Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD November 10, SUNDAY LAVA IN PARADISE Tim Gustafson Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16 2 Samuel 6:1–9 Jeremiah 48–49; Hebrews 7 All is quiet, save for slowly stretching tentacles of hissing lava nipping at the edges of the tropical foliage. Residents stand grim-faced yet amazed. Most days they call this “paradise.” On this day, however, the fiery fissures in Hawaii’s Puna district reminded everyone that God forged these islands via untamable volcanic power. The ancient Israelites encountered an untamable power too. When King David recaptured the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6:1–4), a celebration broke out (v. 5)—until a man died suddenly when he grabbed hold of the ark to steady it (vv. 6–7). This may tempt us to think of God as being as unpredictable as a volcano, just as likely to create as He is to destroy. However, it helps to remem...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 9, SATURDAY ENDURING PRAYERS Arthur Jackson May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.  Psalm 141:2 Revelation 8:1–5 Jeremiah 46–47; Hebrews 6 “Prayers are deathless.” These are the attention-grabbing words of E. M. Bounds (1835–1913), whose classic writings on prayer have inspired people for generations. His comments about the power and enduring nature of our prayers continue with these words: “The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” Have you ever wondered if your prayers—particularly those birthed out of difficulty, pain, and suffering—ever make it to God? The insightful words f...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 8, FRIDAY THAT WAS AWESOME! Dave Branon Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.  Proverbs 12:24 Proverbs 12:12, 24–28 Jeremiah 43–45; Hebrews 5 It was the seventh-grader’s first cross-country meet, but she didn’t want to run. Although she’d been preparing for the event, she was afraid of doing poorly. Still, she started the race with everyone else. Later, one by one the other runners finished the two-mile course and crossed the finish line—everyone except the reluctant runner. Finally, her mom, who was watching for her daughter to finish, saw a lone figure in the distance. The mother went to the finish line, preparing to comfort a distraught competitor. Instead, when the young runner saw her mom, she exclaimed, “That was awesome!” What can be awesome about finishing last?  Finishing ! The girl had tried something difficult and had accomplished it! Scripture honors hard wor...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 7 “LOVE YOU—WHOLE WORLD” Monica Brands La Rose God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  1 John 4:16 1 John 4:7–19 Jeremiah 40–42; Hebrews 4 My three-year old niece, Jenna, has an expression that never fails to melt my heart. When she loves something ( really  loves it), be it banana cream pie, jumping on the trampoline, or playing Frisbee, she’ll proclaim, “I love it—whole world!” (“whole world” accompanied with a dramatic sweep of her arms). Sometimes I wonder,  When’s the last time I’ve dared to love like that? With nothing held back, completely unafraid? “God is love,” John wrote repeatedly (1 John 4:8, 16), perhaps because the truth that God’s love—not our anger, fear, or shame—is the deepest foundation of reality, is hard for us grown-ups to “get.” The world divides us into camps based on what we’re most afraid of—and all too often we join in, ignoring or villainizing the voices that challenge our preferre...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 6, WEDNESDAY NEVER GIVE UP HOPE Xochitl Dixon [Jesus] said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”  Luke 8:48 Luke 8:40–48 Jeremiah 37–39; Hebrews 3 When my friend received a diagnosis of cancer, the doctor advised her to get her affairs in order. She called me, sobbing, worried about her husband and young children. I shared her urgent prayer request with our mutual friends. We rejoiced when a second doctor encouraged her to never give up hope and confirmed his team would do all they could to help. Though some days were harder than others, she focused on God instead of the odds stacked against her. She never gave up. My friend’s persevering faith reminds me of the desperate woman in Luke 8. Weary from twelve years of ongoing suffering, disappointment, and isolation, she approached Jesus from behind and stretched her hand toward the hem of His robe. Her immediate healing followed her act of fa...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 5, TUESDAY DO THE NEXT THING Ruth O’Reilly-Smith If you love me, keep my commands.  John 14:15 John 14:15–21 Jeremiah 34–36; Hebrews 2 When was the last time you felt compelled to help someone, only to let the moment pass without a response? In  The 10-Second Rule,  Clare De Graaf suggests that daily impressions can be one of the ways God calls us to a deeper spiritual walk, a life of obedience prompted by love for Him. The 10-Second Rule encourages you to simply “do the next thing you’re reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do,” and to do it right away “before you change your mind.” Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15). We might think,  I do love Him, but how can I be certain of His will and follow it?  In His wisdom, Jesus has provided what we need to better understand and follow the wisdom found in the Bible. He once said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and wil...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 4, MONDAY NO LONGER AFRAID Winn Collier They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.  Zephaniah 3:13 Zephaniah 3:9–17 Jeremiah 32–33; Hebrews 1 When the Ethiopian police found her a week after her abduction, three black-maned lions surrounded her, guarding her as though she were their own. Seven men had kidnapped the twelve-year-old girl, carried her into the woods and beaten her. Miraculously, however, a small pride of lions heard the girl’s cries, came running and chased off the attackers. “[The lions] stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” police Sergeant Wondimu told one reporter. There are days when violence and evil, like that inflicted on this young girl, overpower us, leaving us without hope and terrified. In ancient times, the people of Judah experienced this. They were overrun by ferocious armies and unable to imagine ...