Unbelief. Hardness of heart. To people Jesus was rebuking for displaying these qualities, He gave charge of the invasion of the earth with dissemination of good news. He told them to preach that good news to every creature. Later, He appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him after […]
Author Archive: Douglas Thomas
Making Jesus Known
They started laughing at Him, but He put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with Him, and entered the place where the child was. Then He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was 12 years old.) […]
Grace and Strength
You, therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.(2 Timothy 2:1 HCSB ©®) For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace […]
Laburnum Seeds
One day Amy Carmichael was told that the seeds of a nearby tree were poisonous. Intrigued, she exclaimed to her little brothers, “Let’s count how many we can eat before we die!” When her stomach began to suffer much pain, she was given a strong laxative. Fierce Irish girl. She died in India many years later. There, she saved the lives of thousands of Indian girls from slavery and ritual […]
Surrounded, Therefore Effective
Your circumstances, in home or work or neighborhood or nation, may be that you are completely surrounded by death and destruction and hopelessness. Ask the Spirit to give you authority to change what He has allowed or caused you to be troubled by. The dead don’t even need to be able to hear what you prophesy over them as you speak life and future and freedom over them. They just […]
Delicious Dirt
I had some delicious dirt at lunch yesterday. It was converted dirt. Though it was once just dirt, and on good days wet dirt, a kernel of corn was dropped in it. The kernel of corn converted the dirt into a root on one end and a plant on the other end. The root took dirt and made it into the plant, and the plant made it into more corn. […]
Standing Well
But Paul was greatly aggravated, and turning to the spirit, said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our […]
Saints Have Gifts
Ephesus in the first century was a port city on the west of what is now Turkey. In a letter that Paul wrote to the believers in the congregations in Ephesus, he indicated to all of them that each of them was called by Messiah to serve Him, and that each one of them had been given a gift by Him which would empower them to serve Him. He admonished […]
Socializing With Swindlers
I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—by no means referring to this world’s immoral people, or to the greedy and swindlers, or to idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or […]
Discipleship
Disciples are formed through the effects of disciplines. Discipleship is one way of describing our influences on others’ lives as we impose our values, beliefs and habits on them. It can happen through a focused, ordered process, or simply as we lead those around us. We do it at times when we have no idea we are doing it. Some discipleship programs teach believers to memorize Scripture, spend time in […]