“We can’t understand God’s narrative without understanding Satan’s strategy.”- Max Lucado “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”- James 1:2-3 Max Lucado begins Chapter 2 (“You Know Satan’s Next Move”) of More to Your Story by noting that […]
“The splendor of the first Christmas is the lack thereof.”- Max Lucado “And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”- Luke 2:7 In Chapter 1 (“Ordinary Matters”) of More to Your Story, Pastor Max […]
Waiting on God (Baker Books, 2015) Waiting on God: What to do when God does nothing is written by Wayne Stiles (DMin, Dallas Theological Seminary). Dr. Stiles currently serves as an executive vice president at Insight for Living Ministries. The Old Testament account of Joseph provides the framework for Wayne’s discussion of the most difficult […]
“God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.”- 2 Samuel 2:25 These words of David follow the title page of More to Your Story: Discover Your Place in God’s Plan by Max Lucado, originally published as God’s Story, Your Story. In the Introduction (“When You […]
“We must show our Christian colors if we are to be true to Jesus Christ.”- C. S. Lewis “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”- Psalm 25:5 Throughout my 22-year Lutheran elementary teaching ministry, whole family ministry constituted one of my […]
“We need to view our waiting in the difficulties of our daily living as opportunities to demonstrate faith in a future promised by our sovereign God.”- Dr. Wayne Stiles Wayne Stiles concludes Chapter 11 of Waiting on God by acknowledging that we need affirmation of our hope. During Joseph’s life, God gave him encouragement all […]
“Our challenge is to cling to what God says even when everything within us demands we run the other way.”- Dr. Wayne Stiles Dr. Wayne Stiles continues Chapter 11 of Waiting on God by observing that fixating on our problems obscures the reality of their smallness compared to God’s power. Of course, our problems are […]
“The path of obedience always leads to the life we want because it always follows the big picture God sees.”- Wayne Stiles In Chapter 11 (“What You’ve Been Waiting For”) of Waiting on God, we wonder what we can do when the life God’s given us seems radically different from the life He’s promised us. Most people, […]
“When we focus on the here and now- and especially on all the pain life has handed us- the black hole of hopelessness sucks us in and surrounds us.”- Wayne Stiles In Chapter 10 (“The Hope of Dying with Unfulfilled Dreams”) of Waiting on God, Dr. Wayne Stiles writes that after a series of stabbing […]
“Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”- 1 Peter 1:22 (ESV) Dr. Wayne Stiles concludes Chapter 9 of Waiting on God by explaining that Peter uses two different terms for love in verse 22. Sincere brotherly love, Wayne states, refers […]
“Sovereignty paves a pathway of perspective that leads away from cynicism and bitterness to enthusiasm and grace.”- Dr. Wayne Stiles Wayne Stiles continues Chapter 9 of Waiting on God by stressing that God had many options at His disposal to deliver Joseph’s family from the famine. For example, a good downpour of rain or preventing […]
“If we look to people to give us the joy only God can give, we will see ourselves as victims.”- Dr. Wayne Stiles Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”- Jeremiah 17:5 In Chapter 8 (“When Forgiving Someone […]