Yahweh Tsuri What better word than “rock” to represent God’s permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness? When you pray to the Lord your Rock, you are praying to the God who can always be counted on. His purposes and plans remain firm throughout history. The New Testament identifies Jesus as the spiritual rock that accompanied the…
The Story of Judah and His Terrible Brothers
When God Surprises Everyone You are a lion’s cub, O Judah. — Genesis 49:9 Judah remembers the story as though it happened yesterday. He feels it in his gut, like a knife turning. The pain of his treachery is so strong that it overwhelms every other sensation. Indeed, he had turned against his father and…
God Loves Broken People: The Story of Gomer
A Prodigal Wife Learns the Meaning of True Love For your Maker is your husband — the Lord Almighty is His name — the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. — Isaiah 54:5 She stands outside in the cool, refreshing rain, allowing it to run…
The Story of Eve
The Lie That Broke God’s Beautiful World The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? — Jeremiah 17:9 Bzzt, bzzt. She swats the flies away, but they keep on coming, too many to count. She has grown used to the constant annoyance, just one of many. Their favorite spot…
The Lord Who Heals
The Lord Who Heals Yahweh Rophe The Hebrew word rophe means “heal, “cure,” “restore,” or “make whole.” Shortly after his people left Egypt for the Promised Land, God revealed himself as Yahweh Rophe, “the Lord who heals.” The Hebrew Scriptures indicate that God is the source of all healing. As you pray to Yahweh Rophe,…
Praying the Names of God: Father
Ab, Abba, Pater The Name Though the Old Testament provides many rich names and titles for God, the New Testament reveals Him most fully. Jesus, in fact, shocked and offended the religious leaders of His day by claiming that He had a Father/Son relationship with the God whose name they feared even to pronounce. Furthermore,…
A Sense of God’s Presence
To many people in the modern world, God seems remote and unconcerned, living light years away in another dimension called “Heaven.” Does God, the Creator of the entire universe, honestly care about our infinitesimally small problems? Most of us would say yes because we know that’s the way we should answer the question. But we…
El Roi Is the God Who Sees Me
She [Hagar] gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi [the “well of the Living One who sees me”]. — Genesis 16:13–14 (NIV) In the ancient…
God Our Abba Father
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. . . . The older brother became angry and refused to go in. . . . “My son,” the father said, “you…
Imagine Having a Relationship with Your Enemy
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Colossians 3:13 John Paul Lederach has spent most of his life pursuing peace in some of the most troubled regions of the world — Somalia, Columbia, Nepal, and Northern Ireland, to name…
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