Wayne Stiles's Blog, page 51
January 16, 2017
The Promised Land and God’s Amazing Provision for Your Life
If God will provide, why do our means seem so meager?
The tension is nothing new for us who believe in God. It’s just that most days it seems we never have enough. Between the bills, the home upkeep, and the car repairs, it’s tough just to stay afloat. Often, amazingly, God rigs it this way.
In fact, an unusual custom gives insight into why our means seem so meager.
(Photo: Wheat field near Bet Guvrin, Israel. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
After settling in the Promised La...
January 13, 2017
How to Fill the Empty Hollow at the Center of Your Life
Review and renew your purpose for living in 3 steps.
A lot of people have lives like an old tree. From all appearances, they look full of life and vigor, but on the inside they have an empty hollow. Life can weather your faith.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
I remember reading about the incredible yew tree at Crowhurst, England, which is more than 4000 years old! That means when Jesus walked the earth two thousand years ago, the Crowhurst yew had already stood for two thousand years—dating to t...
January 12, 2017
Quote by Bill Hendricks on how to tell if your giftedness is engaged. [Quote]
The telltale sign that your giftedness is engaged in an activity is that you take joy or satisfaction in doing it.Keep reading this post.
Better still, get my full posts the easy way when you SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG. When you do, I’ll also send you my FREE e-book!
Bill HendricksThe Person Called You: Why You’re Here, Why You Matter & What You Should Do With Your Life (Moody Publishers, 2014)
January 11, 2017
3 Effective Ways Jesus Demonstrated Your Value
How Jesus' brilliant way of treating others is a powerful model
One of my mentors used to say, “You can tell a lot about someone’s relationship with God by their relationship with people.” These words have stuck with me for years. But a recent experience with a physician drove it home.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
The doctor entered the exam room in a rush with his scribe/nurse behind him. I had never visited him before.
“Hello, Mr. Stiles, I’m Dr. (Name), and this is Nancy who writes down st...
January 9, 2017
Capernaum—Jesus Relocated Here (And the Amazing Reason Why)
The Lord's simple strategy is one you can apply today.
When Jesus changed hometowns, He modeled wisdom. After the Lord left His former hometown of Nazareth, He moved His base of operations to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee.
(Photo: The Synagogue in Capernaum, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
This move fulfilled what the Prophet Isaiah had predicted centuries earlier (Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:14). Today, millions of tourists visit Israel each year, the majority of them Ch...
January 6, 2017
The Valley of Elah—How Your Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary
God will make your simple faithfulness great in His time.
At first glance, the valley seems like nothing remarkable. Just a road winding its way up into the Hill Country of Judea. A large satellite dish sits on one hill. A dry stream bed divides patches of tall weeds. Greenhouses clump together next to wheat fields.
(Photo: The Elah Valley. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Like the other valleys in Israel’s Judean foothills today, theValley of Elah appears so commonplace. Ver...
January 4, 2017
How the New Testament Can Begin in the Wrong Place
As you read the gospels, think forward by thinking backward.
You may be surprised to read this, but the New Testament begins in the wrong place. In our thinking, at least. Hang on, I haven’t lost it just yet. Here’s what I mean.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
When we open the New Testament, we often read the gospels by thinking forward to the church. How does this apply to me today? After all, God’s Word has as its goal our changed lives. Nothing wrong with that. But we miss something important...
January 2, 2017
Are You Confusing Change with Improvement?
Here are 3 questions to ask before you take the leap.
Every New Year, the urge to make changes tugs hard. There’s just something about flipping that calendar over that taps us on the shoulder and says: “It’s time for a change.”
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
We long to grow and develop to our full potential. With that as a goal, we love change. Self-improvement is part of our culture. It’s huge! It sells change by marketing discontent.
Years ago I remember a presidential candidate who kept rei...
December 28, 2016
How God Helps You in Impossible Situations
The only way to experience the joy of God's power
God often puts us in impossible situations. We find it frustrating, sure—but it’s never meant to be. In fact, those circumstances are meant to do just the opposite. They’re meant to encourage us.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
With the Sea of Galilee in view on the Plain of Bethsaida, Jesus pointed to thousands of people and said to His twelve disciples: “You give them something to eat!” (Mark 6:37).
You can hear the frustration in the disciples...
December 26, 2016
Hanukkah—When Jesus Claimed to Be God on the Temple Mount
His hearers that day understood what many today miss.
On a wintry day in Jerusalem, Jesus walked in Solomon’s Colonnade—the long, covered, columned portico on the east side of the Temple—overlooking the Kidron Valley.
(Photo: Solomon’s Colonnade lay along the eastern wall of the Temple. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
The conversation Jesus had that day occurred at Hanukkah—a celebration the Jews referred to as “the Feast of the Dedication” (John 10:22).
The feast had histor...
