As Christians, we know God has called us to reflect Him to the world and to each other in love, kindness, strength, peace, and so forth. We could say, it’s expected. Not that it’s always easy, but for the most part, we understand these expectations. So I understand that my decision to choose love, have patience, forgive others (and myself), ...
Are you a note-taker? Do you like to write in journals? I realize not everyone is, but I stumbled on something that made me pause and think, wow I think we’ve missed the real power of this. Let me explain. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, his purpose was to encourage his young protege as he led one of the ...
We become what we believe about ourselves– not what others say, or even what God says, but what we say and believe about the person reflected in our mirror. Do you know the verse that explains this? Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” This isn’t a hard principle to understand. Even Jesus said, ...
Deeply or sincerely felt. As I read through a handful of prayer requests, I was reminded of a verse in the Book of James: “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16, AMPC). Heartfelt. I don’t know the origin of this word but its very descriptive, isn’t it? Just ...
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 ...