Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD October 13, SUNDAY WORTH THE WAIT James Banks We eagerly await a Savior.  Philippians 3:20 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 Isaiah 41–42; 1 Thessalonians 1 Outside the Shibuya train station in Tokyo is a statue commemorating an Akita dog named Hachiko. Hachiko is remembered for unusual faithfulness to his owner, a university professor who commuted from the station daily. The dog accompanied him on his walk there in the morning and came back to meet him every afternoon just as his train arrived. One day the professor didn’t return to the station; sadly, he’d died at work. But for the rest of his life—more than nine years—Hachiko showed up at the same time as the afternoon train. Day after day, regardless of weather, the dog waited faithfully for his master’s return. Paul commended the Thessalonians for their faithfulness, citing their “work produced by faith,” “labor prompted by love,” and “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 12, Saturday FILL IN YOUR NAME Xochitl Dixon . . . He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.  Isaiah 40:26 Isaiah 40:25–31 Isaiah 39–40; Colossians 4 In  Love   Letters from God,  Glenys Nellist invites children to interact with the Lord in a deeply personal way. These children’s books include a note from God with a space for the child’s name to be inserted after each Bible story. Personalizing scriptural truth helps her young readers understand that the Bible isn’t just a storybook. They’re being taught that the Lord wants a relationship with them and that He speaks to His greatly loved children through the Scriptures. I bought the book for my nephew and filled in the blanks in the beginning of every note from God. Delighted when he recognized his name, my nephew said, “God loves me too!” What a comfort to know the deeply and completely personal love of our loving Creator. When Go...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 11, FRIDAY THE MAIN ACTOR Winn Collier The Lord has done this.  Psalm 118:23 Psalm 118:6–9, 21–25 Isaiah 37–38; Colossians 3 I once heard about a student taking a class in preaching at a prominent seminary. The student, a young man who was a bit full of himself, delivered his sermon with eloquence and evident passion. He sat down self-satisfied, and the professor paused a moment before responding. “That was a powerful sermon,” he said. “It was well organized and moving. The only problem is that God was not the subject of a single one of your sentences.” The professor highlighted a problem all of us struggle with at times: We can talk as if we’re the primary actor (emphasizing what we do, what we say) when in truth God is the primary actor in life. We often profess that God is somehow generally “in charge,” but we act as if all the outcomes depend on us. The Scriptures insist that God is the true subject of our lives, the true force. Eve...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 10, THURSDAY DON’T FORGET! Anne Cetas He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  Acts 1:9 Acts 1:1–11 Isaiah 34–36; Colossians 2 My niece, her four-year-old daughter Kailyn, and I had a wonderful Saturday afternoon together. We enjoyed blowing bubbles outside, coloring in a princess coloring book, and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When they got in the car to leave, Kailyn sweetly called out the opened window, “Don’t forget me, Auntie Anne.” I quickly walked toward the car and whispered, “I could never forget you. I promise I will see you soon.” In Acts 1, the disciples watched as Jesus was “taken up before their very eyes” into the sky (v. 9). I wonder if they thought they might be forgotten by their Master. But He’d just promised to send His Spirit to live in them and empower them to handle the persecution that was to come (v. 8). And He’d taught them He was going away to prepare a place for them a...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 9, WEDNESDAY HANG IN THERE Adam Holz I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10 Isaiah 41:8–13 Isaiah 32–33; Colossians 1 My father-in-law turned seventy-eight recently, and during our family gathering to honor him, someone asked him, “What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your life so far?” His answer? “Hang in there.”    Hang in there.  It might be tempting to dismiss those words as simplistic. But my father-in-law wasn’t promoting blind optimism or positive thinking. He’s endured tough things in his nearly eight decades. His determination to press on wasn’t grounded in some vague hope that things might get better, but in Christ’s work in his life.   “Hanging in there”—the Bible calls it perseverance—isn’t possible through mere willpower. We persevere because God promised, over and over, that He’s with us, that He’ll give us strength, and that He’ll accomplis...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 8, Tuesday SHELTER FROM THE STORM Amy Boucher Pye When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Exodus 33:22 Exodus 33:12–23 Isaiah 30–31; Philippians 4 As the story goes, in 1763, a young minister, traveling on a cliffside road in Somerset, England, ducked into a cave to escape the flashes of lightning and pounding rain. As he looked out at Cheddar Gorge, he pondered the gift of finding shelter and peace in God. Waiting there, he began to write a hymn, “Rock of Ages,” with its memorable opening lines: “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.” We don’t know if Augustus Toplady thought about Moses’s experience in the cleft of a rock while writing the hymn (Exodus 33:22), but perhaps he did. The Exodus account tells of Moses seeking God’s reassurance and God’s response. When Moses asked God to reveal His glo...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 7, MONDAY GOD’S HEART FOR HYPOCRITES Tim Gustafson She is more righteous than I.  Genesis 38:26 Genesis 38:16–26 Isaiah 28–29; Philippians 3 “I’d be  very  disappointed if one of our team members did that,” said a cricket player, referring to a South African cricketer who’d cheated in a match in 2016. But only two years later, that same player was caught in a nearly identical scandal. Few things rankle us more than hypocrisy. But in the story of Judah in Genesis 38, Judah’s hypocritical behavior nearly had deadly consequences. After two of his sons died soon after marrying Tamar, Judah had quietly abandoned his duty to provide for her needs (vv. 8–11). In desperation, Tamar disguised herself by wearing a prostitute’s veil, and Judah slept with her (vv. 15–16). Yet when Judah learned that his widowed daughter-in-law was pregnant, his reaction was murderous. “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” he demanded (v. 24). But Tamar had p...