Author: Dwight Clough

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. — Mark 2:21We live life through our paradigms — that is, our way of seeing things. Within our paradigms we make small steps of growth. But then something happens to change our whole way of seeing things, and our life undergoes a transformation.For example, for many years I thought my relationship with God was all about my obedience. That was my paradigm. But then God shattered that paradigm. He showed me that…

The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. — Psalm 145:9To be honest with you, I have often puzzled over how God will judge the world. After all, so many people are products of deception. How can they be made to pay the full price for their own gullibility? I don’t know the answer to that. But I know this: God has compassion on all He has made. God’s compassion rises above pain. Jesus met His persecutor, Saul, on the road to Damascus. The Risen Lord could have easily killed this fanatic who led…

Taste and see that the LORD is good. — Psalm 34:8I keep coming back to this verse. I just finished reading the testimony of a man who wanted to become a Christian, but he didn’t want a religion that was only a lot of talk. He wanted something supernatural, something he could experience, something he could taste. But all he could find was Christian talk, so he followed an Eastern guru and got detoured several years into demonic experiences.I want to say this: It doesn’t matter whether you are a Charismatic or not, whether you are mystic or not, or…

“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. — Isaiah 40:1The key to transforming lives is … NOT repentance (at least the way it is commonly understood)… NOT salvation (the way it is commonly approached)… NOT Bible knowledge… NOT word of faith… NOT trying harder, praying more, speaking in tongues or almost anything else that is commonly proposed.Lest you think I’m a heretic, let me reassure you: I believe in salvation. I believe in the Bible. I believe in repentance and faith and prayer.But these things do not typically transform people’s lives. Saved people still get drunk and depressed. Bible scholars…

"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. — Isaiah 40:1The voice of God carries through the centuries, through the generations and reaches us where we are. God knows the comfort that we need.This is not a frivolous thing that God does for you and me. Let me speak to those who might believe that the mature (or the macho) among us don’t need any of this silly little comfort: We do.We need the comfort of God more than we need almost anything else. God’s comfort takes all of the unsettledness out of our souls and brings us peace. There is…

"The Virgin Daughter of Ziondespises and mocks you.The Daughter of Jerusalemtosses her head as you flee.Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed?Against whom have you raised your voiceand lifted your eyes in pride?Against the Holy One of Israel!By your messengersyou have heaped insults on the Lord.And you have said,’With my many chariotsI have ascended the heights of the mountains,the utmost heights of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedars,the choicest of its pines.I have reached its remotest heights,the finest of its forests.I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there.With the soles of my feetI have…

Then [King Hezekiah] went into the sanctuary of GOD and spread the letter out before GOD. — Isaiah 37:14 The MessageThe invading army mocked the God of Israel. They wrote down their threats and predicted they would soon reduce Jerusalem to rubble, it’s people to slavery. "Your God cannot stop us," they claimed. But they tangled with the wrong God. A few verses later 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were dead, and the rest were running for their lives. The invading king went home to face disgrace and assassination.Have you received bad news? God will read your mail if you let Him.…

Do not get drunk … Instead, be filled with the Spirit. — Ephesians 5:18God has a better alternative. Why do people drink? I’m not a drinker, but, from what I’ve observed, alcohol erases fear, shame and worries. It provides a kind of freedom and courage. It creates a bond between drinking buddies that probably wouldn’t be there otherwise.But, of course, we all know what happens when the alcohol is gone. Drinkers wake up to discover more things to worry about and more transgressions to be ashamed of. So the urge to escape into the fantasy world of alcohol becomes even…

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. — 2 Kings 2:11I had an interesting dream one night. I dreamed that Kim and I took hold of the hands of our children, and, as a family of six, we stepped off the porch and walked through the sky heaven bound. One thing that struck me was this: How very calm it felt, how perfectly normal to be skating through the sky on our way to…

… give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. — 1 Thessalonians 5:18Why would God ask us to do such a difficult thing? About four years ago I shared with you the story of an atheist who fell into a crevasse in the ice when he and his partner were overtaken by a blizzard while mountain climbing. About 60 feet below the surface, he came to rest on a ledge. With a broken leg and no way to climb up, no way to call for help, he started climbing down, into the depths…