What do we mean when we wish someone a 'prosperous new year'? The word 'prosperous' comes from the Latin, 'pro spere' meaning 'according to one's hope'. In wishing someone prosperity we are saying that we wish they will realize the future they are hoping for. As we enter a new year it is good to reflect upon what we are hoping for. Do we have worthy goals? Do have what it takes to succeed?

Some people have a fear of success. This is because there is so much distortion about what ...

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14 NIV).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Throughout the year we have been sharing "Thank God It's Monday"- (meditations encouraging us to put our faith into action throughout the week). Each week our on-line family of friends grows.

Yesterday our friend Eric Villanueva, who trains church planters in Romania, spoke at New Life Community Church in Concord, Massachusetts. During the year of 1989 our Sunday School children here were actively engaged in praying for the children and people of Romania. The overthrow of a communist dictatorship in December of that year was a real faith builder for our children (and for all of us)!

How thrilling it is to hear of the fact that thousands of new churches have been plan ...

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14 NIV).

It stands behind every utopian dream; every desire for social justice; all longing for relational harmony, material prosperity and inner contentment. The kingdom of God is what we were made for: the Creator-Redeemer extending His loving rule over all of creation and through all creation--

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD." (Psalm 40:3 NIV).

We underestimate the power of praise. Not only does praise glorify God (Psalm 50:23) and enlarge our capacity to appreciate His works, but a fresh telling of God's dealings and deliverances in our lives has a magnetic quality, drawing people to faith, causing ...

Many of our friends from outside the USA remain curious about the unique holiday we celebrate this Thursday. Americans carve and serve others baked turkeys, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes (yams), squash (marrow), cider, pumpkin pie and commemorate the first of many days recorded in our national history especially devoted to giving God thanks.

Most of the official days of thanksgiving called by our nation's presidents were days of prayer and fasting rather than parades and feast ...

The early church battled a deception similar to today's 'new age' movement. The Gnostics perpetrated a variety of teachings encouraging human beings to fan the divine spark within them and realize their own 'godhood'. They gradually introduced their followers into secret mysteries. (The word 'Gnosticism' comes from the Greek word 'gnosis', meaning 'knowledge'). They taught that the Creator-God was inferior to the Redeemer-God. The former god created the material world which is corrupt, sin-causing ...

"The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity" (Proverbs 11:3 NIV).

The principle of integrity helps to keep us on track.. The word 'integrity' is related to the word 'integer', meaning whole or complete. The life we possess is equal to the words we profess. Our walk matches our talk. Our behavior is in synch with our beliefs. Our practices fulf ...

Trust is the foundation of healthy relationships. As people get to know each other, they go through a process of testing each other's trustworthiness. Does this person genuinely care for others? Are they true to their word? Do they seek the welfare of those around them? Do they keep commitments and confidences? Are they a safe person?

God is interested in our building a relationship of trust with Himself. He claims to be trustworthy and puts Himself on the line, saying ...

Yesterday we set our clocks back to officially begin Daylight Saving Time. You know the routine: "Fall-Back; Spring-forward." When we lose an hour in the spring, we feel cheated. When we gain an extra hour on that one Sunday in autumn we feel blessed. Suddenly we are conscious that time is a precious gift.

The legend is told of a man who was walking home in the dark one night along the shore of a river. He stumbled upon a bag of stones. As he walked along, every now an ...

In 1977 there was a terrible oil spill in the North Sea. An offshore Norwegian well gushed out of control for eight days leaking 20,000 metric tons of oil into ocean waters threatening all marine life. Upon investigation it was found that the eruption of the oil well was due to the upside down placement of a blow-out protection device. The drilling crew installing the component mistakenly thought they were placing it right-side up.

There is a parallel between this North Sea disa ...

The National Association of Professional Organizers reports that the average American gets 49,060 pieces of mail in a lifetime. One third of it is what we call junk mail, unsolicited advertising. They also tell us that today's executives lose an estimated hour each day due to disorganization. Of paperwork that is filed away only 20 percent is ever used again. But the statistic that captured my imagination is the fact that a 12 foot wall could be built from New York to Los Angeles with the amount of ...

"They all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." (Acts 17:7).

Behind all the utopian dreams of humankind is the innate universal longing for what the Bible calls 'the kingdom of God'. We recognize the need for God's love, truth and justice to be brought to bear on those situations that have gone wrong in history. Life is to be transformed under the ki ...

"For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity" (Proverbs 24:16 NIV).

A righteous man (one who trusts God's provision to be put in a right relationship with Himself) will still experience failure in this life. The writer of Proverbs lets us in on the fact: "for though a righteous man falls seven times (a Hebrew expressi ...

The Daily Dozen Habits

The Apostle Paul wrote young Timothy, estimated to be in his late thirties: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." (1Timothy 4:12).

Notice that the evidence of Christian maturity is not seen in what you know, but what you do; not in your learning, but i ...

You might have heard people say, "I love life. It's people I can't stand." Or "I love Christ. It's the church, I could live without." It is impossible to truly love Christ and not love what He loves. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). If we love Christ we must love the church (1John 3:14; 1John 4:20).

The church is not yet perfect. One woman said recently, "My husband is not perfect. But he is perfect for me." It c ...

"When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, 'You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.'" (Joshua 13:1).

Each day presents us with new challenges.

There is a powerful parallel relationship between the commission of Joshua (See Joshua Chapter 1:1-9) and the commission of another - a greater Joshua - Jesus (See ...

At first you might not think of them as being at odds. But they are. Religion and Jesus. Jesus was rejected and expelled from the religious system. Jerusalem represented the ideal center of religious activity and is still central to the three major world religions today. When Jesus taught, He continually drove a wedge between what 'religion' represents and His message. He made it clear that true worship is not determined by religious affiliation or tradition but by whether or not our spirits are al ...

The ancient Hebrew culture had an effective time management system. All of life was considered an act of worship. The day was divided into three 8 hour periods-- 8 hours of rest, 8 hours of work, and 8 hours of fellowship.

The Lord was to be honored in all of these. Of particular note is that leisure time focused on edifying fellowship with friends and family.

Notice that much of these non-working waking hours were given to creatively teaching children. The L ...

"Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed." (Hebrews 12:13 NIV)

The restoration of our spirits, souls and bodies to their true purpose and function involves our active cooperation with the Holy Spirit. The salvaging of our minds, emotions and wills is not automatic but the result of our yieldedness to the Word and Spirit of Christ. God has provide ...

The stunning performances witnessed at the Olympic Games were the result of years of rigorous athletic discipline in the lives of the competitors. Some of this discipline was self-imposed. Some of it was prescribed by their coaches and the standard guidelines of the event. Without submission to discipline winning would be impossible.

Discipline is at the root of discipleship. We need to be able to say 'no' to distractions if we are to say 'yes' to God's call. We need to lay asid ...

When a person is born of the Spirit there is an immediate change of gravity in the heart. A call from beyond is deposited in the spirit. The inner life is no longer chained to the material and temporal. They are in tune to the upward call; pulled towards the unseen reality promised by God. Their hearts are set on a pilgrim journey.

In late summer the monarch butterfly migrates from all over North America to a remote mountain site in Mexico. During this time it is not uncommon to ...

Living in the New Testament Reality of forgiveness, cleansing, and power for loving God and our neighbor.

Once concrete has been poured into the hollow of the wooden forms that define the shape of a foundation, it is left temporarily to harden until it can stand on its own. Then the forms can be peeled away and discarded.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the ceremonial law of the old covenant priesthood was ...

Sometimes we hold on to old habits, rituals and traditions because we assume they are relevant. A woman insisted that the secret to cooking a good pot roast was to cook it in two sections in two separate pots. This method was passed on to each generation in the family as essential for attaining an excellent roast. However if grandmother were alive she might confess to her progeny that the reason she used two pots instead of one was because she did not have a pot big enough for the size roast requir ...

What causes an instrument to become unreliable? How valuable is a bow that can no longer shoot an arrow straight? A deceitful bow is one that has lost its resilience and accuracy. It can no longer place the arrows on a straight trajectory towards the defined target.

The Bible uses the faulty bow as a metaphor for those people who lose their edge, their accuracy and sharpness. Once they were useful to God but over a period of time have become unreliable and faulty. They are no lo ...

Whole-heartedness. Single-mindedness. Persistence. Stick-to-it-iveness. Loyalty. Commitment. Full devotion to the cause. Uncompromising faith. Such qualities distinguished only two of an entire Israelite generation. These persevered in faith to possess their inheritance in the promised land. While others adulterated God's promise with their doubts and fears, Joshua and Caleb mixed faith with the promises and 'wholly followed the Lord.'

Five times in the Bible we have the express ...

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

What kind of reading would you get on your faith meter today? Is your faith level sagging? Does your faith suffer when it lacks emotional reinforcement? Do you find that your own insecurities, doubts and residual scars from past disappointments restrict your faith today?

It is not enough to register a 2 out of a pos ...

In John Bunyan's classic allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian comes to Hill of Difficulty after he is released from his burden at the Cross. Christianity is not to be chosen if you are looking for an easy life. If you want to escape difficulties you might as well settle on the plains of Mediocrity. Bunyan reminds us that the only way we can be saved from Destruction, Vanity, or the Fiery Pits of eternal judgment, is to walk in the light of revealed truth and take the next challenge God puts ...

"God did this so that.....we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be GREATLY ENCOURAGED." (Hebrews 6:18 NIV).

The writer of Hebrews proceeds from giving a STRONG WARNING (Hebrews 6:1-8) to giving STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT (Hebrews 6:9-20). Christ is offered to us as a certain hope, our anchor, and our security. We must flee to Him as such!

In the Old Testamen ...

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12 NIV).

Our modern world is known for its pragmatism. If something works then it can be trusted. If it doesn't work, it cannot. What matters is results. The goods that are promised must be delivered on schedule. We mistakenly assume that this applies to all matters of life. This makes us very impatie ...

The New Testament speaks of both 'the gift' and 'the prize'. One is given freely as an act of grace and is appropriated as an act of faith. The other is given in recognition of a lifetime of faithful obedience to Christ. 'The gift' is eternal life. It is given when we come to the Cross of life and recognize our need to be put right with a holy God by repenting of our acts of disobedience and personal waywardness and trust Christ as our Lord and Savior. (see NOTE 1 below)

God speaks to us in a variety of ways. He speaks through His Word, whether read or spoken. He speaks through the still small voice (the voice of crucified silence - 1Kings 19:12 alternate translation), the witness of the Spirit, the intuitive 'know-so' within. God speaks to us through the various confirmations of truth in life. He speaks to us through visions and dreams, through the wonders of creation, through meaningful situations, and through the fellowship of the saints.

Sam ...

There is a town outside of Syracuse, Skaneateles, that has declared itself a stress free zone. If a person looks stressed out we are told that they are given a voucher to relax at a local coffee shop. If the traffic warden comes by your car and you are discovered to have run out of time on the parking meter, he or she will deposit a quarter on your behalf and then leave a printed envelope with a note: "Your time had expired so I put another quarter in the meter for you. If you would donate a q ...

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess."(Hebrews 3:1 NIV).

Many of us would like God as a partner in our business. We assume it would guarantee success. However God is more interested in us becoming partners in His business than He in ours. When it comes to doing business, God Himself has chosen to ...

"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:1-3 NIV).

Undercurrents of fear, sentimentality, and the false securities of ritual, religious activity and se ...

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

On the foggy morning of July 4th 1952, Florence Chadwick, a powerful swimmer, attempted to be the first woman to swim the 21 miles of shark infested waters from the coast of California to the Island of Catalina. Less than a half a mile from her goal she asked to be pulled from the waters. What caused her to quit was not the fatigue but the fog. "If I could have seen land, I might have made it." Two months later she attempted the swim again. This time she was successful despite the fact th ...

The irony of it all! This Monday, in our part of the world, Tax Day and Patriot's Day coincide. Patriot's Day is celebrated today, April 15th, on the Monday closest to April 19th, the anniversary of the first forceful resistance by the New England colonists to the Loyalist troops. The protest centered on taxes on imported tea. Some 220 years later Americans celebrate this event by paying taxes on everything (property, income, and both domestic and foreign purchases)! Today our state and federal tax ...

We do not know with certainty on which day of the week Jesus died. The Scripture claims that it was on the day before the Sabbath (i.e. Saturday). This fact has led to the widespread belief that the crucifixion was on a Friday. However the Bible also claims that there was a 'special Sabbath' to mark the beginning of the Passover feast (Leviticus 23:7; John 19:31). This, the fourteenth day of Nisan, could occur on any day of the week, even as December 25th will fall on different days of the week.< ...

Not only are hurts inevitable, they are necessary. Animals suffer hurts. But only humans become morally and spiritually better because of them. Our walk in the world is often painful. Jesus experienced pain as a result of His time in the world. He suffered rejection, betrayal, injustice, slander, scorn, physical torture and the cruel death of the cross. He is the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Our sinful nature is hostile to God. It was and is impossible for Him to walk with us without bein ...

A Tale of Two Builders, Two Homes, Two Hearers

It was reported today that the two model homes recently constructed in the Faith Heights section of Christian Boulevard overlooking the Sea of Time took the brunt of the record breaking winds and rains that accompanied yesterday's storm, Hurricane Prove-Authenticity. Although the two houses were both built with similar design and materials, they suffered different outcomes. One house w ...

Are false prophets born or made? It's doubtful that false prophecy is primarily a genetic issue, although we do inherit a nature that easily stretches a truth into a lie. Nor is it just a matter of educational training. No institution, to my knowledge, specifically states their mission as 'to matriculate a generation of false prophets', although I'm sure many institutions produce more false prophets than true. Neither is it the result of pure ambition. I've never heard a child say, "I want to ...

(The Need for Active and Focused Faith)

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:14 NIV)

Saturday morning, March 9, the space shuttle Columbia landed successfully in Florida. The space ship's commander has limited options for re-entering the earth's atmosphere without b ...

Some people are too critical for their own good. There is a Greek myth concerning the god Momus, a critic who lived on Mount Olympus with the other gods. No matter how praise was lavished upon anything or anyone, Momus found something to criticize. We are told that Jupiter, Minerva and Neptune once had a competition to see who could create the most wonderful thing. Jupiter made a man. Neptune made a bull. And Minerva made a house. When the other gods on Olympus were asked for their evaluations, Mom ...

John Bunyan, who penned 'The Pilgrim's Progress' while imprisoned for twelve years in the Bedford Jail in England, catalogued many of the dangers, deceptions and distractions that disciples face as they make their way from the City of Destruction to the promised Celestial City. The pitfalls, personalities and principles illustrated in his allegory have a timeless relevance.

Rudyard Kipling wrote:

The craft that we call modern
The crimes that ...

The three main areas of our Christian walk are summarized in Matthew 6: our outward horizontal relationship with others (giving); our vertical relationship with God the Father (prayer); and our inward relationship with ourselves (fasting or self-mortification- putting off the dominance of the old nature). Jesus teaches that in each of these areas we are to beware of hypocrisy and seek to live authentically before God.

In our attempts to live righteou ...

The surgeon general warns us that 60% of the U.S. population live dangerously sedentary lives. We don't get enough exercise. Fitness experts are being called to the rescue. They are prescribing movements that exercise your body without much risk of causing damage. Sit-ups and crunches from the floor are considered poor for the back. The same muscles can be exercised by bowing down while seated. And walking is still one of the best overall exercises.

The New Testament refers to o ...

Corrie Ten Boom's story in her book, 'The Hiding Place' is a classic illustration of the power of forgiveness when, after World War Two was over, she faced those who perpetrated the tortures she faced when a prisoner in a German concentration camp:

It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And sud ...

The law was never meant to be a measure of your goodness. It was to be a teaching aid, a tutor, appointed to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24-26). As a revelation of God's demand for an absolute 'mirror-image' reflection of His righteousness, it was meant to drive us to the foot of the Cross in repentance. The lesson of the Old Testament is that we need a new heart and a new spirit. Christ alone can be the source of righteousness. Imputed righteousness. And imparted righteousness.

Once silver dollars were actually made of silver. Like many coins, now they are made with inferior metal at the core and a silver-coating on the outside. You can tell whether a silver dollar is true by the way it sounds when dropped. If the coin is merely silver plated, with a lesser substance at the core, it gives the sound of a dull thud. If it is a real silver dollar it 'rings true' when dropped, indicating that it is silver both on the outside and in the core.

How do our liv ...

(Read Joshua 3:1-11)

When Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land it was a day of new beginnings. God promised that He would do amazing things among them if they would set themselves apart to cooperate with him fully. And the Lord said that he would give them what He had promised and magnify the name of Joshua before all of Israel.

The applications are many. Prophetically we see a greater Joshua (Yeshua, Jesus) being magnified among the peopl ...

I have celebrated the New Year in different countries and in different ways. In Portugal, people would stay inside until midnight and then come outside for a bonfire upon which old things, worn out furniture, things that served as reminders of their detested past were publicly burned. As midnight on New Year's Eve approaches, to the sound of music and celebration, fireworks would be lit from these fires. It was a time for a new beginning. A clean slate. A fresh start.

Now I live ...

King Solomon writes in the Book of Ecclesiastes: "I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, 'Wisdom is better than strength.' But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his ...

"Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself." (1Samuel 18:1 NASB).

Aristotle defined friendship as one soul in two bodies. You would think that he was describing Jonathan and David. The Bible teaches that, although each soul is distinct and precious, it is possible to have our souls knit to ...

The word for gospel or 'good news' in the Greek language is 'euangelion'. It originally referred to a messenger who was dispatched by a ruler to bring back reports of the successes of his armies on distant battlefields. It later came to be identified with the message of victory itself.

I recall an amusing story of such a messenger returning from a far off battlefield, having to run on foot over hill and dale, fording rivers and streams and finally sprinting the last stretch befo ...