Dead to Sin

My hero E. Stanley Jones once said, “As long as I am alive to God – alive to His suggestions, His urges, His leadings, His love – I am by that very expulsive fact dead to sin. The higher expels the lower. I don’t fight sin. I expel it by preoccupation with the Higher. Looking at Him I am spoiled […]

Understanding Jesus

A squirrel understands the internet as well as we understood Jesus in the beginning. Our condition and ability and awareness and understanding should all be improving consistently, though. If you are not pleased with the rate at which you are improving regarding knowing Jesus, your budget for the project may be too low. The price for drawing closer to Him […]

Surprise!

I am convinced that if you have not been surprised by something in the Scriptures lately, you should read them more. Today might be your day to be surprised for the first time by this part of David’s story: Now an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David […]

Missing Egypt

The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!” […]

Building His Ekklesia

One day, Jesus took His disciples North of the land Jews felt comfortable in, to Caesarea Philippi. There, still today, is a cliff with a pool of spring water before it called “the rock of the gods.” On the day Jesus led the field trip, the water was flowing from a cave, and was called a “gate of Hades.” Such […]

Eyes Wide Open

The king of Aram was enraged because of this matter, and he called his servants and demanded of them, “Tell me, which one of us is for the king of Israel?” One of his servants said, “No one, my lord the king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.” […]

Contentment

Some people are rich because of how many things they own. Some people are rich because of how few things they want. The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and […]

Consistency

I have been intending to play guitar for a bit more than a decade. By that, I mean that I have been working at it – learning chords, and how to tune it, and how to string it, and how to strum it. I don’t have much time to apply to the project, but because I spend at least 10 […]

Dissatisfaction

It is possible that the most deadly disease in the world is dissatisfaction. Disease even means dis-ease. If that is true, perhaps the strongest condition for all my faculties is satisfaction. The fear of Adonai leads to life; one who has it is satisfied and rests untouched by evil. (Proverbs 19:23 Complete Jewish Bible)

Pleasing God

Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Romans 8:8-9 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®) And those who are Christ’s have […]