One of the blessings Jesus gave us was the direct access to God. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can be made right with God. Hence, we are welcome to draw near to God. Our sins have been and will be forgiven so we can boldly approach God. There’s nothing that can ever separate us from God but us. If we do not draw near to God, we will miss out all the good things. We can choose to stay away…
Wednesday night I was teaching a class about how faith can help us in tough times. While I was teaching I realized how much we really miss out if we keep on making excuses for why we are not getting to know God better. God can be everything we ever need and more. Yet, we prefer to struggle on our own. Why is that? It’s our loss for sure. But, also, living that way does not prepare us to heaven…
Life is complicated, isn’t it? When you feel you’re getting hang of it, something happens and everything changes and you’re once again trying to cope. You don’t know how long you will live either. Life sure is unpredictable. When you’re young, life seems endless but the older you get, the shorter life seems to become. What to do then? How do you handle aging? Is death something that will take away all your fun or could it be something more…
Sometimes Christians seek God for the gifts and blessings God gives to his children. But God is so much more than his lavish gifts. Sometimes we get way more excited about doing things for God than being with God. Yet only by being in God’s presence, we are at our best. Only by being in God’s presence, we bloom. And only by being in God’s presence, we are truly happy. In Your presence is fullness of joy. (Psalm 16:11, AMP)…
What’s your life story? Are you happy with how you’re life is going? All our life stories are different and all our stories have chapters that are lighter than others. But are you generally happy how your life has turned out? Have you achieved what you’ve set out to achieve? Reasonably well, I believe. Yet, too often we overlook something when we plan out our lives. There is a way to live a life greater than you. It might not…
Do you have a lot of questions about life and faith? Are they keeping you away from God or are they bringing you closer to him? Don’t fight your questions, give them to God. He will answer them when you’re ready. Meanwhile, embrace your questions, live them and praise God in advance for answering you when the time is right. Instead of worrying about the answers, use your time more usefully: spend time in God’s presence. That’s from where all…
Do you live too much in the past? Is it hard for you to move on and leave the past – its ups and downs – behind you? It’s harder than many of us think but it is possible. We all have things in our past that we’d like to disappear. But that’s not going to happen. What to do then? How can we leave the past behind? How to leave the past behind First of all, deal with your…
Christian faith needs to be personal but it’s not meant to isolate us from others. We are members of the body of Christ, not our own entities. As J.B. Phillips points out “Christianity is not a religion at all but a way of life, a falling in love with God, and through him a falling in love with our fellows.” We have the privilege to be God’s beloved children. But all the love we receive from God is meant to…
Here are some observations on the Apostle Paul’s spiritual growth. It was not something flashy or quick; it took a lifetime. And the end result was not something the world thinks was necessarily that great. Paul started to talk less about him and more of Christ. He became more aware of his short comings and his perpetual need of grace. His spiritual growth was not up but down. Deeper into God’s grace. This is spiritual growth, folks I’ve got three different…
I love God for many reasons but one of my favorite things is the fact that he guides me. It’s not just talking. You see, it really happens whether we realize it or not. We are not alone in this world. God is with us and he is ready to help us. The best guide in the world wants to connect the dots for us. And Jesus does not just show us the way. He is the way. He guides…
