Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD June 23 Sunday THE LORD REJOICES Amy Peterson [God] will rejoice over you with singing.  Zephaniah 3:17 Zephaniah 3:14–20 Esther 9–10; Acts 7:1–21 My grandmother recently sent me a folder full of old photographs, and as I thumbed through them, one caught my eye. In it, I’m two years old, and I’m sitting on one end of a hearth in front of a fireplace. On the other end, my dad has his arm around my mom’s shoulders. Both are gazing at me with expressions of love and delight. I pinned this photo to my dresser, where I see it every morning. It’s a wonderful reminder of their love for me. The truth is, though, that even the love of good parents is imperfect. I saved this photo because it reminds me that although human love may fail sometimes, God’s love never fails—and according to Scripture, God looks at me the way my parents are looking at me in this picture. The prophet Zephaniah described this love in a way that astounds me. He describes God as rejoicing ov...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 22, Saturday HIDE-AND-SEEK Jeff Olson But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:9 Genesis 3:1–10 Esther 6–8; Acts 6 “He’s going to find me,” I thought. I felt my little heart pound faster as I heard my five-year-old cousin’s footsteps around the corner. He was coming  closer . Five steps away. Three. Two. “Found you!” Hide-and-seek. Most have fond memories of playing the game as children. Yet sometimes in life the fear of being found isn’t fun but is rooted in a deep instinct to flee. People may dislike what they see. As children of a fallen world, we’re prone to play what a friend of mine labels, “a mixed-up game of hide-and-seek” between God and us. It’s more like a game of pretending to hide—because either way, He sees all the way through to our messy thoughts and wrong choices. We know it, though we like to pretend He can’t really see. Yet God continues to seek. “Come out,” He calls to us. “I want to see y...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 21, Friday ENDING ENVY Patricia Raybon Each one should test their own actions.  Galatians 6:4 Romans 6:11–14 Esther 3–5; Acts 5:22–42 The famous French artist Edgar Degas is remembered worldwide for his paintings of ballerinas. Less known is the envy he expressed of his friend and artistic rival Édouard Manet, another master painter. Said Degas of Manet, “Everything he does he always hits off straightaway, while I take endless pains and never get it right.” It’s a curious emotion, envy—listed by the apostle Paul among the worst traits, as bad as “every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip” (Romans 1:29 nlt). It results from foolish thinking, Paul writes—the result of worshiping idols instead of worshiping God (v. 28). Author Christina Fox says that when envy develops among believers, it’s “because our hearts have turned from our one true love.” In our envy, she said, “we are ch...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 20, Thursday PRESENT IN THE STORM Arthur Jackson The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Psalm 46:7 Psalm 46 Esther 1–2; Acts 5:1–21 Fire swept through the home of a family of six from our church. Although the father and son survived, the father was still hospitalized while his wife, mother, and two small children were laid to rest. Unfortunately, heartbreaking events like this continue to happen again and again. When they’re replayed, so is the age-old question:  Why do bad things happen to good people?  And it doesn’t surprise us that this old question doesn’t have new answers. Yet the truth that the psalmist puts forth in Psalm 46 has also been replayed and rehearsed and embraced repeatedly. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v. 1). The conditions described in verses 2–3 are catastrophic—earth and mountains moving and s...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 19 Wednesday IN OUR WEAKNESS Ruth O’Reilly-Smith In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  Romans 8:26 Romans 8:1–2, 10–17 Nehemiah 12–13; Acts 4:23–37 Although Anne Sheafe Miller died in 1999 at the age of 90, she nearly passed away in 1942 after developing septicemia following a miscarriage and all treatments proved to be unsuccessful. When a patient at the same hospital mentioned his connection to a scientist who’d been working on a new wonder drug, Anne’s doctor pressed the government to release a tiny amount for Anne. Within a day, her temperature was back to normal! Penicillin had saved Anne’s life. Since the fall, all human beings have experienced a devastating spiritual condition brought about by sin (Romans 5:12). Only the death and resurrection of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit has made it possible for us to be healed (8:1–2). The Holy Spirit enables us to enjoy abundant life on earth and for eternity in the presen...

OUR DAILY BREAD June 18, Tuesday RESCUING VILLAINS Tim Gustafson Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!  Daniel 3:28 Daniel 3:26–30 Nehemiah 10–11; Acts 4:1–22 The comic book hero is as popular as ever. In 2017 alone, six superhero movies accounted for more than $4 billion (US) in box office sales. But why are people so drawn to big action flicks? Maybe it’s because, in part, such stories resemble God’s Big Story. There’s a hero, a villain, a people in need of rescue, and plenty of riveting action. In this story, the biggest villain is Satan, the enemy of our souls. But there are lots of “little” villains as well. In the book of Daniel, for example, one is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of much of the known world, who decided to kill anyone who didn’t worship his giant statue (Daniel 3:1–6). When three courageous Jewish officials refused (vv. 12–18), God dramatically rescued them from a blazing furnace (vv....

OUR DAILY BREAD June 17, Monday STICK-FIGURE LESSON Elisa Morgan What we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.  2 Corinthians 10:11 2 Corinthians 10:1–11 Nehemiah 7–9; Acts 3 A friend of mine—okay, it was my counselor—drew a stick figure on a sheet of paper. She labeled this the “private” self. Then she drew an outline around the figure, about a half-inch larger, and named it the “public” self. The difference between the two figures, between the private and public selves, represents the degree to which we have integrity. I paused at her lesson and wondered,  Am I the same person in public that I am in private? Do I have integrity? Paul wrote letters to the church in Corinth, weaving love and discipline into his teachings to be like Jesus. As he neared the end of this letter (2 Corinthians), he addressed accusers who challenged his integrity by saying he was bold in his letters but weak in person (10:10). These cri...