Depending on where you place the comma, this sentence could have different meanings:  “Please, help me, please!” or “Please, help me please!”  Our daily prayer to God should not only be to plead for help (cf. Psa. 46:1; Heb. 13:5-6), but we should constantly have on our heart the plea for Him to help us to please!  Now, who are we to…

Can you imagine being the prophet Nathan in the Old Testament?  David was not just any old king, he was a celebrity and a hero.  David was the one who killed the giant Goliath with a sling – everyone would have known that story.  David was the great captain and warrior of whom the women sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and…

While the Greek word enoikeo itself has no real significance to us, it is interesting to see how this word is used in the New Testament.  The noun oikos is the word for house/home, so when it is made into a verb and then the prefix en is added, the word enoikeo literally means “to home within” or to make something a…

The mighty power of Assyria was threatening the southern kingdom of Judah and its king, Hezekiah.  Hezekiah took the very words that Sennacherib had breathed against Judah and spread them out before the Lord (2 Kgs. 19:14).  He then prayed that God would listen:  “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear…” (19:16).  Normally, when we would read these words, we would expect…

There are some very successful people in this world, who have taken their natural (or even learned and finely-tuned) abilities and used them to provide a living for their family and to advance through life.  These abilities include specialized knowledge in certain fields and specialized skills in certain works (and the combination of those two things). Some people are good with their…

So, when April 15 falls on a weekend and then Monday is a legal holiday in D.C., the dreaded “Tax Day” gets bumped to April 17.  Two days later.  There are two (at least) very divergent views of these two additional days.  From a filer’s viewpoint, it could be seen as “extra days” to get it done (good for procrastinators).  From an…

The guarantee that each of us has in “this life” is that “this life” is not guaranteed (for any length of time).  Our life could end in death at any moment (Jas. 4:14) or Jesus could return to judge us at any moment (Matt. 25:13).  When that moment comes (either death or Jesus’ return), what is really going to matter? Will it…

In a book that emphasizes the importance of faith, the book of Romans makes some of the strongest arguments in Scripture for the inseparable connection between faith and obedience.  The words “faith” or a form of “belief” occur more than 60 times in the book of Romans, and the words “obey” or “obedience” are found 20 times.  It is especially powerful when…