Author: Dwight Clough

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead said to [King] Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." — 1 Kings 17:1I have always admired Elijah. He had guts. I imagine that Elijah made this announcement on an afternoon dark with clouds, that his words were punctuated with thunder and lightning, and that everyone laughed as Ahab dismissed him as a crackpot who somehow got by the palace guard. I don’t know, of course, but that’s what I picture. …

May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. — Psalm 20:4-5I love Psalm 20:1-5. I sign my books with this blessing because I believe it so much reflects the heart of God. But this passage does raise questions. If God is so interested in our success, why does success seem to elude so many people? I would like to suggest to you that God does…

… and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. — Isaiah 61:3My favorite wildflower is the Black-Eyed Susan. It reminds me, in a way, of a young woman, dressed in a scarf and plain clothes, hard at work on the farm, yet radiating the kind of quiet beauty that makes a young…

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." — Isaiah 1:18God may be absolutely holy, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that holiness is unreasonable. It is not. God is seeking you. Even if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, God is still seeking you. A good husband doesn’t stop courting his wife even after they say, "I do." God is seeking you, and He has an offer for you that is perfectly reasonable. The next step in your journey with God is a step…

I want to publicly congratulate my brother Dan and his wife Cindy on their 25th wedding anniversary. I go to prepare a place for you … — John 14:2Jesus tells us that He is preparing a place for us. But I would like to suggest that He is also preparing a place for Himself.Most of us would like a bigger house. We sure would. It seems like our house can barely contain our family of six, our school, work and ministry. We may imagine heaven as the bigger, fancier house that we want. And we may be right in part. …

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" — Mark 9:7 NIV Every Christian has a line inside his or her heart. On one side of the line we have said "yes" to Jesus. On the other side, we haven’t yet said "yes." This is good news, because that means that every day will be an adventure with God.Why haven’t we said "yes"? Because we believe something bad will happen if we do. In it’s classic form, we have, "God, you can do anything…

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. — Romans 1:18-19Here the apostle Paul embarks on a profound journey through the realities that govern the universe. There is a holy God. There are moral absolutes. All have fallen short. All are without excuse. All of us were enemies of God. Yet while we were still God’s enemies, Jesus entered our world, endured ridicule, scorn and…

I would like to announce that I am starting a new service business. I develop web sites. http://www.web4us2.com/ I’m especially targeting people in the trades and small businesses that don’t yet have a website. Your prayers and referrals are much appreciated.And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. — 2 Corinthians 3:18Let’s do some spiritual math.real Jesus + real you = real changereal Jesus + false you = performance without transformationfalse Jesus + real you = deception and miseryfalse…

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." — John 4:10The question has come up – How can we take evil desires to a holy God? Specifically, the other day, when I suggested that a lesbian take her desires to Jesus, am I sending the wrong message?To deal with this question, let’s look at John, chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 4, we find the woman at the well. She was at the bottom of…

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God … — Romans 1:16Never sell your faith short. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in you. What is impossible with men is possible with God. If something isn’t working, it only means we haven’t yet learned how to get out of the way so God can work. Maybe there’s still too much of us, just like Gideon had too many soldiers. The enemy didn’t trouble God at all. It was Gideon’s soldiers that were in the way. When…