Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD September 9, 2018 Sunday THEY SMELLED LIKE CHRIST Amy Peterson For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved.  2 Corinthians 2:15 2 Corinthians 2:14–17 Proverbs 6–7; 2 Corinthians 2 Hot and dusty, Bob dismounted from the bus he had ridden to a city far from home. He was tired from a long day of travel and grateful that he would be able to have dinner with friends of friends who lived in the area. They welcomed him in, and he immediately felt a sense of peace. He felt at home, comfortable, safe, and valued. Later, wondering why he had felt such peace in an unfamiliar place, Bob found an answer in 2 Corinthians. The apostle Paul describes people who follow God as having the “pleasing aroma of Christ.” “That’s exactly it!” Bob said to himself. His hosts had “smelled like” Christ. When Paul says that God leads His people in Christ’s “triumphal procession” spreading the fragrance of His truth, he’s referring to a practice i...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 8, 2018 Saturday BEING REAL WITH GOD Jennifer Benson Schuldt Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7 1 Peter 5:6–10 Proverbs 3–5; 2 Corinthians 1 I bow my head, close my eyes, lace my fingers together and begin to pray. “ Dear Lord, I’m coming to you today as your child. I recognize your power and goodness. . .”  Suddenly, my eyes snap open. I remember that my son hasn’t finished his history project, which is due the next day. I recall that he has an after-school basketball game, and I imagine him awake until midnight finishing his schoolwork. This leads me to worry that his fatigue will put him at risk for the flu! C. S. Lewis wrote about distractions during prayer in his book  The Screwtape Letters.  He noted that when our minds wander, we tend to use willpower to steer ourselves back to our original prayer. Lewis concluded, though, that it was better to accept ...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 7, 2018 Friday UNCHANGING LOVE James Banks The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  1 John 2:17 Psalm 103:13–22 Proverbs 1–2; 1 Corinthians 16 When I was in high school I played on the varsity tennis team. I spent many hours of my teenage years trying to improve my skills on four concrete courts located just two blocks from my home. The last time I visited that city, one of the first things I did was drive to the tennis courts, hoping to watch others play and reminisce for a moment. But the old courts, so familiar to my memory, were nowhere to be seen. In their place was a vacant field, inhabited only by an occasional weed waving silently in the breeze. That afternoon remains in my mind as a stark reminder of the brevity of life. One of the places where I expended some of my best youthful strength no longer existed! Reflecting on that experience later brought me to this truth, expressed by an agin...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 6, 2018 Thursday MUSCLING THROUGH Kirsten Holmberg Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.  2 Chronicles 20:3 2 Chronicles 20:2–3, 14–22 Psalms 148–150; 1 Corinthians 15:29–58 Competitive bodybuilders put themselves through a rigorous training cycle. During the initial months, they emphasize gaining size and strength. As the competition nears, the focus shifts to losing any fat that hides the muscle. In the final days before the competition, they consume less water than normal so their muscle tissue is easily visible. Because of the reduced consumption of nourishment, the competitors are actually at their weakest on the day of competition, despite appearing strong. In 2 Chronicles 20, we read of the opposite reality: acknowledging weakness in order to experience God’s strength. “A vast army is coming against you,” people told King Jehoshaphat. So “he proclaimed a fast for all Judah” (v. 3)...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 5,2018 Wednesday BUILDING BRIDGES Lawrence Darmani There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28 John 4:7–14, 39–42 Psalms 146–147; 1 Corinthians 15:1–28 In our neighborhood, high concrete walls surround our homes. Many of these walls are enhanced with electric barbed wires lining the top. The purpose? To ward off robbers. Frequent power outages are also a problem in our community. These outages render the front gate-bell useless. Because of the wall, a visitor may be kept out in the scorching sun or torrential rain during these outages. Yet even when the gate-bell works, to admit the visitor might depend on who they are. Our fence-walls serve a good purpose, but they can become walls of discrimination—even when the visitor is obviously not an intruder. The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well had a similar difficulty with discrimination. The Jews...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 4, 2018 Tuesday BEYOND THE STARS Xochitl Dixon You have set your glory in the heavens.  Psalm 8:1 Psalm 8:1–9 Psalms 143–145; 1 Corinthians 14:21–40 In 2011, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration celebrated thirty years of space research. In those three decades, shuttles carried more than 355 people into space and helped construct the International Space Station. After retiring five shuttles, NASA has now shifted its focus to deep-space exploration. The human race has invested massive amounts of time and money, with some astronauts even sacrificing their lives, to study the immensity of the universe. Yet the evidence of God’s majesty stretches far beyond what we can measure. When we consider the Sculptor and Sustainer of the universe who knows each star by name (Isaiah 40:26), we can understand why the psalmist David praises His greatness (Psalm 8:1). The Lord’s fingerprints are on “the moon and the stars, which [He] set in ...

OUR DAILY BREAD September 3, 2018 Monday FINDING THE WAY HOME Randy Kilgore [God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  2 Corinthians 1:4 2 Corinthians 1:3–11 Psalms 140–142; 1 Corinthians 14:1–20 Sometimes this journey through life can be so difficult that we’re simply overwhelmed, and it seems there’s no end to the darkness. During such a time in our own family’s life, my wife emerged one morning from her quiet time with a new lesson learned. “I think God wants us  not to forget in the light what we’re learning in this darkness. ” Paul writes this same thought to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1), after describing the terrible difficulties he and his team endured in Asia. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand how God can redeem even our darkest moments. We’re comforted, he says, so we may learn how to comfort others (v. 4). Paul and his team were learning things from God durin...