Chippewa Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church

08/28/2026

When we lose hope, dark clouds of despair hang over our heads. The future appears gloomy and everything about tomorrow uncertain. But hope leads us from what is to what can be. It paints tomorrow in an array of bright colors. It lifts our spirits from the mud below to the heavens above.

Ana Jacob put it beautifully when she wrote, "The wings of hope carry us, soaring high above the driving winds of life."

William Shakespeare added, "The miserable have no other medicine but only hope."

Hope is not some wishy-washy, vague longing for a better future. It is not baseless desire or an uncertain expectation with no real certainty or assurance. In the ancient Scriptures hope is a strong, confident expectation based on the unchangeable promises of God with the certainty that the thing you hope for will be accomplished.

From: Hope Beyond Tomorrow
Author: Mark Finley

07/17/2026

The Bible is a book filled with hope. Its stories are about people like you and me. Sometimes they were strong and conquered mightily for God. At other times they were weak and failed miserably, but in each of these instances God was there to give them hope to face tomorrow. The word “hope” is used more than 125 times in the Bible. The apostle Paul, who faced so many challenging situations, used it more than 40 times. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned, yet he was filled with hope. Writing to his friends living in Rome, he declared, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). As we place our hope in a God who is bigger than any problem we ever face, our hearts are filled with “joy and peace in believing.” The confidence that there is a God who loves us beyond what we can ever understand fills us with hope.

From: Hope for Troubled Times
Author: Mark Finley

06/20/2026

Happy Sabbath! Here is a reminder that Wisconsin Camp Meeting has a YouTube channel where you can catch live presentations and recordings of any you've missed.

Over 150 years of Camp Meetings every summer to worship Jesus Christ. WI Camp Meeting History: https://wi.adventist.org/timeline-of-wisconsin-camp-meeting-locations/ © 1928 - 2025 Wisconsin Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

06/19/2026

People will let you down. God never will. Whatever your past, however much you change, God remains the same and seeks to save you. From Him come all good gifts. “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17; cf. Hebrews 13:8).

That last part is crucial. We tend to vacillate, morally and otherwise. But with God “there is no variation or shadow of turning.” His goodness is constant. This is wonderful news! “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). Likewise, Psalm 100:5 declares, “The Lord is good; His mercy [hesed] is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”

Accordingly, “the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever” (Psalm 117:2, NRSV). Even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) and His promises are unbreakable (Hebrews 6:17, 18; cf. Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 25:1).

From: God’s Love and Justice
Author: John C. Peckham

06/15/2026

Hannah gave her son to the Lord before she knew she could get pregnant. She vowed, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11).

The manner in which Hannah prayed awes me: “Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard” (verse 13). When accused of drunkenness, she respectfully told her accuser, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord” (verse 15).

What does it mean to “pour out” one’s soul before the Lord? I picture Hannah praying with the “earnestness and intensity” described in this sentence from Christ’s Object Lessons: “When with earnestness and intensity we breathe a prayer in the name of Christ, there is in that very intensity a pledge from God that He is about to answer our prayer ‘exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.’ Eph. 3:20.”

Would that we had tens of thousands of Hannahs in the church today! And Marys too. Mary’s prayer, often called the Magnificat, has an amazing quality. That ten-verse prayer (Luke 1:46–55) contains eighteen expressions from the Old Testament. It has been compared to Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2:1–10.

From: Great Prayers and Pray-ers of the Bible
Author: Joe Engelkemier

06/08/2026

There is much in our world that can make us afraid. As we look back and read the accounts of peoples and nations in the past, we see that there has been much in world history that has made people afraid in their respective times and places. Among these, the first few verses of Psalm 46 describe upheaval in the natural world–things like earthquakes and landslides, storms and tsunamis. It is similar to the language that Jesus used in describing the fearful events in the world at the end of time: “On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea” (Luke 21:25).

That this was a reality written about in the poetry of ancient Israel, in the teachings of Jesus, and in His expectation of the end times reminds us that our world has been much less stable than we often imagine and that disasters of different kinds have been experienced in all societies across history. They have been something that all people have had to reckon with, live with, and try to explain across human history. People have had to find ways to live well amid the uncertainties of our planet and its sometimes destructive forces.

While Jesus seemed to indicate that there would be a greater intensity of natural and unnatural disasters as the time of His return neared, these are not new experiences for human beings. We can learn from the faith of our spiritual ancestors, who encountered these unnerving phenomena themselves yet found refuge and strength in the same God we follow and serve today. These psalmists would insist that, in the midst of seemingly ever-present trouble, we have an “ever-present help,” so we will not fear.

From: Do Not Be Afraid
Author: Nathan Brown

05/29/2026

Many prayers, even though disguised in a pious cloak, are in the final analysis based on wrong motives. And if I do not get what I am asking for right away, I intensify my prayer and pray even harder. But actually, my prayers often center only around myself. They speak about what I wish to have. What I want to receive from God. Sometimes even in His name.

Prayer that is pleasing to God is focused on God. It begins with a personal communion with Him, not with my wishes and requests. It is not about following specific religious formulas or adhering to specific prayer techniques that are supposed to guarantee the fulfillment of my wishes. Prayer that pleases God has Him at the center and relates to Him. When my request, even my intercessory prayer, is not anchored in this living relationship with Him, it relates more to my wishes and my well-being than to God and His will. Without this living friendship with God, my prayer resembles more the operation of a divine prayer machine: I feed in my prayer requests at the top and take out my granted wishes at the bottom.

Prayer that pleases God frees my thinking from revolving around the “I.” It allows me to become honest with myself and with God. In the light of His love and His holiness, I begin to see myself differently. Gently I move toward the true purpose of prayer: not the fulfillment of my wishes but the relationship with the life-changing God. To pray in this way fills my life with the knowledge that He is the center of my life. My thoughts and wishes are in accordance with Him.

From: Longing For God
Author: Frank M. Hasel, PhD

05/01/2026

So many of us have failed to fully appreciate the treasure of free will. Like sleepy, fat dogs, we live by impulse, feeling, and momentary comfort. But while we sleep, the consequences multiply like fleas, and we pay a dear price in lost opportunities and wasted talents. I often ask people, “How is this working for you?” The answer almost never varies from “Terrible.” What we sow, we reap. As I see it, we pay sooner or later for our choices; we might as well pay up front by putting up with a little self-denial. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). This could be translated as, “Don’t make your wills stubborn.” You’ve heard His voice. Don’t harden your heart; don’t make your will stubborn. Come to know Him. Give Him your will. Learn by doing. Enjoy the better life God has for you.

From: 13 Weeks To Peace
Author: Jennifer Jill Schwirzer