The Lord be with you and bless you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include a hopeful and helpful book for husbands whose sin has done damage to their marriage. There’s also a book for your kids if you want to get them started on a new series.
Not the Halloween You Remember
Joe Carter: “Halloween today reflects various cultural forces that have influenced its meaning and practice over time. For some, it remains a fun celebration of creativity and community; for others, it’s a more complicated symbol, one that reflects our culture’s ongoing fascination with death, darkness, and the supernatural. These shifting meanings highlight both the fluidity of cultural practices and the persistent human desire for what Halloween represents—connection, identity, and transcendence.”
Comfort and Joy: How God Used the Loss of a Loved One to Save the Life of Another
This is a really sweet story of how God saved one of his people.
Luther: In Real Time
It’s 1520. Martin Luther has been declared a heretic by Pope Leo X, and his books are being burned. How much longer before Luther himself is thrown into the fire? This month, as we celebrate the anniversary of the Reformation, follow Luther: In Real Time, an immersive podcast from Ligonier Ministries, to experience the dramatic story of Martin Luther like never before. (Sponsored)
Infertility and Longing for Restoration
“We all carry longings. I know people who long for relief from relentless anxiety, the restoration of broken relationships, the return of wayward children to the Lord, and healing from debilitating pain. These are all good things to long for, and it is right to lament the ways sin ravages our world, relationships, and bodies.”
The Good News About the Bad News
Mitch reminds us that, to some degree, our appreciation of the good news depends upon our understanding of the bad news.
Daylight Saving and Spiritual Disciplines
Glenna points out that if you’ve fallen a bit out of practice with your spiritual disciplines, daylight saving offers a good opportunity to shift your habits an hour earlier.
Belonging Before Believing?
Like me, you have probably heard people express the importance of having people belong before they believe. Trevin Wax expresses both his appreciation and concern about the phrase. “Throughout history, the church has found ways of bringing unbelievers into the community so they experience an appetizer of Christian fellowship, even while recognizing the whole meal is only possible for those who belong through belief. Today, belonging before believing too often settles for appetizers as the end-all of Christianity.”
Flashback: Why Are You Friends with Your Friends?
At a million times and in a million ways I’ve already given this Friend every reason to bail, every reason to walk away, every reason to flee the shame of association. But he remains.
A needy heart is a praying heart. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.
—Paul Miller
