Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD August 23, Sunday NO FISHING ALLOWED Amy Boucher Pye [God will] hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  Micah 7:19 Psalm 130 Psalms 113–115; 1 Corinthians 6 Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom knew the importance of forgiveness. In her book  Tramp for the Lord , she says her favorite mental picture was of forgiven sins thrown into the sea. “When we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. . . . I believe God then places a sign out there that says No Fishing Allowed.” She points to an important truth that believers in Jesus can sometimes fail to grasp—when God forgives our wrongdoing, we’re forgiven fully! We don’t have to keep dredging up our shameful deeds, wallowing in any mucky feelings. Rather we can accept His grace and forgiveness, following Him in freedom. We see this idea of “no fishing allowed” in Psalm 130. The psalmist proclaims that although God is just, He forgives the sin of those who repent: “But wit...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 22, Saturday FAITHFUL UNTIL THE HARVEST David H. Roper Let us not become weary in doing good.  Galatians 6:9 Galatians 6:7–10 Psalms 110–112; 1 Corinthians 5 A woman I know planned an event at a local park and invited all the neighborhood children to participate. She was excited about the opportunity to share her faith with her neighbors. She recruited her three grandchildren and two high school students to help her, gave the assignments, planned a number of games and other activities, prepared food, prepared a Bible story about Jesus to present to the children, and waited for them to gather. Not a single child showed up the first day. Or the second day. Or the third day. Yet, each day my friend went through that day’s activities with her grandchildren and helpers. On the fourth day, she noticed a family picnicking nearby and invited the children to join in the games. One little girl came, entered into the fun, ate with them, and listened to the story ab...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 21, Friday Bright Spots in Bleak Places Alyson Kieda You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Psalm 86:5 Psalm 86:1–13 Psalms 107–109; 1 Corinthians 4 When my husband and I were exploring a small, rugged corner of the state of Wyoming, I spied a sunflower in a rocky, dry place where sagebrush, nettles, prickly cactus, and other scraggly plants grew. It wasn’t as tall as the domestic sunflower, but it was just as bright—and I felt cheered. This unexpected bright spot in rough terrain reminded me of how life, even for the believer in Jesus, can seem barren and cheerless. Troubles can seem insurmountable, and like the cries of the psalmist David, our prayers sometimes seem to go unheeded: “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1). Like him, we too long for joy (v. 4). But David goes on to declare that we serve a faithful (v. 11), “compassionate and gracious God” (v. 15), who abounds in love for all who c...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 20, Thursday WORKING WITH GOD Xochitl Dixon We are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.  1 Corinthians 3:9 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 Psalms 105–106; 1 Corinthians 3 During his 1962 visit to Mexico, Bill Ashe helped fix windmill hand pumps at an orphanage. Fifteen years later, inspired by a deep desire to serve God by helping provide clean water to villages in need, Bill founded a nonprofit organization. He said, “God awoke me to ‘make the most of the time’ by finding others with a desire to bring safe drinking water to the rural poor.” Later, having learned about the global need for safe water through the requests of thousands of pastors and evangelists from more than 100 countries, Bill invited others to join the ministry’s efforts. God welcomes us to team up to serve with Him and others in various ways. When the people of Corinth argued over which teachers they preferred, the apostle Paul affirmed his role as a servant of Je...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 19, Wednesday ONLY TRUST Arthur Jackson So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.  1 Kings 17:15 1 Kings 17:8–16 Psalms 103–104; 1 Corinthians 2 Three hundred children were dressed and seated for breakfast, and a prayer of thanks was offered for the food. But there was no food! Situations like this were not unusual for orphanage director and missionary George Mueller (1805–1898). Here was yet another opportunity to see how God would provide. Within minutes of Mueller’s prayer, a baker who couldn’t sleep the night before showed up at the door. Sensing that the orphanage could use the bread, he had made three batches. Not long afterward, the town milkman appeared. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. Not wanting the milk to spoil, he offered it to Mueller. It’s normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being—food, shelter, health, finances, friendships. ...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 18, Tuesday RIVALS OR ALLIES? Kirsten Holmberg Be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10 1 Corinthians 1:10–17 Psalms 100–102; 1 Corinthians 1 The city of Texarkana sits squarely on the state border between Texas and Arkansas. The city of 70,000 inhabitants has two mayors, two city councils, and two police and fire departments. The cross-town sporting rivalry between high schools draws an uncommonly high attendance, reflecting the deep allegiance each has to their own state’s school. More significant challenges arise as well, such as disputes over the shared water system, governed by two sets of state laws. Yet the town is known for its unity despite the line that divides it. Residents gather annually for a dinner held on State Line Avenue to share a meal in celebration of their oneness as a community. The believers in Corinth may not have drawn a line down their main thoroughfare, but they were divided. They’d been quarreling as a result of the...

OUR DAILY BREAD August 17, Monday REFINED IN THE FIRE Linda Washington These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  1 Peter 1:7  nlt 1 Peter 1:6–9 Psalms 97–99; Romans 16 Twenty-four–karat gold is nearly 100 percent gold with few impurities. But that percentage is difficult to achieve. Refiners most commonly use one of two methods for the purification process. The Miller process is the quickest and least expensive, but the resulting gold is only about 99.95 percent pure. The Wohlwill process takes a little more time and costs more, but the gold produced is 99.99 percent pure. In Bible times, refiners used fire as a gold purifier. Fire caused impurities to rise to the surface for easier removal. In his first letter to believers in Jesus throughout Asia Minor (northern Turkey), the apostle Peter used the gold-refining process as a metaphor for the way trials work in the life of a believer. At that time, many believers were being persecuted by the Romans for...