Computer games are sometimes structured in levels of difficulty and advancement. Your skill then is measured or scored by the number of levels you have accessed. I am anxious to get to the levels of Kingdom action Jesus talked about in Matthew 17. One is having enough faith to be able to do ANYTHING (verse 20). Another is finding access to His provision even in situations where it isn’t really […]
Author Archive: Douglas Thomas
Where’s Justice?
Some of the ideas that get juggled about in thoughts of justice are judgement, punishment, liberty, and mercy. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3 & Genesis 15:6). If righteousness could come through the Law given to Moses and the Jews, Jesus died in vain (Galatians 2:21) Since righteousness is not properly discerned though obedience to rules and regulations, how is it found? Right […]
Courage to Inherit
I believe one of the reasons we don’t see cowardly people inheriting the Kingdom in Scripture is because we have to have courage or we don’t “overcome.” The overcomers inherit. The courageous share the teaching or the prophecy or host the gathering or confront the evil or encourage the broken or empower the learners. The courageous also make mistakes. They also learn from mistakes. They start again after mistakes. Be […]
Seasonal Generosity
One person asks another person for something on December 15th. The second person replies, “Well, I wouldn’t normally, but since it’s Christmas…” We’re nice to people on their birthdays when we wouldn’t give them anything on another day. Especially our birthday. Social pressure requires generosity at times and seasons, and liberates us from any responsibility at other times. In the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s always appropriate to be generous. You […]
A Worthy Walk
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; […]
Being Motivated
I measure maturity by how quickly a person responds to a situation with an answer that is influenced by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). I believe that our motivation to work and to service progresses through stages until we are finally moved to respond to opportunities by the power of the Spirit – manifesting the fruit of His influence. First, and farthest from maturity, is the motivation that […]
Being Loved 5
John 21:14-19 (NKJV) This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second […]
Being Loved 4
Recently I made a mistake buying a bag of dog feed. Haste made waste. I looked at the breakdown of percentages of protein, fat, etc, but I forgot to check the ingredients. The previous bags were purchased at a discount when the local K-Mart was going out of business. They were expensive because they were primarily chicken. The puppy liked them a lot. The recent bag was mostly corn. The […]
Being Loved 3
The deepest, most powerful physical contact combines a manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit that is agape and the fruit of the Spirit that is faith. When the apostles laid their hands on the 7 young Hellenistic believers who were going to be assigned the responsibility of taking care of daily provision to Hellenistic widows, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to supernatural works, and filled with the […]
Being Loved 2
Need a hug? If so, why? What does a hug do for you, to make you want one, or more so, need one? Being touched by someone is powerful in many ways. Being touched by restaurant servers increases the tips that customers leave. At two informal restaurants, waitresses had assigned to them customers who were randomly divided into three categories. Some customers were not touched at all, others were touched […]