Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD February 17, SUN. ATMOSPHERE OF ENCOURAGEMENT Dave Branon Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.  Romans 15:2 Romans 15:1–7 Leviticus 21–22; Matthew 28 I’m encouraged every time I visit the fitness center near our house. In that busy place, I’m surrounded by others who are striving to improve their physical health and strength. Posted signs remind us not to judge each other, but words and actions that reveal support for others’ conditioning efforts are always welcomed. What a great picture of how things should look in the spiritual realm of life! Those of us who are striving to “get in shape” spiritually, to grow in our faith, can sometimes feel as if we don’t belong because we’re not as spiritually fit—as mature in our walk with Jesus—as someone else. Paul gave us this short, direct suggestion: “Encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). And to the believers in Rome he wrote: “Each of us shou...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 16, 2019 Saturday ACTS OF KINDNESS Estera Pirosca Escobar [Tabitha] was always doing good and helping the poor.  Acts 9:36 Acts 9:32–42 Leviticus 19–20; Matthew 27:51–66 “Estera, you got a present from our friend Helen!” my mom told me when she got home from work. Growing up we didn’t have much, so receiving a present in the mail was like a second Christmas. I felt loved, remembered, and valued by God through this wonderful woman. The poor widows Tabitha (Dorcas) made clothes for must have felt the same way. She was a disciple of Jesus living in Joppa who was well known in the community for her acts of kindness. She was “always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). Then she got sick and passed away. At the time, Peter was visiting a nearby city, so two believers went after him and begged him to come to Joppa. When Peter arrived, the widows Tabitha had helped showed him the evidence of her kindness—“the robes and other clothing that [she] ...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 15,2019 Friday SINKING INTO GRACE Winn Collier [God] grants sleep to those he loves.  Psalm 127:2 Psalm 127:1–2 Leviticus 17–18; Matthew 27:27–50 Finally, on January 8, 1964, seventeen-year-old Randy Gardner did something he hadn’t done for eleven days and twenty-five minutes: he nodded off to sleep. He wanted to beat the Guinness Book World Record for how long a human could stay awake. By drinking soft drinks and hitting the basketball court and bowling alley, Gardner rebuffed sleep for a week and a half. Before finally collapsing, his sense of taste, smell, and hearing went haywire. Decades later, Gardner suffered from severe bouts of insomnia. He set the record but also confirmed the obvious: sleep is essential. Many of us struggle to get a decent night’s rest. Unlike Gardner who deprived himself intentionally, we might suffer sleeplessness for a number of reasons—including a mountain of anxieties: the fear of all we need to accompl...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 14, 2019 Thursday OUT OF CONTEXT Elisa Morgan She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  John 20:14 John 20:13–16 Leviticus 15–16; Matthew 27:1–26 As I queued up to board my flight, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned and received a warm greeting. “Elisa! Do you remember me? It’s Joan!” My mind flipped through various “Joans” I’d known, but I couldn’t place her. Was she a previous neighbor? A past coworker? Oh dear . . . I didn’t know. Sensing my struggle, Joan responded, “Elisa, we knew each other in high school.” A memory rose: Friday night football games, cheering from the stands. Once the context was clarified, I recognized Joan. After Jesus’s death, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning and found the stone rolled away and His body gone (John 20:1–2). She ran to get Peter and John, who returned with her to find the tomb empty (vv. 3–10). But Mary lingered outside in her g...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 13, 2019 Wednesday THE BATTLE Tim Gustafson But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.  Psalm 39:7 Psalm 39:1–7 Leviticus 14; Matthew 26:51–75 As artillery rounds fell around him with an earth-shaking  whoomp , the young soldier prayed fervently, “Lord, if you get me through this, I’ll go to that Bible school Mom wanted me to attend.” God honored his focused prayer. My dad survived World War II, went to Moody Bible Institute, and invested his life in ministry. Another warrior endured a different kind of crisis that drove him to God, but his problems arose when he  avoided combat. As King David’s troops fought the Ammonites, David was back at his palace casting more than just a glance at another man’s wife (see 2 Samuel 11). In Psalm 39, David chronicles the painful process of restoration from the terrible sin that resulted. “The turmoil within me grew worse,” he wrote. “The more I thought about it, the hotter I got” (vv. 2–3...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 12, 2019 Tuesday SEEN BY GOD Patricia Raybon She gave this name to the Lordwho spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”  Genesis 16:13 Genesis 16:7–14 Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:26–50 My first pair of eyeglasses opened my eyes to a bold world. I’m nearsighted, meaning objects close up are sharp and defined. Without my glasses, however, items across a room or in the distance are a blur. At age twelve, with my first pair of eyeglasses, I was shocked to see clearer words on blackboards, tiny leaves on trees and, perhaps most important, big smiles on faces. As friends smiled back when I greeted them, I learned that to be seen was as great a gift as the blessing of seeing. The slave Hagar realized that as she fled from her mistress Sarai’s unkindness. Hagar was a “nobody” in her culture, pregnant and alone, fleeing to a desert without help or hope. Seen by God, however, she was empowered, i...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 11, 2019 Monday GIVING CREDIT Cindy Hess Kasper Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 1:31 Jeremiah 9:23–26 Leviticus 11–12; Matthew 26:1–25 In the early 1960s, some unusual paintings featuring a person or animal with huge, sad eyes became popular. Some considered the work “kitschy”—or tacky—but others delighted in it. As the artist’s husband began to promote his wife’s creations, the couple grew quite prosperous. But the artist’s signature—Margaret Keane—didn’t appear on her work. Instead, Margaret’s husband presented his wife’s work as his own. Margaret fearfully remained silent about the fraud for twenty years until the couple’s marriage ended. It took a courtroom “paint-off” between them to prove the true artist’s identity. The man’s deception was clearly wrong, but even as followers of Jesus, we may find it easy to take credit for talents we possess, leadership skills we display, or even for our kind deeds to others. But th...