On a more humorous note, there has also been a theory some indulged that God’s mark was, in fact, baldness. The idea is that baldness is a defect, one that entered the world to mark Cain and his descendants for all time. There are several problems with this theory as well, primarily, God never declares the mark will be for Cain’s descendants. Like

What Does It Mean to “Give Thanks in All Circumstances...In All Things”? As difficulties pile on, it can be easy to look around and see nothing good, sinking into despair, perpetual anger, and an inability to feel gratitude. The Bible does not pretend there is no suffering, with the Book of Ecclesiastes acknowledged there will be, “a time to kill …

The battle of Armageddon occurs in Revelation 19. Of course, we win. The devil is bound for 1,000 years while God sets up His kingdom on earth. The devil is eventually put into the lake of fire with the beast and false prophet. People also will be judged sometime after all of this. Read Revelation 20:12-15 for more. It says “I saw the dead, small a

A: Jesus is seated in power at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for His Bride (Christians), conforms Christians into His likeness, and is preparing a place for her in heaven. When a sinner believes in Him, He imputes His righteousness onto them (accredits His righteousness to them) (John 14:1-3; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebr

What Hope Can We Draw from Maranatha?Titus 1:11-15 offers a sure hope of the Lord’s return and how we are to live (occupy ourselves) as we “wait.” In this passage, we learn that the grace of God has appeared (Jesus), “bringing salvation for all people.” We are to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and instead live self-controlled, upright, a

2. God’s Glory Is Worthy of Our Praise, Even when We Feel Afraid (Luke 2:9-10)When the angel of the Lord stood before the shepherds who were keeping watch over their sheep during the night, Luke 2:9 says “they were terrified.” I would be too! Even though they were afraid and probably trying to make sense of what they were seeing and hearing, wonder

But God knows the truth, telling Cain that Abel’s blood “cries out” to Him from the ground (v. 10). As He did with Cain’s parents, God banishes Cain from the land. He also curses his ability to work the ground and declares that from now on Cain will be a “restless wanderer on the earth” (v. 12), though He puts a protective mark on Cain so no one wi

Yet despite who Peter was, Paul had no issue confronting him when he was wrong. You have the same right. You should never be intimidated by a person’s title, if they are wrong, they are wrong. It doesn’t matter if they are pastor, bishop, minister, evangelist, whatever the title don’t be afraid to confront those who are wrong according to Biblical

The Spirit’s role in the world. All people stand condemned before God because all have sinned (Romans 3:23). A person must become aware of their sin before they can come to faith. The problem is sinners love darkness and will not choose the Light on their own (John 3:20). It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the sinner of their sin to bring

He will have to leave his tax collectors booth. (Luke makes a point of this). There is a real heart change for Matthew. But there is more than this going on. Jesus is willing to be positively identified with this tax collector. This tax collector is becoming one of his followers. Jesus isn’t simply into moral reform, he is after total transformatio

Corporate sin, however, was embraced by a group of people who decided they should exalt themselves over God by building “a tower with its top in the heavens,” in order to make a name for themselves, “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). It, in effect, became a worldly system of evil. God—in how He portrayed Babylon

Why Were the Israelites Blessed?This blessing was given by God so that Aaron and his priests would “put God’s name on the children of Israel and bless them” (see Numbers 6:27). The Israelites were blessed so that they would be marked as God’s children and that they alone would receive his goodness in their lives. The rest of this blessing calls for

"You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” Deuteronomy 32:184. Disobedience Hurts God“They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. “ Deuteronomy 32:21a"For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its i

What Is a Sluggard and How Does God View This? As defined in the introduction, a “sluggard” is someone who is a lazy person, someone who doesn’t have the drive within him or her to make the most of each day.The aspect of laziness is discussed at length in the Bible, through several different books, that all seem to convey the sense that God would r

When we follow the rich, life-giving teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, we become spirits set free, free from yesterday’s pain, free from the ugliness of sin that stains and infects our relationships, free from the life-crippling burden of unforgiveness. To love as Christ loved us is to receive and share the reward of such love: new life. There is

What Lessons Can We Learn from the Story of the Alabaster Box?1. We like Mary can give Jesus our all, even if others do not understandA Crosswalk Devotional shares, When we give what we can, there may be plenty who don't understand. There may be plenty who ask, "Why you are 'wasting" your gift or your time?" Friends, don't let anyone stop you from

What Does This Verse Mean? Elijah had just experienced a phenomenal victory of the prophets of Baal. It was a tremendous display of not only the power of the LORD, but it also showed that Elijah was a faithful prophet. I’m certain this would have been spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. But what a tremendous encouragement

It also seems to be a progressive rejection. Think of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. How it just gets harder and harder, until he has gone beyond redemption. The same thing happened with the religious teachers. Their hearts got so hard that they went from overseeing Jesus' ministry to ultimately condemning him to death.Should We as Christians Be

Prayer is the place where your communion happens. It is where your spirit connects with God’s spirit, and that is where that communion and intimacy occurs. Prayer is also where you can experience some of the character of God. This is where you are filled with his joy, where you are embraced by his love, where you are overwhelmed by peace, when you

Despite the worldview of the Philistines, the defeat of Israel wasn’t a defeat of their God. God didn’t need the army of Israel to fight for him. He won all on his own.Why Should We Know about This Idol?First, let’s understand a little more about idolatry.Just like my trip to India, and based on most of the biblical testimony, our idea of idolatry