Mic 4:6-8 The Chinese American writer, Amy Tan, started writing a week after her boss at the time told her that writing was her worst skill and she would do better developing her talents in accounts management. Her first novel,…

Mic 4:1-5 Prophecies of judgment are hard to read because God seems harsh or because the sins of God’s people can be sometimes difficult to relate to. However, prophecies of hope are challenging too. Some read about ‘the last days’…

Mic 3:9-12 A generation or two ago, many evangelical churches felt the need to combat ‘works righteousness’, the idea that we can earn or add to our salvation through moral living and good works. The strong message of grace, however,…

Mic 3:5-8 Although I come from a non-charismatic background, I have friends who are involved in contexts where prophetic gifts are exercised. From them I heard of a woman who was a recognised ‘prophet’ in her church context. What she…

Mic 3:1-4 Shortly before Hungary joined the EU, the UK’s visa laws changed so that in my last year of studying at London Bible College, I had to apply for a student visa after I arrived rather than get it…

Mic 2:12-13 In my last year of university in Budapest, I was doing some part-time teaching in a secondary school. The class I was assigned had been without an English teacher for over a year. Predictably, discipline was lax, and…

Mic 2:6-11 As a student in Hungary, I desperately wanted an overseas experience and was considering applying for a scholarship abroad. Seeking God, the story in Jer 42:1-22 spoke to me, where the Jews are in a tight spot and…

Mic 2:1-5 One of the difficulties with reading the prophets is that the sins they castigate can be so severe that we, Christians, struggle to identify with the problem. How many believers would recognise themselves in the portrayal of Mic…

Mic 1:8-16 We all know people whose constant moaning drags everyone down around them. In many Western cultures, such attitude is condemned and there is something to be said for not burdening others unduly with our troubles. On the other…

Mic 1:1-7 A former colleague at a Christian conference in India found his Western team-mates outraged over the way the caste system still defined Christians’ behaviour to each other there. ‘Why don’t they just get rid of the caste system?’,…