“Let my prayer be set before You as incense” (Ps 141:2). William Cowper wrote: What various hindrances we meet in coming to the Mercy Seat! Yet who that knows the worth of prayer but wishes to be often there? Prayer makes the darken’d cloud withdraw; prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw, Gives exercise to faith […]
Complete faith in Christ is not only the gateway to Life but also the pathway of Living. “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). Russell Kelso Carter, author of “Standing on the Promises,” made a profession of faith in Christ at age 15, but in his words, “I made a common mistake; I didn’t […]
We don’t often think of ourselves writing a true-life autobiography each day, but we are. Standing in the shadows is the Editor-in-Chief. He gets a say in the twists and turns of the storyline. The red-letter days happen when our story criss-crosses with His story. This story is one of those days. […]
Two drinking parties going on at the same time in the same town. They’ll soon connect. What could go wrong? The Persian emperor Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) ruled over a vast realm of “one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia” (Est 1:1). The empire was divided into 20 satrapies, or territories, each governed by a satrap […]
CHRIST our CONSOLATION: “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Lk 2:29-30). Old Simeon, who prayed this prayer, was waiting for “the Consolation of Israel.” This is parakletos, the encourager, one who adds courage. In the days of the Scottish Covenanters, John Brown […]
“Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Ps 85:6). Maria Monsen, a Norwegian missionary in North China, began praying for revival. She sought a prayer partner who would join her in claiming the promise “that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will […]
Ravi Zacharias writes: “In the 1950s, Encyclopedia Britannica published its fifty-five-volume set, The Great Books of the Western World. One of the gifted minds behind the series was Mortimer Adler. The opening volume is a compilation of the great themes addressed by seminal thinkers during the last two millennia. Fascinatingly, the longest essay is on […]
My friend Barry served with the Brooklyn, NY, district attorney’s office. Once when I was visiting him, he was prosecuting an interesting case. Two sweet little ladies had been robbed by a young thug, it was alleged. They had just removed funds from an ATM when he supposedly accosted them and took their money. My […]
“Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.” —William Cowper Meanwhile, back at the palace… The Book of Esther gives some of the historic events unfolding with the Jews in Persia, who hadn’t returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Ezra, or Nehemiah. The term “Ahasuerus” was a title, like Pharaoh or Caesar. The king called […]