Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a collection of brief but meaningful meditations on Scripture. BJU Press has published a book by the same name with 96 of these devotional articles. Each chapter focuses on a Scripture verse or two, blending key facts about context with meditations on the truth of the passage. Find out how taking just a minute each day can change your life!
If you are interested, you can purchase Just A Minute, containing the first 96 printed articles.
Comfort - Just A Minute #154
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. . . . The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever. . . . (Isaiah 40:1,8)
The best comforter in all the world is God.
He made us and understands exactly how our minds are put together. He is fully aware of what goes on in the heart of the person who is discouraged and He knows the exact way to lift him out of his depressed thoughts. Whether we take the advice or not depends on our faith and desire, but if we truly want to rise above the circumstances that knocked us down, we need to listen and trust and obey.
How then does the Lord comfort His people? One answer can be found in Isaiah's fortieth chapter.
Open Eyes - Just A Minute #153
And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)
God is always doing much more in our surroundings than our eyes can see.
The story of Elisha and his servant uniquely teaches this truth. Unfortunately, we often become so familiar with the amazing accounts in the Bible that we develop a kind of spiritual crust over our hearts. Eventually we can read them with hardly a blink at the awesome details.
The Despicable Three - Just A Minute #152
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. . . . was very wroth, and his countenance fell. . . . And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? (Genesis 4:3, 5, 9)
It did not take generations for Adam and his wife to reap a full harvest from their rebellion. Cain, the firstborn of the human race, gave us a full presentation of what sin does.
He was Baby Boy Number One. How can we even begin to measure the awe and wonder of that birthday?!
And yet, the seed of the couples’ iniquity was firmly planted in the child's soul and would soon blossom into a monstrous thing of pain and horror.
The Shield - Just A Minute #151
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (Genesis 15:1) . . . The LORD is my strength and my shield. (Psalm 28:7)
God does not hand out shields to His children nor distribute them as prizes to favorite servants. He never offers any kind of visual or physical device to guard us from Satan or adverse circumstances. His plan for our safety and well being is much more personal, and infinitely more reliable.
He wants to BE our shield.
That is so radically different than what we often believe.
The Spouse Chooser - Just A Minute #150
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought he unto the man . . . (Genesis 2:22)
Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter . . . then will I do the part of the kinsman to thee, as the lord liveth. (Boaz, in Ruth 3:10, 13)
It was no ordinary man God chose to be king David's ancestor.
He was rich. He was powerful. He was respected.
But more importantly, Boaz was godly.