Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD July 28, Sunday PLODDING FOR GOD Amy Boucher Pye We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end.  Hebrews 6:11 Hebrews 6:9–12 Psalms 46–48; Acts 28 Those raised in the English village with William Carey (1761–1834) probably thought he wouldn’t accomplish much, but today he’s known as the father of modern missions. Born to parents who were weavers, he became a not-too-successful teacher and cobbler while teaching himself Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. After many years, he realized his dream of becoming a missionary to India. But he faced hardship, including his child’s death, his wife’s mental-health problems, and for many years the lack of response from those he served. What kept him serving amid difficulties as he translated the entire Bible into six languages and parts of it into twenty-nine others? “I can plod,” he said. “I can persevere in any definite pursuit.” He commi...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 27, Saturday IN-SERVICE TRAINING Jennifer Benson Schuldt On this rock I will build my church.  Matthew 16:18 Matthew 16:21–28 Psalms 43–45; Acts 27:27–44 A manager at a company in Brazil requested a written report from the custodians in her building. Each day she wanted to know who cleaned each room, which rooms were left untouched, and how much time employees spent in each room. The first “daily” report arrived a week later, partially completed. When the manager looked into the matter, she discovered most of the cleaning employees couldn’t read. She could have fired them, but instead she arranged for them to have literacy lessons. Within five months, everyone was reading at a basic level and continued in their jobs. God often uses our struggles as opportunities to equip us to continue working for Him. Peter’s life was marked by inexperience and mistakes. His faith faltered as he tried to walk on water. He w...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 26, Friday MAKING THINGS WHOLE Winn Collier Blessed are the peacemakers.  Matthew 5:9 Matthew 5:9, 13–16 Psalms 40–42; Acts 27:1–26 In the documentary  Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry,  author Berry spoke of how  divorce  describes the state of our world. We’re divorced from one another, from our history, from the land. Things that should be whole are split apart. When asked what we should do about this sad fact, Berry said, “We can’t put  everything  back together. We just take  two things  and put them together.” We take two things broken apart and make them one again. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus tells us (Matthew 5:9). To make peace is to bring  shalom . And shalom refers to the world being set right. One theologian describes shalom as “universal flourishing, wholeness and delight. . . . [It’s] the way things ought to...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 25, Thursday BUT A BREATH Alyson Kieda My hope is in you.  Psalm 39:7 Psalm 39:1–13 Psalms 37–39; Acts 26 Bobby’s sudden death brought home to me the stark reality of death and the brevity of life. My childhood friend was only twenty-four when a tragic accident on an icy road claimed her life. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, she had recently seemed to be moving forward. Just a new believer in Jesus, how could her life end so soon? Sometimes life seems far too short and full of sorrow. In Psalm 39 the psalmist David bemoans his own suffering and exclaims: “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure” (vv. 4–5). Life  is short. Even if we live to see a century, our earthly life is but a drop in all of time. And yet, with David, we can say, “My hope ...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 24, Wednesday SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT John Blase Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches.  Jeremiah 9:23 Jeremiah 9:23–26 Psalms 35–36; Acts 25 What does it mean to be real? That’s the very big question answered in the small children’s book  The Velveteen Rabbit.  It’s the story of toys in a nursery and the velveteen rabbit’s journey to become real by allowing himself to be loved by a child. One of the other toys is the old and wise Skin Horse. He “had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by and by break . . . and pass away.” They looked and sounded impressive, but their bragging eventually amounted to nothing when it came to love. Boasting starts out strong; but in the end, it always fades away. Jeremiah lists three areas where this is evident: “wisdom . . . strength . . . ri...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 23, Tuesday EYES IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD Kirsten Holmberg From his dwelling place [God] watches all who live on earth.  Psalm 33:14 Psalm 33:6–19 Psalms 33–34; Acts 24 I was as mischievous as any other child in my early years and tried to hide my bad behavior to avoid getting into trouble. Yet my mother usually found out what I had done. I recall being amazed at how quickly and accurately she knew about my antics. When I marveled and asked how she knew, she always replied, “I have eyes in the back of my head.” This, of course, led me to study her head whenever she’d turn her back—were the eyes invisible or merely cloaked by her red hair? As I grew, I gave up looking for evidence of her extra pair of eyes and realized I just wasn’t quite as sneaky as I had supposed. Her watchful gaze was evidence of her loving concern for her children. As grateful as I am for my mother’s attentive care (despite being o...