KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Kneemail - Heart
DURING WORLD WAR II, Nazi Germany dropped pornographic pamphlets from the sky over enemy territory... The reason; to distract the soldiers minds with fascinations causing them to ignore the front line. This has been the strategy of porn from...
AMY CARMICHAEL HAS a note in her little book If... "A cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted." If it is full of sweet water and is jolted, what will...
WHEN WE THINK of Elijah, we never think of him as one who would doubt because he was strong and bold when he encountered the false prophets at Mount Carmel... He proved that God was the true God of...
WHAT IF SOMEONE knocked on your door today and asked, "Could I sell you some misery today...? What have all kinds for sale." Would you buy it? Of course not, but many of us, including me, have "bought" it...
THERE IS A certain convict that I have been corresponding with for several years down in Texas that recently got a "new" typewriter... He had completely worn out the old one. It was not very easy to correct his...
IN HIS BOOK "The Purpose and Power of Love & Marriage," Myles Munroe says: . When a male demands, a female reacts; she doesn't respond. . When a male gives, a female responds. . When a male commits, a female...
WE ALL HAVE walls... Not the stone, concrete, or wooden ones that typically surround properties, but emotional ones. Ther are parts of our lives that we keep walled off from other people. The closer we are to someone, the fewer...
VICTOR FRANKL COULD have been forgiven if he had displayed a bad attitude... As a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, he was witness to some of the most indescribable horrors in human history. How, then, did Frankl avoid the...
AS PROFESSIONAL GOLFER Ray Floyd got ready to tap in a routine nine-inch putt, he saw the ball move ever so slightly... According to the rule book, if the ball moves at all, the golfer must take a penalty stroke....
THE WORST DEFEAT in a college football game came on October 7, 1916, when Georgia Tech played Cumberland College of Tennessee... The final score was 222 to 0. The much smaller Cumberland players were mauled. Cumberland had discontinued its football...
MY DEAR FRIENDS..., You know around here we are experiencing hardships, but we thank the Lord He is comforting us and caring for us in every way. When we experience misfortune, adversity, distress and hardship, only then do we see...
WHICH OF US is not guilty of cutting other people down just for the laughs...? We enjoy our biting sarcasm and our abilities to ridicule, our stinging quips, our sharp put-downs. The best humor, of course, is joking at our...
A GOOD FRIEND of mine's personal statement on Facebook says, "Don't let your eyes adjust to the dark..." He gives no explanation or elaboration, and for his friends who are unfamiliar with the Bible, the message probably makes no...
AS A MAN Thinketh by James Allen is arguably the best non-inspired book ever written on the power of thought... Allen compared the mind to a garden and its owner to a master gardener. A good character is not the...
GENERAL GEORGE PATTON argued, "Success is measured by how high you bounce when you've hit bottom..." Simon Peter is a perfect illustration of this truth. He forsook his Lord and Friend in the garden. He even denied that he knew...
THE DAY OF Jesus' resurrection was a day of disbelief... The apostles thought the first report of Jesus' resurrection was "nonsense" and they "would not believe" (Luke 24:11). Two other disciples spent significant time with Jesus on that day without...
JESUS DOESN'T FORCE us to be His disciples... Never does He coerce anyone into His service. His invitation is free, His offer of eternal life is free, the opportunity to serve Him is free. He freely took the initiative in...
ONE DAY, THE father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live... They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm...
APPROXIMATELY FIVE THOUSAND ships departed England on June 6, 1944 for the coast of Normandy to take place in the greatest invasion of World War II... One skipper, lecturing his crew on fear, declared, "Fear is a healthy thing." One...
THREE PEOPLE WERE visiting the Grand Canyon -- a painter, a preacher, and a cowboy... Looking over the massive canyon, each one verbalized his observation: "Incredible!" the painter said. "I'd love to paint a picture of this!" The preacher waved...
FOR THE FIRST time in her life, Western Oregon University's Sara Tucholsky not only hit a home run in a game against Central Washington University, but she hit it over the fence... She had passed first base and was on...
WHEN I WAS a little kid, I got a pretty nasty burn on my leg... The doctor applied a bandage designed to adhere to the burned skin. The bandage was made of a material that had a healing ointment in...
I HAVE TO confess that initially this passage made me scratch my head... Based upon what is recorded earlier in Matthew 3, John's question to the Lord in Matthew 11 really didn't make sense. It appeared, at least on the...
ONE AUTHOR TELLS the story of the world's most unwanted ship, the Pelicano... No country in the world wanted her. No country allowed her to land. She was a seaworthy ship and had reputable owners. The problem was that she...
A MAN VISITED Tiffany's jewelry store in New York City... He was shown a magnificent diamond with its gleaming yellow light and many other splendid stones. But he observed one stone that was perfectly lusterless and said, "That has no...
MANY YEARS AGO I attended a gospel meeting... For several days the truth went unheeded. Near the close of the meeting I saw a young man push his way to the isle and courageously walk down to obey the gospel....
WHY DOES A person enter military service...? Some want to travel and see the world. Others are thrill seekers who find the adventure (and danger) exhilarating. Quite a few choose a career in the service for financial rewards (college tuition,...
JESUS HAD POWER (Colossians 1:16, 17)... "Wonder-working power (Luke 5:17). He could walk on water, raise the dead, and instantly heal those afflicted with horrible, life-long disease. He could cast out demons, feed thousands with but a few loaves...
NEHEMIAH RETURNED TO the ruins of Jerusalem to restore the city... He rallied the remnant people of Israel, and they immediately began rebuilding the wall. Several naysayers and antagonistic groups attempted to intimidate the workers and stall the work. Then...
A MAN WAS discussing how empty his life was, and he knew that something had to be changed... This might appear strange, because he had all of the outward signs of success -- at least those the world prized highly....
THE TAX COLLECTORS of Jesus' time were some of the most despised people in the land, considered untrustworthy, cheats, and traitors... Yet it was Levi (Matthew) whom Jesus called to follow Him. This brave man arose from his tax office...
WHENEVER YOU FIND yourself going through times of testing, there is always a reason...a very good reason... In fact, there are several reasons. Testing times are to: UNCOVER something: When God allows pressures and trials, it is so that you...
"...THE BEST WAY to manage conflict is to treat it as something normal and bring it out into the open where it can be handled fairly and constructively... Fighting openly keeps conflict from festering in insidious ways and gives those...
BARNA RESEARCH GROUP found that: . Eighty-two percent of regular Bible readers described themselves as "at peace" compared to 58 percent of those who said they never read the Bible. . Seventy-eight percent of regular Bible readers said they felt...
THE BIBLE DOES describe the physical appearance of many people... Moses was said to be a beautiful child. People spoke of King Saul as being handsome, standing a head taller than anyone in Israel. David and Solomon were both "ruddy,"...
I REMEMBER WALKING down the hallway and nervously waiting in the lobby of the downstairs Bible office at Freed-Hardeman University... I had an appointment for my first meeting with the upper-division Bible counselor, Dowell Flatt. Our first personal meeting...
GEORGE O. WOOD writes that on October 31, 1983, Korean Airlines flight 007 departed from Anchhorage, Alaska for a direct flight to Seoul, Korea... Unknown to the crew, however, the computer engaging the flight navigation system contained a one-and-a-half-degree routing...
I HEARD THE screams long before I could see him, but as I wheeled my grocery cart around to the next aisle of the store, there he was... With angry tears streaming out of squinty eyes, the little boy was...
IN MAY 1994 the Associated Press carried a story about one person's unusual war on sin... At the public library in Coquille, Oregon, library workers discovered at least a dozen books in which entire pages had been blanked out...
A 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL named Jessica was playing outside of her house one day when a pit bulldog came up in her yard... She went over to pet him and he attacked her--knocking her down and immediately clamping down on her...
AN INTERESTING NUMBER of antique leather-bound books are being purchased for their covers and not their content... Interior designers buy them by the linear yard and use them to create a warm, old-world atmosphere in the homes of affluent clients....
JAMES RECOGNIZED THE great destructive power and the danger of an uncontrolled tongue... He was not alone. Men and women in many cultures have warned us about the need to guard our speech. This bit of verse by an unknown...
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, the University of Chicago and the American Association for Adult education conducted a survey to determine what adults wanted to study above all things... This survey took two years and cost $25,000. It revealed that the subject...
DR. PAUL BRAND, who served as a medical missionary in India, told about lepers who had terrible deformities because their nerve endings could not feel pain... It didn’t hurt when they stepped in a fire or cut their finger with...
THE OPTIMIST FELL from the fourth floor sill And as he passed each window bar, He shouted to the folks below, “Doing all right so far...!” How ridiculous! Yet there are preachers across the land that advocate a lot of...
THE BOOK OF 3 John begins with Paul praying for the well-being of Gaius... But take a moment and let the words of his prayer sink in. John said, "I pray that you may prosper in all things and be...
I WANT TO write about the great and powerful thing that listening is... And how we forget it. And how we don't listen to our children, or those we love. And least of all -- which is so important too...
IT WAS DURING the war... His wages were low. He and mother wore old clothes, and tried to provide as best they could for our family. We were very poor; but frankly, I didn't know it then. Yet, while it...
WHEN THE PEOPLE came to their seats in the theater, they found a man sprawled across them... When the people told the man that he was occupying their seats, his only response was an inarticulate guttural sound. The people summoned...
MICHAEL HODGEN TELLS a rather humorous story about a man dressed in a devil outfit who was on his way to a costume party when suddenly he got caught in a rain storm. Searching for cover from the downpour, the...
GOD INSTRUCTED MOSES to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of bondage (Exo. 3)... The reason given by God for Moses' return to Egypt at this time was that God had "surely seen the oppression of My people...
WHEN I WAS a boy, I had a bike that I had grown tired of... There wasn't anything wrong with it, I just wanted something better...a 10-speed. So I took my fire-engine red, Huffy bicycle, with a white banana seat,...
ASIDE FROM CLOTHING, the Christian's standard of modesty, for both men and women, also differed from those of Roman society... This was particularly apparent in public and private baths. Few other societies, except for the Japanese, have had such a...
WORRY IS WIDESPREAD and is a universal problem... It is not limited to any one class. The poor and rich, the cultured and the unlearned and both the young and old worry. We worry about how to get money, and,...
DURING WORLD WAR I, a reporter was watching a Red Cross nurse swab the infected wound of a soldier... After watching the sickening sight for a few moments, the reporter said to the nurse, "I would not do what you...
LUKE TELLS US that this man appeared to be seriously deranged... He wore no clothes, lived in a cemetery, and frequently broke the ropes and chains that were used to subdue him. His was a hopeless case, it appeared. But...
IT IS NOT enough to be willing to listen... Jesus told His disciples to let His words sink down into their ears, i.e., lodge within their minds and take up permanent residence. In John 5, Jesus confronted the Jews who...
DOES YOUR HEART turn green with envy when a coworker or friend who doesn't know God buys a bigger house than yours or can afford to go to the best restaurant in town...? It shouldn't, because your coworker or friend...
SOLOMON IS A disturbing biblical character... He begins his reign wisely, blessed by God with an incredible wisdom. God allows him to build a glorious temple. Wealth and wisdom are his; what more could a man want? But instead of...
...SOME PEOPLE WORSHIP their bodies... People spend hours at the gym, sculpting their bodies, yet completely neglecting their spiritual lives. ...Some people think nothing of getting up at the crack of dawn and heading to the gym for that hour-and-a-half...
SHORTLY BEFORE HIS death, the Duke of Burgundy was presiding over the Cabinet Council of France... A proposal was made by the ministers that would violate a treaty but would secure important advantages for the country. Many reasons were offered...
YEARS AGO, A radio station received a letter from a shepherd who lived on an isolated ranch in the western part of the United States... Never before had the station received such an unusual request. It read, "Will you please...
WALKING PAST MY barn one day, I heard a frantic chirping inside, and upon investigation I found a bluejay beating its wings against the glass pane of the window... Had it not cried and squawked, I would not have heard...
THERE'S A STORY about a farmer who was known for his negative attitude... One day a neighbor stopped by and commented on the farmer's wonderful crop. "You must be extremely happy with this year's harvest," he said. The farmer grudgingly...
IMAGINE THE SCENE: You like to fish, so you crank up the motor on your old boat and head out into Lake Ontario, near Olcott, New York... You get several nice walleyes and clean them right away. That night you...
A PRINCE WAS running for his life from revolutionaries who were out to kill him... He ran into town and knocked on the door of a peasant and asked to hide inside his house. The man agreed and hid the...
...THE HIGHER UP we find ourselves in terms of power, influence, and wealth -- the more people look up to us -- the more vulnerable we are to pride and self-deceit, and the more prone we are to be blind...
TWO WOMEN WORK in the same office and receive the same pay... Anne complains that she is underpaid. She feels she's asked to handle too many things for someone on her salary level. She arrives dreading the day ahead and...