Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD November 3, SUNDAY NEW HUMANITY Sheridan Voysey When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  Acts 2:6 Acts 2:1–12 Jeremiah 30–31; Philemon While I was visiting London’s Tate Modern gallery, one piece of art caught my attention. Created by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles, it was a giant tower made of hundreds of old radios. Each radio was turned on and tuned to a different station, creating a cacophony of confusing, indecipherable speech. Meireles called the sculpture  Babel . The title is appropriate. At the original tower of Babel, God thwarted humanity’s attempt to seize heaven by confusing mankind’s languages (Genesis 11:1–9). No longer able to communicate with one another, humanity fractured into tribes of various dialects (vv. 10–26). Divided by language, we’ve struggled to understand each other ever since. There’s a second part to the story. When the Holy Spirit cam...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 2, Saturday THE SAFEST PLACE God is our refuge and strength.  Psalm 46:1 Psalm 46:1–11 Jeremiah 27–29; Titus 3 As Hurricane Florence was bearing down on Wilmington, North Carolina, with devastating force, my daughter prepared to leave her home. She’d waited until the last moment, hoping the storm would veer away. But now she was hurriedly sorting through important papers, pictures, and belongings, trying to decide what to take with her. “I didn’t expect it would be so hard to leave,” she told me later, “but in that moment I didn’t know if anything would be there when I got back.” Life’s storms come in many forms: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, unexpected problems in marriage or with children, the sudden loss of health or finances. So much we value can be swept away in a moment. Amid the storms, Scripture points us to the safest place: “God is our refuge and streng...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 1, FRIDAY THE DOOR OF RECONCILIATION Estera Pirosca Escobar All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:18 2 Corinthians 5:14–21 Jeremiah 24–26; Titus 2 Inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, there’s a door that tells a five-century-old tale. In 1492 two families, the Butlers and the FitzGeralds, began fighting over a high-level position in the region. The fight escalated, and the Butlers took refuge in the cathedral. When the FitzGeralds came to ask for a truce, the Butlers were afraid to open the door. So the FitzGeralds cut a hole in it, and their leader offered his hand in peace. The two families then reconciled, and adversaries became friends. God has a door of reconciliation that the apostle Paul wrote passionately about in his letter to the church in Corinth. At His initiative and because of His infinite love, God ex...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 31, THURSDAY SCAR STORIES Elisa Morgan See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.  John 20:27 John 20:24–29 Jeremiah 22–23; Titus 1 The butterfly flitted in and out of my mother’s panda-faced pansies. As a child, I longed to catch it. I raced from our backyard into our kitchen and grabbed a glass jar, but on my hasty return, I tripped and hit the concrete patio hard. The jar smashed under my wrist and left an ugly slash that would require eighteen stitches to close. Today the scar crawls like a caterpillar across my wrist, telling the story of both wounding and healing. When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His death, He brought His scars. John reports Thomas wanting to see “the nail marks in his hands” and Jesus inviting Thomas to “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:25, 27). In order to demonstrate He was the same Jesus, He rose from the dead wi...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 30, Wednesday A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS Linda Washington In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33 John 1:5; 16:1–11, 33 Jeremiah 20–21; 2 Timothy 4 In  These Are the Generations,  Mr. Bae describes God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel to penetrate the darkness. His grandfather, parents, and his own family were all persecuted for sharing their faith in Christ. But an interesting thing happened when Mr. Bae was imprisoned for telling a friend about God: his faith grew. The same was true for his parents when they were sentenced to a concentration camp—they continued to share Christ’s love even there. Mr. Bae found the promise of John 1:5 to be true: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples about the trouble they’d face. They would be...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 29, Tuesday A ROAD NOT TRAVELED David H. Roper I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.  Isaiah 42:16 Isaiah 42:10–17 Jeremiah 18–19; 2 Timothy 3 People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled? I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.  God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 28, MONDAY WALK LIKE A WARRIOR Xochitl Dixon When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”  Judges 6:12 Judges 6:1, 11–16 Jeremiah 15–17; 2 Timothy 2 Eighteen-year-old Emma faithfully talks about Jesus on social media, even though bullies have criticized her joy and enthusiastic love for Christ. Some have attacked her with remarks about her physical appearance. Others have suggested a lack of intelligence because of her devotion to God. Though the unkind words cut deep into Emma’s heart, she continues to spread the gospel with bold faith and love for Jesus and others. Sometimes, though, she’s tempted to believe her identity and worth are determined by the criticism of others. When that happens, she asks God for help, prays for her persecutors, meditates on the words of Scripture, and perseveres with Spirit-empowered courage and confidence. Gid...

OUR DAILY BREAD OCTOBER 27, SUNDAY JOIN THE STREET TEAM Kirsten Holmberg I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.  Mark 2:17 Mark 2:13–17 Jeremiah 12–14; 2 Timothy 1 City health workers in San Francisco are taking medical care to the streets to supply the homeless who are suffering from opioid addiction with medicine to treat their addiction. The program began in response to the rising number of homeless who are injecting. Customarily, doctors wait for patients to come to a clinic. By taking medical care to the afflicted instead, patients don’t have to overcome the challenges of transportation or needing to remember the appointment. The health workers’ willingness to go to those in need of care reminds me of the way Jesus has come to us in our need. In His ministry, Jesus sought out those who the religious elite were quick to ignore: He ate with “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16). When asked why He would do that, Jesus...