…you serve a risen Savior!

True Success Is A Team Effort
     'Inspiration For You' from Randy Mitchell

Are you successful in your career, home life, love life, and being in general? Were you always this way, or did you have circumstances and people which helped make you who you are? No matter our positions in life, all of us have had others to help, nurture, support, and pay for our success along the road regardless of achievement. From giving birth to a child to our daily work as being loyal, caring, sympathetic, and encouraging to those we love, the devotion should never end on both sides of the equation. But, do we pull them along with us as we grow and surge forward, or conveniently…

Bible and Quote - March 11-15
     'Bible verse and quote' from Jan Couns

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Psalm 51:12a Man cannot find true essential joy anywhere but in his relationship to God. Oswald Chambers, 1874–1917 .sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend. The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions, 1600/1700s (After King David ask God to restore and sustain him) Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will turn back to You. Psalm 51:13 Take your mess and turn it into a message. Don Piper, Baptist…

Trusting God Yields Happiness
     'God's Words For US' from Cecelia Lester

He who heeds the word wisely will find good; and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. Proverbs 16:20 (NKJV) Words of Solomon I found a form of this verse in a gift book that I ran across in my living room. The book is entitled “Growing Through Prayer”. I am certain that each of……

Counting the Cost and Bearing the Cross
     'Point of Reference' from Fred Price

In these days of excuse-making for sin, tolerance of any and all behavior etc., the Progressives of one party demand we acquiesce to their agenda while the Conservatives lash out in anger against anyone who fails to meet their standards, however low they may be. What’s a Christian to do? First,……

Choking can be Hazardous to Your Eternal Health
     'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' from Tom Kelley

Our English is, I am told, unique. We have words that have more than one meaning, more than one spelling, more than one pronunciation as well as meanings with more than one word for common usage. And we wonder why some immigrants don't learn English. Maybe we should call our language American. I seriously doubt some stodgy Englishman would be caught dead speaking as we speak. But enough of the introductory material, the preface, the hook. The word "choke." As a verb it can mean to strangle someone, have a problem swallowing or become emotional. As a noun it is a device…

Inspired
     ''Winging It' from Stan Smith

Perhaps one of the most hotly contested Scriptures today is in Paul's second letter to Timothy. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) It is a claim to divine inspiration ("No, it's not," the skeptic--Christian or not--will tell you) of Scripture ("No, it's not," said skeptic will repeat), placing the Bible in the category of "God's Word" ("No, it doesn't," our…

The Second Sin
     'The Way' from Kevin Pauley

The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” – Genesis 3:12-13 A lot has been said about the first sin. Philosophers often wonder about it, though the average person doesn’t usually give it much thought. But the second sin may, in fact, be more important because we’ll never recover from the first sin as long as we’re guilty of the second. No matter…

Who Won?
     'Today's Little Lift' from Jim Bullington

College and High School football is a huge reality this time of year. Sometimes people argue for months and even years about which team would have won had this happened, or had the other thing not happened. If you are in the typical office workplace, chances are better than even that you will hear some “Monday morning quarterbacking” going on before the morning is over. However, the score will remain just as it was when the final whistle blew regardless of the “self-proclaimed experts” who hash and rehash the game until they are blue in the face. With…

"Lord God, You Have a Funny Way of Working at Times"
     'Word from Scotland' from Sandy Shaw

God is processing Joseph’s way to leadership in Egypt and every stepping stone to get Joseph to become Prime Minister of Egypt appears most painful. This fourth obstacle sees Joseph having his identity stolen – it is taken from him. Genesis 37 verses 31 to 35 –……

Things that go bump in the night
     'Refreshment in Refuge' from Gina Burgess

I was going to repost this article last Sunday to be "in the season" so to speak. But, God had other ideas. So I guess this Sunday is as good as any to be reminded about the things that go bump in the night... I have been studying something for months now because I see a trend that is frightening. The hours spent viewing several different programs where teams are in hot pursuit of paranormal activities from the netherworld have been heartbreaking. These teams are in earnest, yet have enormous nerve in that they taunt the entities of whom they are hoping to get physical…

Origin Of Nations
     ''Christ in You...'' from Dale Krebbs

One of the most dramatic and world shaping events occurred many centuries ago, and the world has never been the same since - literally. We find this recorded in the book of Genesis: "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may…