Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Jerome of Prague was scheduled to be burned at the stake in 1460. He was given the opportunity to be released by proclaiming that he no longer held his biblical beliefs. He was tempted and was tortured for 13 months and eventually he succumbed by recanting his beliefs.  They didn't thoroughly believe him and wanted him to recant a second time.  The Spirit must have been strong with him, for a...

Hebrews highlights some who were "made strong out of weakness ." So they started in bad circumstances with no known resources to bring to bear agains them. Their situation looked pretty grim. Then, in what seems sudden, is  STRENGTH.   But don't miss how they got from weakness to strength: There was a  Maker . God is there  in the making.  He is the source and key element of the wea...

Flag étiquette dictates that a nation's flag  should never touch the ground. It should never be 'dragged in the dirt' literally or figuratively.  Similarly, the old prophet, judge, and interactor-with-God Samuel made a similar commitment to the Word of God. "Samuel grew and the Lord was with him, and he let none of His words fall to the ground." Samuel is a great example o...

Justin Bieber just sold his music catalog for $200 million; the Boss Bruce Springsteen for $500 million.  I wonder how much DAVID's musical catalogue is worth?  He wrote 75 of the 150 psalms so we  already have  his catalog published. It is here in his music where the two prominent features of David come together: his "heart": "I have found in David  a man after My heart "...

Jephthah makes the Hall of Fame of faith because he choses to be  faithful to the family of God even though  they were not faithful to him .  He choses community, even though they are imperfect. He choses the  family of God despite the fact they weren't much of a family to him.  He gets his  identity  right. He's in there for us today.  Not everybody is blessed with perfect parents. Mayb...

What if our WHOLE life of staying on MISSION only resulted in a beginning?  Only in the start of something? What if at the very end of our life, we would not see the task complete, the promise fulfilled? Welcome to the life of SAMPSON. He had a task he was involved in every day of his life.  His life even ended while "on task".  Yet, what he accomplished was only the beginning of the end...

What's the big deal with BARAK? He's a great example of applying NEW COURAGE to an OLD PROBLEM. Deborah, a prophetess of God, is the one who reminds him, "Hasn't the Lord ALREADY TOLD you about this? Hasn't He already promised that He'll be with you and will show up in your great battle?" Fortunately, the Lord is not silent in conviction. Perhaps the Lord has bee...

We DO have time to consider how the Lord considers a nobody from the 12th Century BC: Gideon. "The Lord is with you o might man of valor ". Gideon is thinking: Not quite. This is a terrible time. Very bad circumstance. I'm not brave, in fact at this very moment I'm hiding from the conquering Midianites. God is thinking: I am with you. You are a mighty man of valor. You will sav...

The hero of today's story is someone who gave parts of herself sexually to people who weren't her spouse.  But this tale asks us to look beyond her sin (who of us has lived with perfect purity of zipper and mind ?) to her FAITH . Honor Rahab "the prostitute" for not stopping there.  She becomes Rahab the FAITHFUL.  Of note, her faith gets to help those that belong to her. The b...

All of us live in Jericho. We've all committed more than one sin. We all have before us the normal payment to satisfy justice: the giving of a life.  Unfortunately, we are on the hook with our OWN LIVES. This is the part where no one  actually wants  justice, especially as it relates to my personal falling short. IMHO justice is one of the most unpalatable aspects of Christianity. Jericho get...

The Red Sea is DEEP. It is 1000m; 3500 feet; ⅔ of a mile down if you walked across it like the Israelites did.  Every person "voted with their feet" as to whether they believed the Lord could hold those walls of water back.  Every single person had faith, admirable faith, to make those steps down deep and then back out. Faith has a difficulty element : it is best applied in adversity and...

Faith is a  considered "sight" before  certain sight.   Abraham considered God able even to raise the dead before he saw it. Sarah considered God faithful before she saw the endpoint. Moses considers the  reproach of people around him as a valuable spiritual benefit.  In fact, it is equated with the same reproach that Jesus received in the persecution He received when bringing in the New...

Isaac throws a "prayer-pass" down the corridor of time and has FAITH that God will catch that pass in the future and have it be EFFECTIVE.  It is a big ask.  It assumes that God cares, that God hears now, that God can effect THEN. We are admiring historical people for things they do that please God; that is, for what they do that is FAITHFUL .  We should be admiring and emulating Isaac f...

Abraham is honored in Hebrews 11 for his faith in God's ability to RAISE FROM THE DEAD.  He applied this faith in a circumstance of the possible sacrifice of his own son Isaac.  In tension with this was his belief in God's promise that a big nation would come from this specifically named son.  How could both things be true? God would have to raise Isaac from the dead. Similarly, a CRITIC...

Faith is applied in Adversity.  Maybe we could even say, faith is ONLY applied in adversity.  It is the difficult circumstances that faith is actually applied. Faith is to have a long-view duration even unto death.  Let's let it be said of you: "She died IN FAITH. At the end, she was FOUND IN HIM." We have ENOUGH to have faith in:  We have the promise-Maker. We have the Promise-Spea...

We live in "A world BEFORE promises." We are plagued by circumstances we don't like: relational strife, infertility, loss, disappointment, & financial stress. The big issue is, HOW will we CONSIDER GOD in the meantime?  To have faith , we have to have both ingredients: 1. Uncertain circumstances and 2. consideration of God in the right way.  I KNOW you have #1.  but do you have...

Today you will have a  CHANCE FOR FAITH.   There will be some circumstance where you will NOT NOW HOW IT IS GOING TO TURN OUT. That is the playing field that gives you a chance for FAITH.  You'll have a chance to trust in the PERSON of God before the outcome is evident. Faith requires a NOT KNOWING (how it turns out) and a KNOWING (in the WHO of God).  Like Abraham, we'll have some junio...

What is faith?  It is  trust in the PERSON of God BEFORE  the PROMISES of God care evident.   It is  knowing before seeing . There is a timing gap.  Before we get everything all evident, there's something we are supposed to be doing.  We are to have this faith before everything is clear. Faith is the reliance on His character before we have clarity .  It is reliance before revelation. It is r...

The  value of a visit from  Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown to the NFL's Cleveland Browns would depend if I am a  fan or I am  a player.   I'd hope the players would be taking NOTES and making videos, for they are PLAYERS of the same game.  I'd hope they'd listen DESPERATELY.  We should take the same care with the heros'  accomplishments we hear of in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Fame...

God is  pleased by endurance. It is a defining characteristic of every Christian of almost every day of their Christian journey.  The only day you don't need endurance is your first day. Every other day requires some of this essential element. Hebrews flat out tell us, "You have need of endurance ." No kidding. Thru what? Thru: sufferings and struggles. This is  situational enduranc...

God was "unjust." God was unjust just one time. Jesus was innocent and received wrath. For those that receive Him, it is the great rescue.  You don't want real justice for your sins. This is the best deal in all of history.  It is the great exchange. Hear about a guy who SPURNS the Son; PROFANES the Blood; and MOCKS the Spirit of Grace.  In short, he says, "I'm rejecting t...

God loves His people , as prickly as they may be. Those who have an increasing love for God will demonstrate it by having an increasing love for His people . Fellowship of believer to believer is very very very important to God. Yet, we may say, "Oh, I had a soccer game" or "I'm was really busy this week." The call today is not to FORSAKE what God loves . Do not abandon wh...

The Lord saves you OUT of sin so He can save you INTO something way better. The Lord saves you OUT of sin and INTO relationship with Himself. Your presence is requested this day by God Himself. He is requesting you to DRAW NEAR with confidence. He wants you to BOLDLY approach the holy place and the holy Person of Jesus.  How could you possibly do that? Only because He has made a way through the pe...

God goes to great trouble to save us OUT of sin. Why? Because He also desires to save us INTO something: an intimate relationship with Himself. He desires to give us MORE OF HIMSELF.  He "puts away sin" to remove the barrier to relationship.  God doesn't forget.  He's omniscient. He knows the past, present and future.  Then He does the IMPOSSIBLE to facilitate this relationship...

God built this elaborate, complex, bloody system first on earth and then in heaven to do one thing: PUT AWAY SIN . The first required a LOT of blood and everything got covered with it.  The second requires the blood of the only Precious One for all time. We've got this spiritual elephant in the room which is our sin problem. How exactly do I access that God designed, effective, powerful mecha...