Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD February 9, Sunday WE ARE DUST John Blase He remembers that we are dust.  Psalm 103:14 Psalm 103:8–14 Leviticus 6–7; Matthew 25:1–30 The young father was at the end of his rope. “Ice cream! Ice cream!” his toddler screamed. The meltdown in the middle of the crowded mall began drawing the attention of shoppers nearby. “Fine, but we just need to do something for mommy first, okay?” the father said. “Nooooo! Ice cream!” And then she approached them: a small, well-dressed woman with shoes that matched her handbag. “He’s having a big fit,” the father said. The woman smiled and responded, “Actually, it looks like a big fit is having your little boy. Don’t forget he’s so small. He needs you to be patient and stay close.” The situation didn’t magically resolve itself, but it was just the kind of pause the father and son needed in the moment. Echoes of the wise woman’s words are heard in Psalm 103. David writes of our God who is “compassionate and gracious, slow ...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 8, Saturday RAISE PRAISE Mike Wittmer Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.  Psalm 48:10 Psalm 48 Leviticus 4–5; Matthew 24:29–51 You can generally tell where a map was drawn by what lies in its middle. We tend to think our home is the center of the world, so we put a dot in the middle and sketch out from there. Nearby towns might be fifty miles to the north or half a day’s drive to the south, but all are described in relation to where we are. The Psalms draw their “map” from God’s earthly home in the Old Testament, so the center of biblical geography is Jerusalem. Psalm 48 is one of many psalms that praise Jerusalem. This “city of our God, his holy mountain” is “beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth” (vv. 1–2). Because “God is in her citadels,” He “makes her secure forever” (vv. 3, 8). God’s fame begins in Jerusalem...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 7, Friday DOES WHAT WE DO MATTER ? Julie Schwab Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  1 Corinthians 10:31 Colossians 3:12–17 Leviticus 1–3; Matthew 24:1–28 I dropped my forehead to my hand with a sigh, “I don’t know how I’m going to get it all done.” My friend’s voice crackled through the phone: “You have to give yourself some credit. You’re doing a lot.” He then listed the things I was trying to do—maintain a healthy lifestyle, work, do well in graduate school, write, and attend a Bible study. I wanted to do all these things for God, but instead I was more focused on what I was doing than how I was doing it—or that perhaps I was trying to do too much. Paul reminded the church in Colossae that they were to live in a way that glorified God. Ultimately, what they specifically did on a day-to-day basis was not as important as  how  they did it. They we...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 6, Thursday MERCY’S LAMENT Tim Gustafson My heart is poured out on the ground . . . because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.  Lamentations 2:11 Lamentations 2:10–13, 18–19 Exodus 39–40; Matthew 23:23–39 Her father blamed his illness on witchcraft. It was AIDS. When he died, his daughter, ten-year-old Mercy, grew even closer to her mother. But her mother was sick too, and three years later she died. From then on, Mercy’s sister raised the five siblings. That’s when Mercy began to keep a journal of her deep pain. The prophet Jeremiah kept a record of his pain too. In the grim book of Lamentations, he wrote of atrocities done to Judah by the Babylonian army. Jeremiah’s heart was especially grieved for the youngest victims. “My heart is poured out on the ground,” he cried, “because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city” (2:11). The people of Judah had a history of ignoring God,...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 5, Wednesday How to STAY ON TRACK Patricia Raybon The Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie.  1 John 2:27 nlt 1 John 2:18–27 Exodus 36–38; Matthew 23:1–22 As the world’s fastest blind runner, David Brown of the U.S. Paralympic Team credits his wins to God, his mother’s early advice (“no sitting around”), and his running guide—veteran sprinter Jerome Avery. Tethered to Brown by a string tied to their fingers, Avery guides Brown’s winning races with words and touches. “It’s all about listening to  his  cues,” says Brown, who says he could “swing out wide” on 200-meter races where the track curves. “Day in and day out, we’re going over race strategies,” Brown says, “communicating with each other—not only verbal cues, but physical cues.” In our own life...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 4, Tuesday GOD-SIZED LOVE Sheridan Voysey If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Matthew 5:46 Matthew 5:43–48 Exodus 34–35; Matthew 22:23–46 I once visited an impoverished neighborhood of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Homes were made of corrugated iron, with electrical wires dangling live above them. There I had the privilege of interviewing families and hearing how churches were helping to combat unemployment, drug use, and crime. In one alleyway I climbed a rickety ladder to a small room to interview a mother and her son. But just a moment later someone rushed up, saying, “We must leave  now .” A machete-wielding gang leader was apparently gathering a mob to ambush us. We visited a second neighborhood, but there we had no problem. Later I discovered why. As I visited each home, a gang leader stood outside guarding us. It turned out his daughter was being fed and educated by the ...

OUR DAILY BREAD February 3, Monday A FIRE CALLED HOLY Mart DeHaan He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Luke 3:16 Luke 3:15–18 Exodus 31–33; Matthew 22:1–22 After several years of drought, the wildfires of Southern California left some residents thinking of them as acts of God. This disturbing impression was reinforced when news sources began referring to one as the Holy Fire. Many unfamiliar with the area didn’t realize it was a reference to the Holy Jim Canyon region. But who was Holy Jim? According to local history, he was a nineteenth-century beekeeper so irreligious and cantankerous that neighbors tagged him with that ironic nickname. John the Baptist’s reference to a baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” also came with its own story and explanation (Luke 3:16). Looking back, he was likely thinking of the kind of Messiah and refining fire foreseen by the prophet Malachi (3:1–3; 4:1). But only after the Spi...