How much information do you receive every day? If you are anything like me, it is a lot. Much of it is kind of incidental; we learn things from speaking with people and going about our day. We absorb information from social media and the news; far more information than people of most previous generations …
We often think of God as the one who saves his people and works on their behalf. But the Biblical view of God is much wider than this. Consider this verse, for example: Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because …
2 Kings 5 introduces us to a Syrian general named Naaman. He travelled to Israel to be healed of his leprosy after hearing that a prophet named Elisha could heal him. After his remarkable healing, this powerful man was changed in deep ways. He showed humility that wasn’t evident before and he confessed that the …
When Elisha healed the foreign army general Naaman from leprosy, he left to return home a changed man. That is where we might expect the story to finish, but the writer of 2 Kings includes the actions of Naaman’s servant Gehazi as well. Gehazi was upset that Naaman had brought such a lot of money …
Samuel had a most unusual childhood. He was born as the result of God listening to the prayer of his mother, Hannah, who had been barren for many years. Samuel was given to God’s service and spent his life serving the priest Eli at Shiloh. He was faithful to God from a very young age …
I have recently published my second book! The cover looks like this: What is this book about? While the topic is retirement, this book explores what the Bible says about older age more generally. Here is the official blurb: Most of us assume that when we reach a certain age, we will retire from …
The city of Jericho had a memorable and ungodly history. It was the first city defeated by the Israelites west of the Jordan River in the book of Joshua. After its destruction as part of the Conquest, Joshua ordered that it never be rebuilt (Joshua 6:26). The site lay as a testimony to God’s power …
In the past few years, we have seen the rise of a new career choice: the influencer. An influencer is someone who has many followers on social media and is therefore paid to advertise products. As they ‘influence’ many people, some can make a lot of money in this manner. From an advertiser’s perspective, and …
Christians can speak to God anytime, anywhere, in prayer. Have you considered how special that is? It is easy to get so used to the idea of prayer that we take it for granted. We can speak to the Almighty God, the Creator of all that exists, and He listens to us! How can that …
What shape do your prayers tend to have? I know how easy it is to be so self-focussed when it comes to prayer. Whatever issue is dominating my thinking at the time is what I ask for. It is so easy to come to God with our shopping lists, expecting him to fix everything. And …