Faith Under Fire

I have never been in prison, but before the sun sets today many more followers of Jesus will join millions who have been jailed, tortured, and killed because of their faith. This tragic reality hit home for me again when I produced an episode of CONTEXT called Believers Under Fire. We profiled the growing persecution of Christians around the world.

Read More suffering, prayer, blessing, persecution

God’s Sacred Highway

Isaiah reminds us that the world’s pain and suffering is temporary. One day in the not so distant future, wounded hearts will be healed … tears wiped away. The Lord is returning!

“Here is a message for all who are weak, trembling, and worried,” the prophet shares in 35:3-6.

What God’s Servant Did for Us

Read Reflect Writing several hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah paints for us a picture of Christ’s suffering. He tells us that the suffering will be so extreme the Servant will no longer look human. He will be painfully abused, wounded and crushed. Many of these words have become so common to us, as […]

Read More prophecy, suffering, Jesus’ love

A Template for Prayer

Read Reflect What a splendid psalm for us to take and flesh out with our own particular circumstances – or those of someone else whom we’re praying for. The psalm is vague in all its details, so that we can easily fill in our own. The first verse in the CEV sounds a bit flat […]

Suffering and Consolation

Read Reflect Chapters 30-33 have been called “The Book of Consolation” because they speak of the restoration of the Jews. They would one day return to the Promised Land. Jeremiah sees something even more important in their future: a new relationship with their God, which he will describe in chapter 31. Chapter 30 is confusing […]

Seen and Unseen

Thanks to media and the ubiquitous access modern technology has provided us, we are more quickly connected to unfolding catastrophes than any other time in our history. This passage is an unexpected, but strong “go to” in the midst of tragedy.

While we weep for victims of senseless violence or unfathomable persecution, we can know that those who have Christ have hope.

Read More suffering, light, hope, unseen

Jesus Our Strength

We all go through hard times. What we choose to focus on will make a difference as to how we come through it. I have heard too many stories about people who have gone through terrible ordeals, and they choose to not forgive and stay bitter.

Read More suffering, strength, hope, focus

A Shining Light

In today’s reading we get a glimpse of what Paul’s missionary life was like. He has just left a riot in Ephesus, caused because his message of Christ was bad for the silver-smiths’ idol business. Only his Christian friends prevented him from being lynched by the mob.

Read More evangelism, technology, gifts, suffering

Deserted And Desolate

The book starts with an outpouring of pain, first expressed through the narrator (vv 1–9b,10,11b,17) and then through Jerusalem personified as a woman, Daughter Zion (vv 9c,11c–16,18–22).

Jerusalem’s desolation is total. All her former glory is gone.

Read More honesty, pain, suffering, relief

Darkness is My Only Companion

Psalm 88 may be the darkest of all the lament psalms. While most laments end with a note of praise, Psalm 88 ends with the plaintive statement that “darkness is my only companion” (v 18). The psalmist tells us that he has been sick and near death since he was a child (v 15). He has been abandoned by his friends and relatives (v 18).