As Christians we’re commanded to love our neighbors, our enemies, and whomever we’re called to minister to. But what does this look like when we’re not exactly loved in return?

A strange request leads to an unexpected result.

With a good attitude and a forgiving spirit, you can turn a lousy holiday into a great memory.

As human beings, we carry the image of God. As Christians, we carry His Word into the world.

Does your inside live up to your outside?

How can people not believe in God? This is a miracle of faith.

Communication online is like living in a glass house, except we have more power to create the person others see.

The news stunned me. “Cathy has breast cancer.” My sister? How could it be?

Let’s face it. Life doesn’t always go according to plan. Despite your surprise, God knew all along where you would be right now.

God carefully crafts us—through creation, giftedness, circumstances—to beautifully display His splendor.

The word courage has been on my mind for some time now. Sadly, it has not been much in the media recently.

As we run the “race marked out for us,” here’s how we might protect against spiritual injury.

His Word promises that He will do far more with what we give Him.

I have a little garden plot in the alley behind our house where I try to grow a few vegetables throughout the year.

The Christian's challenge is to see everything in life as sacred.

Clearly, Jesus loved and valued women, making this visible by including their voices and experiences throughout his work. If we are followers of Jesus, should we not be doing the same?

Satan plays dirty. Really dirty.

The words of this hymn have been widely used by believers to express devotion to Christ and dependency upon Him for all of life’s needs.

It is difficult to join our fellow believers each Lenten season in the singing of this Passion hymn without being moved nearly to tears.

The Cross was a superb triumph over Satan, death and hell. Never was Christ more a king than when He shouted from the Cross, “It is finished.”

As a seasoned traveler who has endured many cancelled, delayed, deferred and rescheduled airline flights, I have come to trust that God is always directing my steps.

The anticipation of seeing her Savior’s face and praising Him for redeeming grace was a thrilling thought for blind Fanny J. Crosby to ponder.

God's grace is not merely a sufficient grace; it is an abounding grace.

Let's do highs and lows!

These words suggest Charles's personal experience before and after his conversion.

As we reflect on the joys, failures, and blessings of the past year, we can rejoice in the truth that we are personally related to the Lord Jehovah, who is King of heaven and earth and will reign forever.

As we all prepare our hearts to commemorate the birth of our Savior this Christmas, I am thankful for the blessing of a wonderful family with whom I can celebrate.

The preparation for the celebration of our Lord's birth begins four Sundays before Christmas Day.

Each new day requires a fresh renewal of our dedication to the Lord.

How much more content we are if we know that after some trying or painful experience, there will be pleasure and a reward.

Out of the repentant heart of a backslidden Swedish pastor came this deeply emotional and vividly worded hymn, which expresses his renewed faith in God.

Paul’s entire reason for confidence is rooted in the character of God himself—not what Paul did or didn’t see going on around him. He’s absolutely certain of one thing: God is in control. Period.

As I made my way from the hospital room and down the long corridor, my mind wandered over the events of the past week. I recalled the doctor’s piercing words, “The tumor is malignant.” I thought, Can this really be happening again?

The strong, triumphant spirit of American hymn writer Fanny J. Crosby was an inspiration to everyone who knew her. Even though she was blind from six weeks of age because of improper medical treatment, she never revealed bitterness or depression.

Out of one of the darkest hours of her life—the tragic drowning of her husband—a young mother proclaimed through her tears, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus… and I know that thou art with me to the end.”

Frank E. Graeff, author of this hymn text, knew what it was to wonder, as most of God’s children do at times, if the Lord is really concerned during our times of hurt, when the burdens and cares weigh heavily, when the way seems dark, when temptation seems difficult to resist, or when we must part with our dearest loved one. Yet the answer comes back triumphantly: “I know my Savior cares.”

The secret of contentment does not depend on our material possessions; rather, it depends on our spiritual awareness and the appropriation of what we possess by being members of the heavenly family.

Johnny was a hard drinker and chain smoker. He was angry and tired, and no amount of kindness or help was received well by him. I think I always felt there had to be some good inside of them that not even they knew about, and I wanted to find it.

Inner peace through an implicit trust in the love of God is the real evidence of a mature Christian faith. Only with this kind of confidence in his heavenly Father could Horatio G. Spafford experience such heartrending tragedies as he did, and yet be able to say, “It is well with my soul.”

I was devastated with heaviness as I mentally rehearsed what the doctors had told me that day at the hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Barney, my husband, had been diagnosed with an unspecified disease and had only six to nine months to live.

This text was developed by Wesley to encourage his followers to have a more spontaneous joy in their lives as they became aware that Christ reigns victorious in heaven. It was based on the apostle Paul’s instruction to the Christians at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

We had lived in 12 different homes in our 18 years of marriage, and just the thought of moving left me feeling exhausted and almost nauseated.

Why do we need regular checkups of our spiritual health? Just as we can begin to lose our athletic conditioning (if we ever had it), so we can begin to lose our spiritual edge, the edge that brings joy and confidence, peace, love, and productivity, and we hardly realize what has happened. Our spiritual languor begins to feel normal. What we need is the jolt of a checkup.

A former drug addict, Monica Delaurentis did what many thought impossible—she led an army of hookers, drug addicts, and alcoholics to Christ, discipled them, trained them for ministry, and sent them out to reach the inner city. But Monica Delaurentis had heard from God, and she believed in the dream He had given her.

A few weeks ago my wife fell, and I had to summon the rescue squad for help. I was sitting in the hospital snack bar, nursing a cup of coffee while she was in X-ray, when I heard a familiar voice. I looked up to see my friend Paul standing beside me.

A vivid painting of Christ, wearing His crown of thorns as He stands before Pilate and the mob, is displayed in the art museum of Düsseldorf, Germany. Under the painting by Sternberg are the words, “This have I done for thee; what hast thou done for Me?”

From the time I was born until I was just about to turn eleven years old, my dad was a practicing alcoholic. I can say that I never saw him drunk. The fact that he went through a couple of six-packs a night didn't really mean much to me. I had never known any other way, and I assumed it was normal.

Have you had milestones in your life of faith?

I am not a particularly jealous person. But in recent months, feelings of envy well up in me regularly whenever I do one thing: browse the photo Web site of an old friend who lives with her husband and daughter across the country. Her husband is a fabulous photographer and cleverly captions the pictures of their adorable one-year old.

Last weekend, I marched on the streets of my town in support of the giftedness of women. Okay, so that’s a bit of a stretch, but I did take advantage of one of the most glorious fall days ever to walk the half-mile or so to my church to attend a “town hall” meeting to share my thoughts on women holding the offices of elder and deacon.

When I stopped searching for someone to fill my aloneness and took responsibility for living a full life, I grew up and found love in all shapes and sizes.

As a pastor’s daughter, I always envisioned myself growing up and going to Bible college. I would meet the man of my dreams, get married and live happily ever after as a stay-at-home mom and pastor’s wife. Instead, upon graduation from college I found myself renting a garage-turned-bedroom that still very closely resembled a garage.

Melissa, despite all the grim diagnoses and prognoses, has never wavered in believing God would heal her. She was not in denial, either—she firmly believes that since this whole ordeal started, God has assured her it was happening for a purpose, but that she would recover.

Evangeline Zorehkey, the daughter of General Superintendent George O. Wood and his wife, Jewel, grew up in the Assemblies of God.

My journey in life has been a little different than most people’s. First of all, I feel and have almost always felt that I am the most blessed man on earth. But mine is a story I would not have been comfortable writing in my earlier years.

While preparing for a communion service in 1707, Isaac Watts wrote this deeply moving and very personal expression of gratitude for the amazing love that the death of Christ on the Cross revealed.

While growing up, Dwight L. Moody seemed a highly unlikely choice to become the greatest traveling preacher of the nineteenth century. He was a poor, uneducated farm boy. His father died when he was four, and Dwight quit school after the fifth grade.

The word redeemed implies the idea of a slave standing on the trader’s auction block being offered to the highest bidder. At last the price is paid by a compassionate new owner, who then gives the slave his unconditional freedom. But the freed slave, out of gratitude to his new owner, offers himself as a loving bond servant for life to his redeemer.

Her father and brothers weren’t home the hot June night Kay Coles was born. They were hunting bullfrogs in the swamp so her mother could fry them for supper. There wasn’t a doctor around, either. The only black doctor in Portsmouth, Virginia, couldn’t be located. So a neighbor and a nurse-midwife helped in the birth.

Corrie ten Boom was born in Holland in 1892, the youngest child in a loving Christian family whose hearts, hands, and home were always open to anyone in need. As she grew older, it was only natural that Corrie also reached out to those around her.

For the Christian, vision is a true awareness of Christ in all of His fullness and enabling power. This ancient eighth-century hymn text from Ireland is still meaningful for us today with its expression of a yearning for the presence and leading of God in our lives.

“What’s in a name?” This was the probing question asked by Romeo in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Christians have long realized that the whispered name “Jesus” can bring comfort and cheer to someone suffering or bereaved, and it can bring joyful hope to the fearful or depressed heart.

When Darlene McIntosh was ten years old, she was so touched by a missionary’s speech that she told God she would go wherever He wanted her to. Little did she know just how much following Him would cost her.

The need for daily guidance is one of the believer’s greatest concerns. How easily our lives can go astray without the assurance of divine leadership. One of the great hymns of the Church is a product of the revival movement that swept through Wales during the 18th century.

While living in China with her missionary parents, Ruth Bell often heard gunshots from warlords and bandits roaming the countryside. She was brokenhearted when she had to leave at the age of 13 to go to boarding school in Korea. She was terribly homesick and often cried herself to sleep, until she learned to depend on God for help and comfort.

We don’t need fresh how-to’s, but rather a proverbial kick in the pants to do the hard work of practicing spiritual disciplines. Although we cry out for more information, what we really need is more application of what we already know.

It takes commitment to do most things in life. If we don’t make the time to appreciate the joys of life, we rush past them. Consequently, we see only grief and negativity.

I’ve rarely been aware of the presence of angels, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around. My wife, Patty, saw an angel in 1991 without realizing it until afterwards.

I am so grateful that God did not give up on me. Rather, He was—as Francis Thompson’s poem so eloquently describes Him—the “Hound of Heaven.” His love is relentless. To say His grace is simply “amazing” sounds rather trite—and has to be the greatest of understatements.

I remember how my mother used to count the jeweled jars on her pantry shelf: sixty-four quarts of pears, seventy quarts of peaches, thirty quarts of tomatoes. But how do I measure what I do?

Four ways to deal with a meddling former spouse.

Tips for getting safely ashore.

Do we serve an on-time God or what? God brought us together with the Ruxtons through very unorthodox circumstances in order to touch their hearts and open them further to the Gospel. One crazy February night served to show us all once again that God is in control and engineers divine circumstances.

“Honey, just trust me.” My husband gripped my elbows and looked intensely into my eyes as he continued. “I can’t go into details, but there is a crazy woman in our living room right at this moment who will not leave! I must get back downstairs immediately. Call 911 now, and ask the police to come to our house.”

Holiness. What a strange word. Sounds a little fanatical. What does it even mean? As a teenager, I would have answered that question, "No dancing, no drinking, no movies. Read your Bible in the morning, pray every day, and you'll be fine. The rules are clear. Keep them and thou shalt be pronounced holy."

Our relationships at work and at home will benefit when we are truly humble as Christ was humble.

Every Christian has a different story, but the best part of anyone's story is always the same—that through Christ, she became a cherished daughter of the King.

God had known what was going to happen and He didn’t want me to fear. His promise to “never leave me or forsake me” included this.

God had known what was going to happen and He didn’t want me to fear. His promise to “never leave me or forsake me” included this.

When Jennifer Veary married in 1997, few thought she would be around today. After she contracted HIV 16 years ago, Veary, a critical care nurse, expected to live only a year.

Ever since I was a child, I knew God had a ministry for me. When the music pastor in my church moved, I was asked to fill that position. Though I served joyfully in that capacity for more than a decade, I knew God had something else for me, and I had an insatiable desire to discover that next season of ministry.

As a child during World War II, I watched countless war movies at the neighborhood theater. Intrigued by the idea of women in uniform, one day I vowed that "if anything ever happened," I would join the Army.

I’m not going to tell you that I have it all together, but I will tell you that I’m letting God use me to accomplish His purpose. Obedience, though a continuous challenge, opens windows of heaven and pours out many blessings when practiced.

I’m not going to tell you that I have it all together, but I will tell you that I’m letting God use me to accomplish His purpose. Obedience, though a continuous challenge, opens windows of heaven and pours out many blessings when practiced.

I’m not going to tell you that I have it all together, but I will tell you that I’m letting God use me to accomplish His purpose. Obedience, though a continuous challenge, opens windows of heaven and pours out many blessings when practiced.

God sees. He cares. Sometimes that’s all we need to know.

Some say we are all born with a mask of pride and selfishness. If so, something went very wrong as my mask of pride morphed into a monster mask, and I couldn’t get it off.

After the tornado hit, God’s miraculous answer to my prayers became clear.

After the tornado hit, God’s miraculous answer to my prayers became clear.

God did a miracle at McDonald’s tonight!

I’d come halfway around the world to help build a new church in this tiny village. Little did I know that God had even bigger plans.

I have found that to receive answer to prayer, we must persevere. Many times, Christians fail to be victorious because they get tired of the battle or begin to doubt.

“If that’s where he really needs me, I’ll get to work,” I blurted to the church secretary. My pride was crushed. Surely God was getting ready to teach me an important lesson.

His words, “I’m sorry. I can’t marry you,” still echoed in my mind.

Several months after I moved from the Midwest to Atlanta, I was still lonely. I needed to make new friends. So when Eileen, a woman from church, invited me to her home Bible study, I accepted with a smile.

For years, I had worked to develop patience, and this was my moment to shine.

After we heard about the growing crisis in our family, my husband and I agreed that I should fly from Okinawa, Japan, to the U.S. to support our adult children.

When God does something, He does it right!