Honey from the Comb

​Pandemic. 

Economic disaster. 

Social injustice. 

Fighting in the streets. 

​Not to mention personal struggles with relationships, 

health problems 
​
and feelings of failure and inadequacy.

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We live in stressful times. Like Peter with the waves of the storm crashing around him (Matthew 14:29), it is easy to focus on our fears and problems instead of on the one who is able to calm the storm (Mark 4:39), who knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) and works all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).

This book is designed to help you focus on who God is and what he is like as well as what he expects of you, his child, regardless of circumstances or what the storm throws at you.

Part 1, Adoration, collects verses of Scripture that describe our incredible God and his character.

Part 2, Confession, responds with passages for self-evaluation as you compare your own life to God’s standards.

Part 3, Thanksgiving, directs your thoughts to passages where the Bible writers thank God for things that have their parallel in our own lives.

Part 4, Supplication, collects verses to help you focus on your own character, asking God to make you more like himself in a variety of areas. 

This book does not contain prayers—words for you to say to God. It contains Scripture—God’s words to you. As you read these words, I hope you will focus on that aspect of who God is or what he wants from you and pray them back to him.

I have been collecting the verses in this book for more than thirty years and using them in my private worship. I prayed through the section on the attributes of God in the hospital chapel as my "little" brother, senior pastor of a large church in Madison, Wisconsin, lay dying. I prayed through them again the day the US invaded Iraq in Desert Storm. Each time the prayers were different, but the God in whom I trust was not.

"Focus on who God is and not on our fears" is a theme I have heard over and over in this unsettling year of 2020. It seemed that the time was right to share these verses with a wider community. The rapid response from Zondervan granting rights to use the NIV translation was a strong confirmation. There will also be an electronic version you can carry on your phone for odd moments waiting in line or in the doctor's office that you can turn into a time of prayer and praise. In the coming days I will be sharing more of the content as I make final preparations for release later this month.

As the Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in the Turkish city of Ephesus, so I pray "that out of his glorious riches [God] may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."