Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD May 6, 2018 Sunday STANDING ON THE PROMISES David H. Roper Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  John 15:7 John 15:5–8 Bible in a year: 1 Kings 21–22; Luke 23:26–56 My friend’s brother (when they were both children) assured his sister an umbrella had enough lift to hold her up if she would only “believe.” So “by faith” she jumped off a barn roof and knocked herself out, suffering a minor concussion. What God has promised, He will do. But we must be sure we stand on God’s  actual  word when we claim a promise, for only then do we have the assurance that God will do or give what He’s promised. Faith has no power in itself. It only counts when it’s based on a clear and unambiguous promise from God. Anything else is just wishful thinking. Here’s a case in point: God has promised, “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:7–8). These verses are not a promise tha...

OUR DAILY BREAD  May 5, 2018 Saturday  KEEPING CLOSE Amy Boucher Pye Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Deuteronomy 6:8 Deuteronomy 6:1–9 BIBle in a year:  1 Kings 19–20; Luke 23:1–25 My mile-long walk home from dropping off my daughter at her school gives me the opportunity to memorize some verses from the Bible—if I’m intentional about doing so. When I take those minutes to turn over God’s Word in my mind, I often find them coming back to me later in the day, bringing me comfort and wisdom. When Moses prepared the Israelites to enter the Promised Land, he urged them to hold close to God’s commands and decrees (Deuteronomy 6:1–2). Wanting them to flourish, he said they should turn these instructions over in their minds and discuss them with their children (vv. 6–7). He even said to tie them to their wrists and bind them to their foreheads (v. 8). He didn’t want them to forget God’s instructions to live as people who honored t...

OUR DAILY BREAD May 4, 2018 Friday BEFORE THE BEGINNING Amy Peterson You loved me before the creation of the world.  John 17:24 Matthew 3:13–17 Bible in a year: 1 Kings 16–18; Luke 22:47–71 “But if God has no beginning and no end, and has always existed, what was He doing before He created us? How did He spend His time?” Some precocious Sunday school student always asks this question when we talk about God’s eternal nature. I used to respond that this was a bit of a mystery. But recently I learned that the Bible gives us an answer to this question. When Jesus prays to His Father in John 17, He says “Father, . . . you loved me before the creation of the world” (v. 24). This is God as revealed to us by Jesus: Before the world was ever created, God was a trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)—all loving each other and being loved. When Jesus was baptized, God sent His Spirit in the form of a dove and said, “This is my Son, whom I love” (Matthew 3:17). The most foundational as...

OUR DAILY BREAD May 3, 2018 Thursday A CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE Kirsten Holmberg It troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God.  Psalm 73:16–17 Psalm 73:12–28 Bible in a year: 1 Kings 14–15; Luke 22:21–46 My hometown had experienced its heaviest winter in thirty years. My muscles ached from hours of shoveling the unrelenting snow. When I stepped inside after what felt like a fruitless effort, weary as I kicked off my boots, I was greeted by the warmth of a fire and my children gathered around it. As I gazed out the window from the shelter of my home, my perspective of the weather shifted completely. Instead of seeing more work to do, I savored the beauty of frosted tree branches and the way the snow blanketed the colorless landscape of winter. I see a similar, but much more poignant, shift in Asaph when I read his words in Psalm 73. In the beginning, he laments the way the world seems to work, how wrongs seem to be rewarded. He doubts the value of being diffe...

OUR DAILY BREAD May 2, 2018 Wednesday LONGING FOR GOD James Banks My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  Psalm 84:2 1 John 4:13–16 Bible in a year: 1 Kings 12–13; Luke 22:1–20 One day my daughter was visiting with our one-year-old grandson. I was getting ready to leave the house on an errand, but as soon as I walked out of the room my grandson began to cry. It happened twice, and each time I went back and spent a moment with him. As I headed out the door the third time, his little lip began to quiver again. At that point my daughter said, “Dad, why don’t you just take him with you?” Any grandparent could tell you what happened next. My grandson went along for the ride, just because I love him.  How good it is to know that the longings of our hearts for God are also met with love. The Bible assures us that we can “know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16). God doesn’t love us because of anything we have or haven’t done. His love isn’t based o...

OUR DAILY BREAD May 1, 2018 Tuesday WAITING IN ANTICIPATION Lisa Samra I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  Psalm 130:6 Psalm 130:1–6 Bible in a year: 1 Kings 10–11; Luke 21:20–38 Every May Day (May 1) in Oxford, England, an early morning crowd gathers to welcome spring. At 6:00, the Magdalen College Choir sings from the top of Magdalen Tower. Thousands wait in anticipation for the dark night to be broken by song and the ringing of bells. Like the revelers, I often wait. I wait for answers to prayers or guidance from the Lord. Although I don’t know the exact time my wait will end, I’m learning to wait expectantly. In Psalm 130 the psalmist writes of being in deep distress facing a situation that feels like the blackest of nights. In the midst of his troubles, he chooses to trust God and stay alert like a guard on duty charged with announcing daybreak. “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morn...

OUR DAILY BREAD  April 30, 2018 Monday  BREAKING THE CHAINS Amy Boucher Pye In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.  Ephesians 1:7 Ephesians 1:3–14 Bible in a year:   1 Kings 8–9; Luke 21:1–19 We found our visit to Christ Church Cathedral in Stone Town, Zanzibar, deeply moving, for it sits on the site of what was formerly the largest slave market in East Africa. The designers of this cathedral wanted to show through a physical symbol how the gospel breaks the chains of slavery. No longer would the location be a place of evil deeds and horrible atrocities, but of God’s embodied grace. Those who built the cathedral wanted to express how Jesus’s death on the cross provides freedom from sin—that which the apostle Paul speaks of in his letter to the church at Ephesus: “In him we have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7). Here the word  redemption  points to the Old Testament’s notion of the marketplace, wi...