The Secret to Finding and Keeping Friends

“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!” (Luke 6:31)
Okay, here it is—this is the secret to finding and keeping lasting friendships: become women who want to see the women around them flourish. They have a word for that in Hebrew—it’s shalom. But not shalom like you might think. Not the overused, under-appreciated translation that we’re so used to throwin..

God’s Love Is Deep Enough

By Rick Warren
— March 20, 2017

“The Lord reached down from above and took hold of me; he pulled me out of the deep waters” (Psalm 18:16 TEV)

There are times when we all think, “I’m going under for the last time! I’m about to sink!” But no matter how deep you are, God’s love is deeper than your problem.

Corrie ten Boom and Betsy ten Boom were Christians who lived in the Netherlands during Word War II. They hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. ..

The Length of God’s Love

By Rick Warren
— March 18, 2017

“I know that your love will last for all time, that your faithfulness is as permanent as the sky” (Psalm 89:2 TEV).

There’s a limit to human love. It wears out. It dries up.

That’s why you have to have God’s love in all your relationships if they are going to last. God’s love never wears out. God’s love is patient, persistent, and persevering.

Isn’t it good news to know that God never gives up on you? No matter what you do, his ..

Eph. 2:8,9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I have to laugh thinking back about the CD cover of one of our Victory Fellowship music projects called ON AND ON. It was a photograph of someone (actually it was Missionary James Widener) fully clothed and swimming in the bottomless ocean of God’s love. We were in an unusual season of outpouring at our church and it seemed as if we..

Why Your House Needs Hospitality

There’s a tradition around our house. It’s been in place for a while now. We serve dinner on paper plates. Actually, we usually just do this when we don’t want to do the dishes. When we do, someone will get the “star plate.” That’s the plate that has a small star drawn on the bottom of it. We shuffle the plates like a deck of cards so no one knows who’s getting the star plate. Getting this plate is a big deal, because whoever ends up with it gets to pick what we..

It was impossible not to shed tears as Yue Zhang shared the trauma of being forced to abort her baby – six months into the pregnancy – a child she wanted and loved.

At an event held today at the Heritage Foundation, along with Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, and pro-life Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Yue Zhang courageously spoke about how the Chinese Family Planning Committee dragged her into a car, took her to the hospital, and forced her to abort her baby.
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Merry Thursday by Parris
“For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?

He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places” Ps. 18:31
Saint Augustine loved to speak on Christ being his holy joy. His taste changed when Christ stepped in. When he becomes our rock, Augustine says, “we are passing lightly through the thorny and shady incumbrance of this world.” Matthew Henry says the rock is “A fountain emitting continual supplies of grace and goodness”. Watch out..

How He Longs for You

It is truly one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Scripture.

In Matthew 23:37, we see Jesus’ heart for Israel, His wandering people: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Jesus spoke these words to the Jews, but His divine words tell us a lot about the heart of God for all His people. Our heaven..

JOHN 6:37 LB
37 But some will come to me–those the Father has given me–
and I will never, never reject them.

People may reject you. But Jesus won't.

Jesus died for sinners. He loves them and will help them — if
only they will come to Him.

Jesus didn't come to condemn us, but to help us. Think of the
Bible account of the woman caught in adultery.

JOHN 8:11 NIV
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,”
Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Religi..

PassageRomans 15:1-8
PrayerDear Father, God of steadfast love,May the strength you give us be used to bear with the failings of those who are weak, not to please ourselves, but to please our neighbor for his good, to build him up.In this let us imitate Jesus, your Son, who did not please himself, but lived as it was written of him, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”May you, our Father, the God of steadfastness and encouragement, grant us Christians to live in such harmony..