Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD June 17, 2018 Sunday OUR SAFE PLACE Cindy Hess Kasper I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalm 91:2 Psalm 91 Bible in a year: Nehemiah 7–9; Acts 3 My very first job was at a fast-food restaurant. One Saturday evening, a guy kept hanging around, asking when I got out of work. It made me feel uneasy. As the hour grew later, he ordered fries, then a drink, so the manager wouldn’t kick him out. Though I didn’t live far, I was scared to walk home alone through a couple of dark parking lots and a stretch through a sandy field. Finally, at midnight, I went in the office to make a phone call. And the person who answered—my dad—without a second thought got out of a warm bed and five minutes later was there to take me home. The kind of certainty I had that my dad would come to help me that night reminds me of the assurance we read about in Psalm 91. Our Father in heaven is always with us, protecting and caring f...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 16, 2018 Saturday AS ADVERTISED Xochitl Dixon In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33 John 16:25–33 Bible in a year: Nehemiah 4–6; Acts 2:22–47 During a vacation, my husband and I signed up for a leisurely rafting tour down Georgia’s Chattahoochee River. Dressed in sandals, a sundress, and a wide brimmed hat, I groaned when we discovered—contrary to the advertisement—that the trip included light rapids. Thankfully, we rode with a couple experienced in whitewater rafting. They taught my husband the basics of paddling and promised to navigate us safely to our destination. Grateful for my life jacket, I screamed and gripped the plastic handle on the raft until we reached the muddy bank downriver. I stepped onto the shore and dumped water from my purse as my husband helped me wring out the hem of my soaked dress. We enjoyed a good laugh, even though the trip had not turned out as advertised. Unlike the to...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 15, 2018 Friday “LOVABLE!” Adam Holz I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  Jeremiah 31:3 Jeremiah 31:1–6 Bible in a year: Nehemiah 1–3; Acts 2:1–21 “Lovable!” That exclamation came from my daughter as she got ready one morning. I didn’t know what she meant. Then she tapped her shirt, a hand-me-down from a cousin. Across the front was that word: “Lovable.” I gave her a big hug, and she smiled with pure joy. “You are lovable!” I echoed. Her smile grew even bigger, if that was possible, as she skipped away, repeating the word over and over again. I’m hardly a perfect father. But that moment was perfect. In that spontaneous, beautiful interaction, I glimpsed in my girl’s radiant face what receiving unconditional love looked like: It was a portrait of delight. She knew the word on her shirt corresponded completely with how her...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 14, 2018 Thursday QUIETING THE CRITIC Kirsten Holmberg Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads.  Nehemiah 4:4 Nehemiah 4:1–6 Ezra 9–10; Acts 1 I work with a team to put on an annual community event. We spend eleven months plotting many details to ensure the event’s success. We choose the date and venue. We set ticket prices. We select everything from food vendors to sound technicians. As the event approaches, we answer public questions and provide directions. Afterward we collect feedback. Some good. Some that is hard to hear. Our team hears excitement from attendees and also fields complaints. The negative feedback can be discouraging and sometimes tempts us to give up. Nehemiah had critics too as he led a team to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. They actually mocked Nehemiah and those working alongside him saying, “Even a fox climbing up on it would break down [your] wall of stones” (Nehemiah 4:3). His response...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 13, 2018 Wednesday HUMBLE LOVE James Banks The greatest among you will be your servant.  Matthew 23:11 Philippians 2:1–11 Bible in a year: Ezra 6–8; John 21 When Benjamin Franklin was a young man he made a list of twelve virtues he desired to grow in over the course of his life. He showed it to a friend, who suggested he add “humility” to it. Franklin liked the idea. He then added some guidelines to help him with each item on the list. Among Franklin’s thoughts about humility, he held up Jesus as an example to emulate. Jesus shows us the ultimate example of humility. God’s Word tells us, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:5–7). Jesus demonstrated the greatest humility of all. Though eternally with the Father, ...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 12 2018 Tuesday CALLED BY NAME Amy Boucher Pye Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”  John 20:16 John 20:11–18 Bible in a year: Ezra 3–5; John 20 Advertisers have concluded that the most attention-grabbing word that viewers react to is their own name. Thus a television channel in the UK has introduced personalized advertisements with their online streaming services. We might enjoy hearing our name on television, but it doesn’t mean much without the intimacy that comes when someone who loves us says our name. Mary Magdalene’s attention was arrested when, at the tomb where Jesus’s body had been laid after He was crucified on the cross, He spoke her name (John 20:16). With that single word, she turned in recognition to the Teacher whom she loved and followed, I imagine with a rush of disbelief and joy. The familiarity with which He spoke her name confirmed for her beyond a doubt that the One who’d known her...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 11 2018 Monday ADVICE FROM MY FATHER Linda Washington Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5 Proverbs 3:1–7 Bible in a year: Ezra 1–2; John 19:23–42 After being laid off from an editorial job, I prayed, asking for God to help me find a new one. But when weeks went by and nothing came of my attempts at networking and filling out applications, I began to pout. “Don’t You know how important it is that I have a job?” I asked God, my arms folded in protest at my seemingly unanswered prayer. When I talked to my father, who had often reminded me about believing God’s promises, about my job situation, he said, “I want you to get to the point where you trust what God says.” My father’s advice reminds me of Proverbs 3, which includes wise advice from a parent to a beloved child. This familiar passage was especially applicable to my situation: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean...