Tagged: John 14:6

My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Lamentations 3:17 To be bereft is to be deprived of or lacking something. In particular, it describes the sadness and loneliness accompanying the death or departure of someone dear. We who follow Jesus have the peace that surpasses all understanding available to us through Christ, indeed (see Philippians 4:6-7). But loss can blot out the truth; grief can loom between us and that marvelous, available power, for a time. Like a sudden blackout dashing us into complete darkness, unexpected tragedy and loss can temporarily blind us from the light.  The blindness may be artificial, it may be temporary, but it is real. May we have grace for ourselves and others in the family… Read More

The crescendo of the Cross was composed in the wilderness. Jesus settled it long before the sound of the nails fixing His hands to a wooden cross, the cleansing last breath as He committed His spirit to the Father, or the quiet authority of the angelic herald’s words to Mary, He is not here, He has risen! Before Jesus’ earthly ministry began, Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. Each confrontation was both a challenge to Jesus’ identity and a distortion of the truth.  Every one of Jesus’ responses began with the words, it is written… The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on… Read More

  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:5). niptō: (Greek) to wash; to cleanse; to perform ablution.   Dear Fatima, I can’t stop thinking about our conversation yesterday. The question you asked me.  Why don’t you Christians have to make yourselves clean before you pray?  We are women. We are told we cannot approach God unless we are clean. That He will not accept our prayers if we are dirty. This has always bothered me about my own religion, Audrey.  I see you working so hard to make yourself clean. Clean enough to approach God. Pure enough to bring your prayers before Him, hoping He will… Read More

For my only true Father in heaven on Father's Day God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27 We all have a Father, and we were made to look like Him. When we know who He is, we will know who we are. It was almost Halloween, and my mother asked me to climb up in the attic to find the plastic jack-o-lanterns we always toted around to collect candy. I was flattered by her request. I had never been trusted to go into the attic before. My sister and I had been severely warned never to go there for fear of stepping in the wrong spot and crashing through the… Read More