A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

Written by Paula Friedrichsen

Donned in her favorite nightgown Kimberly* slips under the covers anticipating a good night’s sleep. Patting her husband’s shoulder she says, Goodnight honey… Tentatively Ron reaches out for Kimberly and nuzzles her check giving her a tender kiss. With a familiar sick sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kimberly wriggles away from Ron, while feigning tiredness and a backache. Although it’s been several weeks since they’ve made love, Kimberly can’t seem to stop herself from rebuffing Ron’s sexual advances.

But it wasn’t always this way…

Knowing God As Our Father

Written by Dr. Charles Stanley

     Happy Father’s Day! Read The Father’s Love Letter, a      “letter from God” artfully composed with verses from scripture.

“So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Luke 11:2-4

God has many names that reveal various facets of His character, such as Creator, King, and Shepherd. But there’s a name that meets one of our greatest human needs in a special way: Father. Each of us was born with a deep desire to be loved unconditionally – so many of our hurts and scars come from this desire never being fully met. What security and wholeness there is in knowing that we can call God “my Father”! Scripture tells us He is “a father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5) and that He will never leave us, even if our earthly parents abandon us. (Psalm 27:10)

Healed People Are People Who Receive!

Are you ready to take a faith-building journey through the Word of God? Get an in-depth look at four people whose lives were transformed by Jesus' healing ministry, and discover how believing God, releasing faith and trusting His Word will bring you the same results.

One of the best ways to increase our capacity to receive from God is to study the accounts the Bible gives of people who were good receivers. I want to focus on four of my favorites: the woman with the issue of blood; Jairus, the synagogue ruler; the Roman centurion; and the beggar—blind Bartimaeus.

We find the first two in Mark 5. Their stories are so intertwined in Scripture that they are best told together:

Behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw [Jesus], he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years…when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague
(Mark 5:22-34).