I’ve already suggested in the last chapter that the New Testament message about walking is essentially the story of walking in the Spirit. In Galatians 5:25, the Apostle Paul admonished us, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” There is a...
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21) Except in the gospels and the book of Acts where the verb “walk” is generally used in a narrative to...
In the first psalm, David talked about “the man.” Although I have applied the psalm to the life of Job, the truth is that “the man” is actually a hypothetical character with no specific identity. Yet as we read the rest of the book of psalms, we can see that – no...
Psalm One Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like...
IN and Out receiving and giving coming and going not stagnant fluid Remember the macroeconomics “in” factor of inertia? Well, it applies exactly to God’s financial plan for believers. For money to have value, it must remain in motion. There is an old expression...
INhibit hinder restrain prevent obstruct There are many factors that inhibit us from being able to partake fully of the benefits of God’s financial plan for us. What could be called “stinking thinking” is a major inhibitor. Solomon taught us that what we think...
INclude make part of a whole or setcomprise or contain as part of a whole And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with...
INdebtedness in the red in the hole something owed to another A cartoon showed two onlookers commenting as a man passed by holding a sign that read, “The End is Near.” One of the bystanders remarked to the other one, “Hey, isn’t that Joe from the accounting...
INflation increase in prices fall in the purchasing value In our studies so far, we have made some introductory mention of one of the most aggressive enemies of increase -- inflation. As the prophet Haggai described it, inflation is like putting all our hard earned...
INcome money received for work remuneration salary wages There are many avenues through which God intends to bring increase into our lives. One of the most obvious ones is through our wages earned from our physical jobs. The scriptures teach that we increase by...
Probably the most famous quote in all the annals of missionary history is the greeting of newsman and adventurer Henry Stanley when he finally reached missionary and explorer David Livingstone in the remote interior of Africa, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” On this...
Walking through the street market in Lagos, Nigeria, I caught sight of a vendor hawking some antique-looking items. As I stepped closer, he extended his hand to show me what looked like a crescent-shaped bracelet and explained that he had "old Nigerian money." When...
When David wrote what we know of today as Psalm chapter fifty-one, it was a verbalization of the deepest cries of his heart in repentance for the sins that he had committed in violating an innocent neighbor and then plotting her husband’s murder in his attempt to...
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach...
One thing that keeps us from consistency and dedication in our prayers is that we often don’t see results. When we don’t seem to get answers, it is easy to feel a bit unmotivated toward more attempts that may prove just as pointless. However, prayer should be the...
Jeremiah lived in tumultuous times -- times of the making and breaking of kings and kingdoms. He began his ministry during Josiah’s sweeping reformation that turned the nation toward repentance from widespread idolatry; yet, Jeremiah continued to prophesy under the...
The initial request in the Lord’s Prayer is that God’s kingdom would come to earth. (Matthew 6:10) Not only did Jesus pray that it would come, He also prophesied that it would come -- or, at least, that the message about its arrival would eventually be spread through...
When I was growing up, I would often hear the pastor preach about salvation, using terms like, “If I you die without Christ, you will split hell wide open,” or “Come to Jesus before it is everlasting too late.” With that kind of cohesion and very descriptive images of...
My sister and I were enjoying a “fun day” in Atlanta when we decided to have lunch at a spot from our childhoods. We knew almost exactly where this particular drive-in was located, so we headed out to find it. Unfortunately, the city of Atlanta has grown a lot in...
We have learned that David’s key and the key we need to open the door for us to reach our world is to have a perfect heart. Of course, we’ve all heard the expression, “Have a heart,” but today let’s consider exactly what that means. To get started, let’s take a...