Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

SHE ENTERED THE ROOM, WAVING. Her personality grated on my nerves. I didn’t like her and had no plans to love her. Sitting down beside me, she smiled. “Can we talk? I trust you.” She wanted to talk to me? Jesus’s words slammed into my thoughts, hitti

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I LOVE RECEIVING PHONE OR FaceTime calls from my kids. They catch me in the middle of writing articles, preparing messages for speaking events, and fixing meals, but that’s okay. The moment I hear their voice, I turn my focus from work to them becaus

JOY Magazine

2 min. di lettura

Email questions to: joyquestions@valwaldeck.com A. There is only one sure way. “Whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved” – Romans 10:13. He can make you “free indeed” – John 8:36. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you face unresolved is

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

IT’S SOMETHING A PARENT PRAYS for. My husband, John, and I dropped off our daughter, Leslie, at camp when she was fourteen years old, and when we picked her up she was different. The messages and worship times at camp truly made a difference deep ins

Chicago Tribune

3 min. di lettura

Sister Stephanie Baliga no longer runs for herself, but for her community and for God. So she was undeterred as the predawn thunderstorm rolled in. The thunder roared, the sky flashed a bright blue and the obliquely falling rain whipped across her gl

JOY Magazine

1 min. di lettura

An animated video outreach called The Bible Project has been successfully reaching millions of people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ on YouTube. “We want people to experience the Bible as the unified story that leads to Jesus, a big meta-narrative t

60 Days of Prayer

1 min. di lettura

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” LUKE 2:15 (NIV) THE SHEPHERDS WANTED to witness the miracle of th

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I WOKE UP IN THE middle of the night. My arm was under my pillow, and the weight of my head had squashed it and turned my arm into a numb lump. I touched it with my other fingers and even used my other hand to move it around. The arm felt nothing. On

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

MOUTHS PARCHED, STUMBLING FROM HEAT and exhaustion, both kings floundered in the wilderness with their armies. What started as a bold campaign to reclaim Moab’s tax now looked grim. Because of their roundabout route, the kings ran into a problem: no

60 Days of Prayer

1 min. di lettura

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. PHILI

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I’VE BEEN MARRIED TO MY husband, John, for twenty-six years, but for many years I didn’t think that would be the case. My doubt was due to the fears and mistrust I carried into my marriage. I didn’t know my biological dad, and my stepfather was uninv

JOY Magazine

1 min. di lettura

I would much rather forget the events of the 20th of July 2019, but try as I might, the day remains as clear as yesterday. I made two mistakes ahead of our flight from Orlando to Toronto, the most costly of which was forgetting my bag in the taxi, th

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

WHEN I BECAME A CHRISTIAN, I stopped listening to certain music to avoid unhelpful temptations. I stopped wearing certain clothes to avoid attention I no longer wanted. I quit drinking. I stopped going certain places and socializing with certain peop

The Atlantic

4 min. di lettura

The rapper’s Christian album is not a departure from his values but an intensification of them: boldness over coherence.

JOY Magazine

2 min. di lettura

Church leader, Nadhir*, is a 28-year-old former rapper from North Africa. Before he met Jesus, he led a self-indulgent lifestyle of drugs, drinking, and clubbing. Nadhir would still visit his local mosque in North Africa while indulging in these acti

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

MY HUSBAND, GENE, AND I train and lead short-term ministry teams to Eastern Europe, where we host evangelistic family camps. As part of our morning routine, we break into small groups to discuss a Bible lesson based on the parables of Jesus. Team mem

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

“THE CLOCK WILL START WHEN I leave the room. You’ll have one hour to escape,” the game guide told us. I looked around at our group and the elaborate set and props surrounding us, my heart beating fast. Our youngest daughter worked at this new facilit

60 Days of Prayer

1 min. di lettura

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. PSALM 37:7 (NIV) BEING STILL IS an important part of your spiritual growth. This verse isn’t about waiting for God to do something for you—it’s about making sure your heart is in the right place s

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

THERE ARE DAYS I THINK back wistfully as I contemplate the size jeans I wore in high school, but the older I get the less I want to go back to those days. I don’t want to return to the immature, self-centered, self-indulgent person that I was. Even w

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

OUR CHURCH HAS A COMFORT dog, Gideon, who visits shut-ins and others who need a lift. This morning Gideon helped teach the children’s message and demonstrated how well he obeys. His example showed me three truths that I can apply to following Jesus.

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE you’re running on empty? Perhaps like the widow at Zarephath, your cupboards are bare and your bank account is empty. Or perhaps you are exhausted from difficult people, conflicts that never resolve, and daily wounds. You may fe

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

MY HUSBAND FILLS OUT OUR tax forms each year with organized files of receipts and computer spreadsheets. I try to stay involved, but my head throbs on the first page: subparagraphs; special exclusions; rules, and more rules. According to some sources

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

Isaiah 12:2 (NLT) I HADN’T RECOGNIZED MY LOVE for and dependence upon a predictable, daily routine until I lost it. For two years prior, I’d habitually risen at 5:00 a.m., spent an hour at the gym, returned home to enjoy my quiet time with Jesus, a

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

AT AN AUTHOR FRIEND’S BOOK signing in a library, I sat in one of the side chairs and observed her interactions with the crowd. In deference to the public library setting, my friend didn’t try to turn the event into a preaching opportunity. She talked

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

“MAKE A U-TURN AND CONTINUE to the route,” my husband’s smartphone insisted. The GPS was angry with us because we’d pulled off the freeway to get gas. We appreciate the electronic map, but often our GPS misses the point. To reach our destination, we

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I’M OFTEN PERPLEXED BY POLLS that ask, “Do you consider yourself a Christian?” For many people, that question is different than if asked, “Are you a Christ follower?” Not that Jesus pays attention to opinion polls or census results (although a census

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I STARED OUT THE WINDOW as my friend drove me home from cataract surgery, amazed at how easily I read words and numbers on signs that had looked blurry just hours earlier. Later, I gazed out my kitchen window, shocked at how sharp and clear the outli

JOY Magazine

1 min. di lettura

Whole: In an unbroken or undamaged state; in one piece. Restoration: The action of returning something to its former condition. In my December column, I referred to a time in my life where I lost everything and was ‘seemingly’ defeated. I felt br

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

ONE OF THE NEW PROJECTS I took on this past year at my church was coleading a social justice study. We named the course “How Are We Called?” What I didn’t realize during the planning was that this seven-week class would work its way into my soul on a

Mornings with Jesus

1 min. di lettura

I REMEMBER A PARTICULAR WEEK when people close to me were either moving up, moving out, or moving on. My son was moving up to college. Our neighbors—a married couple with five girls—were moving out of their apartment. And a friend confided to me that