A Prayer For Revival: “O Holy Ghost, Revival Comes From Thee. Send A Revival. Start The Work In Me.”

Psalm 85:1-13 We are to pray for revival - ‘Restore us again, O God our Saviour…Will You not revive us again that Your people may rejoice in You?’ (4,6). We are to pray that God will ‘grant us His salvation’. We are to pray that ‘His saving presence will remain in our land’. We must …

Revelation from God; not discovery by us

“Apart from divine revelation neither human reason nor human experience as a whole is a source of divine truth.”― Carl Henry “Whatever else the Bible affirms about divine revelation and its relationship to reason, it nowhere considers the natural light of reason per se as a source of true knowledge of God.”― Carl Henry “The Bible acknowledges …

From Disaster To Revival

 * "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and You listened to my cry" (Jonah 2:2). What are we to do when the going gets tough? We've heard the saying, When the going gets tough, the tough get going. We …

Human language and divine revelation

Berkouwer's concept of the depth-aspect of salvation may be viewed as a serious attempt to understand the complex problem of the relation of human language to divine revelation. It need not be dismissed as a denial of what Scripture says. It may be regarded as an interpretation of what Scripture says, an attempt to understand …

Make sure that it’s real!

Simon the magician was impressed by the ‘signs and great miracles’, but his ‘heart’ was ‘not right before God’(Acts 8:13,19). The Ethiopian’s conversion was real. Searching the Scriptures, he found the Saviour (Acts 8:30-35). From the Ethiopian’s conversion, we learn of Jesus’ promise: ‘Seek and you will find’. From Simon’s tragedy, we hear Jesus’ warning: …

Obstacles, Victory And Praise

The people of God faced many obstacles, but the Lord gave them His victory and they praised Him - “All day long we praise our God. We give thanks to You forever” (Psalm 44:8). The words of Psalm 45 point forward to Jesus Christ, who is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). …

A Passionate Appeal From The Heart Of Our Loving Father

Genesis 3:6-9 Once we were innocent. Now we are guilty. The story of Adam and Eve is repeated over and over again. This is our story as well as Adam and Eve's story. Even in the face of sin, we see something else. We see the God of love, seeking to restore the fallen to …

Dreamer?

"Here comes that dreamer!... We’ll see what comes of his dreams." (Genesis 37:19-20). Joseph had dreams. His brothers didn't take him seriously. What are we to say about the dreamer and his dreams? We must not make up our minds too soon. Time will tell whether the dreams are from the Lord, As we read …

Everlasting love

Isaiah 51:17-54:17; Ephesians 1:1-23; Psalm 109:21-31 ’“With everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer” (Isaiah 54:8). “In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5). This loving kindness has its origin in the heart of the eternal God. It continues for all …

Deliver us, Lord, from knowing so much – yet knowing so little about what really matters!

Jeremiah 8:4-22 ‘Wise people are put to shame, confused, trapped. They have rejected the Word of the Lord. They don’t really have any wisdom’ (Jeremiah 8:9). Deliver us, Lord, from thinking that we’re smart. Keep us from becoming wise in their own eyes. Deliver us from the ‘know it all’ attitude. May we not have an answer for everything – …

Far too easily, Lord, we accept defeat.

Far too easily, Lord, we accept defeat - when You're leading us on into Your victory. What's wrong with us? It's sin. That's our problem. It never goes away, this problem of ours - but we don't have to fight against it in our own strength. Our sin may seem to be inevitable - "That's …

The joy of the Lord and the strength of the Lord

"Sing for joy to God our strength" (Psalm 81:4); "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). Where does our joy come from? Where does our strength come from? Our joy comes from the Lord. Our strength comes from the Lord.  It's not really our joy and our strength. It's the joy of …

First Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

Awaiting Christ’s Return , let us worship God and walk in His ways. God calls us to worship Him - ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord... ’ - and walk in His ways - ‘Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord’ (Isaiah 2:3, 5). We are moving …

Lord, help us to love You.

Lord, help us to love You – and help us to love one another. How can we say that we love You if we are not learning to love one another? How can we learn to love one another if we are not opening our hearts to the greatest love of all – Your love …

A Way Forward, A Better Future – With Jesus

What a difference there is between Jesus' enemies and His friends. "The scribes" wanted "to kill" Jesus (Mark 14:1). The woman worshipped Him. There is also the sadness of Judas. He began as a friend, and, then, he became an enemy. Even in the Passover / Lord's Supper, Jesus showed love for Judas. Sadly, it …

The Gospel for our generation

Amos 6:1-7:17; Romans 4:16-5:11; Psalm 86:11-17 Amos was commissioned by the Lord - “Go, prophesy to My people Israel” (Amos 7:15). The purpose of such prophecy, in our generation, is to declare the Gospel: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). If …

Lord, You have done great things for us.

Lord, You have done great things for us. You are still doing great things for us. You will continue to do great things for us. When we say, "Thank You, Lord, for Your many blessings", help us never to take Your blessing for granted. Help us to keep on living in obedience to Your Word. …