Promises for the Battle
Just Thinking
I Was Just Thinking … About Wide Open Vision
The year of 1975 was heralded as the year of “the new gold rush.” Perhaps you recall seeing in the newspapers and on television pictures of the frenzied bidding for gold that took place when for the first time in 41 years it became legal for Americans to own gold. As Eric Sevareid put it … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Faith to Forgive
How easy it is to let anger, bitterness, and hatred rise in our hearts when we think we have been unjustly treated! Not only do we shape our sense of right and wrong to justify the ways we behave toward others; we also shape it to condemn the behavior of others who hurt us. Then, … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Training In Godliness
Much is being said these days about how important regular physical exercise is for maintaining good health. According to statistics quoted in a recent Reader’s Digest article, it increases our life expectancy on the average of four years. But much greater benefits come from maintaining another kind of exercise program. Paul urged Timothy, “Train yourself … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Star-Inspired Faith
This past summer I went back-packing in the Sierras with part of my family. For two nights we camped beside a lake at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. As one who lives in the middle of the seventy-mile-broad megalopolis of the Los Angeles basin, this campsite afforded my first chance in many years to … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Fear Not Only Believe
The man through whom my father came to Christ, evangelist Paul Rader, is perhaps best remembered today for his hymn “Only Believe”: Fear not, little flock, from the cross to the throne, From death into life he went for his own; All power in earth, all power above, Is given to him for the flock … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Source of Love
When reading “Points to Ponder” in a recent Reader’s Digest, I was particularly struck by the answer Dr. Thomas P. Malone, of the Atlantic Psychiatric clinic, gave to the question of what psychiatry is all about. The root of the cause of almost every emotional problem, he says, is someone’s crying out for love. A … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … God of All Comfort
God is the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). But what does this mean? If we want to get to the message that God has for us in the pages of his book, we must not read the Bible passively. Instead, we should formulate questions about what its statements mean. Then we should let … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … the Weight of Glory
I’ve been encouraged lately from mulling over 2 Corinthians 4:17–18: “This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. …” When difficulties and disappointments come, my initial reaction is to be … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … I Need More Faith
The Bible commands us to love one another and to pray for one another. One of the means which the church I attend uses to encourage this is to have the congregation on Sunday evenings form little groups of four or five to share prayer requests, and then to pray together for several minutes. This … Continue reading
I Was Just Thinking … Faith In Prayer
A famous hymn opens with the words, “What various hindrances we meet, in coming to the mercy seat.” Farther on the hymn gives some indication of why we find it so hard to pray: Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer makes the Christian armor bright. And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint … Continue reading
Promises for the Battle 