I think a lot about the tug-of-war between our spirit and our soul. The Bible helps us understand that humans are made up of 3 major parts: body, soul, and spirit. Much like an egg that has a shell, a yolk, and egg white, each part is individual yet together make a whole. Our spirit, soul, and body make up ...

For all the mere moments we have before an audience, it is all the time alone with God that can add any substance to our message. Your audience might be your child, your spouse, a coworker, or a small group having coffee together. An audience is defined as gathered spectators or listeners. Who’s your audience?Better yet, what are they observing ...

Have you ever recognized a peculiar behavior in yourself and thought, “Where did that even come from?” I recently had a moment like that. I wasn’t raised in church so I don’t have a quote-unquote “religious” background. AND YET, my thoughts (mindset) can wander towards religious do’s and don’ts, and is God mad or disappointed in me, etc. Where does ...

I live in a community where a minimum of at least three languages are spoken fluently, and regularly. So on any given day, you might hear a conversation and have no idea what is being said. I think people sometimes feel this way about Christianity. Like, they hear us but don’t understand. And I think this can be just as ...

Agitating passions. Moral conflicts. I don’t know why these two phrases jumped off the page to me, other than they perfectly described what I was looking for help with. Agitating. Like a washing machine. The dictionary says it means to move or force into violent, irregular action. Or we could say, rolling something over and over to the point of ...

This is a question I’ve asked myself before. When life has extra projects going on, it can be a game-changer. But if you’ll pause and pay attention, I guarantee you’ll sense the grace and peace of God all around you. Instead of being stressed, you can look forward to tackling your projects. But be careful… busy seasons can change some otherwise ...

This article first appeared on The Christian Broadcasting Network | Have you ever had the thought, “What’s the point?” “What am I doing here?” “Is what I’m doing even making a difference?” I have to imagine you said yes. Who hasn’t wrestled with those thoughts? We can look back in time and find such questions being asked over two thousand ...

A lady in my church once told me, “Pastor Tod shouldn’t get upset if he sees us fall asleep in church. Some of us live in such chaos that we just can’t help but nod off in the peace and presence of God.” I laughed when she said this, but then realized how true it really was. Our world has become ...

I hope the title caught your attention! It did mine. I was recently meditating on Philippians 3 where Paul talks about counting everything as loss “for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8). And as I usually do, I read these passages in the Amplified, the Message, the New Living, and then opened the Passion Translation. I ...

Let’s talk about fruit. Can you imagine, if you were a fruit tree, what it must feel like to have your branches trimmed back or cut off altogether? Doesn’t sound like fun. But wait… the Bible says God’s children are designed to bear fruit, which means we can relate. But this also means when our branches aren’t producing as they should, the ...