Do you know what to do when your inner accuser blames you for this or that? Do you know how to show the door to the devil? Do you know how to deal with doubts or inconveniences? Just worship. For real. The power of worship is beyond this world. For real. What a stack of blessing you have piled up for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. (Psalm…
Life is sometimes really yucky. Sometimes it really feels that all we do is shoveling dirt. How could we conquer the mount of dirt in our lives? How should we respond to all the dirt thrown our way? One thing is certain. If we store inside of us all the accusations or wrong doings we’ve experienced, we will burst or, at least, feel yucky. We need to learn to deal with the dirt in our lives. Otherwise we will drown…
Do you always want to have the last word in arguments? Why is it so difficult to not to be the one who knows best? Why does it seem to be so harmful to be weak and lowly? Probably because we think it is about us. Because we think we could solve the problems, that we should have power. But it is not about us. And we can’t solve the problems. And we don’t have anything lasting. If we don’t…
The Bible is a huge gift for us. It proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ, of course. But it also equips saints and advices disciples. It keeps us focused on God and when our life focus is God, our life is balanced and blessed. Reading the Bible is so essential to a life of a believer that we really can’t live without it. Or at least stay spiritually alive without it. Today I want to share the beauty of…
Do you worry about how your life is going to turn out? Or do you worry about how your life is going to end? If you are a friend of Jesus, there’s no need to worry. Whatever it is, Jesus got it covered. If you live with God, there’s no need to stress. Whatever it is, Jesus got it covered. Behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation…
Do you blame God for the messiness of your life? Do you think it’s God’s fault that your life is complicated? Do you think it’d be God’s responsibility to keep your life smooth? You are not alone. But you are still mistaken. You see, ways of God are straight. Always. But sin makes our paths unnecessarily crooked. Hence it is not God who complicates our life. What a God! His road stretches straight and smooth. Every God-direction is road-tested. Everyone…
Do you resist self-examination? Are you afraid of what you will find? And are you not ready to take the trouble or pay the price to fix it? So you continue to ignore the signs because you are somewhat functioning. I don’t need to tell you that the trouble is increasing and the price you need to pay is getting bigger and bigger. Especially if this is happening in your spiritual life. You are supposed to be alive but in…
What if fasting is a blessing? The early church put fasting and prayer together as ways of seeking God’s guidance. Why don’t we? So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off. (Acts 13:3, MSG) Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his famous book Cost of Discipleship reminds us of the importance of fasting as a part of discipleship ” If there is no element of asceticism in our…
It’s no secret I love quotes. There are quotes that capture my heart right away and then there are quotes that puzzle me and I need to let them sit for awhile and ask God to reveal the true meaning of them. This quote of Martin Luther is one of the latter kind. Not that I did not like it from the very beginning. But it left me wondering anyhow: God created the world out of nothing; so as long…
Do you want to grow in wisdom? I think we all do. But do you know how that happens? The Bible gives us a very clear answer: Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God. (Proverbs 9:10, MSG) I knew this and I try to live it out every day of my life. But that’s not all, folks! This very morning I read from the Acts how the church throughout Judea, Galilee,…
