It’s a very odd contrast that we are called both to take up our crosses (or some fresher method of accessing our deaths) daily, but also be the most joyful creatures in the universe. Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares […]
Sit still and think of at least two evidences that your life is currently proving the power of the cross of Jesus to the people who witness it. Pray over that power to be effective in their lives through your life. For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being […]
The entire law is summed up in one instruction: love your neighbor as you love yourself… Galatians 5:14 This oughta be a piece of cake!
E. Stanley Jones once wrote, “It is easier to live yourself into right thinking than it is to think yourself into right living.” For us to be able to walk in righteousness, our goal needs to be set at a much higher target than merely right and wrong or good and evil. The map to righteousness can be found in […]
When the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been in Egypt for 400 years, Yahweh sent a deliverer. The process of deliverance included slaughtering a lamb and smearing its blood over the doorpost of each home where someone lived who could believe the instructions Yahweh gave them through Moses. Just the shedding of the blood was not enough. It […]
A condition of drought causes some trees to stop producing hormones that cause stem or leaf or blossom growth, and focus on making hormones that make roots grow. It is a design from the Maker of the universe – tough times should be flipping switches in our lives that make us stronger drinkers from the fountain of Life. After that […]
Answering insults and accusations and arguments and unjust demands with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) might make us so strong that we can walk away from encounters with people who are demanding a fight with smiles on our faces, peace and joy and love in our hearts, and no sense of loss, no matter what our detractors are […]
It is a good thing to desire good doctrine. Truth is both valuable and powerful in many ways. Jesus is the Truth. He is also the Way and the Life. When you learn truth, it is easy to settle into a mode of amassing knowledge. Even if the knowledge is about Jesus, if it is only information, it might be […]
If you rebel against the the King of Heaven by refusing the assignment the King has given you in life, you are rebelling against your own value, your own identity, your own purpose. If you rebel against your true identity and purpose in life, you are rebelling against the King of Heaven. (Romans 6:17-23) It doesn’t matter whether you are […]
I have become convinced that when Jesus looks at His body, He sees its shape and systems and alignments very differently than our congregation-based, your-name-is-on-our-roll-or-you’re-not-a-member-of-the-church view. I am impressed by the prophetic view Paul revealed in a word to the believers in Ephesus (chapter 4) of a mature ekklesia who is no longer suffering from a lack of unity regarding […]