Great Prayers

Are your prayers a cry for help to make it through stressful situations? Great leaders in the bible (such as King David) prayed not merely for rescue from trouble. They asked God for victory. With God's help, we can claim more than just survival. We can claim victory. What are you asking God for today?

Blocked Comments

NOTICE: Because of the proliferation of insincere and inauthentic comments (i.e., someone wishing to sell their crap through MY blog), I have decided to stop publishing comments or making them accessible to the public. That is unfortunate for those who wanted to use this feature for sincere dialogue. For now, they will have to resort to directly e-mailing me.

Church Mandate

The Christian church should be exemplified by order and right living. Christians are to be self-disciplined as individuals, and they must be orderly as people who form one body, the church. We must live upright lives, obey our governments, and control our speech. We should live together peacefully in the church and be living examples of our faith to contemporary society around us. It has been said, we may be the only Jesus that some people ever see.

On Faith

Faith has been defined in many ways. The most popular definition seems to be something like "hope in things not seen." But true faith is really much simpler --- and more divine than that. True faith is just confident trust in God's promises.

God is Great

If we really believe that God is great, then we cannot help but tell others about this great God of ours. The best witnessing occurs when our hearts are full of gratitude to God - and our minds are full of excitement about God.

Discipline

No discipline is ever enjoyable. It is usually painful. But it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (See Hebrews 12:11.) What have I done with the discipline I have received? Have I actually been trained by it?

God's Will

We often want to know God's will for our lives. And we want our work to reflect His permanence (i.e., to have eternal value). Our desire to see our work establish a lasting impact is actually placed there by God Himself. But that desire can only be satisfied in eternity. Until then, we must apply to today's work with our minds on God's purposes ... which are for all eternity.

United With Christ

Whenever we are truly united with Christ, life takes on both immediate and eternal dimensions. Do you know what those dimensions are?

God's Character

God's character can be summarized by righteousness, justice, love and faithfulness. Those same qualities or attributes should summarize our character too!

Big Person

You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him (or her).

God Calls

God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called.

Better Pastor

If a church wants a better pastor, the best thing to do is to pray earnestly for the one it has.

God's Place

When you get to your wit's end, you'll find that God lives there. Ironically, your wit's end can only be reached when you don't get what you want. And there you find God.

Serving God

Many folks want to serve God. But most of them only want to serve as advisers.

Promising God

What was the last promise that you made to God? How much progress have you made toward fulfilling it? The Bible says we are not to make vows to God or anyone else lightly. That is because God takes them seriously. He expect us to take them just as seriously - and fulfill them.

Self Worth

We have value because we are God's children. We are His chosen people. His choice creates our value. We have worth because of what God does - and not because of what we do.

Righteous & Prosperous

Since righteous people are not always prosperous we are to regard adversity as discipline from God - and not despise it. (See Proverbs 3:11-12). We often think of discipline as punishment - but they are not the same thing. An athlete who trains well experiences adversity, pain and usually some suffering. We say he is a disciplined athlete though - and we understand that it leads to his success as an athlete. In the same way, God cares deeply about our development. The adversity that He allows in our lives is meant to train us. In that way we experience God's discipline - which is crucial to our success.

Arrogance

There is an incompatibility between blind arrogance and the presence of God. Proud people tend to depend on themselves instead of God. This causes God's guiding influences to leave their lives. When God's presence is welcome, there is no room for pride or arrogance. He makes us aware of our true selves (and of course He apposes the proud).

Wise People

Are you a wise person? You can tell by how you respond to criticism. A fool will have a quick retort - to defend, rationalize, justify, blame or deflect. But a wise one will listen and evaluate the merits of the rebuke (even with prayer).

Love & Faithfulness

Love and faithfulness are important character qualities. They're not just the basis for relationships. Both involve actions as well as attitudes. A love person acts loyally and responsibly. A faithful person not only believes the truth, but also works for what is right. Our lives reveal whether we are truly loving and faithful.

Living for Yourself

When enough people live for themselves with little concern for how their actions and choices affect others, the resulting moral rot contaminates the entire society (or nation). Put another way, the "me generation" had definite consequences for society.

God's Blessings

The greater the presence of righteousness (obedience to God), the clearer the examples of God's blessings. This principle works equally in the life of a nation, church or individual. The more we first seek God's righteousness and His kingdom, the more we will see everything else taken care of by God. (See Matthew 6:25-33).

Spiritual Vision

Spiritual vision is our capacity to see clearly what God wants us to do - and to see the world from His perspective. But self-serving desires, interests and goals cloud that vision. Serving God is the best way to restore it.

So what can you do to sharpen your spiritual vision today?

Sin Patterns

Habitual sin patterns are usually more about who we are or what we believe than what we do. So many of us focus on a particular struggle such as sin such as over indulging (food, alcohol, etc.) or whatever other sin pattern we have. But the real solution is to be found in who we are and what we really believe.

For example, people don't keep overeating because they believe it will kill them. They keep doing it because they believe it will make them feel better. And they've decided that's the most important thing at that moment.

Secret of Joy

There is a secret to true joy that we each must discover. It is found only in God. True joy is much deeper than happiness. And we can have true joy regardless of our circumstances. Happiness tends to be based on present circumstances. But joy is based on truth. God's presence within us is the basis for that truth.

We deceive ourselves when we measure our happiness by our contentment in life with our accomplishments, material possessions, or other circumstances. The true measure of happiness is the joy and contentment that is found in God's love and in doing His will ... living life on God's terms.

God Revealed

As God reveals Himself through creation, we learn of his power and of our own finiteness. As God reveals Himself through Scripture, we learn of His holiness and of our own sinfulness. As God reveals Himself through relationship, we learn of His gracious forgiveness and of our own redemption.

Humbled Before the Lord

Sometimes we must be humbled before we will look up and really see the Lord with our hearts and souls. We already know in our minds that He is there. But we usually must be defeated in some way before we can have the ultimate humility that is required for the victory that is God's will for our lives.

Faith Defined

Faith is more than just believe in certain facts. It must result in action - or it isn't faith. Further, faith must display the character of Christ - or it isn't faith. There must be evidence of faith in moral discipline - or the faith isn't there in the first place.

Disagreements

Price is a key ingredient in every quarrel - over anything. It stirs up conflict and divides people. Conversely, reconciliation is never possible unless the pride can be overcome.

Confessing Sin

Our confession of sin must be continual because we continue to do wrong. But true confession requires us to listen to God and to want to stop doing what is wrong. We must agree with God about what is wrong. We may not remember every sin we have committed in our lives in each day. But our attitude should be one of confession, repentance and obedience.