Wisdom Matters

Evangelism takes many forms, but “lifestyle evangelism” is an effective way of allowing our daily lives to share the reality of God and our salvation. Think back to those things that caused you to want to choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  You were likely impressed by some of the Christians you knew. You probably heard a sermon or a lesson or read something that caused you to understand that y...

How often are you encouraged to share the gospel with others? Do you feel ready to speak up when asked?  These days, it’s more common to hear a sermon about “living” our faith instead of one that teaches us to speak the truth of the gospel message. What is that gospel truth? John 3:16 gives a concise answer: —“For God so loved the world”: There is one God, who is the Creator and sustainer of the w...

In his book Everyday Blessings, Max Lucado gave us some good advice when he wrote, “The next time you find yourself alone in a dark alley facing the undeniables of life, don’t cover them with a blanket, or ignore them with a nervous grin. Don’t turn up the TV and pretend they aren’t there. Instead, stand still, whisper his name, and listen. He is nearer than you think.” The road of blessing is not...

We are reminded to live gratefully as we see pictures of people in war-torn countries doing their best to survive the cold of winter. We are reminded to give thanks when we leave a hospital and drive home free of illness. We are reminded by God through sunrises and sunsets that we live in a world created by a spectacular God. Psalm 81:10 was a reminder to the nation of Israel that God, the great I...

Have you ever wondered how the people of the first century, those who witnessed the life and miracles of Jesus, could have turned their backs on him in unbelief? How could the Son of God be ignored, persecuted, and killed? There have always been people who refuse to believe and there always will be. Jesus came to his disciples after his resurrection. He simply appeared in a room with locked doors...

Some people help us to be more obedient, more loving children of God. If you are like me, you have already begun to see their faces in your mind’s eye. You probably know their names, and you likely wish they were with you right now so you could thank them for the influence they have had in your life. This psalm teaches us that we are blessed when we don't surround ourselves to be influenced by...

I was a young woman when I discovered the incredible value of learning to study the word of God. I had been in church and gone to Sunday School but still lacked the ability to read God’s word with theological perspective and understanding. When I read Proverbs 16:20, I want to say, “Amen and amen.”  When I speak to groups of young moms, I tell them that the best parenting advice I can give them is...

I’ve often wondered how many of my difficult moments might have been avoided if I had only sought God’s leadership sooner. Some of our trials exist simply because we are not yet safely home in heaven. Life on this side of salvation will always contain consequences we wish we didn’t need to endure. Thankfully, most of our trials lead us to a greater dependency on, and knowledge of, our great and po...

I learned this wisdom from God the hard way. Those of us in ministry feel like we spend most of our time working for the Lord. Our work is service, or so we think. The words of this proverb speak sobering truth when we read carefully. God doesn’t bless our work because it is about God. God blesses our work when it is of God and done in submission to him as our King. If you are like me, the subject...

Have you ever noticed that when God answers prayers, his timing is what’s best for other things or people too? One of the best ways to recognize the work of God is that it is comprehensive in nature. God wants to bless our lives, but those blessings are usually for the sakes of others as well. We might ask for one blessing only to discover that the answer was so much more “than all that we ask or...

We live in a goal-centered culture. There is a certain amount of thrill in achieving the goals we set for ourselves. Motivational speakers tell us that if we don’t have goals, we will end up in places we didn’t intend to go. Achieving our goals doesn’t always bring us more than momentary joy or success. Most of us have a history of weight loss and gain as proof! Goals might lead us to the world’s...

God doesn’t just ask his children to be peaceful; he wants his children to be “peacemakers.” God blesses our lives when we live as a conduit of his blessings to others. How do we become peacemakers? In The Secret of Happiness, the evangelist Billy Graham wrote, “To be a peacemaker, you must know the peace-giver.” That’s what it means to be a conduit of God’s blessings. Christians aren’t just calle...

Many funeral homes use Matthew 5:4 on their printed programs. While God can be a blessing to people in their mourning, he does not bless people because they are mourning the loss of a loved one. God will always have compassion for the hurting, but not everyone will seek God’s comfort in times of grief.  Jesus was teaching a much different lesson in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was speaking about...

Corrie Ten Boom was part of a large family and network of believers who sheltered Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Eventually she and her sister were placed in a concentration camp which only she survived. Her story makes her words of hope all the more meaningful. In her autobiography The Hiding Place, she wrote, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Hope is one of the...

God wants to bless your life with abundance so that you can then be a blessing to others. God’s blessing can make a nation great. God's blessing can make a person’s character great. Those who have been strengthened by God’s blessings can be used as a conduit of his blessings to others. Seeing ourselves as others see us is easy. Thinking greatness belongs to a select few is normal. However, acc...

If I see someone driving an expensive car, I imagine they work hard and are good at what they do. If I see someone surrounded by laughing friends, I imagine they know how to be a friend to others. If I see the character of Christ displayed in a person’s love and compassion, I usually assume that they have submitted their life to Jesus as Lord and have learned to live submitted to his leadership. ...

We often approach God with the things we want, hoping that God will give us some of the things we ask of him. That approach to God is not what Scripture prescribes. God is our Father and we are his children. Do you want your children to be “partially blessed,” or do you want your children to be greatly blessed?  If we as parents want to give good gifts, how much more does our Father in heaven want...

If all of God’s children gave 10 percent of their income to God’s kingdom work, there would be “no more need.” If every member of your church tithed, there would be no need for a giving campaign. If all of those who were blessed by the various content of Denison Ministries gave as God directed them to give, we would never need to send emails to ask for donations. How quickly would this world chang...

The Bible has a lot to say about the importance of unity. When Jesus was waiting in the garden for the soldiers to arrest him, he prayed for his disciples, asking that “they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).  God has always wanted to bless the relationships of his children. T...

There are some interesting articles that discuss the way our brains have been created to work. More and more, science reveals the perfection of God. Research has determined that worry, fear, and anxiety function on the opposite side of our brains from things like trust and praise. In other words, the way to control our fears is to choose thoughts of trust and praise instead. When we use the opposi...

We live in a culture that defines the word enough as “just a little bit more.” We fill bags with clothes that are perfectly good but not perfect enough. We read magazines or watch home improvement shows that cause us to look at a piece of furniture we love as something we no longer like. It is possible to be surrounded by God’s blessings and live focused on what we don’t have instead of all that h...

I still can’t say, “September 11th” and consider it just another day. But it is. There are news stories, video clips, and other reminders of that fateful day. But this year it is probably just the day that follows September 10.  We might feel better if we believed that our country was truly “one nation under God.” Our money tells us the truth we need to know and trust. God loves to bless his peopl...

I enjoy those news clips showing people holding a giant check because they have just won the lottery. Most of us have imagined what it would be like to become instantly rich. But plenty of follow-up articles have been written about the realities these lottery winners face. Many discover that money isn’t what makes a life “rich.” The proverb says, “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds n...

According to Proverbs 3:5 we are called to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. And the only way to fully trust God is to “not lean on our own understanding.” But it’s difficult to lean on a God we cannot see when there are so many places in this world we can see. The psalmist understood our need for God and our struggle to trust him. Psalm 34:8 teaches us to “taste and see that the Lord is g...

Most of us can remember times when the experiences of life caused confusion, doubts, and anger and likely caused our faith to falter. No one gets through life without visiting the refiner’s fire several times.  Understanding why good people suffer is difficult. Most people have asked Job’s same questions of God at some point: “Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their ...