Joe Barnett

What do you have that you did not receive?                      —1 Corinthians 4:7 God gave Moses detailed instructions regarding the tabernacle and the priests’ vestments. He told him, “I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of […]

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.           —James 4:6 British New Testament scholar N.T. Wright once opened a lecture saying that he was sure he would say something in his sermon that was wrong. He just had no idea, he said, what it would be. That’s a

Come, follow me.  —Matthew 4:19 Your journey with Jesus has its ups and downs. Sometimes you laugh. Sometimes you cry. Sometimes you smile. Sometimes you frown. Sometimes you shout praise. Sometimes you beg for mercy. Sometimes your faith is strong. Sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes you feel his presence. Sometimes you feel all alone. The journey

[M]y servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.                —Matthew 8:6 Your intercession for others moves God to get into the act. We don’t know the name of the centurion who came to Jesus on behalf of his suffering slave. A sidelined slave was considered worthless in

[T]ake captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.     —2 Corinthians 10:5 I live in an apartment complex that has trash pickup. There are rules: trash must be in a tied garbage bag, placed inside a specified receptacle, and left outside the front door between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. Ignore the rules

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.                                    —Romans 12:12 Here’s a Prayer Power Pack for you today: “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple

I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.     —2 Kings 20:5 God sent Isaiah to the good king Hezekiah with this grim message: “Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover” (2 Kgs 20:1). The thirty-nine-year-old king turned his face to the wall and prayed

[T]here is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.                       —Luke 15:10 Ralph Connor, in Sky Pilot, tells of a young man who took to the road from a good home in Scotland and sashayed into his far

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.               —Luke 15:18 Anna, Fyodor Dostoyevski’s wife, knew he was near death and called the children in. “[T]aking our hands in his,” wrote Dostoyevski’s daughter, Aimee, “he begged my mother to read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” With faltering

[T]his son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.                  —Luke 15:24 Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevski was twenty-eight when he was sentenced to ten years of exile in Siberia. The prison camp was dreadfully depressing: “the prisoners stink like pigs,” he