The result? Impatience. Irritation. Anger. Longer hours. Less and less laughter. No vacations. Inflexibility. Longer and longer gaps between meaningful times in God’s Word. Precious few (if any) moments in prayer and prolonged meditation.

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Handwriting

There is nothing quite like the charm and personal touch conveyed by a handwritten note. Since our penmanship, like our fingerprint, is altogether unique, each curve of the letter or stroke of the pen bears its own originality. There is personality and warmth and, yes, special effort too; for, after all, it’s much more efficient to click on the PC, bang out a few lines on the keyboard, and print it.

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Rallying Points

To rally: “to muster for a common purpose . . . to arouse for action . . . to come together again to renew an effort.” That’s the way Webster defines the verb. He says the noun means: “a mustering of scattered forces to renew an effort; a summoning up of strength or courage.”

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Daily Tests

Mrs. Moses’s cookbook surely had a special section on “A Thousand-and-One Ways to Fix Manna.” Unless I miss my guess, she had tried them all . . . many times. What potatoes are to Ireland, apples are to Somerset, cod is to Grimsby, and porridge is to Scotland, manna was to the wandering Hebrews for […]

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Sanctity of Life

Just how widespread is the practice of abortion? Are we making much ado about nothing, or do we have a full-scale issue deserving of our immediate attention? To begin with, let’s understand that medical authorities determine a person to be “alive” if there is either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity. With that in mind, […]

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Giving with Gusto

“When the heart is right, the feet are swift.” That’s the way Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States put it many years ago. There are other ways to say the same thing. A happy spirit takes the grind out of giving. A positive attitude makes sacrifice a pleasure. When the morale is […]

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Delegate the Workload

Read Exodus 18:1-27. The Christian worker is a strange breed. He or she wants it to look as if the work is terribly hard. In fact, the more difficult and strained the look, the better. Christian workers are notorious for what I call the “tired blood” look, better known as the overburdened and outdated “missionary […]

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Spiritual Leadership

Leadership is influence. To the extent we influence others, we lead them. Lord Montgomery implied this when he wrote . . . Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose, and the character which inspires confidence. We could name many great people who did just that, whether they […]

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