John Townsend was born into a well-to-do family in Exeter, England. At the age of 20, while studying to become a clergyman, he realized to his shock that he was an unconverted man himself. He abandoned the ambition of his life which he had chosen, feeling he could not lead others to Christ until he […]
“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Some seemingly ordinary day will dawn—but it will be THAT DAY, the day when the Father is satisfied, when the Son is magnified, when the saints are glorified—and it could be today! […]
Eternity strides toward us. Finding joy in Christ now prepares us for the unbroken joy of heaven. Do you “direct” your prayers? David did. “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Ps 5:3). To “direct” (Heb, ‘ârak) means “to arrange, set in order.” […]
Read More… from February 9, 2026 — The Joy Of The Devoted Soul
CHRIST the ANTITYPE: In His passion to reveal the fullness of God in Christ, the Spirit inspired many “types” to picture Him. The “anti” in antitype does not mean the opposite of, but the comparison of. It does not mean “against” but “over against” as a portrait and its subject would be placed side-by-side to […]
“…Teach us what we shall do for the child” (Jdg 13:8). These words of Manoah express the concern we all should feel when a child comes into this world. J. Wilbur Chapman, standing in the store of New York’s famous jeweller, Tiffany & Co., saw a salesman showing a woman a $17,000 pearl, and then […]
“For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor 16:9). “Praying also for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ…” (Col 4:3). “Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God […]
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (Jas 1:27). “Gimme that (real) old-time religion”—watching out for life’s most vulnerable and easiest to overlook, while also watching out myself for the world’s tricks and the devil’s […]
CHRIST the THEME of PROPHECY: “To Him all the prophets witness” (Acts 10:43). Divine prophecy is different from human predictions in three key ways: it must be sufficiently remote in time that it could not be anticipated as a logical trend, sufficiently specific in detail that it could not be contrived as one of many […]
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Dan 6:10). S.D. Gordon writes, “A life […]