Roots by the River

This is what the Apostle Paul prayed for new believers: “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:9-12) We believe this was a prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore answered by God. Let’s enumerate the requests: • Fill you with the knowledge of His will • Through all spiritual wisdom and understanding • That you may live a life worthy of the Lord • And may please Him in every way • Bearing fru...

“No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly; no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay…. But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself” (Psalm 49:7-9, 15). This is a wonderful expression in the Old Testament of God’s redemption as opposed to man’s inability to redeem. Please consider the following and become students of the Old Testament: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us , on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us , so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful tor teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Join...

Here is a book recommendation. This is the abridged autobiography of a high-caste Hindu woman who received Christ through reading the New Testament. She was orphaned in her teens and widowed with a baby girl at 23. In 1896, during a severe family, Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts and rescued thousands of outcast children, child widows, orphans, and other destitute women, bringing them to the shelter of Mukti and Sharada Sadan. A learned woman knowing seven languages, she also translated the Bible into her mother tongue—Marathi—from the original Hebrew and Greek. Her work continues today, a memorial to her life and path. CCM published this book about 20 years ago and has just completed a new edition. You can read more here .

“He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (Acts 11:24). This is speaking of Barnabas. The preceding verse tells us that “he was glad and encouraged them all.” In chapter 4, we find that Barnabas’ name means “son of encouragement.” We also find that he “sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” When he was with Paul, he was not the chief speaker (Acts 14:12), although in Acts 14:1 we see, “There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.” Barnabas was good, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, glad, encouraging, generous, and unashamed to speak the gospel. The result was that great numbers were brought to the Lord. If we are not seeing great numbers turning to the Lord, it may be that we are lacking the other characteristics which were in Barnabas’ life. Join the #keepthefeast Bible Reading Challenge here. This post coordinates with today...

Most veterans of Korea, Vietnam, or the Cold War, had at least one narrow escape. I had one on the USS Brush three months after being commissioned as an officer. The gunnery officer told me to leave my battle station in gunnery plot and come up to the main battery director. Our ship was off the east coast of Korea, closing range to destroy some railroad cars. I left the chief fire controlman in charge of plot and proceeded to the main battery director. When I got up to the director, he did not know why he had called me there. While I was there, we hit a mine on the port side. The explosion obliterated gunnery plot and flooded the forward fire room. We lost sixteen men: six in the fire room, five in plot, four overboard, and one died from burns in the hospital. That evening I conducted the funeral when we buried the chief at sea. He had died in place of me. Read the rest of the story...

Dear Friends, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7). Years ago, a friend of mine told me that he was not into evangelism because the more converts he had, the more backsliders he had. Of course, that is not a reason to hold back on evangelism, but it makes us wonder why it sometimes seems to be so. Here is a major reason. The new Christian often is not taught to live the Christian life the same as he was taught to receive Christ. He is taught a different way of living than he was taught of receiving. That is why he falls. The new Christian received Christ by grace through faith. He did not receive Christ by trying or by effort. He is not to live by trying or by effort. He is to live by grace through faith. In other words, the Christian life should be like being born again every day. If you need help with this,...

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure’” (Genesis 15:13-16). This text was fulfilled in the time of Joshua. It also gives us a reason for the conquest of Canaan by Joshua: the sin of the Amorites had reached its full measure. “After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousn...