2025-03-30
Psalm 30:5 NLT
One marriage expert says a single mother sent him a story that helped explain the loneliness and stress faced by those raising children alone. She said she was looking out her window one drizzly day and saw a mother robin and her brood of chicks perched in a nest. As the rain poured down, the mother bird covered her chirping little chicks beneath her extended wings. Then the hail began to fall. Instead of tucking her head safely in the nest, the mother robin raised her head upward and took the blows to protect her young. All of the chicks made it safely through the storm. What a graphic illustration of the perils of single parenting!
The responsibility of raising kids alone is unrelenting, requiring a mom or dad to earn a living, cook, clean, supervise homework, take care of sick kids, and so on. Beyond these day-to-day duties, they must figure out how to meet their own personal and spiritual needs. Taken in context, this may be one of the toughest assignments on earth. Single parents, whether mothers or fathers, need our continued support and prayers.
To those who are taking the blows on behalf of their children, be assured that there are better days coming. The storm you’re in won’t last forever. A beautiful rainbow will soon appear. When the job has been completed and a brood of healthy little birds has been raised, there will be sweet benefits for the parents who don’t fly away. God’s Word promises, “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Soul food: 1 Cor 9:24-27; Num 6:1-8; Prov 25:28
2025-03-29
Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV
God instructs us to seek Him, but not as though He is hiding from us. When we seek God, we make a decision that’s necessary for bringing us into the spiritual realm. Some levels of blessing are never received unless they are diligently sought. It’s your seeking after God that moves Him to respond. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 KJV).
There are no manuals that instruct us step by step as to the proper way to seek the Lord. Some people seek Him quietly, with soft tears falling gently down a weary face. Others seek Him while walking the sandy beaches of a cove, gazing into the swelling currents of an evening tide. Some raise their hands and praise Him with loving expressions of adoration. There are no rules, just that you seek Him with your whole heart.
What does it mean to seek God “with all your heart”? It’s giving Him your full attention and removing all distractions so that you can focus on Him. Imagine dropping a contact lens on the floor, or a precious stone from a ring and saying, “No problem, I’ll just look for that later.” No, the value you place on something determines the intensity with which you seek it. When you pray, “Lord, I need you; I won’t make it without You,” you are praying “with all your heart.” And God answers such praying, “I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 29:14 NKJV).
Soul food: Lev 5-7; Luke 20:27-33; Ps 72:1-11; Prov 9:1-6
2025-03-28
Psalm 44:8 NKJV
After sharing great truths and insights with us, the psalmist often uses the word “Selah.” It means “pause and reflect.” For years people have said that experience is the best teacher. But the truth is, evaluated experience is the best teacher! Stopping to reflect is one of the most important activities you can do in order to grow. It provides a superior value than motivation or encouragement because it lets you make sure you’re going down the right road. After all, if you’re on the wrong track, you don’t need motivation to move faster. You need to pause, reflect, and change course.
In describing the end times, the Bible says, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4 NKJV). You will note that it says “knowledge” will increase, which is information, facts, and data, but it doesn’t say understanding will increase. With a sharp intellect and a good memory, you can retain lots of knowledge. But in order to have understanding, you must take the time to drill down and understand what you’re seeing and hearing. Galileo said, “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered. The point is to discover them. That takes investigation.”
By pausing and reflecting, you can sort through the experiences you have, put them into perspective, and glean from them the wisdom required to have a better future. These are often referred to as “aha” moments, when you experience sudden understanding or insight. It’s when the proverbial light bulb switches on. Only a few things in life are better than moments like that. But these moments only come to those who take the time and effort to pause and reflect.
Soul food: Lev 1-4; Luke 20:20-26; Ps 31; Prov 8:34-36
2025-03-27
Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
In 1982, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to take the life of President Ronald Reagan by shooting him with a handgun. Reagan’s daughter, Patti, later recounted what she learned from her father when he was in hospital: “My father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley… It showed me that forgiveness is the key to everything… He gave me an example of Christ-like thinking.”
Sometimes the wounds that others inflict on us are unintentional, and other times they are deliberate. But in both cases the Scriptures give us a clear standard concerning the wrongs we experience. You are to forgive those who hurt you, “even as God in Christ forgave you.” That’s a high standard, but it’s one that brings healing for our deepest wounds.
Sometimes we dispense forgiveness like a soft drink from a vending machine – mechanically, and with no feelings attached. But the Bible says two attitudes should accompany forgiveness: kindness, which is expressed in our actions, and tenderheartedness, which is expressed in our attitudes. Why? Because that’s the way God forgives us. Throughout Scripture we find emotions such as kindness, gentleness, compassion, and tenderness – in word or by action – ascribed to God. We also find examples of it in the lives of those God used to fulfill His plans and purposes. Joseph was one of them, when he forgave his brothers who betrayed him. And He calls on us to do the same. This kind of forgiveness is as much an act of the heart as it is an act of the will.
Soul food: 2 Thes 1-3; Luke 20:9-19; Ps 18:30-50; Prov 8:32-33
2025-03-26
Proverbs 19:2 NLT
If you are impulsive, you tend to lack discipline. You can be thoughtless, or insensitive to others, or driven by appetite. You may have a hard time with delayed gratification. You have a low frustration tolerance. You get bored easily. You can fly off the handle. If this describes you, here are six principles you should try to incorporate into your life:
(1) Ask counsel from wise friends before plunging forward with an idea. “The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge” (Proverbs 18:15 NKJV).
(2) Cultivate friendships with people who are not only wise but strong enough to hold you accountable. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed” (James 5:16 KJV).
(3) Spend time praying about a potential open door before assuming that your intuition is a divine command. “He shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way” (Psalm 25:8-9 NLT).
(4) Study and read about an area of need before you commit yourself to action. “Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps” (Proverbs 14:15 NLT).
(5) When you come to the end of a season of activity, spend some time in reflection so that you can become a wiser person before you go on to the next thing. “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5 NLT).
(6) Make a commitment and stick with it, even when the next impulse, which looks so much more fun, comes along.
Soul food: Est 5-10; Luke 20:1-8; Ps 18:1-29; Prov 26:24-27
2025-03-25
1 John 4:17 NKJV
When you put your trust in Christ as your Saviour, God sees you “in Christ.” The words “in Christ” appear no less than seventy-eight times in the New Testament. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you with all your flaws and imperfections; He sees you in Christ. And since Christ has atoned for all your sins, you are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV).
Having a blessed future is not contingent upon how much you strive to be perfect or how hard you work at changing yourself. It is contingent upon the person of Jesus Christ, and the fact that you are in Christ. The Bible proclaims, “As He is, so are we in this world.” You say, “But surely you only get what you deserve?” That’s true, unless you are in Christ. Then you get what He deserves! “For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).
The word “righteousness” is a legal term. It means “to have right standing before God.” Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words defines righteousness as “that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God.” In other words, your right standing before God is based on Jesus’ right standing before God. You should be glad about that. Why? Because the only righteousness that measures up to God’s exacting standard of perfection is the righteousness of Christ. And since you are clothed in His righteousness, you can be confident of God’s acceptance and walk in His blessing each day.
Soul food: Est 1-4; Luke 19:45-48; Ps 69:19-36; Prov 8:30-31
