Some people fast to burn calories. Others fast to break chains. Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Andrew Murray put it like this, “Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the Invisible; fasting the other, with which we let loose and cast...
Vintage skins are incompatible with fresh wine (Mat. 9:17). Old, crusty wine skins may maintain the flavor of their native juice, but not this year’s crop. In fact, putting new wine into those old skins would cause a rupture and the fresh juice would be wasted. The container and the wine must be compatible. When...
Elijah told the people to repent. Isaiah told the people to repent. Joel told the people to repent. Jonah told the people to repent. Jeremiah, Micah, Amos, and Malachi all told the people to repent. John the Baptist told the people to repent. By contrast today’s preachers are telling people that they have no ability...
“We must not conceive of prayer as overcoming God’s reluctance, but as laying hold of His highest willingness.” ~Richard Trench Mr. Moody was once addressing a crowded meeting of children in Edinburgh. To get their attention, he began by asking a question that he was prepared to answer himself, “What is prayer?” Before he could...
We hear a great deal about faith these days. We are told that if we only have enough faith, we can receive anything we want. We need never be sick or want for any material blessing. Sickness or lack are indications of the greater lack of faith. The Bible is considered to be the Christian’s...
Jesus died with his arms wide open toward a sin-cursed race—He gave His life to ransom the lost. Compelling love was the motivation for Calvary’s rescue mission. Over and over Scripture reminds us of the loving heart of God toward sinners. “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were...