We think of her as a genteel Southern lady, and she was that, for sure.

But Ruth Bell Graham was so much more. While her husband was away so much, preaching to the masses, she was preaching to her own little flock. The result was children who became adults, and in turn shared the Good News of Jesus with others.

Anne Graham Lotz and Franklin Graham didn’t just fall out of the sky!

Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

In their little home in the mountains of North Carolina, while Daddy was in Brussels, New York, and Sydney, Mother Ruth was faithful for years on end to impart godly wisdom to their children. Much iron was sharpened on cold winter nights and long summer days.

Theirs was a home that didn’t always have both parents available, but they thrived.

Use that as an example of how to bring up your own children. You’ll be happy forever that you did.

Let’s pray.

Lord, Your Word is good, and it shines a light on our path. Give us the strength to mentor our own children in your ways. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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If you’ve been fortunate to hold a newborn, you know what it’s like to be thunderstruck by the delicate features. Everything is miniature.

And then the eyes open. You’re in love.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

A baby is a blessing and a gift from the Lord. All life is precious; it doesn’t matter if the parents are famous or completely obscure. In that warm bundle is a whole lifetime waiting to unfold. Will he be adventurous? Will she run the country?

Man is capable of much, but creating life as God creates will always remain outside the borders. Only a great and all-powerful God could give us such a beautiful life, and He makes each one of us truly unique.

It is an inescapable fact that a human being, separate from everyone else in terms of physicality and emotions, becomes fully formed in its mother’s womb. This is perhaps the greatest miracle in all the universe, and one deserving of our awe and respect.

Let’s pray.

Lord, you form us in the womb, and walk with us each step of the way through life. Thank you for your mercies and grace that you freely give each of us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Of all the gifts God gives His children, joy is perhaps the one closest to heaven on earth.

Who isn’t aware just how wonderful it feels to experience true joy? It is as if the Lord has freed a prisoner.

When American POWs returned from captivity in Vietnam, the looks on their faces as they emerged from the planes carrying them to freedom…well, no one will ever forget that!

Psalm 16:9 says, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.

Scripture tells us that we don’t escape trouble in this life, but that for the believer, eternal joy waits for us, and the Holy Spirit gives us joy in our daily walk in the here and now.

It is also ours for the taking, to reach up and pick this fruit that feeds our souls. Sometimes simply making the choice to embrace a joyful spirit is the key to having a blessed day.

Let’s pray.

Lord, you did not create us to be defeated or sad. Your Spirit brings joy in big and small moments, sustaining us for our journey. Thank you for joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Have you ever been fooled by someone? Doesn’t feel good, does it?

But the absolute worst is when we fool ourselves. We try to manage some problem on our own, or analyze why our boss is so mean.

But the Bible has a better way of thinking about it.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

We have to do two things here: give total control to God, and de-emphasize our own judgment. Sometimes our gut is wrong. “Following our heart” often ends in heartache.

God doesn’t mess up. He doesn’t get it wrong. And he really longs to make it better for you.

Do you remember a time when you put your life in God’s hands? Maybe it was a really important career choice. Or a relationship needed healing. Maybe your body needed healing. Whatever it was, recall that situation today as you wrestle with a new problem.

Let’s pray.

Lord, every time we learn to trust you, it builds our faith a little more. You are a good God who always has our back. Thank you for that. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Gwen closed her eyes and didn’t dare to even breathe. Japanese troops were right outside her house, looking for her and other missionaries.

It was World War 2, and American forces in the Philippines were nearby. Just when Gwen and her friends thought someone would throw open the trapdoor to their basement hiding place, loud voices began getting dimmer.

The enemy troops were distracted, and left in a hurry!

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

God always shows up at the right time. If we can remember that, and commit ourselves to prayer and reading Scripture, we will not let fear overtake us.

There are times we need to just be still, and wait on the Lord.

He always knows just where we are, and what we need.

Let’s pray.

Lord, help us to be calm when we want to run. By waiting on You, we also practice obedience. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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When trouble is on the horizon, it can be hard to trust in God’s promises and to believe He has a plan for us.

The book of Judges in the Old Testament gives us an awesome example of trusting God in the story of Gideon.

God called Gideon to lead Israel into battle with the Midianites, who had a sizable army of 135,000 men. Gideon gathered an army of 32,000 men to battle with the Midianites, but despite odds in favor of the enemy, God told Gideon there were too many men in his army. Through a selection process, God whittled the Israelite army down to just 300 men.

Though Gideon was afraid, he trusted God to fulfill His promise. And God told Gideon they needed a smaller army so people would know God won the battle, and not some large army.

The night of the battle, Gideon and his servant snuck into the camp of the enemy and overheard the telling of a dream. The two Midianites interpreted the dream to mean that Gideon’s small army would wipe out their larger army.

Reassured, Gideon returned to camp to begin the battle. The Midianites were so frightened, many of them began fighting and killing one another, thinking that Gideon’s army was all around them.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

Gideon trusted God’s plan, even when he didn’t understand. Because of his faith, God helped Gideon and the Israelites to conquer the Midianites with an army a fraction of the size of the enemy’s.

Let’s pray.

Lord, you are mighty to save. Help us to trust you in every battle. We love you and believe you have a plan for us. Give us courage to face the challenges in our lives, knowing you are here with us, and you have a good plan. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Life is a process. We know that if we’ve lived very long at all. And this week, we’re talking about the process of trusting God.

John 16:24 says, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Could Jesus meet our needs by just giving us something instantly? Of course. He made everything! And sometimes He does that; the miracles he performed that are recorded in the New Testament tell us that he often instantly met a person’s need.

But He doesn’t always work that way. That’s because Jesus loves to teach us.

In the book of John, He is telling us the steps necessary to trust Him for provision. First, we ask. Then we learn to receive His good gifts. Finally, we feel real joy, because we know exactly where it came from.

This process is designed to teach us faith and then to be genuinely appreciative to the Lord for meeting our needs. All through the Bible, we are told that He delights in helping us, in loving us through tough times. The older we get, the more we are able to look back and see that He and He alone brought us through.

There is usually no other explanation.

And that is called a miracle.

Let’s pray. 

Lord, we are dependent on you for everything, and we are blessed that you are our Source. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Do you need a miracle? If we’re honest and open to the truth, miracles have always been a part of our world. In the beginning, God made a dazzling world full of diversity, beautiful animals, gorgeous sunsets, streams of water. He also made us to enjoy it all, and to keep it for Him. But just like the entrance of sin into our world, which marred the original beauty, we sometimes get weighed down with worry and cares of life. We look up one day, and the drudgery of our days overwhelms us. The supernatural seems far away, and that’s the very moment God will act. He has always been with us, and one of His greatest promises is that He will be with us to the end, to the moment He ushers in an eternity too wonderful to fully know now.

Revelation 22:1–3 says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.” 

In the meantime, maybe you’re really going through a challenge in your life. You need a miracle. Do you know that you can simply ask Jesus for this? He’s answered too many people, too many times, not to be real. And if we’re honest, the presence and regularity of miracles today are staggering. They’re everywhere. 

So why not you?

1 Corinthians 1:1–2 says, “To those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours, grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” There’s such peace in this. Put aside your doubts and your fears. Just ask Him to help you, and He can. He will. In fact, He will bless you so much, you won’t be able to stay quiet about it. You will have to tell people. You are a miracle.

Let’s pray. 

Father God, you rescue us all the time in ways big and small. Your faithfulness in helping us is worthy of our worship. Thank you for making miracles part of everyday life. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Only a person who is willfully blind could deny that miracles happen today. They didn’t end at the shore of the Red Sea. Malachi 3:6 says, “I the Lord do not change.” From this, we can logically see that the Bible’s powerful and majestic miracles didn’t stop in the first century. They’re still happening. God didn’t suspend the love he dispenses in the form of miracles. 

Taylor McCaffrey was an alcoholic as a teenager. He was also a preacher’s kid, and these combined to weigh him down with guilt. From the age of 16, he drank heavily, but God didn’t leave him there. He says, “On my 21st birthday, I’d been drinking about eight hours straight and simply heard the voice of the Holy Spirit inside me say, ‘Either do what I’ve called you to, or I will not continue wrestling you.’”

It sounded so stern. However, so loving, “I was instantly sober.” And that was several years ago. Today, Taylor is still sober. There are also countless examples of what we might call ‘corporate’ miracles—those that bless whole communities. At Christmas time of 2004, a group of 400 believers wanted to hold a Christmas service. The local authorities, though, told them that they could not do that in the city of Meulaboh in North Sumatra. The 400 decided to hold their service in a remote mountain region, and they stayed overnight. Early the next morning, an earthquake and resulting tsunami flattened their city, but they were safe in the higher elevations. Had they opted not to worship Jesus during their holiday, they would have perished.

The fact is, our world is miracle-heavy. They happen all the time. Miracles happen to ordinary people and to whole nations every day. This is one of the clearest evidences of the power and the majesty of the living God. We can choose to be witnesses for Him by pointing out to everyone we come in contact with that, though our world has problems, God is still working in a mighty way.

Let’s pray. 

Father God, thank you. The example of miracles. They give us strength in our faith and a boost to our days. We’re forever grateful to you for routinely doing things that some say cannot happen. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Charles Darwin and some of his friends saw a certain beauty and order in evolution, believing that random processes can bring about living systems. That anyone survived what a poet has described as ‘nature, red in tooth and claw,’ is a miracle for naturalists. Others believe miracles, if you can call them that, happen because some impersonal cosmic force allows them.

There’s not much comfort in that, though. 

Remember the account of ancient people who longed to see a miracle from their God? The Egyptians developed a complex system of gods that operated on a whim, but when the God of Moses showed up, they very clearly understood the true source of miracles. And that was the point of the 10 plagues: to show them that the Creator God was infinitely powerful and capable of producing miracles. 

We’ve been given a reasonable source that tells us where miracles come from: The Bible. Deuteronomy 29:2–3 says, “Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes, you saw those great trials, those signs, and great wonders.’”

Here we see clearly that the source of any and all miracles is God Himself, not a force in the universe. Not a spirit guide. Miracles are from God alone, and He wants you to experience miracles in your life. He wants you to live an abundant life, not one of defeat and misery and oppression. His limitless power was seen by the ancients, and today, people on every continent see that miracle-working power. There’s a beautiful description of this in Isaiah 43:13, which says, “Yes, and from ancient days I am He. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” And this is the truth we can expect from the One who really does want to help you, and help you today. 

Let’s pray. 

Father God, you have put within each of us the knowledge that tells us you are the source of all miracle-working power. And this is part of the good news of Jesus that we get to tell others about. Thank you for the miracle of Jesus. Thank you for all of Your miracles. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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