The kindness of God in the ordinary
2 Kings 6:1-7 One of my students whom I taught at Bible college moved up to Auckland with her family from another part of the country, so she could study and be prepared for future ministry. The move and her…
Two ways to live
2 Kings 5:15-27 During my gap year in Israel, a man who came to faith in our sister hostel in Eilat years before came to visit us. He had no Christian background before his conversion, but his newfound faith in…
Tapping into the transforming power of God
2 Kings 5:6-14 In my late twenties, I was exploring possibilities for full-time ministry, but no door seemed to be opening. At the time, I was reading the Bible with a young woman of my age whom I met at…
God’s hand in our circumstances
2 Kings 5:1-5 It is always fascinating hearing people’s testimonies about how they came to faith because the journeys can be so diverse. God reaches us through as many different ways as there are individuals in this world. A secular…
Looking to the Lord to fill our emptiness
2 Kings 4:38-44 In several factories in the United States in the late 1910s and the 1920s, watch dials and hands were painted with a radioactive luminescent paint containing radium. The young women working there were instructed to take the…
The distance God calls us to bridge
2 Kings 4:18-37 For a while as a young adult, I went to an international church in Hungary. It was in the early days after Communism fell and missionaries were streaming in to spread the gospel. While many of them…
The God who can give a future and a hope
2 Kings 4:8-17 Despite the affluence and comforts of our culture, many people live with a sense of hopelessness. Losing a job through redundancy or retirement may be infused with futility for some, if their sense of purpose was wrapped…
God’s lesson of going from empty to full
2 Kings 4:1-7 The widow’s oil in our reading, along with Elijah’s similar miracle involving a Gentile widow (1 Kings 17:8-16) are much loved by Christians. Who does not feel uplifted and encouraged by seeing God’s provision in these stories?…
What can hinder us from living our full potential?
2 Kings 3:1-27 When I was considering a teaching career, I was fighting fears over the idea. A friend from church told me of a woman who was a talented musician but never pursued a musical career because of performance…
The secret of going from curse to life
2 Kings 2:14-25 Towards the end of my gap year in a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, I discovered that my visa was not renewed in time. The temporary manager, whose responsibility this was, forgot to submit the paperwork. Instead,…