When I was in my early twenties, and recently saved, I was bombarded with negative thoughts and emotions. And being a new Christian, I didn’t realize for some time that God had actually equipped me to resist the onslaught of the enemy whose only goal was to keep me ignorant and weak. But over time, I gained knowledge of the ...
During a special ministry meeting, where the theme was “Prepare for Success,” one of the words shared by our guest speaker was frazzled. I had a good idea what frazzled meant. In fact, there have been many times I probably could have volunteered for the picture in the dictionary, but the definition I heard that night has continued to open my eyes. She said it ...
When you think about it, emotions are an interesting attribute of our human make-up. And yet, God saw it fit to equip us with these feelings that influence our behavior. Emotions cause us to laugh, cry, yell, and sigh. They produce giggles, sobs, joy, and peace. And if we’re honest, some emotions are attached to sin– and yet God uses ...
Ok, so in Christians circles you hear this said a lot: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” In fact, I’m one to bring it up pretty often myself. But let’s read it in context because there’s more to this than we might realize. [Jesus said] “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else ...
The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We could say these are character traits of our God. In other words, you can be assured that as a good Father, God’s thoughts and actions toward you will always line up to these characteristics. So, in taking this ...
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 It’s good to put ourselves in remembrance that we are not alone. And specifically, we’ve been reminded that because God has chosen our hearts to be His home on this earth, we need to always be more God-Inside-Minded. So why is He with us? Well, besides the fact that He loves us ...
In Part One, we said, “Our lives aren’t small, but we might be living small.” In other words, Christ isn’t small. On the contrary, He is magnificent! And surprisingly, He chose to make our hearts His home. So what does this say about us? Concerning this very thing, Paul tried his best to shake the Corinthians into thinking and seeing ...
“…and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23). God with us. What an amazing revelation! With all the paintings and descriptions of God on His throne, we tend to have an image of God as someone far up and far off. The Bible describes Him as the “King of Glory” because His dwelling ...
The Apostle Paul might have answered this question best when he said: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify” (1 Corinthians 10:23). The Amplified Bible says it this way: “All things are legitimate [permissible–and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things ...
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In three different accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we find Jesus explaining the parable of the sower: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as ...
Part 1 | Part 2 Satan has been defeated, but he doesn’t want Christians to know it. So our enemy, the devil, roams about looking for whom he may devour– and that “whom” is whoever doesn’t know his tricks and strategies. They are perfect prey for attack. In part one, we started looking at some of Satan’s devices because it’s ...
I was an 80’s girl. As a senior in high school, I chanted with my peers, “We’re gonna party like it’s 1999” and in 1987, future years like “1999” and “2000” seemed like a time-warp to the space age. But here we are, beginning 2018, and those space-age years are nothing more than history now. Thankfully, my understanding changed quite ...
My recent post, I Think Myself Happy, is still rolling around in my spirit. Unless you study the scriptures more fully, you might have the impression Paul found contentment and joy by only “thinking” happy thoughts. This isn’t true. Paul said, “I think…” which we learned meant to command with official authority. Well, you can’t command something by only thinking ...
What amazes me about this story most is what Paul said first. When permitted to speak, he stepped forward and declared, "I think myself happy, King Agrippa..." (Acts 26:2). ...
I know the title is a bit gross, but you immediately had a mental picture didn’t you? I don’t think I need to explain what vomit is, but I might need to explain why Jesus used this terminology. Both Matthew and Mark recorded Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees when His disciples were questioned about why they didn’t wash their hands ...