Religious people rarely experience freedom. Disciplined people frequently know freedom. Religion teaches us that we must make our own way, and hold our own line, and fear of failure keeps us engaged. Discipline teaches us that we must stay ready – for our God to bless us, and use us, and lead us to overcome our pasts and […]
It is difficult to act happy when we are sad and lonely. It is just as difficult to act sad when we are ridiculously happy. Why, then, is it so easy to act dark when we are light? Once, you were darkness. Now, you are light. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these […]
One evening long ago I was standing behind a pulpit. I was planning to speak to a congregation about the power of forgiveness. As I read the Scripture I was planning to expound on, the Scripture suddenly meant something different than what it meant in my mind when I planned my talk. The Scripture that changed in my mind […]
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the goodness and love for man appeared from God our Savior, He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by […]
When we are learning about Jesus, we can sort ourselves into different categories of knowing Him. Some categories are not very lively – If I learn the Scriptures so I can pass catechism or the new members course, I receive a reward from men. If I learn the Scriptures so that I may know Jesus better, I receive a reward […]
Five times in his letter to the congregations in Ephesus, Paul used a word that has been translated into English as “heavenly places” (NKJV), “heavenly” (HCSB), or “heaven” (CJB). The word could be translated very literally as “above the sky.” In Ephesians 1:20, our Father exalted Jesus from the dead to seat Him at His right hand in the heavens. […]
The wilderness we are living through the influences of is a place of education and preparation and testing and proving and encouraging and clarifying and, most importantly, a place where we are sure to be in the presence of Jesus: They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual […]
Rejoice always!Pray constantly.Give thanks in everything,for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.Don’t stifle the Spirit.Don’t despise prophecies,but test all things.Hold on to what is good.Stay away from every form of evil.Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our […]
When I was young, I was easily angered and difficult to influence for good. Selfish, deceitful, vengeful, undesirable. When I became a believer at 22, I was still quite the same person I had been at 8. About two years later, I studied Paul’s letter to the congregations in what we now call Turkey: Galatia. When I got to chapter […]
If you ever struggle to add a new discipline to your life, such as reading more, or resting more, or eating better or watching better videos, the strength to make the change and make it last is in surrendering to the Spirit as you request His help in the matter. He is already working in you, or you would not […]