“God’s promise arrives as a pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it.”- Romans 4:16 (The Message) “A man whose hands are full of parcels can’t receive a gift.”- C. S. Lewis Max Lucado opens Chapter 4 (“You Can Rest Now”) of Grace with a commentary on how […]
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”- Isaiah 53:6 “Christianity is not the sacrifice we make, but the sacrifice we trust.”- P T. Forsyth In Chapter 3 (“O Sweet Exchange”) of Grace, author Max […]
“We will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”- 1 John 3:19-20 (New Living Translation) ” . . . we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”- 1 John 2:1 As Max Lucado concludes […]
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.”- Psalm […]
“How great a God is He who gives God.”- Augustine “Grace is God loving, God stooping, God coming to the rescue, God giving himself generously in and through Jesus Christ.”- John Stott In Chapter 2 (“The God Who Stoops”) of Grace, author Max Lucado begins with the story of the woman caught in adultery (John […]
“I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed.”- Ezekiel 36:26 (The Message) Should anyone knock at my heart and say, “Who lives here?” I should reply, “Not Martin Luther, but the Lord Jesus Christ.”- Martin Luther Max Lucado begins his book Grace: More Than We […]
Wounded by God’s People (Zondervan, 2013) Author Anne Graham Lotz speaks from numerous personal experiences when she affirms that the wounds inflicted by God’s people are painful and devastating. Even so, we can’t allow ourselves to reject the God of those who rejected us. Basing her book on the Old Testament story of Hagar, Anne […]
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”- Satchel Paige “Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the other person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”- C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock At the beginning of Chapter 15 (“Don’t Look Back: You Can’t Drive Forward by […]
“Then God opened her (Hagar’s) eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy (Ishmael) a drink.”- Genesis 21:19 In Chapter 14 (“I Can See: Your Valley May Be Your Vision”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz tells of an eight-month […]
So he (Elijah) got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”- 1 Kings […]
God heard the boy (Ishmael) crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is the matter, Hagar?” In Chapter 12 (“A Stubborn Spirit: Exile from Him is Self-Imposed”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz tells of her meeting with William, an investigative journalist who had written an article describing […]
In Chapter 11 (“The Silence is Broken”) of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz begins with a statement that summarizes the entire chapter: “Sometimes the most valuable lessons are caught, not taught.” Anne then describes a pivotal and memorable moment in her own life. Anne was seventeen and about to graduate from high school. […]