Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD January 13, 19 Sunday PLIGHT OF THE CRAWDADS Xochitl Dixon Always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 1 Thessalonians 5:11–18 Genesis 31–32; Matthew 9:18–38 When my cousin invited me to join him to fish for crawdads (crayfish), I couldn’t help but be excited. I grinned when he handed me a plastic pail. “No lid?” “You won’t need one,” he said, picking up the fishing rods and the small bag of chicken chunks we’d use for bait. Later, as I watched the small crustaceans climbing over one another in a futile attempt to escape the almost-full bucket, I realized why we wouldn’t need a lid. Whenever one crawdad reached the rim, the others would pull it back down. The plight of the crawdads reminds me how destructive it is to be selfishly concerned about our own gain instead of the benefit of a whole community. Paul understood the need for uplifting, interd...

OUR DAILY BREAD January 12, 2019 Saturday JESUS IS RIGHT BEHIND YOU John Blase Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me.  Matthew 25:40 Matthew 25:37–40 Genesis 29–30; Matthew 9:1–17 My daughter was ready for school a little earlier than usual, so she asked if we could stop by the coffee shop on our way. I agreed. As we approached the drive-thru lane, I said, “Do you feel like spreading some joy this morning?” She said, “Sure.” We placed our order, then pulled up to the window where the barista told us what we owed. I said, “We’d like to pay for the young woman’s order behind us too.” My daughter had a huge smile on her face. In the grand scheme of things, a cup of coffee may not seem like a big deal. Or is it? I wonder, could this be one way we carry out Jesus’s desire for us to care for those He called “the least of these”? (Matthew 25:40). Here’s a th...

OUR DAILY BREAD January 11,2019 Friday INFINITE DIMENSIONS Elisa Morgan I pray that you . . . [will] grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.  Ephesians 3:17–18 Ephesians 3:16–21 Genesis 27–28; Matthew 8:18–34 I lay still on the vinyl-covered mat and held my breath on command as the machine whirred and clicked. I knew lots of folks had endured MRIs, but for claustrophobic me, the experience required focused concentration on something—Someone—much bigger than myself. In my mind, a phrase from Scripture—“how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18)—moved in rhythm with the machine’s hum. In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, he described four dimensions to God’s love in order to stress the unending parameters of His love and presence. My position while lying down for the MRI provided a new image for my understanding. Wide: the s...

OUR DAILY BREAD January 10, 2019 Thursday OUR WELCOMING GOD Winn Collier God does not show favoritism.  Acts 10:34 Acts 10:34–38 Genesis 25–26; Matthew 8:1–17 Our church meets in an old elementary school, one that closed in 1958 rather than obey a US court order to integrate (the act of having African-American students attend schools previously attended by only Caucasian students). The following year, the school reopened and Elva, now a member of our church, was one of those black students who were thrust into a white world. “I was taken out of my safe community, with teachers who were part of our life,” Elva recalls, “and placed in a scary environment in a class with only one other black student.” Elva suffered because she was different, but she became a woman of courage, faith, and forgiveness. Her witness is profound because of how much evil she endured at the hands of some members of a society that denied the truth that every human being, regardless of race or heritag...

OUR DAILY  OUR DAILY BREAD January 9, 2019 Wednesday WHAT  KIND OF SAVIOR IS HE? Anne Cetas From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.  John 6:66 John 6:47–51, 60–66 Genesis 23–24; Matthew 7 Last year, friends and I prayed for healing for three women battling cancer. We knew God had the power to do this, and we asked Him to do so every day. We’d seen Him work in the past and believed He could do it again. There were days in each one’s battle where healing looked like it was a reality, and we rejoiced. But they all died that fall. Some said that was “the ultimate healing,” and in a way it was. Still the loss hurt us deeply. We wanted Him to heal them all—here and now—but for reasons we couldn’t understand, no miracle came.  Some people followed Jesus for the miracles He performed and to get their needs met (John 6:2, 26). Some simply saw Him as the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55–58), and others expected Him to be their political leade...

OUR DAILY BREAD January 8, 2019 Tuesday AN ALTERNATIVE TO WORRY Dave Branon Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  Matthew 6:27 Matthew 6:25–34 Genesis 20–22; Matthew 6:19–34 A law-abiding, honest man received a voicemail that said, “This is officer _______ from the police department. Please call me at this number.” Immediately the man began to worry—afraid that somehow he had done something wrong. He was afraid to return the call, and he even spent sleepless nights running through possible scenarios—worried that he was in some kind of trouble. The officer never called back, but it took weeks for the worry to go away. Jesus asked an interesting question about worry: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). Perhaps this can help us rethink our tendency to worry, because it suggests that it doesn’t help the situation we’re concerned about. When problems are on the horizon for us, maybe we can try the following...

OUR DAILY BREAD January 7, 2018 Monday AN ORDINARY MAN Estera Pirosca Escobar People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7 1 Samuel 16:1–7 Genesis 18–19; Matthew 6:1–18 William Carey was a sickly boy, born to a humble family near Northampton, England. His future didn’t look too bright. But God had plans for him. Against all odds, he moved to India, where he brought incredible social reforms and translated the Bible into several Indian languages. He loved God and people, and accomplished many things for God. David, son of Jesse, was an ordinary young man, the youngest in his family. He was seemingly an insignificant shepherd on the hills of Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:11–12). Yet God saw David’s heart and had a plan for him. King Saul had been rejected by God for disobedience. While the prophet Samuel mourned Saul’s choices, God called Samuel to anoint a different king, one of Jesse’s sons. When Samuel saw the handsome, t...