Joe Barnett

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you.     —Isaiah 26:3 Indulgence promises happiness, whereas happiness is often the product of abstinence. Frequently, what you don’t do produces greater joy than what you do. “Blessed (Happy) is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand […]

He is Lord of lords and King of kings.                   —Revelation 17:14 Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces, stretching from India to Ethiopia, the utmost boundaries of the then-known world (Est 1:1). You will remember him as the king who threw a 180-day sot-saturated party, resulting in his

I will come back and take you to be with me.          —John 14:3 Jesus told his friends, “I will be with you only a little longer” (Jn 13:33). They were like children playing with their toys when Mom and Dad put on their coats and head out the door. They have

In your presence there is fullness of joy.                                —Psalm 16:11 What brings you delight? A possession? A place? A person? Occasionally, we get a sobering glimpse of what life would be like without it. Driving away from the hospital, where

Fulfill your ministry.    —2 Timothy 4:5 Mordecai’s message to Esther was that she should consider the possibility that God had placed her with the right gifts in the right place at the right time: “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Est 4:14). Esther had won

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.           —Matthew 6:21 Most of us are outlandishly rich compared to those who populate the world’s poorest places. With a supermarket around the corner, a late-model car in the driveway, and a house filled with enough stuff to make the queen

What shall I do, Lord?        —Acts 22:10 God ordered Saul to destroy Amalek—every last person, every last head of livestock. After trouncing them, he pranced back home—with Amalek’s King Agag and Amalek’s choicest livestock in tow. Confronted by Samuel, Saul sniveled that he spared the spoils because the people demanded it. His

Go and look for the donkeys.             —1 Samuel 9:3 “The donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, ’Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys’” (1 Sam 9:3). Neither Kish nor Saul could have imagined

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.                     —Ecclesiastes 3:1 The first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3 detail the cycles of life, with fourteen statements of contrast that perplex those who desire to be in control. Let’s take the

I will set out and go back to my father.                       —Luke 15:18 Israel was headed for Assyrian exile for their spiritual adultery. They were unfaithful to God and refused to accept responsibility for their misconduct. Their expressed love for God, who had given them