It goes without saying that everyone wants to have peace, but only a few know where to find it! In the Old Testament, the English word that we translate as “peace” comes from the Hebrew word shalom, and as we all know, shalom is the word used in common greetings

Last week, we came to realize that some of the greatest men and women in biblical history felt unqualified to serve God, and yet they made themselves available to serve Him. Specifically, we focused our attention upon Isaiah, one of the greatest of all Old Testament Prophets, who needed to

Though feeling unqualified, some of the greatest men and women of the Bible were called by God to serve Him by living a life of service to others. Moses was a self-directed, tongue-tied fugitive from justice and yet God turned him into a great leader. Peter was a self-confident, cursing

I mentioned last week that we often fail to forgive others because we have bought into one or more of the MYTHS that we have been led to believe, even as little children. When we believe these MYTHS, we avoid forgiving others for the hurtful offenses we have received. And

I concluded last week’s blog with some important comments that need to be repeated. When it comes to “Forgiveness,” we must realize that the knife cuts both ways: we need to ask others to forgive us for the hurtful WORDS and ACTIONS that we had directed toward them, and we

Last week we focused our attention on the disposition of “Forbearance,” and we discovered that tolerating or “bearing with one another” was an exhortation given to the Church in Colossae by the Apostle Paul: “Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against one another. Forgive as

Last week we focused our attention on the disposition of “Patience,” and we realized that we need to be patient with God as we wait for Him to respond to circumstances that are troubling us. We are all aware that learning to wait on God is a challenge, even though

How often have we prayed: “God give me what I’m asking for, and please hurry!”?  If we are honest with ourselves, I’m pretty sure that we pray this prayer quite often, and in fact, too often! We all need to remember that when it comes to making requests to God,

I’m pretty sure that prior to the beginning of the new year just a few weeks ago, many of us were thinking about those things that we could, and should, do away with, as well as those things that we should add to our lives, such as having a daily

As I mentioned last week, compassion is the ability to empathize with the sufferings and needs of others. While simple compassion is a “feeling” that emerges from the heart, genuine compassion always responds with an act of kindness toward the one who is suffering and in need.   One of