Since musical praise has existed since the foundation of the world and is still a vital part of our lives and our worship today, let us consider together the origins and importance of praise and music as explained to us in scripture.

I prefer not to call her “Rahab, the prostitute.” I’m not particularly eager to reduce her merely to one of the ways she made money. Rahab was a very hard worker. So why do we reduce her life to this one aspect, as if it was the only thing noteworthy about her? Her actions, those of a strong, spiritual woman, changed the course of her family members’ lives. Her story is pretty incredible.

Over the next couple of months, we will be featuring a series of character studies about valiant and virtuous women in the Scriptures. I am thankful for the contributions of our sisters, helping us to appreciate the great faithfulness of women throughout time. ~ Editor

There is significant relevance here to our own discipleship so what is Habakkuk actually about?

There are several remarkable things about the account of the Roman centurion who asks Jesus to heal a very sick servant, one he cares about deeply.

We can praise God by ourselves, and we should. But we’ve all experienced that collective praise has much greater intensity. 

Judean Jews were responding to the gospel message but a bunch of Greek-speaking Jews strenuously opposed it.  Unable to win their argument in public debate, they brought entirely trumped-up charges against Stephen, and they raised a mob to pressure the Sanhedrin into putting him on trial.

Something we would find reprehensible in another, we find a way to excuse in ourselves. 

The terrible sounds of bombs and explosives during the Biafran war was ironically the same boom the Almighty used to ignite the fast spread the of truth in Nigeria and beyond.

Poverty has played a big part in generating interest. Two of the poorest countries, Mozambique and Malawi, account for over half our brothers and sisters in Africa. There remains a noticeable inverse relationship between riches and faith.