Blessed to be a Blessing
As a Chinese person, I celebrated my new year on February 8. During the special New Year season, I greeted people with these words among others: “gōng xǐ fā cái” (happiness and prosperity) and “nián nián yǒu yú” (a wish for abundance and surpluses)—extending blessings of good health, prosperity, success, and happiness.
you choose Q: are Jews still God's chosen people?
Q: After Christ's resurrection, are Jewish people still God's chosen people? —Richard
A: Deuteronomy 14:2 says: "For you are a holy people to YHWH your God, and God has chosen you to be his treasured people from all the nations that are on the face of the earth." The Abrahamic Covenant expresses the purpose for which Israel was chosen—to bring blessing to all peoples on earth…
joy of faithfulness
In early 2014, the attention of the world turned to Sochi, Russia, where Olympic athletes pursued their lifelong quests. Our family loves the Summer and Winter Games—the global pageantry, the athletes’ grit and fight, the goodwill expressed among countries.
finish well
After my grandmother died, my husband and I were quizzed about death by our 5-year-old twins. All I could think of to say was that she’d finished her work and then passed away. It’s a simple idea, but Scripture reveals that we have a certain number of days to finish our work on earth (Psalm 39:4, Psalm 90:10,12).
the soul’s worth
O Holy Night” is a Christmas hymn we need to sing loudly. We need to sing it during Advent and Christmas—and if I had my way, we’d belt it out every month of the year. These lines tell us a deep truth:
wrestling with God
Often, on Saturdays in the 1980s, my brother and I watched professional wrestling on TV. We were mesmerized by the acrobatics and the seemingly super-human body slams that shook the wrestling ring. We rooted for the good guys and pointed at the screen exclaiming things like “Did you see that?” and “Ooooh, that had to hurt!” Fortunately, we did not try (many of) those moves at home.
bless the Lord
Have you sung Matt Redman’s inspiring song, “10,000 Reasons”? It begins, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I’ll worship Your holy name.” Matt said he based the song on Psalm 103, which lists many and various reasons to bless the Lord. The New International Version and New Living Translation translate Psalm 103:1 as “praise the Lord,” but the Hebrew literally says, “O my soul, bless the Lord.” Do you wonder what that means?
amen
Amen! We typically say it at the end of our prayers, but Amen has more significance than simply being the last word in a prayer. Of the 30 times it’s used in the Old Testament, Amen is nearly always a response of approval to something that has been stated.
you choose Q: how do I pray for a financial blessing?
Q: How do I pray for a financial blessing? —Alicia
A: We received your note in which you asked how to pray for financial blessing. Praying to God for “financial blessing” is a lot like a child asking his father for a new bicycle. There's nothing wrong with asking, as long as the child is willing to accept his father’s response.
God may…
where we go
In November 2011, a football stadium filled with more than 100,000 fans went silent. In the middle of the field, prior to the game, both university teams were kneeling with heads bowed. In the middle of the crowd, an assistant coach—a believer in Jesus—lifted his voice in prayer for several minutes. What was going on? The home team had faced…
let them come
I recently read of a restaurant owner who instituted a policy that wouldn’t have been well liked by Jesus. Instead of letting young children dine at his restaurant, he announced he was banning little ones under 6 years old from the upscale casual restaurant. He won’t allow the young customers because he feels they’re bad for business.
Like that restaurant…
grace from surprising places
In June 2011, pro hockey player Gilbert Brule was driving in Vancouver with his girlfriend. As they passed two hitchhikers, Brule blurted out, “That’s Bono!” Brule’s girlfriend wasn’t buying it. “I didn’t believe him, so I kept driving.” Brule convinced her to turn around, and indeed it was U2’s lead singer Bono and his assistant. They’d been hiking when a…
wrestling angels
My boys love to wrestle me. They create names like Captain Thunder and Tiger Ninja. Adrenaline peaking, they attack me with yells, a flurry of boy-energy and with hopes that this time—this time—they will take me down. I toss them for a while, even feigning desperation so as not to crush their dream prematurely. However, I eventually lock them in…
gifts from a stranger
Though vigilance is often advisable when interacting with strangers, Scripture states that there are times when we should offer them help (Job 31:31-32; Romans 12:13). As someone who recently benefitted from the generosity of a couple I’d never met before, I can attest that such kindness met a deep need in my life. It also ramped up my faith and…
