Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD October 11, Sunday MISSING: WISDOM Anne Cetas Give your servant a discerning heart . . . to distinguish between right and wrong.  1 Kings 3:9 1 Kings 3:5–12 Isaiah 37–38; Colossians 3 Two-year-old Kenneth went missing. Yet within three minutes of his mom’s 9-1-1 call, an emergency worker found him just two blocks from home at the county fair. His mom had promised he could go later that day with his grandpa. But he’d driven his toy tractor there, and parked it at his favorite ride. When the boy was safely home, his dad wisely removed the toy’s battery.  Kenneth was actually rather smart to get where he wanted to go, but two-year-olds are missing another key quality: wisdom. And as adults we sometimes lack it too. Solomon, who’d been appointed king by his father David (1 Kings 2), admitted he felt like a child. God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (3:5). He replied, “I am only a little child and do not know how to ca...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 10, Saturday FIGHTING LIFE’S DRAGONS Bill Crowder Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.  Colossians 2:15 Colossians 2:9–15 Isaiah 34–36; Colossians 2 Have you ever fought a dragon? If you answered no, author Eugene Peterson disagrees with you. In  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction,  he wrote, “Dragons are projections of our fears, horrible constructions of all that might hurt us. . . . A peasant confronted by a magnificent dragon is completely outclassed.” Peterson’s point? Life is  filled  with dragons: the life-threatening health crisis, the sudden job loss, the failed marriage, the estranged prodigal child. These “dragons” are the supersized dangers and frailties of life that we’re inadequate to fight alone. But in those battles, we have a Champion. Not a fairy tale champion—the ultimate Champion who has fought on our behalf and conquered the dragons that...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 9, Friday A CRITICAL REACTION Patricia Raybon The one who is patient calms a quarrel.  Proverbs 15:18 Proverbs 15:1–2, 31–33 Isaiah 32–33; Colossians 1 Tough words hurt. So my friend—an award-winning author—struggled with how to respond to the criticism he received. His new book had earned five-star reviews plus a major award. Then a respected magazine reviewer gave him a backhanded compliment, describing his book as well-written yet still criticizing it harshly. Turning to friends, he asked, “How should I reply?” One friend advised, “Let it go.” I shared advice from writing magazines, including tips to ignore such criticism or learn from it even while continuing to work and write. Finally, however, I decided to see what Scripture—which has the best advice of all—has to say about how to react to strong criticism. The book of James advises, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19). The apostle Paul cou...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 8, Thursday ZAX NATURE Tim Gustafson Let your gentleness be evident to all.  Philippians 4:5 Philippians 4:1–7 Isaiah 30–31; Philippians 4 In one of Dr. Seuss’ whimsical stories, he tells of a “North-Going Zax and a South-Going Zax” crossing the Prairie of Prax. Upon meeting nose to nose, neither Zax will step aside. The first Zax angrily vows to stay put—even if it makes “the whole world stand still.” (Unfazed, the world moves on and builds a highway around them.) The tale offers an uncomfortably accurate picture of human nature. We possess a reflexive “need” to be right, and we’re prone to stubbornly cling to that instinct in rather destructive ways! Happily for us, God lovingly chooses to soften stubborn human hearts. The apostle Paul knew this, so when two members of the Philippian church were squabbling, he loved them enough to call them out (Philippians 4:2). Then, having earlier instructed the believers to have “the same mindset” of self-giving love a...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 7, Wednesday DO WE MATTER? David H. Roper Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.  Psalm 90:14 Psalm 90:1–2, 10–17 Isaiah 28–29; Philippians 3 For some months now I’ve been corresponding with a young man who’s thinking deeply about faith. On one occasion he wrote, “We’re no more than teeny, tiny, infinitesimal blips on the timeline of history. Do we matter?”  Moses, Israel’s prophet, would agree: “Our days . . . quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). The brevity of life can worry us and cause us to wonder if we matter.  We  do . We matter because we’re deeply, eternally loved by the God who made us. In this poem, Moses prays, “Satisfy us . . . with your unfailing love” (v. 14). We matter because we matter to God.  We also matter because we can show God’s love to others. Though our lives are short, they’re not meaningless if we leave a legacy of God’s love. We’re not her...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 6, Tuesday YOU’LL SEE HER AGAIN Jennifer Benson Schuldt For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  1 Corinthians 15:22 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, 12–22 Isaiah 26–27; Philippians 2 The room was dim and silent as I pulled a chair close to Jacquie’s bed. Before a three-year battle with cancer, my friend had been a vibrant person. I could still picture her laughing—eyes full of life, her face lit with a smile. Now she was quiet and still, and I was visiting her in a special care facility. Not knowing what to say, I decided to read some Scripture. I pulled my Bible out of my purse and turned to a reference in 1 Corinthians and began to read. After the visit and an emotional time in the seclusion of my parked car, a thought came to mind that slowed my tears:  You’ll see her again . Caught up in sadness, I had forgotten that death is only temporary for believers (1 Corinthians 15:21–22). I knew I’d see Jacquie again because both of us had tr...

OUR DAILY BREAD October 5, Monday BEGIN WITH THE END Glenn Packiam He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6 Philippians 1:3–11 Isaiah 23–25; Philippians 1 “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I was often asked that question as a child. And the answers changed like the wind. A doctor. A firefighter. A missionary. A worship leader. A physicist—or actually, MacGyver (a favorite TV character)! Now, as a dad of four kids, I think of how difficult it must be for them to be asked that question. There are times when I want to say, “I know what you’ll be great at!” Parents can sometimes see more in their children than the children can see in themselves. This resonates with what Paul saw in the Philippian believers—those he loved and prayed for (Philippians 1:3). He could see the end; he knew what they’d be when all was said and done. The Bible gives us a grand vision of the end of the story—resurrection and the...