Gifts & Strengths

Your gifts and strengths won't be of much benefit to God or anyone else if you fail to deal with your weaknesses.

Revival Defined

Revival must result in reform - or it is merely an expression of enthusiasm (which can fade quickly).

Arrogance

There is an incompatibility between blind arrogance and the presence of God in our lives. When God's presence is truly embraced, there is no room for pride - because He always makes us aware of our true selves. This is why those who know God are never more aware of their brokenness and desperate need of a Savior.

Worldliness

Worldliness is an internal disease of the heart. It has three dominant characteristics.

1. Lust for physical pleasure - preoccupation with gratifying physical desires with food, sex, alcohol, massages, entertainment, etc.
2. Lust for what we see - accumulating things.
3. Pride in our possessions - obsession with one's importance.

Unfortunately, the Bible warns us about our lust and our pride.

When Satan tempted Eve (Genesis 3:6) and when he tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11), these were the three areas of attack. Can we expect that Satan has changed his strategy since the days of Eve or Jesus?

Pure Heart

When the Holy Spirit works to purify a heart He always gives self-control in area of speech. We become able to control our tongue. (James 3:9-12) And when a man can control his tongue, he will find self control in other areas of his life as well.

Spiritual Maturity

As spiritual maturity grows, the need to express my faith through buying Christian shirts, jewelry, key chains, candles, pictures and other materials - has diminished greatly. To some extent this has even been true for my need to buy worship CD's. And to think --- I used to assume that buying those things was a sign of my spiritual maturity!

Faith in Truth

We should never let intellectual agreement be our substitute for genuine faith grounded in truth. It is the difference between knowing of God or truly knowing God.

Doing God's Work

When you are doing God's work you are likely to face many obstacles. From what are supposed to be God's people though, come some of the most hurtful attacks. Expect them. don't be surprised if even your integrity and character come under attack. Most importantly, don't be deceived - what others say and what you feel aren't always true.

Useful To God

There are two ways that you can become useful to God. First - be a person in regular (daily) communication with Him. Give Him your thoughts and feelings. Let Him give you His. Second - be a person who walks with God. find ways to put into practical application what you learn from His Word.

True Worship

True worship of God is really rare on earth. We tend to think that lots of music and singing equals worship. What it equals is noise. Our notion of "good people" seems to blind us to the truth of our own disobedience, idolatry and other other evil ways that both grieve and anger the Lord. It is not possible, no matter how great the music or how loud the voices, to truly worship God while at the same time grieving and angering Him with our lives.

Faithful People

If the faithful would remain faithful, even more could become faithful. It takes faithful people to produce faithful people. So even a remnant of faithful people - even one single faithful person - can produce other faithful people.

The problem is that too many of us are only faithful in some things or at some times. Being consistently faithful would produce the most fruit. Yet consistent faith, lived out, may be the thing that eludes most Christians!

Education vs. Transformation

It is good to be educated about the Bible and what it teaches. But that education will never provide transformation. For that, I must allow the Holy Spirit to lead me through the Scriptures and reveal their truths to me. Only through the leading of the Holy Spirit can I become a different person in Christ.

Understand Evil

To understand evil, one must first understand God.

God Himself is good. (Psalm 11:7)
God created a world that fell due to man's sin. (Romans 5:12)
God will recreate the world - without evil. (Revelation 21:1)
God is stronger than evil. (Matthew 13:41-43 & Revelation 19:11-21)
God controls evil and helps us overcome it. (Matthew 11:28-30)
God uses everything for His good purposes. (Genesis 50:23 & Romans 8:28)

When we are blinded by envy or hatred (forms of evil), it is impossible to see our own sin.

God Rules

God rules over all the earth and universe. He rules even over those who don't acknowledge Him. Ironically, He even rules over those who don't know that He rules!

Bad Sin

All sin is bad. But sin that leads others astray is the worst of all.

Remembering God

Being mindful of God's past provision and protection is the best way to enable us to see His present provision.

What has God done for you in the past? How has He provided for you? How has He been there for you?

Sin & Hell

Choose to live alone apart from God is really just making a commitment to sin. If I don't intentionally choose to live a godly life, then - by default, I am choosing to live an ungodly life!

Popular Preaching

Preachers are popular when they don't ask much of us. They're also popular when they tell us that our greed, lust, or selfishness may even be good. (This is called rationalizing.) But a true teacher of God speaks the truth regardless of what the listeners want to hear.

What kind of listener are you? What kind of preachers are you drawn to?

Unholy Alliances

An unholy alliance (relationship) is an uneasy one because each party puts his or her own interests first. Each party in the relationship will focus on what the other is doing or not doing, what seems "fair," etc. This is a recipe for a very toxic relationship.

Problems As A Way of Life?

In John 5, there is the story of a man who had been disabled for 38 years. Jesus ran across this man and asked him if he wanted to get well. What a strange question to ask! Then Jesus told the man to get up and pick up his mat and walk. (He had just been healed.) Now when the man did get up and realized he'd been healed, Jesus told him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning ..." Again, what a strange thing for Jesus to say. Or is it?

After 38 years, the man's problem had become a way of life. No one had ever helped him. He had no hope of ever being healed. So when God actually did heal him - what was his predisposition? He only knew one way to live. Jesus told him not to live it. Sometimes God's healing doesn't actually change our behaviors. We have to change them apart from the healing.

Whom God Calls

Jesus said very emphatically in John 6 that no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws them to Himself. This is very puzzling for many people. How should we understand it?

When someone chooses to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior (the Messiah), he or she does so only in response to the urging of God's Holy Spirit. God does the urging; then we decide whether or not to respond to Him. It's really just that simple.

Belief in Christ is not natural. It is supernatural. And none of us has the ability to believe unless we've had this urging or drawing or calling of the Holy Spirit to do so. In other words, no one is pre-disposed to believe unless the Holy Spirit Himself pre-disposes them.

God's Will

Many sincere seekers for God are puzzled about what He wants them to do. The religions of the world are people's attempts to answer this question.

But the answer is really simple - and without religion. We must believe on Him whom God has sent. Satisfying God does not come from what we do, but from whom we believe. The first step involves accepting Jesus as who He says He is. (He is God.) All spiritual development is built on this affirmation.

Perhaps the only question that really remains is what people who believe do.

Believer vs. Disciple

An acquaintance e-mailed me last week and ask me to explain the complex differences between a believer in Jesus Christ and a disciple of Jesus Christ. To me, the answer couldn't be more simple.

Even the demons believe in Jesus Christ. So being a believer in Jesus only puts one on par with the demons. But a true disciple willingly obeys Jesus Christ. That is something the demon will never do!

Character Reflections

A person's thoughts and plans (or dreams), including daydreams, are a good reflection of his or her true character. What do you think about that?

Effective Prayer

Effective prayer, we're told in the Bible, has at least five (5) key components:

1. Praise or adoration - recognizing who God really is
2. Thanksgiving or gratitude - acknowledging what God has done
3. Confession & repentance - recognizing who I really am and what I've done
4. Specific requests - stating what it is that I want God to do for me
5. Commitment - submitting my requests and desires to His will

Ironically, heartfelt prayer usually clarifies three things:

1. Whatever problems or challenges I may be facing become much more clear to me
2. God's great power and willingness to help me become much more clear to me
3. My God-given purpose and the steps I must take to live it become clearer

When God's people pray effectively, difficult decisions fall into their proper perspective - and appropriate actions follow.

So what, you say, if that's not what's happening in my prayer life? Then you should examine your prayer life and make some changes. Who would want to pray ineffectively!

What'll Keep

Everything that is worthless and sinful will ultimately be destroyed in God's wrath. Only what is good, dedicated to God and righteous will be saved. Which camp do I live in?

Timeless Faith

It's easy to define faith. But it's a much taller order to live it. Faith means resting in what Christ has already done for us. But it also means trusting Him for what He will do for us both in the present and in the future. For my faith to be relevant, my confidence in Christ must be timeless.

Living Laws

God's laws live in us - written on our hearts. The Holy Spirit reminds us of them, activates our conscience, and influences our motives and desires. He makes us want to obey God. this is why, for a true Christian, doing God's will is something we desire - not dread or regret.

God's Point

We miss the point of God's Word when we read His rules for living in the Bible without trying to understand why He made those rules. Scripture is to be wrestled with. Without the wrestling - there is often too little understanding. You see, He isn't a god of rules. Rather He is a god of purpose. His rules have purposes, and if we miss those purposes, then we most likely miss God's point.

Sanctification

Have you ever thought much about sanctification? Random House dictionary defines it as a process to be made holy, set apart as sacred, to purify or free from sin, to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing. So what does that really look like? it is the process of moving toward holiness and righteousness --- and away from ungodliness and sinfulness. It is not the state of being without sin ... until it is completed.

So all Christians or Christ-followers generally know that we are in the process of sanctification. All too easily though, we lose sight of the fact that those who are in the process of sanctification are also not without sin. No, we are moving away from sinfulness and ungodliness --- and moving toward righteousness and holiness. But until this process of sanctification is completee --- we aren't there.

Wisdom's Children

Jesus said in Luke 7:35 that "... wisdom is proved right by her children."

What do you suppose He meant by that? I think that most of us want wisdom to be respected in the moment. We assume that because wisdom is good and right, it will get the respect and approval that it deserves. But I think Jesus was telling us that wisdom isn't usually proven to be wisdom until it bears fruit. So it would seem that wisdom cannot be right in the moment. Only time --- and the fruit of wisdom --- will prove that it was truly wisdom in the first place.