Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD July 19 Sunday ON OUR HEARTS Alyson Kieda These commandments . . . are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.  Deuteronomy 6:6–7 Deuteronomy 6:1–9 Psalms 23–25; Acts 21:18–40 After a young boy faced some challenges in school, his dad began to teach him a pledge to recite each morning before school: “I thank God for waking me up today. I am going to school so I can learn . . . and be the leader that God has created me to be.” The pledge is one way the father hopes to help his son apply himself and deal with life’s inevitable challenges. In a way, by helping his son to commit this pledge to memory, the father is doing something similar to what God commanded the Israelites in the desert: “These commandments . . . are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7). After wandering in the wilderness for forty years, the next generation of Israelites was about to enter the Promised Land. God knew it wouldn’t be easy for them to succ...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 18, Saturday WHEN THE SPLENDOR IS GONE Dave Branon Because of the L ord ’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  Lamentations 3:22 Lamentations 3:13–24 Psalms 20–22; Acts 21:1–17 I can never recapture the splendor that was our daughter Melissa. Fading from my memory are those wonderful times when we watched her joyfully playing high school volleyball. And it’s sometimes hard to remember the shy smile of contentment that crossed her face when we were doing family activities. Her death at age seventeen dropped a curtain on the joy of her presence. In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah’s words show he understood that the heart can be punctured. “My splendor is gone,” he said, “and all that I had hoped from the L ord ” (3:18). His situation was far different from yours and mine. He had preached God’s judgment, and he saw Jerusalem defeated. The splendor was gone because he felt defeated (v. 12), isolated (v. 14), and abandoned by God (vv....

OUR DAILY BREAD July 17, Friday LIGHT IN THE DARK Xochitl Dixon You,  Lord , keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.  Psalm 18:28 Psalm 18:28–36, 46–49 Psalms 18–19; Acts 20:17–38 A severe thunderstorm passed through our new town, leaving high humidity and dark skies in its wake. I took our dog, Callie, for an evening stroll. The mounting challenges of my family’s cross-country move grew heavier on my mind. Frustrated by the countless ways things had strayed so far from our high hopes and expectations, I slowed to let Callie sniff the grass. I listened to the creek that runs beside our house. Tiny lights flashed on and off while hovering over the patches of wildflowers climbing up the creek’s bank.  Fireflies. The Lord wrapped me in peace as I watched the blinking lights cutting through the darkness. I thought of the psalmist David singing, “You,  Lord , keep my lamp burning” (Psalm 18:28). Proclaiming that God turns his darkness into light, D...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 16, Thursday COSTLY JOY Glenn Packiam When a man found it, he . . . went and sold all he had and bought that field.  Matthew 13:44 Matthew 13:44–46 Psalms 16–17; Acts 20:1–16 At the sound of the digital melody, all six of us sprang into action. Some slipped shoes on, others simply bolted for the door barefoot. Within seconds we were all sprinting down the driveway chasing the ice cream truck. It was the first warm day of summer, and there was no better way to celebrate than with a cold, sweet treat! There are things we do simply because of the joy it brings us, not out of discipline or obligation. In the pair of parables found in Matthew 13:44–46, the emphasis is  selling everything to gain something else.  We might think the stories are about sacrifice. But that’s not the point. In fact, the first story declares it was “joy” that led the man to sell everything and buy the field. Joy drives change—not guilt or duty. Jesus isn’t one segment of our live...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 15, Wednesday TREASURE THE MOMENTS Poh Fang Chia [God] has made everything beautiful in its time.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 Ecclesiastes 3:1–14 Psalms 13–15; Acts 19:21–41 . Su Dongpo (also known as Su Shi) was one of China’s greatest poets and essayists. While in exile and gazing upon a full moon, he wrote a poem to describe how much he missed his brother. “We rejoice and grieve, gather and leave, while the moon waxes and wanes. Since times of old, nothing remains perfect,” he writes. “May our loved ones live long, beholding this beautiful scene together though thousands of miles apart.” His poem carries themes found in the book of Ecclesiastes. The author, known as the Teacher (1:1), observed that there’s “a time to weep and a time to laugh . . . a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing” (3:4–5). By pairing two contrasting activities, the Teacher, like Su Dongpo, seems to suggest that all good things must inevitably come to an end. As Su Dongpo sa...

OUR DAILY BREAD JULY 14, TUESDAY PLAYING THE FOOL David H. Roper God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.  James 4:6 James 4:4–12 Psalms 10–12; Acts 19:1–20 My most humiliating experience ever was the day I addressed the faculty, students, and friends of a seminary on its fifty-year anniversary. I approached the lectern with my manuscript in hand and looked out on a vast crowd, but my eye fell on the distinguished professors seated in the front row, garbed in academic gowns and looking very serious. I immediately took leave of my senses. My mouth dried up and detached itself from my brain. I fumbled the first few sentences and then I began to improvise. Since I had no idea where I was in my lecture, I began frantically turning pages, while talking a line of nonsense that baffled everyone. Somehow I made it through, crept back to my chair, and stared at the floor. I wanted to die.  However, I learned that humiliation can be a good thing if it leads to humility, for ...

OUR DAILY BREAD July 13, Monday LOOK UP! Patricia Raybon There will be no night there.  Revelation 21:25 Psalm 8:3–4; Revelation 21:22–25 Psalms 7–9; Acts 18 When filmmaker Wylie Overstreet showed strangers a live picture of the moon as seen through his powerful telescope, they were stunned at the up-close view, reacting with whispers and awe. To see such a glorious sight, Overstreet explained, “fills us with a sense of wonder that there’s something much bigger than ourselves.” The psalmist David also marveled at God’s heavenly light. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3–4). David’s humbling question puts our awe in perspective when we learn that, after God creates His new heaven and earth, we’ll no longer need the moon or the sun. Instead, said John the apostle, God’s shimmering glory will provide all necessary ligh...