When Christ came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as […]
Category Archives: Discipleship
The Ministry of Death
We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ: not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life. Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, […]
Your Faith is Great
In the story Matthew shared of Jesus blessing a Gentile woman in the area north of Israel one day, he quoted Jesus as saying to her that her faith was great. He didn’t comment on the object of her faith. I suggest that it was aimed at His character and His love, and not at His power. Your faith can aim there too, and also be full of great faith […]
Your Faith
In the 10th chapter of Mark’s Good News, he recorded Jesus’ making a trip through Jericho. On His way out of town, Jesus heard a blind man calling out to Him for mercy. He stopped and invited the man to come to Him. When Jesus was walking on the water to the disciples’ boat in Matthew 14, Peter asked for permission to join Him. Jesus replied, “Come!” In this case, […]
Death or Life
Please read Romans 8. Verse 6 says that a mind that is set on flesh is death. A mind that is set on spirit is life. Not that those mindsets lead to those ends – they ARE those ends. I can’t spend all of my time fighting death and find the result to be that I win life. I have to spend my time pursuing life, and by doing so, […]
Exalted Bondservants
Frank Bartleman was the resident intercessor in the Azusa Street Revival, which was a beginning of the Pentecostal movement in 1906. On May 1, 1904, he was present at the Lake Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Pasadena California when a revival began to break forth there. People had been praying that God would visit Pasadena. That night, Bartleman wrote, “God has always sought a humble people. He can use no […]
Ask Jesus
On one of the very few occasions when Jesus’ disciples asked Him what He was talking about when He said something, He explained the parable of the sower (Luke 8:9-15). He will explain things to you as you ask in faith, too. The soils in the parable were: trodden hard from much traffic; rocky; among thorns; good ground. Any of the soils could be converted to being good ground. The […]
Hunger and Humility
Two things Yahweh rewards happily are the conditions of hunger and humility. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The son who wanted his inheritance early and wasted it hungered for the meals and liberties of his home and therefore returned to his father. Yahweh gave Israel bread from Heaven for their hunger. Yahweh leads the humble in what is right; He teaches them His way. Though […]
Songs of Victory
After seeing their God do one more great work of delivering them and destroying their enemies, Israel changed their tune. At least for one afternoon. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, ” I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, […]
He Said, They Said
What Yahweh said to Moses: Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and […]