Most of us give Christmas gifts that are quickly forgotten.
After the iPhone gets cracked, or the DVD gets watched, or the sweater gets snagged, they all end up at the landfill.
This year, why not give a gift that will last a lifetime?
(Photo by Malene Thyssen)
Bible Lands study tools make great gifts because they take your personal Bible study to the next level. What’s more, they don’t wear out.
Here are my top 5 recommendations for gifts you’ll enjoy giving.
Sometimes fear keeps us from enjoying what God has promised.
We want so badly to have faith in what the Lord says, but fear of what we see seems more compelling than mere words.
Gideon longed to believe God. But the enemy army before him was enormous.
It was almost as large as the fears we face today.
Everybody faces temptation.
And on some level, everybody has fallen to it. Everybody but Jesus.
I have walked in the wilderness where Satan tempted Jesus.
Good grief, what a place. As far as my eye could see, it was empty, dry, and depressing. I tried to imagine the solitude and struggle Jesus would have endured for over a month. But I could not.
How did Jesus resist temptation here?
Congratulations, Mr. Stiles, you’ve just won an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii!”
“No thanks.”
“You mean . . . you don’t want it?” I hung up. It was a short conversation.
A solicitor does not call to give anything—unless he or she ultimately gets more back in return.
I have discovered the devil is the same way. Satan knows how to market to people. He’s been doing it a long time. From the beginning, in fact.
When I bought my 1897 edition of The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, I opened its dingy, yellow pages and discovered I couldn’t turn some of them.
The publisher in London had made an error.
The book was printed on large sheets which were then cut and bound into the book. But some of the edges never got trimmed. I had to cut each pair of pages myself. At first this was a real hassle.
But then it hit me . . . Continue Reading…
The most striking place in Galilee has to be the Sea that bears its name. And the most striking time to see the sea?
Sunrise . . . for sure.
Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee flattens all objects into silhouettes and paints the sky a murky red. As the sun peeks over the eastern hills, it draws a line of light from the distant shore straight across the water to wherever you stand—and follows you like a spotlight.
The Sea of Galilee was—and still is—notorious for unexpected storms. A squall in March 1992 sent 10-foot-high waves crashing into downtown Tiberias, causing significant damage.
In the dark, early morning, sometime between 3 and 6 a.m., Jesus came to His disciples by “walking on the sea” (Matt. 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19). But instead of expecting their miracle-working Lord, the dozen on board assumed Jesus was, of all things, a ghost!
He comforted them in reply, got in the boat and stilled the storm. Then Mark wrote what has always seemed an unusual line to me: “They were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:51-52). They hadn’t learned a thing. Consequently, they had no idea what to expect!
These men didn’t expect Jesus to teach them about their inadequacy and dependency. Jesus had chosen the Twelve from out of all the multitudes who followed Him. They felt special. And as such, they expected special treatment. The storm struck them as strange because they expected Christ to give them privileged places in His kingdom. They did not anticipate Christ assigning struggles to change their hard heart.
If we’re honest, I think we’ll see that we resemble these men. The unrealistic expectations they had, which Jesus revealed, we also store in abundance. We have our agenda for how best to “serve God.” All other events—especially storms—just get in the way.
Tomorrow . . . Jerusalem!
(By the way, Israel passed a law on March 1 that bans fishing on the Sea of Galilee for two years! The number of fish has reached a dangerous low.)
_____________
Almost 2,000 years before Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, Jacob and Rachel, another expectant couple, traveled the same road.
Bethlehem – Photo courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, but she died after delivery, and Jacob buried her near Bethlehem (see Gen. 35:19). Rachel’s death foreshadowed the devastation that the territory of Benjamin would suffer in Jeremiah’s time: “Rachel is weeping for her children . . . because they are no more” (Jer. 31:15; see also Matt. 2:17-18).
Yet the prophecy found its final fulfillment in Jesus’ day, when Herod the Great slaughtered all baby boys in Bethlehem. So, at God’s direction, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to live until Herod’s death (Matt. 2:13-23).
Each movement of Jesus’ family finds its cause in God’s revelation to Joseph—fleeing Bethlehem to Egypt, returning from Egypt to Israel, avoiding Judea to settle in Galilee. God’s purposes for these moves lay first in the protection of His Son, but Matthew notes that each directive also fulfilled Scripture. Doubtless anyone but God saw beforehand the murky prophecies fulfilled by these geographic moves. But in hindsight, they become clear.
As we strain to see tomorrow with all its uncertainties, we can take comfort that our God sees the future as clearly as the past. He seldom gives us all we need in order to understand, but He always gives us all we need to obey. Eventually, we discover that in our simple obedience to God’s Word, He has guided us along paths far too complex for us to see at the time.
He leads us with His wise—but often unusual—directives, always rooted in Scripture, for our good and for His glory.
By application, consider this prayer:
Lord, tomorrow is unknown, but You are already there. While I often don’t understand Your leading, I honestly don’t want to go anywhere else. As with all years past, I know that You will provide, You will guide, and I will follow.
Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), p. 24. Used by permission. Bethlehem photo courtesy of BiblePlaces.com.
While the usual means of overland travel in the biblical world were walking or riding a donkey, horse, or camel, today we live in an age where 
getting around obstacles, traveling across great distances, and finding something to drink no longer prove a challenge. Our transportation system requires little more than a basic understanding of road signs and airline gates!
Teaching the Bible begins with studying and understanding the Bible. And within this discipline, evangelicals strongly believe in interpreting a passage in its context—a discipline that also includes its historical and geographical context. (Sometimes we forget that.)
Ministering in an age of images and sound-bytes, we often find ourselves following a marketing approach to the Great Commission. With an emphasis on communication over content—on methods over message—the church can succumb to expediency and miss many essentials needed for proper understanding and teaching of the Bible. Making disciples includes not only creatively introducing people to Jesus Christ, but teaching them all of God’s Word and obedience to it.
I have found that biblical geography provides a wonderful contribution to our understanding of Scripture. The more someone understands the land of the Bible, the more one understands the Bible itself. 
Its message is enabled to have a more profound impact on one’s spiritual life and ministry. It helps the passage come alive to a reader in a way he or she can see, feel, hear, and thus, more properly understand and apply. An even greater benefit can occur when one uses his or her understanding of historical geography to experience the land of the Bible first-hand through a trip to Israel. I have seen this proven true many times.
Some years ago I did an extensive study of the benefits of understanding and experiencing biblical geography. I discovered some startling results:
If you’re interested, you can read my complete study.
Need a quicker read? You can learn more about Bible lands study here, particularly on traveling to Israel, getting started with Bible lands study, and some recommended resources on Bible lands.
_________
Studying Bible lands has permanently marked my life and changed the way I understand the Scriptures. My experience is not unique.
I have videotaped a number of interviews with those who have both studied geography and also been to Israel. I hope this video encourages you personally to experience the Lands of the Bible for yourself . . . or at least to begin praying about the possibility. It’s worth it.
I love connecting the Bible and its lands to life. This is my personal blog where that happens. Here's some more about me . . .
WAYNE STILES
Hi, my name is Wayne Stiles, and I love connecting the Bible and its lands to life. This is my personal blog where that happens. My goal is to deliver practical content to encourage you in your relationship with God. I believe that a life lived well needs a growing and intentional connection with God through Jesus Christ. I write on the devotional life, Bible lands, understanding the Bible, and resources I have found helpful on these topics.
Here's some more about me ->
