A gracEmail subscriber writes: "I do not feel I am a good Bible student. I do not know how to conduct a comprehensive study of any subject. My usual study plan is to read a book of the Bible and glean from it what I can using my study Bible, but I am not able to make reference to other related passages. Can you recommend a study guide or provide any personal advice for growing in the knowledge of our Lord?" * * * You need a good study Bible with center-column references. The New American Standard, English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version and Jerusalem Bible are excellent … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2012
WHEN GOD DOES NOT HEAL
A gracEmail subscriber knows a Christian lady who remains seriously ill although she prays continually for healing and has sought anointing with oil and prayer by a believing elder in the church. Does this lady's ongoing sickness mean that she lacks faith to be healed? * * * I believe that it is very harmful to blame someone's illness on a lack of faith. Such accusations misrepresent God, pervert faith and discredit prayer. Our faith is in God, not in any formula or theory or teaching. Faith involves a personal relationship between an individual and God who knows us intimately and who will … [Read more...]
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROTECTION
Last week [June 1997], son Jeremy left our driveway in suburban Houston to drive to Colorado for the summer, where he hoped to find work near a young lady who lately has become special in his life. It had not been 21 days since we watched him graduate from Baylor University with high honors, "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," as my own Mother used to say (a squirrely expression if I ever heard one), with plans to attend the University of Texas Law School come September. As the familiar '87 Chevy Blazer left our driveway, Jeremy also left standing there two parents, a Grandma and an older sister … [Read more...]
A SIMPLE ACT OF FAITH
I felt the warmth of their presence last Sunday morning [Feb. 1998] as they gathered round me and placed their hands on my body. I love and trust these elders of my local church, with whom I served for 13 years before rotating out this last term. "Edward, we anoint you with oil and claim God's promise of healing," the presider said, dipping his finger in oil and making a sign of the cross on my forehead. Each man then prayed aloud -- an attorney, a physician, a telecommunications engineer and others. Not presumptuously, but in faith. Simply asking, leaving the answer to God. This little … [Read more...]
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES (2)
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "I have trouble keeping up the discipline to read my Bible and to pray daily. I struggle with this, and I always backslide. It makes me think I've never been saved. Sometimes I think that if I just got rebaptized things would get better, but I don't know if that would help. What can you recommend?" * * * Do you have a Bible translation in modern English? If not, I encourage you to purchase one. The New International Version is excellent for reading with understanding. Find a time when you are unrushed and undisturbed. Some people pray before others wake in the … [Read more...]
THE RICH MAN OF LA MADELEINE
"I'm eating a rich man's lunch today," I say to myself, pulling up my chair to the feast of rotisserie chicken, Caesar's salad, fresh-baked bread and assorted jellies and marmalades spread before me. I usually lunch on the cafeteria "special," but today I am splurging at La Madeleine, a charming French bakery and cafe with locations around Houston. This cafe on Westheimer is my favorite, primarily because its decor features a full-size, working, water mill brought over from a village somewhere in France. I love the sound of splashing water, the rugged sight and creaking sounds of this ancient … [Read more...]
‘LITTLE GRANNY’ GOES HOME
It was an eventful year, 1912. The Titanic sank, New Mexico and Arizona joined the Union, Juliette G. Low founded the Girl Scouts of America, Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States. And in Wartrace, Tennessee, Kate and Frank Taylor welcomed their firstborn -- a daughter they named Celia Baldwin Taylor. She grew up to marry Jamie Locke of Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, to whom she gave a daughter, Sara Faye, now my wife of 42 years. As mother, grandmother and mother-in-law, Celia was surely among the best anywhere. We called her "little Granny." She lived 97 years, three months … [Read more...]
POOR IN SPIRIT
A gracEmail reader in the Middle East writes, "Someone recently prayed for help in becoming 'poor in spirit.' I want to receive the blessing Jesus promises to those who are poor in spirit, but I don't know whether I am rich or poor in spirit now. What does Jesus mean by this blessing?" * * * "Blessed are the poor in spirit," says Jesus, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). The word translated "poor" here means destitute. It refers to one who by poverty is reduced to begging (Lk. 16:20-21; Matt. 26:11). By definition, such beggars do not present credentials. Not those genuine … [Read more...]
WORSHIP ‘IN TRUTH’
A gracEmail subscriber writes that all believers outside his group are lost and that their worship counts for nothing before God. In support, he quotes Jesus' statement in John 4:24 that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in truth. He says that means following a precise New Testament pattern of external details which his own fellowship (and likely no other) has discovered and accurately follows. * * * The expression "in truth" usually means "truly," "genuinely" or "sincerely" (Phil. 1:18; 1 John 3:18). God wants worshippers who really mean what they say when they praise and thank him, who … [Read more...]
GOD MOST NIGH
"To this one I will look," God says through Isaiah, "to the one who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isa. 66:2). God most high is also God most nigh! In the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth he has joined our humanity. By the Spirit of the Risen Jesus Christ he has come to us again. God calls us to celebrate, to rejoice in his presence, to shout with thanksgiving and with delight! Christian worship reflects the full spectrum of reverent reaction to the reality of God. Sometimes we bow or kneel in total silence, properly awed by God most high. At other times we make a … [Read more...]
