Before we can pray, “Lord, Thy Kingdom come,” we must be willing to pray, “My Kingdom go” says Alan Redpath. There really is no room for two kings in a kingdom. There is no room for two bosses in your heart, either. Someone must surrender. Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action…
Over the weekend some of the quotes I tweeted got very enthusiastic responses from the tweeting community. I realized they have a common theme and thought I’d explore this a bit further. Especially when my daily Bible reading seemed to answer the yearnings of these quotes. “Life is too short not to spend it doing what God wants us to do.” (Jack Hyles) Life seems to fly by. The biggest threat seems to be that we don’t get anything done…
I always feel awkward when someone says “You can be anything you want to”, because that’s not true. We do have limitations. We are not gifted in all areas of life. We don’t have equal opportunities. But thank God that’s not the end of it. As MaxLucado has said: “You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be”. That is SO true! We can be everything God wants us to be!…
Why on earth would we need spiritual strength-training? The Merriam-Webster dictionary tells us that few definitions of strength are capacity for exertion or endurance, power to resist force, and power of resisting attack. These are all qualities needed in spiritual life! God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the…
The gift of baptism is mind-blowing. When we go under the water we drown our sins. When we come out of the baptismal water we have a free life in Jesus. Experiencing the forgiveness of sins is one of the most amazing things in life. We need to remind ourselves of this gift and receive it every single day. Being alive in Christ is the best thing than can ever happen to us. It’s not our doing but we can…
How does it feel to be the focus of God’s love? Astonishing, right? But it is true. For each and every one of us. Because of God’s love we can live in his grace. Because of God’s amazing love we can be made whole and holy. We just need to separate God’s love from our circumstances. Happiness and easy life are not proof of God’s love. Hardships and rough patches on our journey are not signs that God’s love would…
If you feel your life is too full, too chaotic, too messy to find time to pray. Think again. You can not get anything meaningful done before praying. Actually you can simplify your life with prayer. When we leave our burdens to God we can get on with our life. Prayer will intensify our joy of living. If you feel you have too many things to pray about that there is no point to even start praying because it’s all…
This Hannah Whitall Smith quote from The Christian’s Secret for Happy Life has always inspired me to truly live out my faith: “Most Christians understand the principle when it comes to salvation but lose sight of it in living Christian life. Then He was our Redeemer; now He is to be our Life” What does it take to live out Christian faith? We need and we want salvation. But how Christ can be our Life? First of all, we need…
Are you courageously living out your faith? Or do you let your friends and family silence you? It is natural wanting to be accepted by others. But sometimes the price is too high. “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands. (Matthew 10. 28, MSG) Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom….
No one wants hardships in life. But there’s no way we can avoid them all together. Even if we try. But the goal is not to avoid hardships but to know what to do when they arrive. As Christians we have a choice how to react to them. Do we use them as an excuse to run away from God? Or do we let the Holy Spirit draw us near to God in our tribulations? Hopefully we choose the latter….
